SC SC - Justin Turner, 5, Moncks Corner, 5 March 1989

New Posts

New registrant, read all of these posts re: Justin Turner after seeing an article in the Charleston media related to the 29th anniversary of his death. Also read some of the articles in the Charleston media regarding the disappearance and death. Here is what jumped out at me after reading all of these posts and other media articles:

1) Both the father and step mom took lie detector tests, with the step mom failing numerous questions. Nowhere does it say the father failed.

2) In an article (linked below), the following was noted by the lead investigator at the time, Sidney Wrenn:

"According to Wrenn, the day before he went missing, Justin spoke on the phone to his mother, Elaine, as he did every night.
“He told his mother, ‘Moma, I’ve got something really important to tell you when you pick me up.’ Well, the stepmother took the phone out of his hand and wouldn’t let him talk anymore,” stated Wrenn.
Although never convicted in court and innocent until proven guilty, Wrenn believes the boy’s stepmother feared he was about to tell a secret she didn’t want out. The former investigator’s claims, however, were never fully substantiated."

http://www.berkeleyobserver.com/201...-justice-in-murder-meet-with-sheriffs-office/

3) The post directly above talks about another child seeing a dark-haired man. It couldn't have been the dad, as I'm sure investigators cleared his work alibi.

4) The father found the boy in the camper after two days of searching, when the camper had already supposedly been searched. Why would the father feel the need to search the camper again?

Unless the step mom was involved in something that the boy had found out about (affair, fraud, etc.). Could the step mom have conspired with someone else to abduct the child (the dark-haired man), who took him away from the scene? Then brought his body back later and placed in the camper? During the search, could someone (who knew the body was in the camper) had said to the dad on the day he was found, "Hey Vic, has the camper been searched? You know there are a lot of little spots in a camper someone could hide." Then the father takes it upon himself to search and finds the child's body. Might explain the father's positive lie detector test if he wasn't involved. And if the step mom was involved, she would have been able to notify her co conspirator the night before the body was found to bring it back and place in the camper?
 
Unfortunately, I do not believe this case will ever be solved. I do think that it was the stepmother who murdered Justin.
 
JWilsonSC said:
I came across this article in a web search.

