Updated: 34 years after Lexington murder, man’s family fights to keep women in prison
The family of a man who was fatally stabbed 34 years ago pleaded with two members of the Kentucky Parole Board to keep two women convicted in his death in prison.
Michael Turpin, 22, was stabbed 19 times in February of 1986 before his body was dumped in a pond at Lexington’s Lakeside Golf Course. His family begged Monday for the parole board to require the two women convicted in the murder to serve out the remainder of their life sentences without the future possibility of parole.
Elizabeth Zehnder Turpin, Michael Turpin’s wife, and Karen Brown — along with Keith Bouchard — were convicted in 1986 of murder in one of Lexington’s most closely watched murder cases. Prosecutors said at trial that Elizabeth Turpin had convinced Bouchard and Brown to kill her husband so that she could get $60,000 in life insurance money.
Tuesday morning, two members of the state parole board interviewed Elizabeth Turpin and decided to take her case back to the full parole board for a decision. The board could decide to give her parole, defer her case to another hearing at a later date or require her to serve out the entirety of her life sentence with no further opportunities for parole.
During Monday’s hearing, former Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Larson, who prosecuted the case at trial, told the parole board members that Turpin is one of the most manipulative women he’s ever come across and that they shouldn’t believe she’s changed just because she’s “trained three dogs” in prison.
“She manipulated Karen Brown and Keith Bouchard to be involved in this homicide, and she has not learned one lesson since she’s been incarcerated,” Larson said Monday.
Larson also alleged that Elizabeth Turpin had continued her manipulative tendencies in prison, where she was accused of trying to facilitate the assault of two people. A parole board member noted that the board was aware that Elizabeth Turpin continues to exhibit behaviors like the ones that put her in prison.
Former prosecutor warns about Elizabeth Turpin’s behavior
Larson said the jury in the case considered the death penalty because life without parole was not an option. He believes that all three of the people convicted in Michael Turpin’s death likely would’ve been given life without parole if it had been an option.
“The parole board and the laws that govern the parole board have left this family dangling in the wind, they have suffered, and it’s just disgusting,” Larson said. “Don’t let Elizabeth Turpin bullsh** you that she’s learned her lessons since she’s been in custody ... she’s doing the same thing in custody she did before she had her husband murdered.”
Retired Lexington Police Department detective Fran Root addressed the parole board members Monday, telling them that this case stood out among the more than 100 homicide cases he worked. The crime was carried out without any thought for Michael Turpin or his family, and Michael Turpin was a truly innocent victim, Root said.
“Mike is not here anymore, and they should not be out in society,” Root said of Elizabeth Turpin and Brown.
Michael Turpin’s father, brother and cousin were among those who addressed the parole board members during Monday’s hearing, which was held via Zoom because of COVID-19 precautions. Michael Turpin’s cousin, Rhonda Henzman, told the parole board members that the building would have been full of people wanting to speak on Michael Turpin’s behalf if the hearing could’ve been held in person.
Victim’s family attends 6 parole hearings to keep killers in prison
Don Turpin, Michael Turpin’s father, told the parole board members that he and his family have been showing up for years — to six hearings — to fight to keep his son’s killers in prison. Henzman asked that the parole board “just let this end” by requiring Brown and Elizabeth Turpin to serve out their life sentences without the further chance of parole.
“We are the victims here; we are the ones left to speak for Michael,” Henzman said.
Don Turpin also gave an emotional appeal to the parole board members, telling them that he remembers “standing in a pool of blood” and talking to Root after his son’s murder.
“We’ve had to live the last 35 years without a son, brother, grandson and friend to many,” Don Turpin said. “The only thing that makes it worse is living in fear that these killers may escape or be set free by a sympathetic board or even a governor’s pardon on his exit out the door with no accountability, as with the past governor.”
Tony Turpin, Michael Turpin’s younger brother, struggled to speak to the parole board members on Monday. But he was able to tell them that his brother’s death has caused emotional and physical trauma to his family over the last 35 years.
Tony Turpin said the families of Brown and Elizabeth Turpin can still visit them in prison, but he can only talk to his brother in a cemetery.
Elizabeth Turpin, who is now 54 years old, was 19 at the time of her husband’s death. The two had been married for less than a year.
Elizabeth Turpin met Karen Brown and Keith Bouchard, who are now 56 years old, at Superior Nissan, where they all worked. At the time, prosecutors alleged that Elizabeth Turpin and Karen Brown were in a romantic relationship, but Elizabeth Turpin told parole board members in 2011 that their relationship was never physical.
Bouchard has already been ordered by the parole board to serve out the entirety of his life sentence, and Michael Turpin’s family is asking the parole board to do the same for Elizabeth Turpin and Karen Brown.
On Tuesday a member of the parole board asked Elizabeth Turpin to tell her who Michael Turpin was, what his passions were. She answered that Michael Turpin was passionate about marching band, and that she met him while she was a “flag girl” in the University of Kentucky band when he played saxophone.
Victim’s wife says she’s changed, gotten off drugs in prison
She told the parole board members that the two fell for each other and they got engaged a few months into their relationship. But their relationship began to struggle.
“I was very immature, I was very selfish,” Elizabeth Turpin said during her hearing Tuesday. “He and I, during the time that we dated and the time we lived together and were married, we both drank alcohol, I drank alcohol to excess.”
After Elizabeth Turpin started working at Superior Nissan, she started looking for cocaine. She was directed to Brown, who then became part of her life, Elizabeth Turpin said.
At some point during their relationship, Brown told Elizabeth Turpin that she was in love with her. Elizabeth Turpin said she didn’t discourage Brown because she didn’t have other friends, and because Brown understood her lifestyle of excitement and drug use.
Turpin told the board members Tuesday that she has changed since her husband’s death, but one of the parole board members pointed out that she has exhibited manipulative behaviors since being in prison.
In particular, the board member referenced an instance where Turpin convinced her new husband, who she married while in prison, to send her money which she then used to try to have people assaulted. In another instance, Turpin convinced a teacher in the prison to look up information on three fellow inmates for her. That teacher was fired.
Elizabeth Turpin said that her actions in prison occurred because she was struggling with the loss of her mother and using drugs. She said she realized she needed help and sought it.
She’s been working on herself and has been in programs to help avoid drug use, she said.
If paroled, Elizabeth Turpin said she would move to Washington state with her current husband and train dogs.
Karen Brown was initially scheduled to face the two parole board members Tuesday morning, but because of “COVID related issues,” her hearing has been pushed back to Jan. 26. Brown was last up for parole in 2015 when she was deferred five years.
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 6:07 PM.
