A man seen crying on camera after finding his five-year-old son's body in 1989 has now been charged with murder 34 years later.
Victor Lee Turner, 69, and Megan R. Turner, 63, have been charged with murder in the death of 5-year-old Justin Turner, Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday.
Investigators have long believed that a 5-year-old South Carolina boy found strangled in 1989 was killed by his father, Victor, and stepmother, Megan.
But it took 34 years of scientific advances to link the microscopic fibers found on the boy's shirt to a ligature that investigators found in the couple's home, a sheriff said.
The boy's body was found in a closet in a mobile home behind the Turner home in March 1989.
“My boy’s in there,” Victor said after finding the body and exiting the RV.
Victor Lee Turner (pictured left), a man seen crying on camera after finding his five-year-old son's body in 1989, was charged with murder 34 years later. His wife, Megan R. Turner (pictured right), has also been charged with murder in connection with the boy's death
The Turners are charged with murder in connection with the death of five-year-old Justin Turner
Victor cries after finding Justin Tuner's remains in a mobile home on their property in South Carolina in 1989
Investigators immediately assumed the killing scene was staged and caught the couple in lies, including that he had gotten on the school bus the morning of his disappearance, Lewis said.
Megan Turner was charged with murder shortly after the boy's death, but prosecutors dropped the charges on the condition that they could refile the charges if more evidence emerged.
Scientific advances combined with evidence collected in 1989 provided the impetus needed, the sheriff said.
Tiny fibers from a ligature that investigators found in the home shortly after the boy's disappearance matched those found on the boy's shirt, sheriff's deputies said in the warrants.
“This allowed us to tie the murder weapon, which we believe was used to strangle Justin at the time of his death, to his clothing and the fabric of his clothing,” Lewis said.
Investigators had suspected the Turners from the start, not only because of the ligature but also because of the couple's behavior.
Another possible piece of evidence was that an autopsy found that food from a dinner the family had eaten the night before Justin was reported missing was only partially digested.
Investigators said it emerged the boy was killed shortly after eating. The couple said the last time they saw Justin alive was the next morning as they were getting him ready for school – sparking a search for the boy.
Victor Turner, seen in archive footage from 1989, burst into tears upon discovering his son's body
A picture of victim Justin Lee Turner is shown during a news conference Wednesday in Moncks Corner, South Carolina
The child's body was found two days after he was reported missing.
Just as a large-scale search began, Victor Turner entered the trailer while a television camera was filming him. Seconds later, he said he found the body in the many closets and drawers in the RV, officials said.
According to the statement, Turner did not check to see if the boy was still alive, but backed down and said someone had hurt him.
“He looked dead. I could sense that something was wrong with him. “I didn’t touch him,” Turner later told investigators.
Before the body was discovered, a witness said Turner asked a police officer what might happen to a family member who had harmed the boy, officials said.
Deputies said the couple did not have lawyers. They are being held without bail in the Berkeley County Jail after being arrested at their home in Laurens County, about a three-hour drive away.
Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis announces the arrest of the father and stepmother of a 5-year-old boy killed in 1989
Pictures of Victor Lee Turner, 69, and Pamlea K. Turner, aka Megan Renee Turner, are shown during a press conference
The sheriff said officers gave them plenty of time to talk during the drive after reading them their rights, but they chose not to.
“I never received a single phone call – a single phone call – from his father or his stepmother. “What are you all doing about my son's death?” Not one. What does that tell you?' Lewis said.
Several of the boy's family members were present at the news conference, including Amy Parsons, who was eight years old when her cousin died.
She said while many of her relatives mourned and cried and called for justice – including the boy's now-deceased mother – the Turners moved away and cut ties.
“Get these two people where they should be because they’ve been traveling for 34 years,” Parsons said. “They had freedom for 34 years while our family suffered.”