GUILTY TX - Keitha Turner, 39, & Betty Frank, 66, murdered, Rosenberg, 28 Dec 2009

ROSENBERG, Texas — Authorities from Texas to Florida were searching Monday for a prison guard accused of stabbing his wife and mother-in-law in a double-slaying witnessed by children.

Detectives in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg were looking for Albert James Turner, 44, who faces murder charges after an argument at the home of his in-laws turned violent early Sunday, Rosenberg police Lt. Colin Davidson said.

Turner has family near Orlando, Fla., and Davidson said law enforcement agencies all along Interstate 10 have been notified in case Turner is headed that way. The 6-foot-1 Turner weighs about 270 pounds and should be considered armed and dangerous, Davidson said.

"He knows what goes on in prison, so who knows what he's going to do," Davidson said. "He probably wouldn't want to go back to the place where he worked."

Davidson said Turner was identified by eyewitnesses, including a child who called 911.

"The children did witness some of it, yes," Davidson said. "This was a violent crime scene."

Turner could be traveling in his maroon Honda Accord, with a Texas plate: 494-JFY and possibly wearing a gray Texas Department of Correction detention officer uniform.

Snipped from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581280,00.html?test=latestnews

Prison guard accused in Rosenberg slayings
Manhunt under way after his wife and mother-in-law are stabbed to death
By PAIGE HEWITT
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Dec. 28, 2009, 6:48AM

A multistate manhunt continues today for a Texas prison guard accused in the killings of his wife and mother-in-law, who were stabbed in front of children in Rosenberg earlier in the day, officials said.

Authorities are searching for 44-year-old Albert James Turner, who is charged in the deaths of 39-year-old Keitha Frank Turner and 66-year-old Betty Jo Frank, said Lt. Colin Davidson of the Rosenberg Police Department.

The two women were the daughter and wife of prominent Rosenberg preacher Gene Frank of the Church of Living Waters, Davidson, police said.

“They were fine people,” said a longtime neighbor, grief-stricken by the news of the deaths. “They were always a lovely family.”

The neighbor, who has known the family for many years, called the women gentle and kind-hearted.

Eyewitnesses, including a child who called 911, identified Turner as the killer, Davidson said, and the sound of children screaming can be heard in the background of the call.

“The children did witness some of it, yes,” Davidson said. “This was a violent crime scene.”

He said Turner fled the scene before police arrived

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6788330.html

Accused killer prison guard's car found near Atlanta
By PAIGE HEWITT HOUSTON CHRONICLE

The manhunt for a Texas correctional officer charged in the deaths of his wife and mother-in-law in Rosenberg shifted focus to the Atlanta area Tuesday after a fisherman spotted the guard's car in the Chattahoochee River.

There was no sign of 44-year-old Albert James Turner, accused of fatally stabbing Keitha Frank Turner, 39, and Betty Jo Frank, 66, on Sunday.

“We have no idea why he went to the Atlanta area,” said Rosenberg Lt. Colin Davidson. “But he's on the run again.”

By about 4 p.m. Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Service took the lead in the investigation into the killings of the two women, the daughter and wife of a prominent Rosenberg preacher, Gene Frank, who also was in the home during the stabbings

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6790932.html

Car of Texas Prison Guard Accused of Killing Wife, Mother-in-Law Found in Georgia River
Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Rosenberg police Lt. Colin Davidson said Tuesday that the Honda belonging to Albert James Turner was found partially submerged in the Chattahoochee River in Cobb County and that authorities there are on the scene

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581433,00.html

Good Video here:

December 30, 2009

Key Clue?
New developments in search for fugitive prison guard

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3956286/key-clue

Here is a picture of him:

http://spectacular-toast.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-prayer.html
Keitha leaves behind 4 children and a family stunned by the tremendous loss, including her father, Pastor Gene, a man with an empty and undoubtedly broken heart who was also injured during the assault. Tragically, Pastor Gene lost his son some months ago in a sad, but fatal accident that the Turner family was still reeling from.

much more @ link

Son's tribute http://www.tributes.com/show/Gene-Frank-86346181

Search for double slaying suspect steps up
Marshals working a stream of tips
By PAIGE HEWITT
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 1, 2010, 6:32PM

The U.S. Marshals Service is stepping up its search for 44-year-old Albert James Turner, a Texas correctional officer charged in the fatal stabbing of his wife and mother-in-law in Rosenberg.

