Playboy model jailed for murder of elderly doctor after body found in car boot
A former Maxim and Playboy model has been sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for the murder of a 71-year-old man whose body was found in the trunk of her car.
Kelsey Turner, 29, took an Alford plea to the second-degree murder of Dr Thomas Burchard in November, meaning she pleaded guilty while maintaining innocence.
She directed her boyfriend Jon 'Logan' Kennison to attack Burchard when he visited the couple in Las Vegas.
Dr Burchard, a psychiatrist, reportedly was in an intimate and "transactional" relationship with the model, as he paid for her and her child's living expenses.
Prosecutors said he was beaten to death with a bat by Kennison before his body was found stuffed in Turner's blue Mercedes-Benz C300, abandoned in the desert near Lake Mead, in 2019.
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Kelsey Turner, 29, took an Alford plea to the second-degree murder of Dr Thomas Burchard in November (Uncredited/AP/REX/Shutterstock)At the time, investigators had found blood throughout a bedroom in the Las Vegas home and said there was evidence of attempts to try and clean it up.
Dr Burchard lived in Salinas, California, US, and worked for decades in the Montage Health behavioural program with the Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula.
According to Dr Burchard's longtime girlfriend Judy Earp, the psychiatrist had given Turner $300,000.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly said during the sentencing hearing, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "There's certainly room for a lot of salacious speculation as to what the nature of the relationship was.
Dr Thomas Burchard, a psychiatrist, reportedly was in an intimate and "transactional" relationship with the model"I think the facts of this case demonstrate though that with regards to Ms Turner, that this was a transactional relationship, to whatever extent."
Chief Deputy Special Public Defender Ashley Sisolak said in a statement following the sentencing: "I do wholeheartedly disagree with the state's recitation of the facts.
"I am, however, glad that Kelsey will have a chance at rebuilding her life moving forward. I am also grateful for the closure for all parties."
Kennison was sentenced in July to between 18 and 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder.
Turner took an Alford plea to the second-degree murder of Dr Thomas Burchard in November (kelseyturnerofficial/Instagram)
Kelsey Turner's blue Mercedes-Benz C3oo was found abandoned in the desert near Lake Mead (kelseyturnerofficial/Instagram)The pair's roommate, Diana Pena, also pleaded guilty in June 2019 to accessory to murder and testified that she helped clean the crime scene and fled the state with the couple.
Attorneys for Kennison have argued in court documents that his attack on Burchard was a "crime of passion".
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They accused Turner of being a "master manipulator he could not rebuff".
Pena testified to a grand jury that during Burchard's visit, Turner became upset with him over images and messages she found on the doctor's phone.
Earp told the judge on Tuesday that Turner had tried to blackmail Burchard, by saying she would tell authorities that he had child pornography.
Weckerly said, however, that Turner's claims about "highly inappropriate images" were not true.
Kelsey Turner was accused of bludgeoning 71-year-old Dr. Thomas Burchard to deathWhile reading from a written statement during the hearing, Earp accused Turner of forging Burchard's signature and stealing money from him.
Moreover, she said she believed Burchard was showing early signs of Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
She accused Turner of "luring" Burchard to Las Vegas in 2019 by saying she was sick and couldn't afford to take care of her child.
Earp said Burchard's last words to her were: "She [Turner] is such a pervasive liar that I have to see for myself."
Pena has testified that during an argument with Turner and Kennison, she watched Kennison swing a bat at Burchard.
She said Burchard had gotten into Turner's Mercedes as the couple initially planned to take him to a hospital.
But, instead, Turner insisted that Kennison "knock Thomas out", Pena said. A baseball bat was later found with Burchard's body.
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