2 women suspected in doctor’s death booked into Las Vegas jail

Only one of three suspects in the killing of a California doctor remained at-large Saturday after Kelsey Nichole Turner, a former model, and her roommate, Diana Pena, were booked into a Las Vegas jail over the weekend.

The Metropolitan Police Department identified the roommates, Turner, Pena and Jon Kennison, as the suspects in the death of 71-year-old Dr. Thomas Burchard, whose body was found March 7 in the trunk of Turner’s abandoned Mercedes-Benz C300 in a remote desert area east of Las Vegas, after their fingerprints were found on the car.

Police have said that Burchard had traveled to Las Vegas on March 1 to visit Turner, with whom he had an intimate relationship.

Kennison also was Turner’s current boyfriend, according to arrest reports for the suspects obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

All three face charges of murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder. An enhancement, which carries a longer sentence if convicted, has been added to the murder charge due to Burchard’s age.

Turner, 25, was extradited Friday to the Clark County Detention Center from the San Joaquin County Jail, where she had been held since her March 21 arrest in Stockton, California. She was formally charged Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas Justice Court, according to online court records, and was ordered held without bail. Her preliminary hearing was set for June 3.

Meanwhile, 30-year-old Pena was taken into custody Saturday. Further details surrounding her arrest were not immediately available, but her initial appearance in court is set for Sunday morning, jail records show.

Police believe all three suspects had abandoned their Las Vegas home and fled the state after the killing, according to the arrest reports.

Burchard had paid their March rent in full, and had previously been paying Turner’s rent in California, his longtime girlfriend, Judy Earp, told the Review-Journal.

Anyone with information on Kennison’s whereabouts may call Metro’s homicide unit at 702-828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Jessica Terrones contributed to this report.