Jury needed less than 20 minutes to find boyfriend guilty
Victim was strangled to death
NEW BOSTON, Texas —A Bowie County jury found Travis Turner guilty of murder in the death of his girlfriend this week, less than three hours after Turner took the stand to testify in his own defense.
The jury received the case at 5 p.m. Friday and returned with a verdict at 5:18 p.m.
Friends and family of Jennifer Garrett’s cried softy with relief when the verdict was announced.
Turner took the witness stand about 2:30 p.m., Friday afternoon and defiantly claimed his innocence in the murder of Garrett, 29, of Texarkana, Texas, after often heated exchanges with First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp.
Turner and Garrett met at Texas High School and had dated on and off for a number of years, according to testimony.
Crisp questioned Turner about the morning of August 12, 2021 when Garrett’s car and possessions were at the apartment but, she was not.
“Her car is there, her phone is there, her purse is there. And that makes sense to you?” Crisp asked.
“Tell us how the body got there. What is your theory?” Crisp asked Turner.
“Are you saying I put the body there?” Turner replied.
“I think you killed her the night before,” Crisp said.
Testimony began Tuesday. Turner was tried in Bowie County 202 District Court. Turner pleaded not guilty. He is being represented by Bart Craytor of the Bowie County Public Defender’s Office.
Earlier Friday, Dallas County Medical Examiner Elizabeth Ventura testified about Garrett’s cause of death.
“The cause of death was due to strangulation, and the manner of death was homicide,” Ventura testified
Ventura pointed out a broken hyoid bone in Garrett’s neck, fractured thyroid cartilage and facial petechia as sign of strangulation.
The hyoid bone helps support neck muscles. “It took a significant amount of force to break that bone,” Ventura testified. “It was fractured and there was hemorrhage
associated with it which means it occurred before death” she said.
Ventura testified she does not typically see a fractured hyoid bone in a person as young as Garrett.
Ventura described Garrett as an otherwise healthy 29-year-old woman with a negative toxicology report.
Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards, Ventura described Garrett’s injuries as “extensive.”
“I don’t typically see this many injuries in a strangling case. These injuries are rarely seen all together,” Ventura said.
Ventura also pointed out facial petechia on Garrett as a sign of strangulation.
Petechia occurs when pressure builds in the venules and capillaries and causes rupture. In a strangulation, its from pressure being applied to the neck and the struggle caused by that pressure.
“All in her face, you see pinpoints of discoloration” Ventura testified.
Ventura also testified abrasions on Garrett’s neck were consistent with Garrett trying to release the hand that was around her neck.
In closing statements Friday, Richards told the jury this was the “end of a very long road for Jennifer Garret’s family.”
She referred to Turner’s testimony as the same type of behavior that jurors had heard from other witnesses.
“He thinks he can manipulate and bully.. and it’s called gas-lighting,” Richards said.
Richards referred to the DNA under Garrett’s fingernails as “some of the strongest evidence of a murder you will see” and described Turner as a “Jekyll and Hyde.”
On Tuesday, the first day of testimony, Garrett’s friend Caitlyn Pines testified about the morning Garrett’s body was discovered.
Garrett’s friend and coworker Brooke Kern had knocked on the door of Garrison’s apartment on the morning of August 12. Turner answered the door and told her that Garrett had not come home the night before, according to her testimony. After Turner left, Kern used a credit card to enter Garrett’s apartment.
“Then all you hear is screaming. The worst scream you can imagine,” Pynes testified. Pynes had been on the phone with Kern and Kern entered their friend’s apartment.
On Wednesday, Turner’s mother Travistene Turner testified about a disturbance that occurred at her home in July 2021. Travistene Turner is seen on police body camera video asking police if they can take Travis Turner to jail after a fight between him and his brother.
“I wanted him out of the house,” Travistene Turner testified.
Travistene was injured during the disturbance according to police reports of the incident. However, she testified Wednesday that the incident had been blown out of proportion. She also testified she took out a restraining order on Travis Turner after that incident.
On Thursday, detectives and crime scene investigators testified about trying to obtain DNA evidence from Turner.
“He was very uncooperative and we had to call in multiple officers to restrain him,” Texarkana Crime Scene Detective Eric Winters testified.
Winters described a “red and swollen injury” on the inside of Turner’s left pinky finger. Winters testified that Turner became “more agitated” when detectives focused on injuries to his left hand.
Texarkana Texas Police Sgt. Brad Thacker testified as a video of Turner in the police interview room played.
The video showed Thacker entering the interview room and telling Turner to stop picking his fingernails.
Thacker explained detectives were waiting on a warrant to obtain fingernail evidence. When Turner continued to pick at his fingernails, officers handcuffed him.
Winters said it took four or five officers to obtain the photos they needed as part of the search warrant. The officers had to hold Turner against the wall to take the photos they needed, according to the video and Winter’s testimony.
Texarkana Texas Police Crime Scene Investigator Marc Sillivan also testified for more than hour and described the crime scene to witnesses.
Under questioning by First Assistant Bowie County District Attorney Kelley Crisp, Sillivan testified there was no sign of forced entry in Garrett’s apartment. Sillivan also testified that he believed Garrett had died on the couch, had not been moved from the couch and had been dead for about 10 to 12 hours when she was found.