Chester Turner

Overview

Chester Dewayne Turner was born November 5, 1966 in Warren, Arkansas. He became a convicted serial killer described by prosecutors as possibly Los Angeles’ most prolific serial killer.

Turner was charged with the murders of 10 women in Los Angeles. On April 30, 2007, a jury convicted him of murdering 10 women and one victim’s unborn fetus. The jury also found him guilty of the special circumstances of multiple murder and murder committed during rape. He was sentenced to death on July 10, 2007.

Background

Turner moved to Los Angeles with his mother when he was five years old after his parents separated. He attended public schools in Los Angeles but dropped out of high school.

As a young man, Turner worked for Domino’s Pizza as a cook and delivery person. After his mother moved to Utah, he moved around to different homeless shelters and missions.

Turner was jailed seven times from 1995 to 2002. Six of the jailings were for nonviolent offenses. One jail record involved an assault charge on an officer on April 9, 1997.

Detectives described Turner as having a criminal record primarily of minor drug offenses and a single rape. Prosecutors and police described his pattern of movement during the killings as bouncing between prison, skid row missions, girlfriends’ apartments, and the home of his mother and grandfather.

Turner was serving an eight-year prison sentence for a 2002 rape conviction when he entered pleas and when he was later linked to the serial killings through DNA.

The offence

Turner was connected through DNA to killings in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1998.

Locations and victim corridor

Eleven murders took place in a four-block-wide corridor on either side of Figueroa Street between Gage Avenue and 108th Street. Two murders occurred outside of that corridor within Los Angeles County.

The murders were described as occurring mostly in a 30-block stretch of motels and apartments along the Figueroa corridor next to the Harbor Freeway. The area was described as notorious for prostitution, drug crime and violence.

Unborn fetus death

The jury convicted Turner in the death of one victim’s unborn child. Turner was convicted of murdering Regina Washington’s unborn daughter. Turner was also convicted in the murder of 10 women.

Investigation

Murders attributed to Turner Investigators connected Turner, through DNA evidence, to 13 murders that occurred in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1998.

At the time DNA technology was applied to evidence from the killings, Turner’s DNA was required and later used in matches. After Turner’s conviction in the rape case, he was required to give a DNA sample to California’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). In September 2003, based on that sample, Turner was identified as a match for DNA recovered from Paula Vance and Beasley.

Detectives then re-examined other murders for matches using DNA evidence, including murders that had previously been “solved” under another suspect.

DNA and victim list linked through DNA

Nine of the 11 unsolved murders were matched to Turner using DNA evidence. Those victims were:

• Diane Johnson, 21, found partially nude and strangled in March 1987 in a roadway construction area west of the Harbor Freeway.
• Annette Ernest, 26, found lying on a shoulder of a road in October 1987, partially nude and strangled.
• Anita Fishman, 31, strangled and left partially nude outside a garage in an alley off Figueroa Street in January 1989.
• Regina Washington, 27, found partially nude and strangled inside a garage off Figueroa Street in September 1989; Washington was six months pregnant. The death of the fetus was attributed to the strangulation of the mother and it was ruled a homicide.
• Andrea Tripplett, 29, strangled and found partially nude behind a vacant building on Figueroa Street in April 1993.
• Desarae Jones, 29, found strangled next to a vacant residence in May 1993.
• Natalie Price, 31, found partially nude and strangled next to a vacant residence in February 1995.
• Mildred Beasley, 45, found partially nude and strangled; she was left amongst the bushes alongside the 110 Fwy in November 1996.

Murder outside the main corridor: Paula Vance

Paula Vance, 24, was found in the business, Olympia Tool, in Azusa. The Vance murder involved DNA recovered from the crime scene. Turner was later linked to Vance by DNA analysis.

Murder outside the main corridor: Brenda Bries

Brenda Bries, 39, was found strangled in a portable toilet near Little Tokyo. The Bries murder was included among those linked by DNA evidence.

Video evidence

A security camera recorded the murder of Paula Vance. The video was described as grainy, and it was reported to show Vance being thrown to the ground, then showing a man walking away after about 15 minutes.

Earlier “solved” cases and wrongly convicted David Allen Jones

During the investigation, detectives reviewed similar solved cases and found that David Allen Jones, 28, had been convicted of three murders in the same area where Turner was known to be operating:

• Tammie Christmas, found strangled in September 1992 at the 97th Street Elementary School.
• Debra Williams, found lying at the bottom of a stairwell that led to a campus boiler room in November 1992.
• Mary Edwards, 42, found inside a carport next to the 97th Street Elementary School in December 1992.

Jones was described as a mentally disabled part-time janitor who was barely literate. Jones had been questioned without an attorney and admitted using drugs with the victims in the areas where their bodies were found.

