Sarah Turney became a viral sensation when she posted suspicions on social media that her dad killed her sister, Alissa. Now Sarah gives unprecedented access to the continuation of her story, including a recently unearthed trove of home videos, as she re-examines her and Alissa’s childhood and makes chilling discoveries, breaking through years of manipulation to reconstruct the truth of the past and be free of her father’s influence.
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00:00:00♪♪
00:00:07♪♪
00:00:10Are we having fun yet?
00:00:12I don't feel quite sick that much anymore.
00:00:14Well, good.
00:00:15Is that me because you're closer to Disneyland?
00:00:18There's Alyssa.
00:00:20Smiling and happy? Yes.
00:00:22Did you look down, Alyssa?
00:00:24Yes, I did.
00:00:25Growing up, my dad always had the film recorder
00:00:28in his hand 24-7,
00:00:29trying to capture all of our memories.
00:00:32♪♪
00:00:35I think the happiest parts of my childhood
00:00:37were going to Disneyland with my family.
00:00:40I love being there.
00:00:41It always makes me think of Alyssa.
00:00:43We have it on tape. Alyssa can read.
00:00:45We looked like a happy family.
00:00:47Why don't you go have a treat later?
00:00:49Hell of a ride.
00:00:51♪♪
00:00:56But this happy time is shrouded in darkness.
00:01:02On the last day of her junior year,
00:01:06Alyssa went missing,
00:01:08and that changed everything.
00:01:10My dad told me that Alyssa had run away.
00:01:14I was in shock.
00:01:16I felt so much guilt.
00:01:18I blamed myself.
00:01:21But because I was so young,
00:01:24it's hard to rely on my own memory.
00:01:27So I had to go back
00:01:29and try to piece together the truth.
00:01:32Alyssa, do not leave the building whatsoever.
00:01:35Searching for the truth, I was frustrated.
00:01:38I wanted to tell Alyssa's story.
00:01:40In this episode...
00:01:41And that's when I found podcasting and TikTok,
00:01:43and I start to put together the pieces.
00:01:46You got me in trouble, Dad.
00:01:48Nobody's heard from Alyssa.
00:01:49I'm trying to meet you in the middle here, Dad.
00:01:51You've destroyed your own family.
00:01:53When I start to uncover more facts about my own life
00:01:56that I never knew,
00:01:59it starts to make me question everything.
00:02:03♪♪
00:02:11♪♪
00:02:19♪♪
00:02:24The day Alyssa disappeared,
00:02:26it was her last day of junior year
00:02:28and my last day of seventh grade.
00:02:30It was a great day for me.
00:02:32I remember getting on the bus, going to the water park,
00:02:35having a good time with my friends.
00:02:37And then after school, my father picked me up.
00:02:41He turns to me and says,
00:02:43your sister's not answering her cell phone.
00:02:46Can you try to call her?
00:02:50I call her a few times.
00:02:52There's no answer.
00:02:55We get home, and I go right to Alyssa's bedroom.
00:03:00I was sure that she'd be there.
00:03:03But she wasn't.
00:03:06I saw the contents of her backpack
00:03:08dumped all over the ground.
00:03:10And then there was a note and her cell phone.
00:03:14Dad and Sarah, when you dropped me off at school today,
00:03:17I decided I really am going to California.
00:03:20Sarah, you didn't want me around.
00:03:22Look, you got it, I'm gone.
00:03:24Dad, that's why I saved my money.
00:03:26I took $300 from you, Alyssa.
00:03:33My dad immediately panicked.
00:03:36He started calling friends and family,
00:03:39trying to figure out, you know, where she could have been.
00:03:42Family Investigation Bureau, this is Pam.
00:03:45Yeah, Pam.
00:03:46Later in the night, he calls the police and says,
00:03:49my teenage daughter ran away.
00:03:51So they mark her as a runaway.
00:03:54But they do not come visit the house.
00:03:57They do not come speak to my father.
00:04:01And in my mind, I was staying calm and thinking,
00:04:04of course, Alyssa had big dreams of turning 18
00:04:08and moving out of the house.
00:04:10But I think inside, I was scared.
00:04:16I slept in her room that night.
00:04:19Because I truly thought that she was fine
00:04:21and that she'd be back.
00:04:31There's Alyssa.
00:04:32How old are you, Alyssa?
00:04:34Ten.
00:04:35No, you're not.
00:04:36Yeah, I am.
00:04:37You're five.
00:04:38You'll be six in about less than one month.
00:04:41I am seven.
00:04:43And there's Sarah.
00:04:44She is 16 months old
00:04:48and a rocker.
00:04:49Sarah, look at mama.
00:04:52Hi.
00:04:55Can I see her?
00:04:57I want to see her.
00:04:58I want to see mom.
00:04:59Alyssa wasn't just my sister.
00:05:01She was the only mom I really ever can remember.
00:05:05Because I never really got to know my mother, Barbara.
00:05:11These are the boys pretending like they know
00:05:13how to play baseball.
00:05:15My mom and dad met, and just a few years later,
00:05:17they got married.
00:05:19Mom was a mortgage loan officer,
00:05:22and my father was trying to get a mortgage,
00:05:24and they fell in love.
00:05:30My father was the deputy sheriff for a few years,
00:05:33and then he became an electrician with the union.
00:05:39My father came into the marriage with the three oldest boys,
00:05:43Rhett, James, and Mike.
00:05:49My mother had our brother John and Alyssa
00:05:52from a previous marriage.
00:05:55And then together they had me.
00:05:57Here she comes.
00:05:58Sarah.
00:06:01So there were six kids in the house,
00:06:03and it was absolutely insane.
00:06:06Well, her face says it all.
00:06:09Step or half was not a word that we were allowed to use.
00:06:12We grew up considering each other brothers and sisters.
00:06:16Yeah, this is Sarah's only baby.
00:06:19Who?
00:06:20Sarah.
00:06:21No, John's my baby, and so are you.
00:06:23Yeah, you'll always be our babies.
00:06:25We're not stepbrothers and sisters.
00:06:27Honey, we don't have any stepchildren in our family.
00:06:30A lot of people called us the Brady Bunch.
00:06:32Alyssa, I was helping you yesterday.
00:06:34We were all one big family together.
00:06:36Alyssa, I got the camera going, honey.
00:06:38Oh, my goodness.
00:06:39Dad, look at mom.
00:06:41Are you helping your mom?
00:06:43Mama.
00:06:44Sarah was probably three when my sister
00:06:47first was diagnosed with the lung cancer,
00:06:49and we were told from the get-go
00:06:52that her diagnosis was terminal.
00:06:55You know where we're at, Sarah?
00:06:58Are you here to see your mama?
00:07:01Where'd mama go?
00:07:03To heaven.
00:07:04Mama go to heaven, is she happy now?
00:07:06I don't know.
00:07:08You don't know?
00:07:09Don't you think she'd be happy to be with God?
00:07:14When my mom passed,
00:07:16everything really changed in the house.
00:07:20My dad was left with six kids all by himself.
00:07:25Sarah and Alyssa were very rambunctious.
00:07:29Girls.
00:07:30Alyssa, you guys stand here and look pretty so I get...
00:07:33Sarah!
00:07:35And they needed a mom.
00:07:37And Mike wasn't going to be able to provide that for them.
00:07:44Our house was dirtier.
00:07:46It really felt like living in a bachelor pad.
00:07:51I got a call one day from John.
00:07:54John was angry, and he said,
00:07:56you know, dad doesn't get up and take care of the girls,
00:07:58he doesn't make sure they're going to school,
00:08:00there's no food in the house.
00:08:03We would call,
00:08:05and it was not even a year after my sister passed
00:08:09that we were completely cut off.
00:08:11Mm-hmm, I know.
00:08:13All of a sudden, our aunts were gone.
00:08:15And all of our brothers got older and moved out of the house.
00:08:18It was just me, my dad, and Alyssa.
00:08:22Alyssa cooked and cleaned and did the chores
00:08:25and was responsible for making sure
00:08:27I had good clothes on for school
00:08:29and that my hair wasn't a mess.
00:08:33You know, there was a summer where no one brushed my hair,
00:08:37and somebody had to come over
00:08:39and detangle it for like two hours.
00:08:43It's not fair, the responsibility that was put on her.
00:08:53I didn't talk about Alyssa much after she was gone.