http://www.goupstate.com/article/NC/19910119/News/605190722/SJ/

[FONT="][COLOR=#989898][FONT="]Posted Jan 19, 1991 at 12:01 AM[/FONT]
​
​
​
​



[/FONT][/COLOR]
[FONT="]murder
Associated Press
CHARLESTON - A Berkeley County boy may be a witness to the murder of Justin Lee Turner two years ago, authorities now say.
The boy, who was then 6, has told his mother and counselors that he saw a man wrap his hand around 5-year-old Justin’s mouth and pull him away to a waiting car.
He’s even drawn a picture of him. But days after Justin’s body was found in a pickup truck camper outside his house near Moncks Corner, on March 5, 1988, psychiatrists said the boy must have been imagining it. At the time, police dismissed his story without ever talking to him. Now, however, police believe the boy repre sents possibly the best chance they have of ever finding out who sexually assaulted Justin with a cylindrical object and strangled him with a small belt or pet leash. “The boy,” Berkeley County Sheriff Ray Isgett said, “is a key.” The boy has spoken only haltingly to his mother or counselors about what he says he saw. His mother said he was traumatized and is only now getting over his fear of going outside alone. Also, the mother said she fears for her son’s life. She has refused the release of their names because she’s concerned with his safety. She re ceived several anonymous phone threats after the murder, she said. “We think he was threatened by a man, but who we don’t know,” the mother said at an inter view at her house. Pamela Turner, Justin’s stepmother, said she was in the shower on March 3, 1988, a Friday, when Justin left the house to go to a neighbor’s to wait on the school bus. The bus was to take him to Whitesville Elementary School. He never got on the bus. More than 100 police, family and neighbors searched for Justin over the weekend. Berkeley County sheriff’s officers searched a blue pickup truck camper parked behind the Turners’ house. Monday morning, Justin’s body was found in side a storage cabinet underneath a seat in the camper. His pants had been pulled down about a third of the way. Justin’s murder shocked the Lowcountry, and residents worried there was a “raving lunatic” roaming about. Parents kept their children in side, and everyone waited for the sheriff’s depart ment to make an arrest. Sidney Wrenn, the chief investigator, focused his investigation on Mrs. Turner and her hus band, Victor, who both refused to take lie detec tor tests. A coroner’s jury would later recommend that Mrs. Turner be charged for the murder. She was arrested in December 1989, and indicted by a grand jury two months later. The family moved to the Upstate, and nine months after her indictment, prosecutors dropped the charge against her, saying they didn’t have enough evidence for a conviction. The boy said Justin walked out of his house and down his driveway toward a pine tree. A man suddenly stood up from behind a 4-foot pile of dirt about 50 feet away. Justin apparently knew the man, and ap proached him as if he’d been called to come over. Justin did, and the man “put his hand over Justin’s mouth and pulled him off,” according to the boy. He took Justin to a waiting dull-grey compact car. The boy describes the man as having black hair, with a partially “spiked” haircut. He is shorter than 6′2″ and heavier than 150 pounds, the boy said. The mother firmly believes her son saw the murderer. “He’s not forgotten one thing that he’s told us,” she said. “His story has never changed. Not one bit of it.” When he mentioned what he saw, “he’d just go stiff and wouldn’t say anything more. He knew the importance of what he saw, but was afraid of the other person,” she said. The boy first mentioned what he saw the same day that Justin’s body was found. The boy was taken by his family to Medical University Hospital, where three psychiatrists interviewed him for at least an hour. Two be lieved the boy made up the story, according to former sheriff’s detective Sidney Wrenn, who would not name the psychiatrists. Wrenn said the psychiatrists believed the boy had been watching news reports and was “totally confused” by what happened. Still, police searched for a man who fit the description given by the boy, “but could never find anyone, except one person, but he was to tally eliminated,” Wrenn said. After that, nothing was done about what the boy said he saw. “This was not overlooked and passed up, it was just that the child’s welfare came into play,” for mer sheriff’s Lt. Jim Preacher said. “The reason we didn’t pursue the lead with the child at that time was because of (his) emotional trauma.” But after talking to a child psychiatrist who later counseled the boy, Preacher said he believes the boy did see something. The counselor said the boy’s family and authori ties have to balance the boy’s emotional welfare and what he may be able to contribute to the investigation. “I didn’t hear or experience anything from this child that indicated he was making it up. Some thing has emotionally traumatized him, and he very well could have been threatened - or feels threatened,” she said. All those interviewed believe the boy could not stand up to fierce cross-examination in a courtroom. JTURNE.R
[/FONT]
Click to expand...

Well, I would discount this article based on an incorrect date as to when Justin was murdered. It was 1989 -- not 1988, as the article incorrectly states. If the most basic fact can't be accurately reported, what good is the article?
 
In another interview Wrenn the original lead investigator mentioned the boy as well and that he thought that the boy was not reliable enough to be taken seriously. He said they didn't want to come right out and say that the boy was telling "lies" but they thought he had been mixed up by the news reports. The boy first reported seeing the man the day that Justin's body was found and not during the previous two days when there had been people out looking for him.

That said yes it's really damn annoying when they screw up basic facts that would have taken less then a minute to look into.
 
Unsolved killing of 5-year-old boy in 1989 the focus for Berkeley County cold case team
https://www.postandcourier.com/news...cle_045ef8da-278b-11e8-91cb-9bc0317ee479.html
In the final hours of his short life, 5-year-old Justin Turner ate a bowl of cinnamon crunch cereal and got dressed for kindergarten.

The day was March 3, 1989, and Justin was expected to walk to a neighbor's house, where he would catch the bus in his rural neighborhood near Moncks Corner.

