11/11/2022
A former Playboy model accused of killing a 71-year-old psychiatrist who police say was helping pay her bills, pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge this week in his Las Vegas beating death.
Kelsey Turner, 29, was arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the April 2019 death of Thomas Burchard of Salinas, California, Clark County District Court records show.
Turner entered an Alford plea Wednesday, court records show. Under a deal reached between attorneys in the case, Turner is maintaining her innocence but pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge.
Las Vegas police said Burchard traveled from California to Las Vegas, where Turner lived at the time, to end their two-year relationship in which he apparently gave her an allowance to fund her lifestyle which included paying her rent, The Californian, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
Burchard was later found dead in the trunk of an abandoned Mercedes Benz, the outlet reported. Burchard died of blunt force trauma to the head, according to police, who found the car on a desert road near Lake Mead after Burchard’s long-time girlfriend reported him missing.
According to a warrant, Burchard’s longtime girlfriend, Judy Earp, believed Turner could be involved., Earp told The Californian her boyfriend had given the younger woman at least $300,000 over the past two years.
Earp said she had not met the model personally but said Burchard had known Turner for two years, during which time he’d given her at least $300,000.
“He was always helping people,” Earp said. “Anybody with a sad story, you know. Some people took advantage of that.”
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