The murder of Thomas Burchard has been extensively covered by various news outlets. The esteemed California doctor was slain and abandoned in a car in 2019.
Thomas Burchard gained considerable fame among the public. Regrettably, neither his character nor his honorable occupation brought him notoriety. His financial support of IG model Kelsey Turner’s extravagant lifestyle propelled him to widespread popularity.
Dr. Burchard worked as a child psychiatrist. His remains were discovered discarded in the trunk of a car in the Nevada desert in 2019.
The 71-year-old doctor had been financing Instagram model Kelsey Turner’s luxurious lifestyle and bestowing upon her over $300,000, as per reports.
Turner’s then-boyfriend, Jon Kennison, bludgeoned Burchard to death with a baseball bat, and both have been charged and sentenced for the murder.
Turner was apprehended in California, sentenced in January 2023, and will be incarcerated for 10 to 25 years.
In November of last year, Kelsey Turner, 29, entered an Alford plea. She consented to plead for one count of second-degree murder in exchange for guaranteed parole eligibility after ten years in prison.
An Alford plea enables criminal defendants to maintain their innocence regarding the facts of an accusation while concurrently acknowledging that the state’s evidence would likely be sufficient to convince a judge or jury of their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Kennison had previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 to 45 years in prison.
According to law enforcement agencies, Turner and Burchard engaged in a dispute after Turner became “distressed about photos and messages on the doctor’s phone.”
An onlooker witnessed Kennison grappling with the doctor.
What was the dynamic between Turner and Burchard?
According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Burchard and Turner had a connection where the older man covered the rent for a house she shared with her mother in Salinas, California. However, the rent payments eventually ceased.
After some time, the payments resumed. At the time of Burchard’s demise, he was covering the rent for the residence in Sin City where Turner, Kennison, and Pena resided.
Judy Earp, Burchard’s partner for nearly 17 years, labeled Turner as “as malevolent as Charles Manson.”
The mourning woman informed the TV station that during her final conversation with Burchard, he mentioned he was going to Las Vegas to investigate certain matters because Turner was a compulsive fabricator.
Earp reported Burchard missing when he did not disembark from a flight returning from Las Vegas in March 2019. Days later, he was found inside the trunk of Turner’s blue Mercedes-Benz C300.
The vehicle, discovered on Silver State Route 147, was reported to authorities by a man passing through the area with his children because it was parked unaccompanied with a rock hurled through one of the windows.