The case is scheduled to be featured next week on America's Most Wanted —it's already on the television show's Web site— as authorities continue working a “steady stream” of tips from callers, said Alfredo Perez, spokesman for the marshals office in Houston.

Investigators have been in touch with some of Turner's friends and family, including an ex-wife in Georgia, Perez said.

The most compelling clue has been Turner's car, discovered Tuesday by a fisherman on the Chattahoochee River in Marietta, Ga.

The Marshals Service took the lead in the investigation after the car was found, focusing the search in Atlanta and Florida, where Turner has family

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6795104.html

Friends, family mourn slain mother and daughter in Rosenberg
Posted on December 31, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Updated Thursday, Dec 31 at 10:52 PM

ROSENBERG, Texas—A memorial service was held Thursday for a mother and daughter who were slain in Rosenberg over the weekend.

Police say Betty Jo Frank, 66, and Keitha Frank Turner, 39, were stabbed to death in front of Turner’s four children in the home Frank shared with her husband, well-known pastor Dr. Gene Frank.

Turner’s husband, TDCJ prison guard Albert Turner, has been charged with the murders. He is still on the run, and authorities believe he may have fled to Georgia, where his car was found partially submerged in a river earlier this week.

On Thursday, friends and family gathered to remember the victims at the Church of Living Waters, where Dr. Frank is the pastor.

Hundreds filled the church for the service and celebrated the women’s lives with prayer and song.

Mourners said Betty Jo Frank and Keitha Frank Turner both made amazing contributions to the community.

What many didn’t know was that Keitha needed a little help of her own.

Her family said she’d made plans to leave her abusive marriage in the months before she died, and she’d even asked her brother, Darren Frank, to take care of her children if tragedy struck.

"Just wanted to support her that the day after Christmas that she was going to move and that she couldn’t take it. And she wanted to make sure the kids were safe," Darren Frank said

http://www.khou.com/home/Memorial-service-held-in-Rosenberg-for-slain-mother-daughter-80436042.html

Keitha Turner and her mother Betty Jo Frank will be remembered by friends and family:

"Albert James Turner Jr. was just added to the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted list about a week ago."

<snip>

"During the Regis and Kelly television show Friday morning, America's Most Wanted television host John Walsh made a guest appearance to promote his show's 1,000th episode scheduled to air Saturday night. A promo featuring Turner was shown during the interview with Walsh on the Regis and Kelly show.

According to Major Allen Overcash, viewers in Concord recognized Turner as someone they knew from contact with him here in Concord.

Police officers found Turner around 12:30 p.m. inside Carolina Mall in Concord. Police said he was cooperative and did not resist arrest."

http://www.digtriad.com/news/national_world/article.aspx?storyid=138473&catid=175

Video from Good Morning America:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/wanted-man-captured-10027598

From May 2011:

http://www.khou.com/story/news/2014/07/16/11489108/

A former Texas prison guard received a death sentence Tuesday for the 2009 slayings of his wife and mother-in-law.

A Fort Bend County jury deliberated for about four hours before condemning Albert James Turner, 46, for the stabbing deaths of wife Keitha Turner, 39, and mother-in-law Betty Joe Frank, 66, at Frank s suburban Houston home.

Click to expand...

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has taken the rare step of overturning the capital murder conviction of a death row inmate, granting Albert James Turner a new trial based on issues with his defense attorneys at his trial.

In a 7–1 decision Wednesday, the high court ruled that Turner had a constitutional right to attorneys who would represent his interests at trial. Their reasoning was based heavily on a May 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case, McCoy v. Louisiana, that ruled defendants have “the right to insist that counsel refrain from admitting guilt, even when counsel’s experience-based view is that confessing guilt offers the defendant the best chance to avoid the death penalty.”

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals grants new trial for death row inmate Albert James Turner