Struggling Playboy Model Ordered Boyfriend to Kill 'Sugar Daddy' After He Refused to Pay Her
A struggling model murdered a child psychologist from California because he wanted to break ties with her, the killer's roommate claimed.
Dr. Thomas Burchard from California was murdered by Kelsey Turner, a Playboy model, and her boyfriend in 2019 because he refused to finance her living expenses, Oxygen reported.
Diana Peña, Turner’s roommate, claims that she tried to get Burchard to safety, but was intimidated into silence by the pair, Oxygen reported.
Police and prosecutors stated that Burchard, 71, and Turner, 25, had an "intimate relationship," CBS News reported. Burchard used to pay the model's home rent, where she lived with her boyfriend Jon Logan Kennison, and Peña.
Judy Earp, Burchard's longtime girlfriend, accused Turner of forging the victim's signature and stealing money from him and claimed that Turner lured the child psychologist into coming to Las Vegas by lying that she was sick and unable to take care of her son, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Earp, in an interview, shared that Turner had stolen almost $300,000 from Burchard after she became aware that he planned to cut her off, CBS News reported.
"She printed on her home computer checks with Tom's name and account number, and her address. She also went online and made many charges paying her bills," Earp said to the court, CBS News reported. "His last words to me were, 'She's such a pervasive liar that I had to see for myself.'"
A man discovered Burchard's body in an abandoned Mercedes Benz car out in the Las Vegas desert on March 7, 2019, and informed police, Oxygen reported. Police found a credit card affiliated with Burchard near the dead body along with blood, latex gloves, and a baseball bat. Soon, the body was identified as that of the child psychologist.
Earp had already reported Burchard missing after being unable to contact him and informed police that he went to Las Vegas to meet Turner, Oxygen reported. Turner along with her roommates were nowhere to be found.
Investigators found blood in Turner's house and also found evidence that indicated that there had been attempts to clean the home.
Earp claimed that to keep Burchard as her benefactor, Turner was accusing him of meaningless allegations, Oxygen reported. "She was threatening him. Accusing him of child pornography. Totally unfounded and absolutely untrue," Earp said. "But if you can imagine a man that his whole life has been a children psychologist, how devastating just those accusations would be."
Earp reiterated that there was no truth to these accusations, but if they were leaked to the public, it would have caused major harm to Burchard's hard-earned reputation, Oxygen reported. No evidence of child pornography was ever found in Burchard's belongings.
On April 13, Peña was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and open murder with the use of a deadly weapon, KSBW reported.
Turner was taken into custody from Salinas and Kennison followed suit and was apprehended in Las Vegas, CBS News reported.
The fingerprints taken from the Mercedes in which the victim's body was found matched with Peña and Kennison, Oxygen reported.
Pena confessed everything to investigators, Oxygen reported. She shared that the situation allegedly escalated when all four of them, the killers and the victim were sitting in a car, and Turner read some messages in Burchard's phone.
The messages apparently were between the victim and Turner's mother talking about taking the model's son away from her. “She was kicking him — hitting him — screaming at him,” Peña said. "Kelsey was really upset. She said that Dr. Burchard had betrayed her."
Peña claimed that after some time Turner ordered Kennison to "knock Dr. Burchard out," Oxygen reported. Kennison allegedly broke into Burchard's room and started beating him with a bat.
Pena reportedly broke up the fight and wanted to take the victim to the hospital, but the couple refused. The following day, she apparently convinced her roommates, and all three of them put the psychologist in the car.
Pena shared that she allegedly heard Turner again telling Kennison to beat Burchard while walking back to the house, Oxygen reported. "So, I came running down the stairs and told her to stop… I was like, 'Is everything OK?' And she was like, 'He’s dead,'" Peña said.
"I was pretty scared. And just not sure what to do. Kennison had a gun that was covered in blood. Kelsey told me that was what he used to beat the doctor’s face," Peña said, the outlet reported.
Pena claimed that Kennison disposed of the car and body in the Las Vegas Desert, Oxygen reported. She pled guilty to being an accessory to murder and was sentenced to three years of probation.
In July 2022, Kennison pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy, and was sentenced to 18 to 45 years, ABC News reported.
Turner pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the killing, and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"No matter what Dr. Burchard’s motivations were for trying to help a single mom in need, it’s just terrible that someone who had helped so many people in his life and seemed to only try to help people in his life, ended up paying the ultimate price for it," said reporter Kelsey McFarland, Oxygen reported.