00:08:56I think it hurt too much.
00:08:59She mentions me in the note.
00:09:01Sarah, you didn't want me around?
00:09:03Look, you got it, I'm gone.
00:09:05I thought she left me there in that house to grow up alone.
00:09:10Alyssa and I fought a lot.
00:09:12We were true sisters in my mind
00:09:14in terms of one minute we were screaming at each other
00:09:17and calling each other horrible names
00:09:19and pulling each other's hair,
00:09:21and then the next minute we were dancing to R&B in our kitchen.
00:09:24That's just how it was.
00:09:27As Alyssa got older and entered high school,
00:09:30I thought that she was the coolest,
00:09:33and she was experimenting with drinking and smoking marijuana,
00:09:37you know, normal teenage stuff.
00:09:39And I was an annoying little sister,
00:09:42and I would tattle on her.
00:09:45One of my last memories of Alyssa was we'd fought.
00:09:50And I did say something like,
00:09:52you know, if you hate it here so much, just leave.
00:09:55But, you know, I have to forgive myself.
00:09:58I was just a kid.
00:10:00Of course, I never really wanted her gone.
00:10:12I knew that by the time Alyssa was 17,
00:10:15she was ready to grow up and, you know, be an adult.
00:10:20And my dad told me that on the day that she ran away,
00:10:24he picked up Alyssa from school, took her to lunch,
00:10:27and they had some argument
00:10:29about how she just really wanted more freedom.
00:10:32He dropped her off at home,
00:10:34and his last memory was her walking down the hallway
00:10:38angry with her hair flying behind her.
00:10:49And then about a week after Alyssa ran away,
00:10:52my dad told me that a phone call came in at about 5 a.m.
00:10:56My father says, it's Alyssa on the other end,
00:10:58and she's cursing at him and telling him to leave her alone.
00:11:02And then all of a sudden, the phone call ends.
00:11:07He goes to the phone company,
00:11:09and we find out that it's from a payphone
00:11:12in Riverside, California.
00:11:14Soon after, I go on a trip with him to California.
00:11:19We go to the convenience store.
00:11:24But there's no surveillance.
00:11:26There's no trace of who made a call.
00:11:29Essentially, there's nothing.
00:11:32But I remember my dad saying
00:11:34the phone call from Riverside
00:11:36was proof Alyssa was out there still alive.
00:11:40I made her first missing poster.
00:11:44And my father put those posters up everywhere.
00:11:49Him being frantic about Alyssa
00:11:52was his constant state of being.
00:12:09I just remember holding out hope
00:12:11that she'd be back when she turned 18.
00:12:14After she turns 18, she's free of our dad.
00:12:18She can do whatever she wants.
00:12:21So when Alyssa didn't come back,
00:12:23it felt pretty clear to me that she may not want to come back.
00:12:35When Alyssa disappeared,
00:12:37we thought we did everything we could to try to find her.
00:12:41But a year later, nothing is happening.
00:12:46It was just me and my dad in the house.
00:12:49I felt so sorry for my dad.
00:12:52He fell into such a deep depression.
00:12:55He would tell me that something terrible could have happened to her.
00:12:58Like maybe she was forced into a sex trafficking situation.
00:13:03I don't think I would allow myself to believe any of that.
00:13:07I was trying to block it out.
00:13:10I went from being this kid
00:13:12who was extremely scared of drugs and alcohol,
00:13:15and overnight, I started experimenting.
00:13:21All the things that I was told Alyssa was horrible for,
00:13:24you know, the drinking and drugs,
00:13:27my dad would supply me with.
00:13:30If I was anxious, he would give me a blue pill.
00:13:33If I'm a little sad, then it would be an orange pill.
00:13:36If you had a problem, we weren't talking through it.
00:13:40And he was giving me some type of pill to make it better.
00:13:45I just missed Alyssa so much
00:13:48that I was trying to refill this hole that she has left in our family.
00:13:53I'm wearing her clothes, listening to all the same music.
00:13:57So when she came back, she would think,
00:14:00Sarah's cool now, and we can be friends,
00:14:03and she's not going to tattle on me.
00:14:06I was just trying to pretend that everything was fine.
00:14:11♪♪♪
00:14:17When Alyssa ran away,
00:14:19her father had called my house looking for her.
00:14:23That's how I found out that she had gone missing.
00:14:28I became friends with Alyssa in high school.
00:14:31For the most part, we hung out at my house
00:14:34because she wanted to get away from her home as much as she could.
00:14:39Alyssa and I went to school together at Paradise Valley.
00:14:43Back when she went missing, Alyssa's dad called me,
00:14:48yelling at me, wanting to know where she was.
00:14:53He knew she was with me.
00:14:55I needed to bring her home.
00:14:58But I didn't know where she was.
00:15:02Part of me was excited for her to get away from him.
00:15:07Alyssa. Alyssa.
00:15:10Her dad was worried about what she was doing all the time.
00:15:15Alyssa, I've changed my mind. You can't go to prison.
00:15:18Why?
00:15:19Because I just changed my mind.
00:15:21Why?
00:15:22Because I said no.
00:15:23What are you talking about?
00:15:24I said you can't go.
00:15:26But you look nice.
00:15:28You're right. I'm going all through this just to not be able to go.
00:15:32I know. Oh, my gosh. Are you kidding me?
00:15:34No. It's real.
00:15:36Every time that he would drop her at my house,
00:15:39Michael made a point to speak with my parents
00:15:42about the things that she was and was not allowed to do.
00:15:45Alyssa, do not leave the building whatsoever.
00:15:48What?
00:15:50He was very protective and defensive with Alyssa.
00:15:55And you ladies always be conspicuous, always stay in places.
00:16:00My parents have said that Mike was a totally different person
00:16:04when Barbara was still alive.
00:16:07And after Barbara died, he sort of became more and more obsessive.
00:16:13Alyssa, Alyssa, Alyssa!
00:16:18Alyssa!
00:16:20Mike always talked about how bad Alyssa was.
00:16:24She was always being grounded.
00:16:29It was so, like, toxic.
00:16:32It's off.
00:16:35Careful. Don't jump on top of anybody, Alyssa.
00:16:40Alyssa was always treated as if she was some fire that couldn't be contained.
00:16:47I was constantly told that Alyssa was out of control,
00:16:50that she was always drinking and always smoking
00:16:52and always getting into trouble.
00:16:55So I was scared for her.
00:16:57I thought that she was going down a really bad path.
00:17:01I think he convinced himself that he was protecting her from making poor choices.
00:17:09But we definitely thought it was crazy how overbearing he was.
00:17:22Turn off the stupid camera.
00:17:25Turn it off.
00:17:27It's off.
00:17:28Turn it off.
00:17:30Point it the other way.
00:17:33I knew that her father had a passive recording system on their home telephone.
00:17:38If she was going to call me that day, you know, she would let me know,
00:17:41hey, remember, these are always being recorded, so careful what you say.
00:17:46Is Chris there?
00:17:47Uh, no, she's gone.
00:17:49Awesome.
00:17:50Every time you picked up the receiver, it would automatically record the conversation.
00:17:54My dad used to be a police officer, and I assume that he knew what he was doing.
00:17:58You know, he was constantly scared of not being able to protect Alyssa.
00:18:21I didn't think much of it.
00:18:23My dad was my best friend.
00:18:26He really wanted what was best for Alyssa.
00:18:36My father started putting up surveillance cameras when I was in about middle school.
00:18:44I thought it was something that rich people had, so I was kind of excited.
00:18:48I thought it was very fancy.
00:18:51I did not understand why he would need cameras filming the perimeter of their house.
00:18:58What was he so paranoid about?
00:19:01We got a camera lens missing somewhere.
00:19:04To hear that she lived in a situation where she was literally constantly being watched was very unnerving to me.
00:19:20The day that my dad told me about the video camera in the vent,
00:19:25he said, I got a new camera.
00:19:27This is to watch your sister to make sure she doesn't get in trouble.
00:19:31Don't tell her.
00:19:34He was just watching every move she made.
00:19:39At this time, I may be 10.
00:19:41I really thought that that was good parenting.
00:19:44Jack-in-the-box.
00:19:49Jack-in-the-box was Alyssa's real first taste of freedom, making her own money.
00:19:54And our dad would watch her obsessively.
