Kelsey Nichole Turner, 29, was sentenced Tuesday in Nevada to 10 to 25 years in prison in the killing of Thomas Kirk Burchard, 71, whose bludgeoned corpse was found in 2019 in the trunk of her abandoned car just outside Las Vegas, according to CBS News.
A former Playboy model has been sentenced in the murder of a California psychiatrist who was found dead in the trunk of her car, according to reports.
Kelsey Nichole Turner, 29, was sentenced Tuesday in Nevada to 10 to 25 years in prison in the killing of Thomas Kirk Burchard, 71, whose bludgeoned corpse was found in 2019 in the trunk of her abandoned car just outside Las Vegas, according to CBS News.
Turner agreed in November to a so-called Alford plea and a negotiated sentence that avoided trial. She acknowledged that prosecutors could prove second-degree murder for the death of the psychiatrist, who was from Salinas, California, according to CBS News.
The plea allowed Turner to not plead guilty but to acknowledge that the state had enough evidence to prove she was guilty.
Burchard’s body was later found in the trunk of an abandoned car, which authorities said belonged to Turner, according to 8 News Now.
Prosecutors said Turner and her boyfriend, Jon Kennison, beat Burchard to death and hid him in the trunk of the car, which was left in the desert near Lake Mead in March of 2019.
Kennison was sentenced in July to 18 to 45 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy.
Police said Turner had a relationship with Burchard and he paid her rent.
“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,” Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly said Tuesday in court.
When the 71-year-old tried to end the relationship, Turner alleged he had pornographic photos of minors on his phone, according to 8 News Now. Her then-boyfriend, Kennison, beat Burchard to death and hid his body in the trunk of Turner’s car, according to Law and Crime.
It was later revealed in court that the allegations of Burchard having child pornography on his phone were false, according to 8 News Now.
Diana Nicole Pena, who lived with the couple in the home for which Burchard paid rent, was previously charged with murder in the case but pleaded guilty to one charge of accessory to murder in June 2019, insisting she had nothing to do with the bludgeoning itself but helped clean up the crime scene after Burchard was dead, according to Law and Crime.
Burchard was reported missing by his girlfriend of 17 years, Judy Earp, whom he lived with in Salinas, California, when he failed to get off a plane that was going from Vegas to Southern California, Law and Crime reported.
Days later, he was found inside the trunk of Turner’s blue Mercedes-Benz C300, Law and Crime reported.
It also appeared that Turner, Kennison and Pena abruptly moved out of the home after Burchard was killed, CBS News said.