Detectives revisited these “solved” murders and re-evaluated physical evidence. They found Jones’ 1995 trial relied upon other evidence, including Jones’ coerced statements to police, instead of DNA technology. At detectives’ request, the LAPD Crime Laboratory processed available evidence using the latest DNA applications.

It was discovered Turner was responsible for two of the murders for which Jones had been convicted—those of Williams and Edwards. Although DNA analysis could not be used to reinvestigate the Christmas murder, prosecutors and police were confident that Jones was innocent of the Christmas murder and that Turner was the likely culprit.

Jones was released from prison in March 2004. He had also been convicted of a rape unrelated to the murders, served his sentence for the 2000 rape conviction, and was exonerated as a murderer after new investigations found blood-typing evidence did not match the blood types found at the crimes for which he spent 11 years in prison. Jones filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and was awarded $720,000 in compensation.

Arrest and pretrial developments

Turner was in state prison for a rape conviction when he pleaded not guilty to charges in 10 of the 12 strangulation killings. Prosecutors stated they had not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Turner agreed to submit a DNA sample as part of a no-contest plea to the unrelated rape charge in 2002. A detective allegedly found it matched evidence found in two murders and began looking for more.

Trial

Preliminary hearing and arraignment

A preliminary hearing was held in Los Angeles County Superior Court before Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders. The judge ruled there was sufficient cause to believe Chester D. Turner committed the slayings occurring from 1987 to 1998.

At the preliminary hearing, the court heard that Turner’s DNA was matched to evidence from the bodies of all the victims. Carl Matthies of the police department’s scientific investigations division stated the likelihood of the genetic profile belonging to someone other than Turner was one in one-quintillion.

Defense attorney John Tyre made the following statement in relation to DNA evidence: John Tyre said: "If it is his DNA it indicates he had sex with these women some time prior to them dying"

Deputy medical examiner Lisa Scheinin testified that all 10 women were strangled, nine had cocaine in their systems, and one was more than six months pregnant while one was between four and five months pregnant.

Prosecutors also presented a grainy videotape of a man killing a woman in a downtown parking structure. The proceeding ordered Turner to stand trial and set an arraignment date for November 15.

At another preliminary hearing stage, it was reported that Turner had pleaded not guilty and that prosecutors were still deciding whether to seek the death penalty. It was also reported that Turner was accused of multiple murder and murder committed during a rape, and that all of the victims were raped and strangled.

Plea of not guilty and amended charges related to the fetus

Turner pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered 10 Los Angeles women and a victim’s fetus during an 11-year rampage beginning in 1987.

Prosecutors added an extra murder charge for the death of the fetus of Regina Washington, killed in September 1989. The charges were amended based on testimony at Turner’s preliminary hearing that Washington’s 6 1/2-month fetus was viable at the time of her death.

Count of victims and special circumstances

In the trial and pretrial proceedings, Turner was accused of killing 10 women and the fetus of one victim. The trial record described the special circumstances of multiple murder and murder committed during rape.

Trial jury and verdict

On April 30, 2007, Turner was convicted of murdering 10 women and one victim’s unborn fetus in the 1980s and 1990s.

The jury deliberated since April 26. The jury was described as a six-man, six-woman jury.

Turner did not appear to react as the jury’s verdicts were read. The penalty phase was scheduled to begin Wednesday after the verdict.

Named victims in the conviction

The trial and reporting listed the convicted victims as:

• Diane Johnson, 21
• Annette Ernest, 26
• Anita Fishman, 31
• Regina Washington, 27
• Mildred Beasley, 45
• Andrea Tripplett, 29
• Desarae Jones, 29
• Natalie Price, 31
• Brenda Bries, 37
• Paula Vance, 31

Sentencing

Turner was sentenced to death on July 10, 2007.

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

The jury convicted Turner on April 30, 2007 of murdering 10 women and one victim’s unborn fetus.

Aftermath

Robert Williams, 50, was described as the brother of victim Mildred Beasely, 45, and was present among the relatives who were at court for short notice of the verdict. He said: "It feels so good" "I've spent nine years waiting. This is the happiest day in a long time. There's a little bit of closure. Justice has been served."

David Allen Jones was released from prison in March 2004 and received $720,000 in compensation after exoneration.

Other details

Turner’s rape conviction and DNA linkage

Turner was serving an eight-year prison sentence in an unrelated rape case when the serial-murder charges proceeded. It was reported that Turner’s DNA in that rape case linked him to the serial killings spanning from 1987 to 1998.

A deputy prosecutor and detective context included that prosecutors had not decided whether to seek the death penalty. Defense challenged DNA evidence, including issues about the proper maintenance of DNA evidence used for testing and storage and analysis.

Turner’s age references in different proceedings

Turner was described as 38 in preliminary hearing reporting and 39 in other reporting, and 40 at the April 30, 2007 conviction report.