00:19:57My dad wanted to know everyone that was working with her.
00:20:01You got me in trouble, Dad.
00:20:03How'd I do that?
00:20:04Because that freaking f***ing mic.
00:20:06He looks and he goes, that's illegal.
00:20:09He can't do that.
00:20:10And I was like, that's my dad.
00:20:11Which one's mine? The one I'm talking to?
00:20:13No, the one, I don't know, the one that drives that nice-ass Mustang.
00:20:18Alyssa told me how uncomfortable it would make her feel that, you know, he was constantly watching her every move.
00:20:26It made me uncomfortable.
00:20:27Why in the world would he need to do something like that?
00:20:31Part of me hoped Alyssa actually had run away for her own well-being.
00:20:41As time goes by, days turn to weeks, turn to months, turn to years.
00:20:48Alyssa never came back.
00:20:51As time goes on, your mind just comes up with every possible conclusion of what could have happened to her.
00:21:02I hoped that Alyssa actually ran away.
00:21:06But a bigger part of me believed that it was impossible.
00:21:09Because I knew that she would never have left Sarah alone in that house.
00:21:25When I inherited Alyssa Turney's investigation in 2008, she had been gone for seven years at that point.
00:21:34In Arizona, law enforcement treats runaways in pretty much a passive demeanor.
00:21:40Especially if it's somebody like Alyssa, who's left a note behind, who's communicated to her family that she does not want to be at home.
00:21:49Also, one week after she left home, she's reported to have called home.
00:21:55So, she's alive and well at that point, too.
00:21:59But there's something curious about this case.
00:22:03She's never contacted any of her family members, never contacted any of her friends.
00:22:10Honestly, I'm having trouble with a teenage girl cutting all ties with everybody she's ever known.
00:22:18That just doesn't happen.
00:22:20That speaks of some deep psychopathy, or that suggests something nefarious happened to her.
00:22:28My job is to figure out what could have gone wrong.
00:22:34About seven years after Alyssa went missing, I got a call from someone named Detective Anderson.
00:22:41And he asks me to come down to the station for a formal interview.
00:22:46My name's Anderson. I'm a detective here.
00:22:49Your sister's case is new to me. I'm reviewing it. I'm going to go over it. I want to give it the attention it deserves.
00:22:56Sarah Turney is 19 at the time. I tell her, hey, I need to know more about Alyssa.
00:23:01I need to establish a pattern of life. What is normal for her?
00:23:06I've heard stories of like, hey, you know, get into our car, let's go to a party.
00:23:10And she's like, all right, let's go. And her friends will be like, no, Alyssa, we don't know these guys.
00:23:14Strangers rolling up to her.
00:23:16Yeah, exactly. Like that. Stupid kind of stuff.
00:23:19Sarah tells me Alyssa was the kind of person that if a strange carload of boys pulled up and said,
00:23:25hey, do you want to go to a party? She'd jump in the car without hesitation.
00:23:30And then I asked about things that were left behind.
00:23:34She didn't take much with her at all except for clothes and the one set of jewelry she was wearing.
00:23:39Just what she had on and then she left.
00:23:42Sarah also mentions the cellular phone. It's odd that she would leave that phone behind.
00:23:49Working in missing persons cases, I have not had another instance in which a child left the home and left behind their phone.
00:23:59These are concerning details.
00:24:02And then I asked Sarah to describe the relationship between Alyssa and her father, Mike.
00:24:08Why did they fight over her?
00:24:10Her not being able to do stuff.
00:24:12Like?
00:24:13Like go out whenever she wanted or if she didn't check in or something like that.
00:24:17Do you think he's overly protective compared to other parents of your friends?
00:24:22Other parents. With her, he was. He was very overprotective of her because...
00:24:27His oldest daughter.
00:24:29Yeah, exactly.
00:24:31Sarah believes that her father's dedicated his life towards finding out what happened to Alyssa.
00:24:38So I call Mike's attorney. Obviously, he's the only adult in the home when this happened.
00:24:45Mike declines to do a formal interview and that's fine. I still have him on the phone. He's still relatively cooperative.
00:24:54Mike was all about the cop talk. He introduced himself as former law enforcement. He's so happy that we're paying attention to this.
00:25:05Mike points to the boyfriend, saying that the boyfriend, John Lackman, was physically violent towards Alyssa.
00:25:13And Mike tells me that he has a videotape that he thinks I'd be interested in of an interaction between Alyssa and John.
00:25:22Taken at her home the day before Alyssa left.
00:25:26So in my mind, this is a possible catalyst that pushed her outside of the home.
00:25:32There's an outdoor carport view that shows Alyssa and John walking off camera.
00:25:40And then Alyssa comes back and throws a cordless phone against a wall.
00:25:46And then it switches to an interior view.
00:25:53She's obviously upset. You can hear him squealing his tongue.
00:25:57She's obviously upset. You can hear him squealing his tires and taking off down the street.
00:26:06That is amazingly significant. We've got interior coverage of the home.
00:26:12That's wonderful because maybe there is video footage from the last day she was seen in the home from May 17th.
00:26:20We figure out where John is and then we bring him in for an interview.
00:26:25I've talked to her family, but family knows one thing, boyfriend probably knows more.
00:26:31I hope so. And friends.
00:26:33How did you guys meet?
00:26:35I met her at school. We had a class together.
00:26:40We were together for the whole year pretty much. Nine months through that year.
00:26:45So no physical violence between you guys? No.
00:26:48How is he responding physically to what's being said?
00:26:54We're looking for those indications of deception.
00:26:57John doesn't give us any. John talks openly. He's hurt that Alyssa never called him. He feels like he was dumped.
00:27:07And not knowing that we have that video, he says he went over to Alyssa's house and he was stopped by Mike Turney.
00:27:15And Mike told him, she's cheating on you with a guy from work.
00:27:25John obviously reacted poorly to that. He confronted Alyssa.
00:27:31And then he stormed out of the house. He's describing that event.
00:27:35So that event in my mind goes from here's evidence of a violent psychopathic boyfriend to a stage scene.
00:27:46I mean it's manufactured by Michael Turney.
00:27:48And that John tells me a story of Alyssa, that is very concerning.
00:27:54Her stupid stepdad did something ridiculously terrible.
00:27:57I think the story was pulled over somewhere in an unoccupied area, something like a desert area.
00:28:05And tried fooling around with her and she got aggressive, fighting about it.
00:28:12That is a very, very difficult, very taxing thing for a 17-year-old girl to talk about.
00:28:22Saying that she was sexually abused by her father.
00:28:28This is a darker turn in Alyssa's case.
00:28:31We immediately start reaching out to other people in Alyssa's realm.
00:28:36Every living relative, secondary relatives, cousins, neighbors, former babysitters.
00:28:44Anybody I could contact.
00:28:47And I interview Alyssa's brother, Rhett.
00:28:50And Rhett tells me a story of Alyssa, tears coming from her eyes.
00:28:55And Rhett tells me a story of Alyssa, tears coming from her eyes.
00:28:59She's shaking, she's emotional.
00:29:02And it's that same story.
00:29:17She's telling Rhett that her father took her driving.
00:29:21And then sexually abused her, touched her.
00:29:25Rhett never told anybody about that.
00:29:29Later on we have a third source, Jessica, close friend of Alyssa's.
00:29:35Telling us that he tried something on her.
00:29:38They were in his truck and he let her drive.
00:29:42And made her really uncomfortable and she got out and walked home.
00:29:45She specified what he did that made her feel uncomfortable.
00:29:48Specified what he did that made her feel uncomfortable.
00:29:54Speaking to the police when I did, I was just grateful that they were finally looking into it.
00:30:10So that's three people all saying that Alyssa's attorney told them that her father molested her.
00:30:18I guess at the time we didn't necessarily know any better.
00:30:24What are teenage girls supposed to do?
00:30:27Who could they tell when the people who are supposed to protect them are the ones hurting them?
00:30:37Alyssa and I were sitting in my bedroom.
00:30:40And I just remember looking over to her and seeing this like defeated look on her face.
00:30:48I pressed her. I pressed her. What's going on?
00:30:51She finally decided to share with me an experience that she had with Michael.
00:30:56She was gagged. Mike was on top of her.
00:31:00And he was suffocating her.
00:31:03When she came to and realized what was going on, that he stopped.