But Justin never arrived at the neighbor's that morning, and he didn’t show up for school. Relatives and authorities combed the area for the sweet, blond-haired boy described as a friendly child who wasn’t known to wander off.

[...]

Nearly three decades later, the unsolved homicide is at the forefront of efforts by a Berkeley County sheriff's cold case team. It's one of nine cold cases getting a fresh look from one full-time investigator and two volunteers. They hope advancements in technology can provide long-awaited answers in several death investigations and missing-person cases dating to the late-1980s.

On the team is Rita Shuler, a Johns Island resident and retired forensic photographer for the State Law Enforcement Division. She knows from experience that cracking a stale case takes diligence and patience; she helped solve a Walterboro slaying after 37 years, using fingerprints and a small bit of DNA. Her contacts at SLED have helped unearth old information and photos in Justin's case.

[...]

(Long and detailed article)
 
MsFacetious said:
It is possible it was a parent/stepparent accidentally killing him. They just may have been smarter than the average parent or stepparent.

In March of 1989 I was not even in Kindergarten yet. So maybe someone else can help me out, were sex crimes against children publicized then? I can think of the few huge notorious cases which were in the late 80's to early 90's or earlier. The Atlanta Child Murders...

Was there enough information out there that it would occur to someone that a child who was sexually assaulted would appear to have NOT been killed by a woman or step mother? That could have been an afterthought, to disguise who the killer was and make it appear to be someone else.

A coke bottle is quite consistent with a female... though of course a male could have reasons for choosing that as well.

Would a family member have had a chance to put his body in the trailer? I'm picturing current cases where the parents are gone for the first couple of days... being questioned, never left alone, etc.

Where would he have been kept until his body was put in the trailer?

Putting him in the trailer seems like a really stupid move for anyone who lives on that property.... and a smart move for anyone who does not. To avoid being connected to the murder and plant the idea that it was a family member.

I cannot believe they didn't preserve all the evidence.... that drives me crazy. I wonder if that means there was DNA but it wasn't kept since they couldn't do anything with it at the time.
Click to expand...

Could have frozen Justin in a freezer.
 
CMac2 said:
Bumping for little Justin. I know it's been awhile!

Does anyone know what prompted LE to search the camper a second time?
Click to expand...

RohrbachJL said:
Does anyone know what prompted LE to search the camper a second time?


First time posting here, I think. LOL. Been a long long time lurker. I thought the body was actually found by his father?
Click to expand...

Ausgirl said:
It's said his body was notably colder than it should have been. Could he have been stuffed in a freezer somewhere prior to being found? 'Cause that kind of says to me it was most probably a close neighbour or family member. Though I agree with the poster above who said it'd be pretty stupid of a family member to hide his body so close to the house. If the SM was smart enough to fake sexual assault, I think she could've been smart enough to drive his body off the property a ways. I'd be looking at neighbours' households, or maybe itinerant workers like fruit pickers if any, someone staying at a place closeby, that sort of thing.

Is March really cold that time of year in that part of the country?
Click to expand...

KariKae said:
Did Justin live with his dad and step mom full time? Do you know how custody was arranged? Did Dad and SM have any children together?
Click to expand...

SyraKelly said:
We do know he never made it to the bus stop that morning and it was his father who found him!
Click to expand...

KariKae said:
That is really suspicous...
Click to expand...

MsFacetious said:
justinturner.jpg


http://www.journalscene.com/news/Who-killed-Justin-Turner-2011-03-01T11-25-13

For Elaine Pace, Justin Turner’s mother, March 5, 1989 marked the beginning of a nightmare that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

That was the day the body of her five-year-old son was found in a storage compartment inside a camper located just outside the mobile home where he lived with his father and stepmother.

“Elaine worked on trying to find out what happened to her son until the day she died,” said her husband, Russell Pace. “She was constantly on the phone with investigators seeing if they had any new information."

“She never let it go.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCSO Sheriff Wayne DeWitt confirmed Pace’s assertion.

