Former Playboy model Kelsey Turner sentenced to 10 years minimum for murder of Monterey doctor
MONTEREY, Calif. (KION-TV)- Update Jan. 10, 2023, at 5:13 p.m.- A former men’s magazine model was sentenced Tuesday in Nevada to 10 to 25 years in prison for killing a California doctor whose bludgeoned corpse was found in 2019 in the trunk of her abandoned car just outside Las Vegas.
Kelsey Nichole Turner, 29, agreed in November took a so-called Alford plea and a negotiated sentence that avoided trial. She acknowledged that prosecutors could prove second-degree murder in the slaying of 71-year-old psychiatrist Thomas Kirk Burchard of Salinas, California.
Turner, a former model for Playboy Italia and Maxim magazines, did not make a statement in court.
Her sentencing followed sentencing in July for her 29-year-old former boyfriend, Jon Logan Kennison, to 18 to 45 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy.
Police and prosecutors said Turner had “an intimate relationship” with Burchard, and Burchard paid the rent on a Las Vegas home where Turner and Kennison lived with a roommate, Diana Nicole Pena.
Police put Kennison, Turner and Pena together at the time Burchard was reported missing by his longtime girlfriend in Salinas, Judy Earp, and said it appeared that Turner, Kennison and Pena abruptly moved out of the home after Burchard was killed.
The Clark County coroner found that Burchard was beaten to death with head injuries from an unspecified object that left what police called a unique pattern.
Police also said they found a door broken in half; blood, cleaning supplies and items bearing Kennison’s name in a bedroom in the house; and apparent blood, footprints and more cleaning supplies in the garage. Blue and white bath towels found at the house matched a towel found with Burchard’s body in Turner’s blue Mercedes Benz coupe, police said.
Pena’s and Kennison’s fingerprints were found in the car, according to police, along with a baseball bat.
In court on Tuesday, Earp accused Turner of forging Burchard’s signature and stealing money from him, and said she believed Turner “lured” Burchard to Las Vegas in 2019 by saying she was sick and couldn’t afford to take care of her child, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Police and prosecutors said Turner, Kennison and Pena killed Burchard in March 2019 and left his body in the trunk of Turner’s car. The vehicle was found abandoned on a dirt road between Las Vegas and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Pena, now 34, a former bartender at a Las Vegas Strip resort, pleaded guilty in June 2019 to accessory to murder. She testified that she helped clean the crime scene after Burchard was killed and fled Las Vegas with Kennison and Turner.
Turner was later arrested in Salinas and Kennison was arrested in Las Vegas.
The Review-Journal reported that Turner’s public defense attorney, Ashley Sisolak, told Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny that she and Turner believed the plea deal was the best resolution to the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former Playboy model Kelsey Turner signs plea deal in murder of Monterey doctor
Update Nov. 11, 2022, at 10:13 a.m.-KION spoke to the longtime girlfriend of a Monterey doctor who was killed in 2019 and whose murderers were convicted recently in Nevada. We asked if the recent conviction of, Kelsey Turner, one of three responsible for the murder of her boyfriend, was enough.
Kelsey Turner pleaded guilty to second-degree murder via an Alford plea on Nov. 9, court records show. An Alford plea is when a suspect doesn’t admit to guilt but concedes that there is enough evidence to convict. She will face 10 to 25 years in prison.
"I don't think she should ever get out of prison, honestly. She's a danger to society, she's a psychopath, literally," said Judy Earp, Dr. Thomas Burchard's longtime girlfriend. "And the analogy that I see in the situation is that he may have been the gun, but she pulled the trigger."
Kelsey Turner was arrested about two weeks later in California and charged with Burchard’s murder. Kennison and Diana Pena were also taken into custody in connection with the case.
Earp reported Burchard missing in early March. Burchard told her he had to take care of a few things in Las Vegas, and the girlfriend said Burchard flew to Las Vegas to visit Kelsey Turner. Burchard reportedly paid for Turner’s rent in Salinas, Calif., before she moved to Las Vegas.
In June 2019, Pena pleaded guilty to accessory to commit murder. Kennison pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 18-45 years in prison in July 2022.
Earp believes the plea deal is not enough of a penalty for Turner if she ends up only serving ten years.
“She’s been there for three and and a half, and she’ll get credit for that another six years. I don’t think it is going to reform her at all. I don’t think she’s reformable,” Earp said.
Turner’s sentencing is set for Jan. 10, 2023. Earp said she plans on attending.
CNN helped with this article.
LAS VEGAS, NV. UPDATE Nov. 10, 2022, at 11:53 a.m.-A woman charged with the murder of a doctor who worked for the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula signed a plea deal Wednesday.
Kelsey Turner signed a guilty plea agreement and will be sentenced in January 2023. She could face 10 to 25 years in prison for her role in the murder of Dr. Thomas Burchard, according to court documents.
Her boyfriend, Jon Logan Kennison, was sentenced to 18 to 45 years in prison for his role in the murder of the 71-year-old doctor. Kennison pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Clark County District Court, said FOX 5.
In March 2019, a vehicle was found near Lake Mead with Dr. Burchard in the trunk, according to the arrest report.
The arrest report said Burchard’s longtime girlfriend reported him missing in early March. Burchard told his girlfriend he had to take care of a few things in Las Vegas, and the girlfriend said Burchard flew to Las Vegas to visit Kelsey Turner. Burchard reportedly paid for Turner’s rent in Salinas, Calif., before she left for Las Vegas.
Turner was arrested about two weeks later in California and charged with Burchard’s murder.
Former Playboy model's boyfriend changes plea in murder of Monterey doctor
The boyfriend of a former Playboy model changed their plea to guilty in the alleged murder of a Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula doctor, according to court documents.
Jon Logan Kennison, the boyfriend of Kelsey Turner, pleaded guilty to all charges in the murder of Dr. Thomas Burchard of Salinas.
Police say that Turner and Burchard had known each other for around two years, and he had been paying for most of her bills.
Burchard traveled to Las Vegas in March 2019 and told her he would no longer pay her bills. Burchard then got into an argument that led to the doctor's murder, alleged police.
Turner and Kennison are accused of beating the psychiatrist to death with a baseball bat, then putting his body in the trunk of Turner’s Mercedes, according to police. Turner's car was found a few days later on the desert road outside Las Vegas.
Turner’s next hearing is scheduled for July 5, 2022.
Kennison’s sentencing hearing is set forr July 26, 2022.
Report: Turner and Kennison will not face death penalty
Original Story posted on July 3, 2019.
Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for a former model and her boyfriend accused of killing of a 71-year-old Monterey psychiatrist in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports prosecutors met with defense lawyers Friday before deciding against seeking capital punishment against Kelsey Nichole Turner and Jon Logan Kennison.
Both have pleaded not guilty in the March death of Dr. Thomas Burchard, who lived in Salinas and practiced in Monterey.
Police say Burchard had an intimate relationship with Turner and rented a Las Vegas home where Turner, Kennison, and a housemate, Diana Pena, lived.
Burchard's bludgeoned body was found March 7 in the trunk of Turner's car in the desert outside Las Vegas.
Pena has pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and implicated Turner and Kennison in Burchard's death.
