by A man filmed on television crying in his arms after finding his son’s dead body in 1989 has been arrested for murder.
“My son is in there!” Victor Lee Turner can be heard saying when local television filmed the moment five-year-old Justin Turner’s body was found in a campsite, then immediately breaks down sobbing, the station’s archive footage shows.
Although the authorities had their suspicions at the time, it was not until 34 years later that the murderers of the young boy could be brought to justice, including his weeping father.
After more than three decades, Mr. Turner and the boy’s stepmother, Megan Turner, were arrested and charged with murder in South Carolina after investigators reopened the cold case in 2021.
Forensic pathologists re-evaluated physical evidence collected from the crime scene and the autopsy, police said.
“I cannot think of a more tragic and horrific murder. A 5-year-old boy,” Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis said at a press conference Wednesday.
“Justin would be 40 years old, he could graduate high school, go to college, get married, have a child, become a productive citizen,” said Mr. Lewis.
“But it was not because we believe that these two took from all of us and from this family that I have been in contact with over the years. And they’ve been tremendous in their efforts to keep this case alive and keep pushing us and asking questions and helping us get to where we are today.”
On March 3, 1989, police were called to the couple’s home after Justin allegedly did not get off the bus after school, court documents obtained by Mr. WCSC said.
That morning, Miss Turner told police she did not see her stepson to school as she normally would because she was not feeling well and was taking a shower. But witnesses reportedly told investigators they never saw him leave the house or get on the school bus.
“He never got on that bus. He never got on that bus because he was dead inside that house,” said Mr Lewis.
Ms Turner admitted that she and the young boy got into an argument, claiming that this was the last time she saw him alive, the outlet reports.
After this, a two-day search to find Justin began when the child’s body turned up inside the couple’s camper, which the couple had keys to and only had access to.
Mr. Turner was the one who made the discovery, and despite his sobbing, investigators remained suspicious.
Authorities said he found the boy’s body “within seconds of entering the camper,” and the warrant indicated he “knew exactly” where his son’s body was, WCSC said.
The warrant reportedly went on to say that Mr. Turner did not check his son for any signs of life, which he denied, telling investigators that he “looked dead. I could feel something was wrong with him. I didn’t touch it.”
Before discovery, Mr. Turner allegedly asked a member of law enforcement if someone “harmed the victim, such as killed him,” what would happen to that person?
Investigators said that when Mr. and Mr. Turner knew that physical evidence was being collected from the scene, they “showed concern and devised a plan to withhold/conceal potential evidence” and made “statements spontaneous movements to demonstrate responsibility in death” and “intent. to hide physical evidence from investigators,” the outlet reported.
Although investigators believed the scene was staged, Mr. Lewis said, there was no solid evidence at the time to prosecute either.
Ms. Turner, then known as Pamela Turner, was arrested even with a grand jury recommending that she be charged with murder, but was released for lack of evidence, WCSC said.
Eventually, the couple moved upstate, and none of the family heard from them again, Mr. Lewis said.
“Isn’t that strange? I didn’t get one phone call, one phone call from his dad or his stepmom,” Mr. Lewis said.
“‘What are you doing about my son’s death?’ Not one. What does that tell you?”
It is alleged that the boy’s cause of death was strangulation with a ligature, according to the court documents obtained by the outlet.
Forensic analysis of a ligature found at the couple’s home matched the child’s neck wound, and fibers found on the ligature were consistent with fibers from the boy’s clothing.
“This is a great day,” Mr Lewis said of the murder charges.
“We got here because of the new technology and forensic medicine. We all know how things have progressed over the years.
The couple was arrested at their home in Cross Hill and transported back to Berkley County. The couple was being held at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing that took place on Wednesday.