00:31:09And then he threatened to, for her basically not to tell anybody because nobody would believe her over him.
00:31:15I was completely beside myself.
00:31:18But she said, don't ever share this with anyone.
00:31:22If you do, it might mean that I'll be pulled away from Sarah and I can't have that.
00:31:27You know, I could not live with that.
00:31:30She believed that Sarah needed her.
00:31:34She was the one that took care of Sarah, that was that mother figure in her life.
00:31:39She did not want to leave Sarah alone with Michael.
00:31:45Melissa Turney was making that cry for help.
00:31:49She's suffering this kind of abuse inside her own home.
00:31:55And that home is keeping secrets.
00:32:06As the investigation progresses,
00:32:10I know now that there's internal and external security cameras at Melissa Turney's house.
00:32:18So maybe there's footage from the last day Melissa was at home, May 17th of 2001.
00:32:25That's a valuable piece of evidence to me.
00:32:28I asked Mike if he can provide me with that tape.
00:32:32Mike kind of hems and haws. He's not sure if he still has that one.
00:32:37He'll have to look around for it.
00:32:39I consider that odd because it's the last day your child was seen alive.
00:32:45That's something that you keep.
00:32:49And Sarah Turney had mentioned that there is a cassette tape player
00:32:54that records incoming and outgoing calls on that phone.
00:32:57We know from Mike Turney's statement back in 2001
00:33:01that one week after she left the home, Melissa called home.
00:33:05Again, I tell Mike, I want to hear a recording of that phone call.
00:33:09But he doesn't have it.
00:33:12Michael's behavior towards me has become progressively worse.
00:33:17And I need those tapes.
00:33:25In 2008, I got a call from Detective Anderson who said that he had news about Alyssa.
00:33:30He asked if I can come down to the station to speak with him about it.
00:33:34So that morning, I was really excited.
00:33:36I thought it was going to be something huge.
00:34:07I'm probably going to kind of shock you, but I wrote up some search warrants.
00:34:12Okay.
00:34:14And we're serving search warrants onto your house today.
00:34:17Today?
00:34:19Yes. They've actually started already.
00:34:22We're not arresting your dad.
00:34:25But he is going to be taken into custody because we want to get some evidence from him.
00:34:32I wanted to get you out of that house so you were not present when this was done.
00:34:37Okay, can I go?
00:34:40Well, I want to kind of tell you what else we're doing here, okay?
00:34:45I couldn't absorb that information.
00:34:49And I just kept saying, I need to go home. I have to get out of here. I have to get back to my dad.
00:34:54Before that moment, I never felt like the police were circling in on my dad. I was clueless.
00:35:00I was there looking for items in the home.
00:35:04Any clue, any piece of evidence that might explain what might have happened to Alyssa.
00:35:11When Mr. Turney came out of his house to go check his mail, that's when he was intercepted by SWAT officers.
00:35:19He was equipped with multiple firearms, knives, and a recording device.
00:35:25That he had donned, all just to make that walk from the front door to the mailbox.
00:35:33We're looking for documents that have to do with Alyssa Turney.
00:35:38We're looking for all the security tapes.
00:35:43But what we find is so much more.
00:35:51So much more.
00:35:58I recall walking into the front hallway area and seeing firearms lined up.
00:36:06Just a massive amount of weapons.
00:36:09Shotguns, rifles, other pistols, a wealth of ammunition for everything possible.
00:36:21It was an epic mess.
00:36:25There were just piles of things everywhere.
00:36:33VHS tapes, recordings of telephone calls. There are thousands of them.
00:36:41But I would suspect that Mr. Turney himself knew where every single thing was.
00:36:51We come across videotapes that show Michael having sex with a particular woman.
00:37:00We also found Polaroids.
00:37:05The woman is found and blindfolded.
00:37:11For whatever reason, sexually or otherwise, he is incredibly drawn to the dominance and control.
00:37:18And then when you add to that what Alyssa's friends are saying she experienced,
00:37:25it becomes much more disturbing at that point.
00:37:32And then one of our detectives opens a bag and he sees improvised explosive devices, pipe bombs.
00:37:41We immediately evacuate the home.
00:37:45And then we look towards an old van that's in the backyard.
00:37:50The van appears to be full of trash upon first inspection.
00:37:55But then you take a closer look.
00:37:58It becomes very apparent that the van itself is a bomb.
00:38:03It had propane, bleach, and nails in the wheel wells.
00:38:08The van, as it turns out, was a giant bomb.
00:38:12Then we get into his safe.
00:38:15Inside the safe are multiple envelopes addressed to ABC, NBC.
00:38:21Inside each of them are little thumb drives.
00:38:25The thumb drives are the ones that are connected to the bomb.
00:38:29Inside each of them are little thumb drives.
00:38:32The thumb drives contain his manifesto, the Diary of a Madman.
00:38:41Mr. Turney had felt insulted by the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
00:38:48He was an electrician and he believes that he was treated very poorly.
00:38:53Concerning stories about union members having attempted to kill him before,
00:38:59having a long-term grudge against him.
00:39:03He was planning to drive the van into the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Hall
00:39:10to commit a mass murder.
00:39:13Michael says that Alyssa was abducted by the union and murdered
00:39:18and that her body was dumped in California.
00:39:21None of these things make sense.
00:39:2429 pipe bombs and numerous guns were found inside the home.
00:39:32Michael invokes his rights to an attorney and refuses to interview.
00:39:39He is arrested for the possession of the explosives.
00:39:42But we're never able to find the security video from May 17th of 2001
00:39:48or the early morning phone call from that pay phone.
00:39:53So we remain convinced that Alyssa was last seen in the company of her father
00:39:58when she was picked up on May 17th and we have no idea what's happened to her since.
00:40:03Michael Turney remains the only suspect in this case.
00:40:13When my father was arrested, it was just a horrible, horrible experience.
00:40:20I was pretending as if it wasn't really happening.
00:40:23I mean, I was in complete denial.
00:40:26I couldn't believe that he was the man that the police were making him out to be.
00:40:33Growing up, there were always guns in my house.
00:40:37That was my normal.
00:40:41And when I heard about his plan to hurt all these people,
00:40:45I really thought that it was some fantasy writing of his.
00:40:49And my dad told me that the Phoenix Police Department planted those pipe bombs.
00:40:54I believed that he was innocent.
00:40:58My father was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the pipe bombs that were found in the home.
00:41:03I was just starting college and my whole life turned upside down.
00:41:08All of a sudden I had the responsibility of a house and three dogs.
00:41:12I was his biggest supporter.
00:41:16I started a website for him.
00:41:19I started a petition for him.
00:41:22I was actively trying to get him out.
00:41:24I believed that he was wrongfully convicted.
00:41:27And I thought the police had to be wrong.
00:41:29And I thought the police had to be wrong.
00:41:32It was difficult to be forced out of my home like that.
00:41:35I just love my father and just want to stick by him.
00:41:38We know that he had nothing to do with the disappearance of my sister.
00:41:42He's very loving. I mean, he's the only parent I have and he's the best dad I could ask for.
00:41:47Sarah was very protective and defensive about her father.
00:41:53But if he was capable of this, how could he not be capable of Melissa's disappearance?
00:41:58When they found bombs in his house and the search warrant was something related to Melissa's disappearance,
00:42:08I knew in my soul that this man murdered Melissa.
00:42:20That whole time my dad was in prison was really, really rough.
00:42:24He was constantly telling me how sick he was getting in prison and how he needed to get out.
00:42:30My father asks me to essentially act as his legal secretary.
00:42:34Dear Sarah, I'm sending you the originals of two important documents.
00:42:38One is an affirmation witness statement.
00:42:41When I was interviewed, I was immediately given legal power of attorney over all of his assets.
00:42:46I took over the mortgage, the house, and the responsibility of helping him fight his legal case.
00:42:55All the while, he was telling me he was the only one that loved me and cared for me
00:43:00and how he wishes he could be out and take care of me like he's supposed to, like a dad.
00:43:05And that went on for years.
00:43:10Eventually, he does tell me, just give the house back to the bank.
00:43:14I end up moving around a little bit.
00:43:16I graduate from college. I buy my own home.
00:43:19And over the years, our relationship just starts to turn.
00:43:24My dad just wasn't interested in anything but himself.
