Lynn Turner

It often amazes me not just that people think that they can get away with murder but their motives behind them. We all know that one of the number one motives for murder is simple greed. Somehow money becomes more important than a human life. The thing that is most amazing to me in those cases is that almost always the murder is committed by someone who had at least at some point claimed to love the person. Then there are the people like Lynn Turner, who after doing it once and getting away with it tempted fate by doing it again. In the end it was this second time that brought light to the first and in the end she was sentenced to two life sentences, all for less than $200,000. Although in fairness she thought it was about twice that amount when she committed the second murder.

Lynn Turner would be convicted in 2004 for the murder of her husband Glenn Turner and in 2007 for the murder of her longtime boyfriend and father of her children, Randy Thompson. She had been arrested in 2002 and charged with murdering the men by antifreeze poisoning. While I will obviously get into her case, since that is what this blog is about, I think it is worth noting that last week I blogged about the case against Stacey Castor. She too was convicted of murdering a husband (and suspected in the murder of her first husband) with antifreeze, as well as the attempted murder of her daughter. When Stacey's husband, David died in 2005 there was little doubt that antifreeze was involved considering there was a container next to him and a glass with it on the table next to his body. When Stacey was interviewed after David's death she mentioned Lynn Turner. She indicated that maybe David had seen a documentary of Lynn's case and got the idea to poison himself from there. This points to the fact that Stacey obviously knew who Lynn Turner was. Stacey murdered her first husband in 2000, before Lynn Turner was caught or suspected, but not before she had already killed once. The more likely scenario is that Stacey had seen the documentary on Lynn Turner and decided she could do one better and thought she could do it without getting caught like Lynn had done.

Lynn married Glenn Turner in August of 1992. Glenn became a police officer in Cobb County Georgia and Lynn had attempted to do the same. The problem was Lynn could not pass the psychological exam so instead she became a 911 dispatcher. At some point during the marriage Lynn began having an affair with firefighter Randy Thompson. By the start of 1995 the marriage was really in a shambles. It was said that Glenn was planning to move out of their Marietta home and file for divorce but on March 2^nd Glenn went to the emergency room complaining of what was described as “flu-like symptoms.” He was treated and sent home. The following day Lynn called 911 to report that she had found him dead in their home. Initially his death was ruled to be natural causes from an irregular heartbeat. Lynn would collect more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars upon his death.

Soon after Glenn's death Lynn would move in with Randy Thompson. The two would never marry but they would continue to live together and have both a son and a daughter together. But, just as the relationship between Lynn and Glenn had crumbled, so would the relationship between Lynn and Randy. By late 2000 he had moved out of their home and had rented an apartment although it appears that little else had changed between the couple and they were still in close, almost daily contact with each other. On January 21, 2001 Randy would go to the emergency room complaining of the same symptoms as Glenn had done back in 1995. And, just like Glenn, Randy was treated and released only to die the following day. And, even more odd Randy's initial cause of death was listed just as Glenn's had been... irregular heartbeat. After Randy's death Lynn collected $36,000 but, she thought she would receive an additional $200,000. She did not know that Randy had let that policy lapse.

It took a short time but people became suspicious. Not only had she had two men that she was in a relationship with die, they had died almost exactly the same way, with the same symptoms. Blood tests were from Randy were sent to a lab. This is when the first sign of antifreeze poisoning appeared. The two men had died in different counties so different agencies were in charge of each case. Soon after the results in Randy's case was found Glenn's body was exhumed. It was found that he too had antifreeze in his system. Despite this it appears that investigators had to build their case and prove that it was Lynn who had administered the antifreeze. She was arrested on November 1, 2002.

In 2004 Lynn would face trial in the death of Glenn Turner. On May 14, 2004 she was convicted and later sentenced to life. In 2007 she faced trial in the death of Randy Thompson. Because she had a previous conviction the county decided to seek the death penalty. She was convicted again on March 24, 2007. Her mother had taken custody of her children and begged the court not to give her the death sentence saying that it would do more harm to the already emotionally damaged children who were now eight and eleven years old. The courts obliged and sentenced her to a second life sentence.

On August 30, 2010 Lynn Turner was found dead in her prison cell. Her cause of death would later be determined to be a toxic overdose of blood pressure medication. Her manner of death was ruled a suicide at the age of forty-two.