“The mother called every day,” said DeWitt, who was a chief deputy with the BCSO at the time of Turner’s murder.

"But we never heard one word from the father (Victor Turner).
Not once has he called over the past 22 years to inquire about his son’s murder or where we were in the investigation.”

http://www.berkeleyind.com/news/Questions-swirl-around-1989-murder
Click to expand...
I got a feeling that the step and bio dad did something to Justin
 
Wish there was an autopsy report to view on this. Feels like there is the possibility that this is a "Jonbenet Style Cover-up." We need to remember that this was his step-mother and not his biological mom. I can imagine she wasn't interested in raising a child or just had a rage problem that got out of control. She strangles him in a rage and then uses the presumed "coke bottle" to give the appearance of a sexual motivated crime. Being a female, perhaps she thinks that this will keep her from being considered a suspect. Maybe he wasn't getting ready for school fast enough. Maybe she just wanted to take a shower and he was being difficult. It was most likely over the stupidest thing.

The dad comes home and she tells him what happened. He chose to help her cover it up for whatever reason. With no real evidence, both parties are set free.

However, it only takes one good tip to change everything in this case. After all, someone ALWAYS knows........
 
From the article posted above by SouthernMom, this part has always stood out to me :

He had a clump of animal hair clutched in his hands, the report said.
Click to expand...

Was it pet hair ? Livestock ?

Not sure, but I doubt DNA evidence (animal) was in play back in 89. Still, I've always felt like that little piece of evidence could be telling. I could be wrong, though.

I hope the person responsible is someday brought to justice. You are not forgotten, Justin.
 
I am so glad to know that others haven’t forgotten this little boy. I left moncks corner after graduation in 1994 and have moved all over the world but never forgot this case.

I liver less than 2 miles from justin and saw him occasionally at the store that was on 17a...I think it was called Big A. I was pretty young but I recall then that the adults who went to that store and knew of his family had suspicions that the lil boy was mistreated and from what I recall no one liked the step mother and didn’t think much of the father either (folks said he was afraid of his wife) I think folks felt he allowed her to mistreat his son. The few times I saw him he wasn’t well kept like other children.

When the news came out that he was missing and then had been murdered, I do recall the adults saying the step mother should be looked into. Also I may have missed this in a prior post but I also recall one of my parents’ friends who volunteered with the fire dept had said it was believed the child was molester with a broom handle.

I have never forgotten this case and would love for it to be solved. Justin was so cute and seemed like a shy lil boy but not quite the normal sort of shy. Certainly wasn’t wild like the rest of us children.

Two cases growing up that I never forgot about is justin and cricket from ladson (thankfully that one has been solved).

As many have said already I too believe it was someone in the family and just based on gossip I heard among adults even before he was murdered I think it was the mother. The last time I saw him he came into give money to the cashier at Big A (I think his family was getting gas) and less than a month later he was dead.

Nice to know he has not been forgotten.
 
Also above someone asked if it was particularly cold that year in South Carolina and to my memory it wasn’t. My friends and I use to ride scooters and 3 wheelers around the area and went to the lil store near his house often. To my memory it wasn’t unusually cold.

I could be wrong but I also thought there were other siblings but were hers. I recall seeing one or two other children occasionally and thought someone had said they were hers but it’s been long ago. I’ll check with my mom on that she may remember. But the step mom wasn’t liked and the adults saw her as more of a slob and not that nice.
 
The DNA in this case will most likely be the reason it gts solved , but the entire story from the parent(s) are suspect IMO
 
How about the boy who saw justin leave home and a man approach the boy and put his hand over Justin's mouth and put him in a vehicle... I wonder why they didn't give this other child more attention??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 75 more.
Total: 4,286 (members: 76, guests: 4,210)

Online statistics

Members online
76
Guests online
4,210
Total visitors
4,286
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,490
Messages
17,969,740
Members
228,789
Latest member
Soccergirl500
Back
Top