00:43:28You know, he let me go bankrupt paying for things like him to have a TV in prison,
00:43:34to constantly send him hundreds and hundreds of dollars in commissary money.
00:43:39It didn't matter how many hours I put into working for him, how much of my money I gave to him.
00:43:45It was very clear that he didn't care about my well-being.
00:43:50Then I ran into Alyssa's friend, Jessica, at a record store here in Phoenix.
00:43:58And it had been years since we'd spoken.
00:44:02I was, like, kind of excited to see Jessica.
00:44:06And Jessica turns to me and says,
00:44:10You know your dad killed your sister, right?
00:44:13You know he's guilty. He killed your sister.
00:44:16And she's like, No, I didn't.
00:44:18But I did try to convince her.
00:44:22I remember being in shock. I mean, call me naive,
00:44:26but Jessica was the first one to be extremely blunt with me and tell me that she thought my dad killed Alyssa.
00:44:33Later on, I turned to my boyfriend and I said to him,
00:44:38Do you think my dad could have killed my sister?
00:44:40And he says, Sarah, everyone thinks your dad killed your sister.
00:44:44That moment was big for me.
00:44:47It really opened up my mind to the possibility that my father was not telling the truth about what happened to Alyssa.
00:44:55I believed my father, everything he said, for a very long time.
00:45:01But it wasn't until I was alone and no longer under my father's manipulation
00:45:08that I began to question everything.
00:45:18This is Alyssa's case file. It's a lot.
00:45:22I requested them from the Phoenix Police Department,
00:45:25and I was sure that they weren't going to give them to me.
00:45:29And all of a sudden, somebody came out of the back with this huge pile of documents.
00:45:40There are police interviews in here from 2008,
00:45:43with almost everybody who knew Alyssa.
00:45:46There are transcripts of audiotapes that I'd never gone through.
00:45:50Transcripts of videotapes.
00:45:52If it's everything I didn't know.
00:45:55Pulled over somewhere and tried fooling around with her.
00:45:59Made her really uncomfortable and she got out and walked home.
00:46:02Alyssa said my dad tried something with me of a sexual nature.
00:46:06And then he threatened for her basically not to tell anybody.
00:46:10She did not want to leave Sarah alone with Michael.
00:46:14When I read through those files, I was devastated for Alyssa.
00:46:20I didn't realize that Alyssa was abused and just terrified, even from a very young age.
00:46:28I find in an interview from 2009 with a woman who was my dad's girlfriend
00:46:34I find in an interview from 2009 with a woman who was my dad's girlfriend after our mother died.
00:46:37I find in an interview from 2009 with a woman who was my dad's girlfriend after our mother died.
00:46:41And here we have the little homemaker has made a nest.
00:46:46It will be modeled by ski wear.
00:46:48Alright, very nice, very nice.
00:46:50She was a teacher at our school and I loved her.
00:46:54I loved her and her kids and Alyssa did too.
00:46:56She was the closest thing to a stepmother we ever had.
00:46:59Supplement 117, this is the interview of Alyssa's third grade teacher.
00:47:04Supplement 117, this is the interview of Alyssa's third grade teacher.
00:47:06I asked if she saw anything inappropriate between Alyssa and Mike.
00:47:09I asked if she saw anything inappropriate between Alyssa and Mike.
00:47:11There's one time, Alyssa was, she said to me, I didn't have sex with my dad.
00:47:17And I talked to her and I said, Alyssa, why are you saying now?
00:47:22Are you truly telling me this?
00:47:24Because if she told me, I would have called CPS or whatever.
00:47:26And she said, no, I'm not.
00:47:28And I talked to her and I said, Alyssa, why are you saying now?
00:47:33And I talked to her and I said, Alyssa, why are you saying now?
00:47:35That statement is problematic.
00:47:37Because you can very quickly make any child retract,
00:47:41depending on the way that you approach their revelation.
00:47:46She attributed the statement as Alyssa acting out and being jealous of her relationship with Mike.
00:47:53It wasn't what she believed to be a cry for help,
00:47:58or anything other than the little girl looking for attention.
00:48:03So she does not report what Alyssa told her to Child Protective Services.
00:48:10I can't imagine what it was like for Alyssa to build up all that courage
00:48:15to tell someone what was going on, to just be dismissed.
00:48:19Alyssa, look at me a minute.
00:48:22Why do you keep doing this, Alyssa, and you keep losing?
00:48:25I don't understand your attitude.
00:48:27We were raised to be afraid of everyone, and to not trust anyone.
00:48:32My father didn't want Alyssa to have any friends.
00:48:35He didn't want her to have any trusted adults in her life who she could go to.
00:48:41Alyssa's trying to hit us with a snowball, isn't she?
00:48:46Learning about the allegations of sexual abuse
00:48:48really made me re-examine everything I thought I knew.
00:48:52It was hard to reconcile that with my own memory.
00:48:56And then one night, I was just reviewing a VHS like I had done so many nights before,
00:49:01and it was a camping video from the 90s.
00:49:04I'm probably 8, maybe Alyssa is 12.
00:49:07And then eventually, I'm recording, and my dad tells me to turn off the camera.
00:49:12Hit the red button.
00:49:13Why?
00:49:14Hit the red button now.
00:49:15I don't want to.
00:49:17Unrecord!
00:49:19Hit the red button.
00:49:20Dad!
00:49:21Unrecord me.
00:49:22Dad!
00:49:23Dad!
00:49:25Dad's a pervert.
00:49:28Watching Alyssa and my dad's conversation,
00:49:31I realized that I was not alone.
00:49:33Dad's a pervert.
00:49:35Watching those home videos, again, made me rethink what I always thought about my dad.
00:49:41Give me the camera now.
00:49:47We have it on tape. Alyssa can read.
00:49:50I'm serious. I'm getting ready just to pull you over and spank you. Now stop it.
00:49:54Alyssa.
00:49:55Do not leave the building whatsoever.
00:49:57Turn off the stupid camera.
00:50:00All this time, I thought that he was just that dad with the video camera taped to his face.
00:50:05What are you doing?
00:50:08Just trying to capture all of our memories.
00:50:11Dad, stop.
00:50:13Stop what?
00:50:15Stop.
00:50:17Please?
00:50:18I had no idea how nefarious it really was.
00:50:23Dad's a pervert.
00:50:25While I thought my dad was basically a superhero and the best dad ever,
00:50:29it seems that he was a monster.
00:50:43Hi.
00:50:44Hi.
00:50:47I don't know if you've seen this one.
00:50:49She's definitely younger, but it's like, so her.
00:50:52Yes.
00:51:05There it is, random.
00:51:07Zooming in on random women.
00:51:10Pretending to film his kids and then moving on to...
00:51:15Doesn't everything look different when you look back on it?
00:51:21Those home videos used to be something that I loved watching, full of happy memories.
00:51:27And now, everything I see, I see in a different light.
00:51:35Sarah would reach out to me and inform me that she was feeling differently about her father.
00:51:41I was relieved that she finally, you know, was seeing some of the things that many of us were seeing.
00:51:49And I shared with Sarah how Alyssa told me she did not want to leave Sarah alone with Michael.
00:51:56And that's what kept her there, is her love for Sarah.
00:52:04Honestly, that was one of the hardest things for me to realize.
00:52:09Alyssa wanted to leave and refused to leave me behind with our father.
00:52:14As an adult, I could realize the pressure that she was under and that all those sister fights that we had
00:52:23were nothing in comparison to what she went through.
00:52:27It also still makes me feel extreme guilt that she felt she had to stay and be abused to protect me.
00:52:45There were so many things that I never knew about, like my father creating contracts.
00:52:53He would have her sign contracts, which he requires her to state that there was no sexual abuse.
00:53:00He would tell her things to discredit her in the event that she might come forth saying them.
00:53:08This is a legal document in which Alyssa Turney is made to initial every bullet point,
00:53:17saying she had not been physically or sexually abused, but she had to do that in front of a notary public.
00:53:23That is the level that Michael has taken that relationship to.
00:53:29Holding that legal document over that child's head so that she cannot make any sort of accusation.
00:53:36We also found that Michael himself had contacted Child Protective Services,
00:53:43stating that if this child, Alyssa Turney, accuses me of molesting her, accuses me of doing anything inappropriate,
00:53:51you shouldn't believe that. She's trying to extort me.
00:53:55Just taking pictures.
