Hispanic Woman Arrested For Manslaughter Of A Doctor In Las Vegas

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Diana Nicole Pena, a young bartender who worked at the Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas, was arrested this weekend on suspicion of being an accessory to a Playboy model in the murder of a California child psychiatrist who was helping them pay their rent.

Pena, 30, was arrested this weekend and locked up in the Clark County Detention Center after police detained her friend Kelsey Nichole Turner on March 21 in connection with the murder of Dr. Thomas Burchard..

The body of the 71-year-old Salinas resident was found inside the trunk of a Mercedez-Benz car on March 7 at the entrance to the Lake Mead recreation area near the Game Capital. His skull was struck by an unknown object that left distinctive marks on the body and the car.

The body was covered with blankets and there were reportedly attempts to clean the interior of the car, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Detective Mitchell Dosch in the woman's arrest warrant. The victim is estimated to have died four days before the date his body was located.

According to said document, Burchard had recently paid the rent for Kelsey Turner's apartment covering the months of March, April and June, as confirmed by People.

At the time of her arrest, which took place in Stockton, California, Turner was accompanied by her boyfriend, Jon Logan Kennison, 27, and their son. At that time the subject was not a suspect in the crime. However, Pena and Kennison were added to the suspect list on April 5.

According to reports the day before the discovery of the body, Pena did not show up for work, according to her employers at Caesars Palace, and it is believed that on the same day she fled Nevada. For his part, Kennison agreed to meet with detectives but was never heard from again, according to The Californian newspaper.

The police assure that the car where the body was found was registered in the name of Turner and that the prints of both her and Pena and Turner were found inside the vehicle. A card pertaining to Pena's work at Caesars was also found in the car.

The motives for the murder are still unknown, however Judy Earp, the victim's girlfriend, told the aforementioned newspaper that Burchard had known Turner for two years and that during that period he had delivered the woman about the crime of homocide. Kennison remains a fugitive from justice, while Turner and Pena have a court date next June 6 for a preliminary hearing.