ATLANTA, GA — A Georgia woman now faces murder charges after authorities reopened their investigation into her police officer husband’s death following the suspicious death of her second partner, revealing a pattern that investigators initially missed.
The case centers on Lynn Turner, whose husband Glenn Turner, a Cobb County police officer, died in 1995 from what was initially ruled natural causes. When Turner’s boyfriend Randy Thompson died under similar circumstances in 2001, investigators took a closer look at both deaths and discovered evidence of antifreeze poisoning in both cases. Turner was ultimately convicted of murdering both men using ethylene glycol, the toxic component found in automotive antifreeze.
Glenn Turner, 39, died suddenly on March 3, 1995, after complaining of flu-like symptoms. According to court records, he had been experiencing nausea, vomiting, and weakness for several days before his death. The Cobb County Medical Examiner initially attributed his death to heart disease, and no autopsy was performed at the time. Lynn Turner collected life insurance benefits totaling more than $150,000 following her husband’s death. She later began a relationship with Randy Thompson, a firefighter from Forsyth County who had been Glenn Turner’s close friend and had comforted the widow after her husband’s death.
Thompson, 32, died on January 22, 2001, after experiencing similar symptoms to those that had afflicted Glenn Turner six years earlier. Thompson had been dating Lynn Turner for several years and lived with her and her two children from her marriage to Glenn Turner. According to prosecutors, Thompson became violently ill after drinking Jell-O that Turner had prepared for him, experiencing severe nausea, vomiting, and neurological symptoms before dying at a local hospital. Unlike Glenn Turner’s death, Thompson’s death prompted an immediate investigation due to the suspicious circumstances and the similarity to her husband’s earlier death.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation exhumed Glenn Turner’s body in 2001 and conducted toxicology tests that revealed lethal levels of ethylene glycol in his system. Antifreeze poisoning causes symptoms that can mimic heart disease or flu, including nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, and eventual organ failure. Investigators determined that both men had been systematically poisoned over a period of days or weeks. The reopened investigation revealed that Turner had financial motives in both deaths, having collected insurance money from her husband’s death and standing to inherit Thompson’s assets as his girlfriend.
Turner was first tried for Thompson’s murder in 2004 and sentenced to life in prison. She was subsequently tried for her husband’s murder in 2007, receiving a second life sentence. During both trials, prosecutors presented evidence showing Turner’s access to antifreeze and her opportunity to administer the poison to both victims. Expert testimony revealed that ethylene glycol poisoning is often overlooked in initial examinations because its symptoms can resemble other medical conditions. The delayed detection allowed Turner to avoid suspicion for years until the pattern became clear with Thompson’s death.
The case highlighted significant gaps in death investigations during the 1990s, when routine toxicology screening for uncommon poisons was less comprehensive than current standards. Modern forensic protocols now include broader screening for substances like ethylene glycol in suspicious deaths. Turner’s conviction established important precedents for prosecuting serial poisoning cases and demonstrated how insurance fraud can serve as a motive for murder. She remains incarcerated in Georgia, serving concurrent life sentences for both murders.
Turner’s case became one of Georgia’s most notorious poisoning murders and led to changes in how medical examiners investigate sudden deaths, particularly when financial benefits are involved. The investigation ultimately revealed a calculated pattern of murder that might have continued if Thompson’s death had not triggered the reopened inquiry into Glenn Turner’s death.