00:53:57I think my dad was terrified that Alyssa was going to come out about the sexual abuse allegations.
00:54:03And once he was no longer able to control her, it's very clear that he was panicking.
00:54:14Not long before Alyssa goes missing, my dad calls my brother Mike to complain about Alyssa.
00:54:33Nobody talking about Alyssa and saying these things about me, accusing me of molestation and all that kind of s***.
00:54:38Can you f***ing believe that?
00:54:40My secrets are always told everywhere by a big mouth.
00:54:44Which leaves me no alternative whatsoever.
00:54:47Of course, there's no foundation for them or I'd be in jail.
00:54:53It's clear that my father was extremely angry with Alyssa before Alyssa went missing.
00:55:02And my entire life, my father had always talked about how he could kill someone and hide a body.
00:55:10I mean, he had an entire manifesto about how he was going to kill people.
00:55:16So, I can absolutely see my dad being that violent towards anyone.
00:55:24My theory is that on the day Alyssa went missing, my father picked Alyssa up from school,
00:55:29took her out into the desert, which makes it harder to find her.
00:55:35I think he tried what he had tried before in the past, according to Alyssa.
00:55:39Perhaps she fought back, something went wrong, and he decided that today was the day he was going to kill her.
00:55:50I believe that the last day of school was picked on purpose, that way no one would ask about where she was.
00:55:56I don't know if he actually brought her home that day.
00:55:59And of course, we don't have any video surveillance to tell us one way or the other.
00:56:04And as I got older, I had a lot of questions about that note.
00:56:08That first line,
00:56:16Also, the,
00:56:17Dad, I took $300 from you.
00:56:20That was an incident that happened before Alyssa went missing, and that money was actually returned to our father.
00:56:27I believe that note was from a previous time period, and then my father found it and planted it in her room.
00:56:38And that phone call from Riverside, California, just further solidified the runaway idea.
00:56:45I don't believe Alyssa made that call.
00:56:48I think he used it as an alibi.
00:56:51My dad knows what he's doing. He's former law enforcement.
00:56:55He knows how to cover his tracks, and he did it very well.
00:56:59It's a long, painful process to try to turn your heart off to someone who you looked up to so heavily.
00:57:05But the second I put those pieces together, it all made sense.
00:57:10My dad would try to call from prison, and I just stopped answering.
00:57:15I slowly just cut that relationship off.
00:57:23Once I was convinced that my father killed my sister,
00:57:27I went to the police and said,
00:57:29Hey, I see what you've been trying to tell me for all these years. What can I do to help?
00:57:35Sarah explains her change of heart now.
00:57:39She's very open and very adamant about Mike Turney's responsibility for Alyssa's death.
00:57:45But at this point in time, we've contacted hundreds of people.
00:57:51Anybody that could have possibly known Alyssa has been talked to.
00:57:56We went to the point of exhaustion.
00:57:58We went to the point of exhaustion.
00:58:02My investigation has to thrive or die
00:58:07based on what details and what facts I can bring up that cement Mike Turney as the suspect.
00:58:18The circumstantial evidence that we have is damaging,
00:58:23but there's nothing physical that shows Alyssa died.
00:58:28You're lacking a body, and you're lacking a crime scene.
00:58:32We don't have enough evidence that we would be able to file any charges.
00:58:40One of the biggest issues is that we don't have Alyssa.
00:58:45Sure, but you have 25 people stating that he did this and that she told them about it,
00:58:49including family members, friends, teachers.
00:58:51What we have is some allegations that something occurred
00:58:57based on some statements that Alyssa had made.
00:59:01Now that I understood the full story of Alyssa's case,
00:59:06I did not understand how this was not enough to arrest my father for Alyssa's murder,
00:59:12how it wasn't enough to arrest him for anything, for any charges.
00:59:16They had the means, motive, and opportunity.
00:59:22My father got out of prison in 2017, and it had been about three or four years since we'd spoken.
00:59:31I wanted to confront him and let him know,
00:59:35I know that you're lying, and I'm not going to let this go.
00:59:39And I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the truth of what happened to Alyssa.
00:59:52My dad served about nine years in prison before he got out on the bomb charges.
00:59:59I asked him to meet with me at a coffee shop in downtown Phoenix.
01:00:04I thought that this would be my one chance to maybe get answers out of him,
01:00:08that he might just be spiteful enough to get caught in something that could get him arrested.
01:00:15And to be honest, I was a little bit scared.
01:00:19And to be honest, I was nervous. I had no idea what was going to happen.
01:00:24Hey.
01:00:26Good, how are you?
01:00:28Good.
01:00:30I didn't want to come here today.
01:00:32I didn't either.
01:00:33I believe it.
01:00:35I turned on the voice memo on my phone because I wanted to give it to the police.
01:00:40At this point, my father had never sat down for a formal interview with them,
01:00:44and this seemed like the best opportunity to get answers.
01:00:46So tell me what happened that last day.
01:00:49Tell you what happened?
01:00:51I haven't heard it from you because we never talked about it because I never asked because I just assumed.
01:00:57Nothing, Sarah. Alyssa had told me she wanted to break up the job.
01:01:02That's the day or two before that.
01:01:04She said she wanted to leave early because she didn't want to be around.
01:01:08And I went to go pick her up.
01:01:11What are you getting at?
01:01:12What are you getting at?
01:01:14He kind of asked me to get to the point.
01:01:16And I said I wanted to say to his face that I thought that he'd killed Alyssa and I wanted answers.
01:01:22I couldn't live my life knowing I didn't look you in the eye and tell you.
01:01:25You really believe that I killed your sister?
01:01:27Yeah.
01:01:28Tell me, why would I kill her?
01:01:30To keep her quiet.
01:01:32About what?
01:01:34The sexual molestation.
01:01:36And everything else.
01:01:38Do you think your sister would have put up with me molesting her, Sarah?
01:01:40Probably.
01:01:42Bullshit.
01:01:45Be there at the deathbed, Sarah, and I'll give you all the honest answers you want to hear.
01:01:51That is the closest thing to a confession that I believe we'll ever get from my father.
01:01:56And honestly, him saying that to my face, come to the deathbed, that was it.
01:02:05That's when I knew Alyssa wasn't out there and she wasn't coming back.
01:02:11Be there at the deathbed, Sarah, and I'll give you all the honest answers you want to hear.
01:02:15Sarah turned over that recording to law enforcement and she said things like,
01:02:19look, here, he says he'll tell me the truth on the deathbed.
01:02:24I can't take snippets of a conversation.
01:02:28The very next sentence is, but it's going to be the same as what I'm telling you now.
01:02:33Be there at the deathbed, Sarah, and I'll give you all the honest answers you want to hear.
01:02:38Why aren't you giving them to me now?
01:02:40Because you got them now.
01:02:43Then why are you making me this offer to go to your deathbed?
01:02:47I don't know, Sarah. What are you looking for?
01:02:53I have to look at the totality of that conversation.
01:02:57And the totality of the conversation was, I'm not responsible.
01:03:01You've been lied to. The police are corrupt. The police are lying to you.
01:03:07It's not a confession to a homicide.
01:03:11I think it is just an exceptionally cruel thing to say.
01:03:17To me, that is the crescendo of the manipulative behavioral control.
01:03:24If you want to know, then you need to be there when I die.
01:03:29Like the ultimate going out with control over somebody else.
01:03:34After the police told me that my dad's statement about the deathbed confession wasn't good enough, I was devastated.
01:03:42I said to them, what are we doing going forward? How are we going to press charges?
01:03:47And they basically said, we don't have enough. Sorry. Your best chance is getting media exposure.
01:03:53My name is Sarah Turney. This is Voices for Justice.
01:03:58In this episode, we're discussing my father's...
01:04:01I was determined. I reached out to every single person that I knew knew of this and asked them to be involved.
01:04:08My dad had video cameras in our home. He had cameras set up. That's where your dad got it from.
01:04:15Not only that, but he tapped a phone.
01:04:17When I was conducting these interviews with family members, I was getting the complete context behind these police reports.
01:04:23I was learning the full story of everything. And some of those stories were horrific.
01:04:28She felt watched. She felt like there wasn't much that she could do.
01:04:33She had been sleeping on the floor.
01:04:36She had been sleeping on the floor.
01:04:39She had been sleeping on the floor.
