Seaside woman to be sentenced to life in prison for murdering dependent adult by torture

The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said a Seaside woman will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after she pleaded guilty to murdering a dependent adult. She also admitted toa special circumstance allegation that it was intentional and involved inflicting torture.

The victim, 33-year-old Courtney Ann Turney, was disabled as a result of complications during her birth. She began taking special education classes when she moved to Monterey County from Oklahoma in 2008. That year, she began living with 44-year-old Corrie Denise Arriaga.

An investigation showed that Arriaga physically abused Turney, imprisoned her in the apartment, starved her and forced her to do physical labor. Arriaga also embezzled money that Turney received from the Comanche Nation. Turney was imprisoned in Arriaga’s apartment until her death in August 2017.

Turney’s body was found the day after her death. She had weighed about 230 pounds when she moved to Monterey County in 2008 but weighed only 54 pounds when she died. Turney also had a fractured skull, recent and healed rib fractures, pressure ulcers and bruising and swelling consistent with blunt force trauma.

Arriaga was arrested in May 2018. Arriaga’s boyfriend, 30-year-old Manuel Jesus Lopez Jarquin, was also charged with torture, abuse of a dependent adult, theft from a dependent adult and accessory after the fact to Turney’s murder. His case is still pending.

Arriaga will be sentenced in December.