MONKS CORNER — In the latest twist in the 35-year-old cold case in the murder of Justin Turner, the lead detective admitted no new evidence led to the arrest of the victim's father and stepmother in January 2024, and the defense dropped a potentially explosive theory that a serial killer could be responsible for the 5-year-old's death.
Defense attorney Shaun Kent was poised to argue that the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office's decadeslong delay before taking Megan and Victor Turner into custody has prejudiced their right to a fair trial at a motion hearing before Circuit Judge Roger Young on March 14.
Not only did Kent lay out detail after detail about why the excessive delay could warrant the case being dismissed, but he alleged "tunnel vision" about the Turners' guilt caused detectives to attempt to influence experts, all the while a serial killer known for abducting, strangling and sexually assaulting children was docked in Charleston Harbor on March 3, 1989, the same day Justin went missing.
A clinic at the University of Virginia's School of Law is working on identifying and linking cold cases and wrongful conviction cases to a now-deceased serial killer who had no criminal record, according to a March 13 letter professor and director Deirdre Enright sent to Kent. He shared the letter with The Post and Courier.
The suspected serial killer, Richard Marc Evonitz, confessed to his sister that he had committed "more crimes than he could remember" shortly before he killed himself in 2002.
Evonitz has been linked to three abductions, rapes and murders of children who were abducted from their front yards, in broad daylight, just after being dropped off by their school buses, Enright said. He was known to use sex toys on his victims vaginally and anally.
Justin's killing has been on the clinic's radar for "some time now," due to the similarities in the crimes.
Justin's stepmother, Megan Turner, was the only person at home on March 3, 1989, the morning Justin went missing. She said she deviated from her morning routine and took a shower as Justin walked to the bus stop rather than watching him get on the bus as usual.
He was later reported missing. Justin's body was found shoved in a compartment in a camper parked on his parent's property. He had strangulation marks on his neck. His pants were pulled partially down, and there was evidence of penetration but no DNA evidence. Rumors have always swirled that the Turners could be responsible.
Megan Turner was previously arrested in late 1989 and charged with murder in Justin's death, but in November 1990, the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. A case was taken to the grand jury in 1992, but no indictment was returned.
She and her husband, Justin's biological father, were arrested on Jan. 10. But in a rare move for the judge in a homicide case, Young granted the elderly couple with health concerns $50,000 bonds on Feb. 7.
The possible child serial killer, Evonitz, traveled globally with the Navy and went on to become a traveling salesman, according to Enright. According to Naval records Enright received, his ship docked in Charleston the day Justin disappeared.
Enright does not yet know the time the ship docked. But she does know that Enright "drove obsessively and had a preference for rural and country settings," according to her letter to Kent. She also reported that he sometimes tried to frame others for his crimes.
This information "may raise reasonable doubts about your client's guilt," Enright wrote to Megan's defense attorney.
Either way, it still remains to be seen if the case against the Turners will make it to a jury. Young chose to take nearly three hours of testimony under advisement before making a decision.
Kent argued the 35-year delay alone is enough to warrant dismissal.
The South Carolina Court of Appeals decided in 2004 to overturn a man's convictions of criminal sexual conduct, citing an 12-year pre-indictment delay. The appellate court found the delay violated his right to due process. The Turners' Fifth Amendment rights to due process have been subjected to "undue prejudice" in the decades that have passed, Kent alleged.
More than 20 potential witnesses have since died or become medically incapacitated, he said. And other evidence has been destroyed, leaving the defense without the ability to perform its own tests, he argued during the February bond hearing.
And the arresting detective, John Plitsch, testified March 14 that the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office did not find new evidence to arrest the Turners, although the law enforcement agency touted new testing of evidence as the reason behind the widely discussed arrests in a January.
The basis for the arrests stemmed from "a new look at evidence," according to testimony. Tying the Turners to the murder weapon, theorized to be a dog leash, was key.
But a recording Kent played in court showed a forensic pathologist detectives consulted was not convinced the dog leash led to the child's death.
“The more I looked at it, I’m not sure,” the recording sounded. “You get to a certain point where you’re almost making castles out of clouds."
Plitsch said he paid the expert $8,000 and bought a dog collar, then the expert changed his tune, saying the dog collar and the leash together could potentially leave the same pattern of marking on the victim's neck.
“I applaud Berkeley County for trying to solve the case. But the problem is, when you get this emotionally involved in the case, you’re no longer trying to solve a case, you’re trying to prove your own,” Kent said. “All they have shown us is a level of bias that cannot be trusted.”
The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment, reemphasizing that the case is in the hands of the solicitor’s office now.
Deputy Solicitor Anne Williams declined to comment. And Justin's family has more questions.
"It's overwhelming," cousin Amy Parson told The Post and Courier. "I don’t care who did this. It does not matter to me if it was Megan or if it was Victor. I want the truth. That’s what I want."