01:04:42She had been sleeping on the floor.
01:04:44She felt like there wasn't much that she could do.
01:04:47She had been sleeping and she woke up tied to a chair and gagged.
01:04:52And I was like, totally shocked, thinking, what the f is going on here?
01:04:57I just want to thank everybody for being here.
01:05:00I was really hopeful that my brothers would interview for my podcast.
01:05:04But they were not interested in coming on the podcast.
01:05:08I think they all have their reasons.
01:05:11There's four brothers and they're all different individuals who have their own trauma.
01:05:17There was some frustration that I was tarnishing the family name.
01:05:26And eventually, I was no longer invited to family functions, birthdays, holidays.
01:05:32I was outcast from them.
01:05:34That's when I realized that it was all on me.
01:05:38I was doing my podcast, but people weren't paying enough attention to Alyssa's case.
01:05:44And then I saw TikTok.
01:05:49It's not easy being the disappointment of the family, but someone had to do it.
01:05:53So here the f I am.
01:05:55Press publish, and basically overnight, it just went viral.
01:06:01So here the f I am.
01:06:03Then I made another video, and another video, and I just kept going viral.
01:06:13And you're still recording.
01:06:15One million views, two million views, up to 20 million views.
01:06:21They wanted to take action.
01:06:24They wanted to help get justice for Alyssa.
01:06:27One of my followers made a campaign called the 12 Days of Alyssa.
01:06:32Every day was an action item, and one of those days was called the Maricopa County Attorney's Office,
01:06:38asking them to arrest my father for Alyssa's murder.
01:06:44I remember I was driving home from work.
01:06:47I called the county attorney's office, and they said,
01:06:51You're the sister? We've been getting calls all day.
01:06:55People were pissed.
01:06:57I didn't know what was going to happen.
01:07:02And then on August 20th, 2020, I get a phone call.
01:07:07That changed everything.
01:07:11Hey guys, I don't know if you've heard.
01:07:14I got a call about an hour ago now, maybe less than that.
01:07:19My father's been arrested for Alyssa's murder.
01:07:27They couldn't have done this without you guys caring so much,
01:07:30and sharing her story, and just making this a priority for the media.
01:07:35Just a bombshell arrest tonight, almost 20 years after Phoenix teen Alyssa Turney.
01:07:40Alyssa's stepfather has really been the only person of interest in her disappearance
01:07:44for at least the last 10 years.
01:07:47It's absolutely horrible to hear that your father's being arrested for the murder of your sister.
01:07:51But at the same time, all this hard work, giving up so much of my life
01:07:55for this fight, was the right thing to do.
01:07:59To Alyssa's sister, your perseverance and commitment to finding justice for your sister Alyssa
01:08:06is a testament to the love of a sister.
01:08:10Just felt such relief for Sarah.
01:08:13This was the first step in her getting her life back.
01:08:16I couldn't believe that it was finally happening.
01:08:20I was looking forward to looking the man in his eye.
01:08:22I was looking forward to that day, that we would be sitting there,
01:08:26and he would finally be answering for this.
01:08:34More than 20 years after 17-year-old Alyssa Turney disappeared,
01:08:39her stepfather is now on trial, accused of her murder.
01:08:42Michael Turney, who is now 75 years old, arrived in court in a wheelchair.
01:08:48When the trial started, I was getting more and more nervous.
01:08:50But I was really hopeful that we would finally get justice for Alyssa.
01:08:55This was Alyssa. The relationship she had with this defendant was oftentimes troubled.
01:09:03The state had a really heavy burden because there's no body, there's no murder scene,
01:09:09there's no murder weapon, there were no witnesses to Alyssa's murder.
01:09:12You will find that the state's entire case is based on circumstantial evidence,
01:09:17based on speculation, based on belief. There's no evidence.
01:09:23Beyond that, a whole bunch of the evidence that friends of Alyssa and Sarah wanted to bring in
01:09:30was excluded from the start.
01:09:32Defense has filed a motion to preclude any further mention of sexual abuse and molest.
01:09:38I was not allowed to talk about any of the sexual abuse allegations,
01:09:44and I asked why I was even there.
01:09:48The prosecution could not talk about things that Alyssa accused Mike of,
01:09:54because Alyssa's not here, and Mike has the right to face his accuser.
01:09:58It's the Constitution.
01:10:00Also, the nature of that accusation is so damaging that you run the risk of him being found guilty of a homicide
01:10:09because people are mad at him for having molested the kid.
01:10:14The prosecution being unable to talk about the sexual molestation really made it difficult
01:10:19to explain why Michael Turney may have murdered his daughter.
01:10:22It made it much easier for the defense to claim that Alyssa was just an unruly teenager
01:10:28who put herself and others in danger.
01:10:30Alyssa was a free spirit. She liked to have fun. She liked to party.
01:10:35She would drink. She would smoke marijuana.
01:10:37She thought she was old enough and could do what she wanted. The rules didn't apply to her.
01:10:41The defense tried to create a story of her being some crazy teen
01:10:46who must have, you know, got herself into some big trouble, and that's the cause of all this.
01:10:52You told Detective Anderson that she would get into cars with strangers to go to parties
01:10:56even though her friends didn't want to.
01:10:58That's what I was told, yes.
01:11:00Everything the defense presented in terms of my thoughts and feelings
01:11:04came from basically that interview with police when I was about 19 years old.
01:11:08I've heard stories of like, hey, you know, get into our car. Let's go to a party.
01:11:12And she's like, all right, let's go.
01:11:14That interview is based off of memories I had when I was 12.
01:11:17I was never re-interviewed by police officially after that.
01:11:20So that was all used against me.
01:11:23They did the same thing to every single witness.
01:11:26My understanding is that you also told Detective Anderson she could be mischievous.
01:11:30You told him she was boy crazy.
01:11:32I think that every 16, 17-year-old girl's a little boy crazy.
01:11:35You said she was open sexually.
01:11:38You said she wasn't quiet about it, that's for sure.
01:11:41No.
01:11:43She was stubborn, confrontational.
01:11:45You said she was the most difficult of your six siblings.
01:11:48Yes.
01:11:50They were trying to make it seem like she deserved it.
01:11:55As if there's ever a situation where a teenage girl
01:12:00deserves to not only be murdered, but completely vanish off the planet.
01:12:08They knew exactly what they were doing.
01:12:11That is the handbook on how to victim blame a child who was abused.
01:12:16As the trial went on, I think I got more and more nervous.
01:12:21Shocking to say the least.
01:12:24Never happens. Never, ever, ever, ever happens.
01:12:27And then this happens today.
01:12:33We are back on the record in state versus attorney.
01:12:36How would the state like to proceed?
01:12:38At this time, your honor, the state rests.
01:12:40In the state of Arizona, the defense has a right to ask the judge
01:12:44to determine that the state hasn't provided enough evidence
01:12:48to allow a jury to reach the reasonable conclusion
01:12:52that this person is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
01:12:54Judge, pursuant to rule 20, the court must enter a judgment of acquittal
01:12:59if there is not substantial evidence to support a conviction.
01:13:03Rule 20 motions for judgment are almost never granted.
01:13:08It's incredibly rare for judges to not allow jurors to decide.
01:13:12I have considered the issues raised by the defense.
01:13:18Is there a reasonable inference that Alyssa's death
01:13:21resulted from the defendant's conduct?
01:13:24The court is unable to make that finding.
01:13:27It is ordered granting defendant's motion for a rule 20 judgment of acquittal.
01:13:33I will order the defendant released.
01:13:37I was in shock. It was heartbreaking.
01:13:41What happened in that trial is not the truth of what happened to Alyssa or her life.
01:13:47I feel like the trial was just a part of the pattern.
01:13:50Alyssa's been failed by almost every adult in her life, every institution.
01:13:56Her schools, the Phoenix Police Department, the county attorney's office.
01:14:01Everyone failed Alyssa.
01:14:04An acquittal wasn't even something that occurred to me was an option.
01:14:10So it's just paralyzing to know that that's it.
01:14:16Bombshell ruling from the judge.
01:14:18And the question is whether or not he could be tried again for this.
01:14:22The answer is no. Jeopardy attaches.
01:14:25He cannot be tried on this particular charge of second degree murder again.
01:14:29In theory, if new evidence were found, Alyssa's body for example,
01:14:35he could be charged with other crimes.
