On Tuesday, a former Playboy and Maxim model was sentenced for killing a child psychiatrist she previously had a relationship with.
Kelsey Turner, who reportedly appeared in Playboy Italia and Maxim, was handed a prison sentence between 10 and 25 years in a Clark County, Nevada courtroom for her role in the death of Dr. Thomas Burchard.
In November, 29-year-old Turner agreed to an Alford plea, which allowed her to avoid going to trial in the case. The plea meant she didn’t formally plead guilty, but she acknowledged there was enough evidence to prove her guilt in court. In exchange for the plea, she will be eligible for parole in 10 years.
Turner was in Intimate and ‘Transactional’ Relationship with Dr. Burchard
The doctor, who was in an intimate and “transactional” relationship with Turner, according to prosecutors, was murdered and stuffed in Turner’s car in March 2019, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Prosecutors said Turner directed her boyfriend Jon Kennison to attack Burchard when the doctor visited the couple in Las Vegas, the newspaper reported. Kennison beat the 71-year-old with a bat before the victim was stuffed in the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz that was linked to Turner, KTVN reported.
Burchard Killed When He Tried to End the Relationship
Police said Burchard traveled to Sin City to end the two-year relationship with Turner. He had been financially supporting her and her child, including paying her rent, 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,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly said in court at the sentencing hearing, according to the Review-Journal.
“I think the facts of this case demonstrate though that with regards to Ms. Turner, that this was a transactional relationship, to whatever extent.”
“She was content to leave someone she knew for a number of years, who supported her and her child financially for a number of years, to rot in the back of the car in the desert that he paid for,” Weckerly added.
Kennison was sentenced in July to 18-45 years in prison after entering a guilty plea and the couple’s roommate, Diana Pena pleaded guilty to accessory to murder, but provided prosecutors with key evidence, KLAS reported.
