Wednesday, 9 Oct 2024

Colorado mom accused of killing daughter faces new charges for contacting surviving daughter

A Colorado mother who is accused of murdering her 7-year-old daughter by pretending the girl was terminally ill now faces new charges of violating a protection order, according to court records.

Kelly Turner, 42, was charged last week with three misdemeanors for contacting and for trying to contact one of her children from jail, according to an affidavit filed by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department. A protection order on the case prohibits such contact.

Turner is being held in jail while she awaits trial on a first-degree murder charge in the 2017 death of her daughter, Olivia Gant.

Turner for years portrayed Olivia as very sick, posting on an online blog about her daughter’s constant health struggles, soliciting donations for health care costs and, toward the end of Olivia’s life, enlisting various agencies and well-meaning people to help Olivia finish a bucket list of adventures before she died, like becoming a firefighter for a day or riding along with Denver police.

Turner convinced numerous doctors to treat Olivia, and the girl died in hospice care after Turner had her feeding tube removed. Authorities became suspicious of Turner more than a year after Olivia’s death, when Turner brought another daughter to doctors and claimed she too was very sick.

The prosecution alleges that Olivia was not terminally ill, and that she could have lived but for her mother’s actions, which included giving her medications she did not need and lying about her condition.

Turner is facing the additional misdemeanor charges after a deputy at the Douglas County Justice Center saw she was trying to mail a letter to one of her children, according to the affidavit. When questioned, Turner said she’d been writing a weekly letter and talking to the girl twice a week for a year, despite the protection order.

Turner believed the order had been lifted or amended to allow the contact, according to the affidavit.

In a short phone call in March that was recorded by the jail, the person Turner called handed the phone to the girl, and she and Turner had a brief conversation.

The conversation was friendly and seemed consensual, according to the affidavit.

Turner is scheduled for an August jury trial in the first-degree murder case. She is due back in court May 5 for a hearing.

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