01:14:38But unfortunately, Sarah's options are really limited.
01:14:41Michael Turney is highly likely to be a free man for the rest of his life.
01:14:45The acquittal has given him power to say, look, I'm innocent.
01:14:50When that's not what the acquittal means.
01:14:53The acquittal means that the state did not present their case.
01:15:15It's been about five years since I've spoken to my father.
01:15:19And he was never fully questioned by any authority ever.
01:15:25I just want one last shot to ask him about Alyssa.
01:15:31Sorry, it's like the moment of truth, right?
01:15:35I absolutely still have hope for Alyssa's case.
01:15:38Her remains have never been found.
01:15:40So I need to set up this meeting with him.
01:15:42Yes, you called?
01:15:44Yeah, hey, it's Sarah.
01:15:46Sarah, what can I do for you?
01:15:49Um, well, I'm filming a documentary about Alyssa and I was wondering if you wanted to talk.
01:15:58Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to talk.
01:16:03Are you healthy and well?
01:16:05Um, yeah, I guess.
01:16:08Oh, that's good.
01:16:10So anyway, what are your questions?
01:16:13Um, well, actually, I'm wondering if you wanted to like do it in person.
01:16:17I mean, who all is going to be there?
01:16:20It'll just be me and you and the production crew.
01:16:23And they have like a security guard, which means they have to make sure that you don't have any weapons on you.
01:16:29And they have to make sure I don't have any weapons on me.
01:16:32The only thing you have is a cane, so it's not a big deal.
01:16:36Okay, I know we have our differences, but is there any way in the world that I could get a hug?
01:16:44I don't know. I'll have to think about that.
01:16:47Yeah, I mean, that's just something, shake a hand or something.
01:16:52What I'm asking from you is honesty.
01:16:54So if you want a hug from me, if you want me to shake your hand, then let's sit down and have a real talk.
01:16:59You already got acquitted, Dad.
01:17:01There's nothing left for you to lose.
01:17:03Give me some peace in my life and give me some answers.
01:17:06Okay.
01:17:16So I'm just going to, this is Chris, our sound guy, he's going to put a microphone on me.
01:17:22Oh, and I think Sarah mentioned we do have to do a pat down.
01:17:34This it?
01:17:37I can go in?
01:17:50Hey, Dad.
01:17:52Hello.
01:17:54Everything's recording, it's on, just like I said it would be.
01:17:57Are we going live?
01:17:59No, it's not. What are you talking about live?
01:18:01Oh, shucks.
01:18:03So I know that you have questions for me, but are you okay if I ask you questions first?
01:18:10You're more than welcome.
01:18:12Okay.
01:18:17So I wanted to ask you, how did you feel about Alyssa after she accused you of sexual assault in 2000?
01:18:24Upset, disappointed, my heart broken.
01:18:28Were you angry?
01:18:29Yes, at her. Yes, I was.
01:18:33Do you think Alyssa was afraid of you?
01:18:35No, not like you guys keep saying she was.
01:18:40Because you told me before that you don't remember fear in Alyssa's eyes, but you remember defiance, so you don't think Alyssa was afraid of you.
01:18:46You don't know. Alyssa wasn't afraid of hardly anything, Sarah.
01:18:49Okay. Do you recall writing to Alyssa your words, quote, I am so sorry you were afraid of me, end quote.
01:18:56That had to do with Alyssa telling people, you know, I'm afraid my dad's going to kill me.
01:19:03Which is every statement that you made, everybody else makes.
01:19:06Right there, you just said it.
01:19:08Oh, there you go, Sarah. Earspot guys, earmark that one.
01:19:10Come on, Sarah. What is wrong?
01:19:13Is your career that important that you're going to manipulate this into a lie?
01:19:16You've destroyed your own family. You're helping destroy.
01:19:18Your brothers and sisters, or brothers don't want to talk to you because you keep continuously bringing up these lies.
01:19:26You even bring up things that they say, Dad, how could Sarah remember? She wasn't even there.
01:19:30Well, that's between me and them, right? And no, I-
01:19:33That's between you and them.
01:19:35They talk to me all the time. I don't know what you're talking about.
01:19:37You're the one that's making the national news, Sarah.
01:19:39Dad, I told you I was going to have questions.
01:19:41Dad, you said that I need to rely on my memory, and now I am using examples.
01:19:45No, you don't have your memory. You're reading off of something that you just said it yourself.
01:19:48You just read it because of letters I wrote. You don't remember that. Were you there?
01:19:54I'm, like, trying to meet you in the middle here, Dad, and you can't even hear it.
01:19:58No, you're not.
01:20:00You'll have an opportunity to ask me questions when I'm done asking my questions. Is that fair?
01:20:07You continue on with your attitude, Sarah. I'm going to leave. Do you understand?
01:20:12I can stop this interview right now if you're not going to be civil.
01:20:15I am being civil. You're the one that's being hostile.
01:20:18I'm not hostile. You're trying to gaslight me, and you're continuing your abuse, and I'm not taking it.
01:20:23What does gaslight mean?
01:20:25Look it up.
01:20:27Boy, Sarah, you're just absolutely nasty.
01:20:32You're turning things, really going off the... Hey, calm down, Sarah. Please, calm down. I mean, you're really losing it.
01:20:38I'll calm down when you tell the truth.
01:20:39What truth are you looking for, Sarah? Remember we asked you the overall, what are you looking for, Sarah, other than ratings?
01:20:46Okay, so my last question is, will I get that confession on your deathbed?
01:20:52Bad phrasing, Sarah. It meant that the story that you have heard is never going to change, even when I'm dying, Sarah,
01:21:00because I did not molest, and I did not kill your daughter, your sister.
01:21:03I was warned by all of the family, don't talk to Sarah.
01:21:06But I chose to talk to you because I really wanted to see if my daughter had that much hatred towards me.
01:21:11You...
01:21:13I feel nothing for you. I will leave this conversation and never think of you again.
01:21:18My children will not know who you are.
01:21:20Are you going... Sarah...
01:21:22I will not speak your name.
01:21:24Oh, now for the audience.
01:21:26I wish you the best. I love you.
01:21:28You're a liar, Sarah. Why are you doing this, Sarah? To make money off of your dead sister?
01:21:31If you'd like to speak to the producers, you can. I wish you the best.
01:21:39No drumroll, guys.
01:21:55When I left that meeting with my dad, it gave me a lot more confidence.
01:22:01A lot more peace.
01:22:04I put myself through all of this for Alyssa.
01:22:08Her story deserves to be told, and he needed to be confronted because no one else had ever done it.
01:22:15Part of telling Alyssa's story is how you stop this generational abuse.
01:22:20I had to take that power back, saying, it stops here.
01:22:24I don't need a judge or a jury to tell me what we all know happened.
01:22:34And although I don't have a legal sense of justice right now, I'm at peace with what I've done for Alyssa.
01:22:44You may not always get the results you want, but at least you have peace knowing you've done everything you can.
01:22:51After spending so many years talking about my sister Alyssa's case, I've decided that I want to help other families, too.
01:22:59This is 17-year-old Asia Cowell. She went missing on September 7, 2020.
01:23:0525-year-old ISU grad student Jelani Day was last seen in Bloomington, Illinois.
01:23:10I didn't want to just stop with Alyssa. I wanted to keep going and help as many people as I could.
01:23:15Leah Croucher went missing from Milton Keynes, England on February 15, 2019.
01:23:20There are so many people out there with missing or murdered loved ones that we're trying to get media attention and get the world to care about it.
01:23:27If you do have any information, if you recognize this woman, please call the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department.
01:23:33I'm so proud of Sarah. She's helping other people.
01:23:37She says she's encouraged by how her story has inspired people around the world to self-advocate when it comes to women.
01:23:43To self-advocate when it comes to working with law enforcement.
01:23:47It was Sarah's page that inspired me.
01:23:50She's helping them find their own voices in their own situations. It's really beautiful what she's doing.
01:23:57As much as I never wanted to be this big of a part of Alyssa's story, I have to recognize that it has inspired others to do something similar to what I did.
01:24:09So next week, you're going to hear me talk about a brand new case that you've never heard before.
01:24:15This case has so many twists and turns over the years, it'll have your head spinning and wondering why this family is still fighting for justice.
01:24:38For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org