Tuesday, March 18, 2014

 
News 2 has learned that the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department is working on a new lead in perhaps the county's most infamous unsolved crime.
Five year old Justin Lee Turner was discovered murdered and sexually assaulted 25 years ago this month.
Turner never showed up to get on his school bus at his Horseshoe Drive home near Moncks Corner on March 3, 1989. When he didn't come home from Whitesville Elementary that afternoon, he was reported missing.

His body was found a couple of days later in a camper. Turner had been strangled and sexually assaulted.

Nobody has ever been charged and convicted in his death.
Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne Dewitt says there is new information. "We consider it a cold case, but not closed. As a matter fact we got a Crimestoppers tip on it I was shown just the other day."
Sheriff Dewitt says this tip came in within the last week or so. He said this tip was more specific than others they may receive. "This specific tip actually gave a name of the person. So we're trying to locate him. To see who the person is to see if the person exists."
We spoke with Sidney Wrenn of Wrenn Bail Bonds and Investigations. "The Justin Turner case is one that will never leave my mind. Because it was an investigation that everybody was interested in."
Wrenn was the lead investigator at the sheriff's office at the time of Justin's death. "We found the body (and) there wasn't any doubt in my mind that somebody close by knew what happened to him."
There are multiple theories about what happened. Justin's stepmother was charged with his death after the coroner held an inquest, but that charge was later dropped due to lack of evidence. The stepmother later changed her name and moved to the upstate.

A News and Courier article from 1991 headlined, "Sheriff calls boy key to Justin Turner case" details how a six year old boy says he saw a man wrap his hand around Turner's mouth before taking him away the day he went missing.

We asked Wrenn about the new tip that was called in to Crimestoppers. He is confident he knows what happened. "Any tips that would vary from the original investigation, I would have a hard time believing that tip was true."

Sheriff Dewitt says his department is in investigating the tip and doing what it can to hopefully one day get a conviction. "That is a case that is on a lot of people's minds. We'd love to be able to bring it to an end."
If you have any additional information on what happened to Justin, call Crimestoppers at 554-1111.
There is a Justice for Justin Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JusticeForJustinLeeTurner

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