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| Antifreeze murderer found dead in jail cell, cause unknown |
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| Written by Ron Kaye |
| Tuesday, 31 August 2010 17:59 |
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Foul play ruled out but suicide a possibility As a 911 operator, Julia Lynn Womack Turner's job was to help save lives, but it turned out that she had a lucrative side gig that involved ending a couple of lives. Now her own life has ended, and at this point the exact cause is a mystery. Turner, 42, was serving life sentences in DeKalb County's Metro State Prison for the 1995 murder of her policeman husband and the 2001 killing of her firefighter lover. Both men were poisoned by ingesting antifreeze. Just before 7 AM Monday, Turner was found unresponsive in bed in her jail cell and, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sharmelle Brooks, the Metro State medical staff pronounced her dead forty minutes later. Turner's lover, Randy Thompson, 32, was a Forsyth County firefighter and the father of her two children, now 12 and 14. Husband Glenn Turner, 31, was a Cobb County police officer. Lynn Turner collected life insurance on both men; according to previous court testimony she received more than $140,000 in insurance benefits and $700 per month in a police pension from her husband's death, and another $36,000 from her lover Thompson's insurance plan. An autopsy on Turner failed to determine her cause of death, and though toxicology tests are being run it could take up to a month to get conclusive results, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigations spokesman John Bankhead. Some of the victims' family members have suggested suicide as a cause of death but as of now, Bankhead said this could not be confirmed. The medical examiner ruled out foul play, even though Turner's mother, Helen Gregory, said she had been concerned for her daughter's safety since visiting her at the prison on Sunday. Mrs. Gregory said that during that visit Turner told her, "Momma, those girls are going to get me. I just know they will." Turner shared a cell with several other inmates. Turner, who eluded detection and capture for years, was painted by prosecutors during her trials as the classic "black widow," luring men into her life and killing them for their money. Convicted in 2004 of Glenn Turner's murder and in 2007 of Randy Thompson's, she was spared the death penalty but was sentenced to life without parole. Forsyth County district attorney Penny Penn, who called Turner "a very evil person," said that even after receiving the multiple payouts Turner was still in deep financial trouble. Penn said she had no doubt that the former 911 operator would have killed again if she had felt it necessary. She added that even though Turner lost her appeal to have her Cobb County conviction overturned, her Forsyth County appeal was still pending at the time of her death. That case can now be considered closed, but the mystery of Turner's death - and, perhaps, of much of her life - has yet to be solved. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites |
