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Douglas County woman convicted of killing her child
Longmont postal worker murders her mailman boyfriend
Abstracted from article by Julia Card, Colorado Springs Gazette
August 2017 — Kelly Renee Turner, now 43, caused the death of her 7-year-old daughter, Olivia Gant, by fabricating numerous serious illnesses and subjecting her to years of unnecessary medical treatment. On February 9, 2022, she pled guilty in Douglas County District Court to child abuse resulting in death and a single count each of charitable fraud and theft between $100,000 and $1 million. In addition to the charges she pled guilty to Ms. Turner originally faced charges of first-degree murder and attempted influence of a public servant.
Judge Patricia Herron sentenced Kelly Turner to 16 years for the child abuse charge, 10 years for the theft count, and three years for charitable fraud. Ms. Turner will serve the sentences at the same time, followed by three years of mandatory parole.
Kelly Turner's daughter died in hospice care in August 2017 after five years of treatment at Children's Hospital Colorado for illnesses prosecutors said her mother fabricated for attention and financial gain. Ms. Turner claimed Olivia died of intestinal failure.
Olivia's body was exhumed for the autopsy as part of the investigation into her death, and it found no evidence of intestinal disease. The cause of death was “undetermined.”
Authorities began looking into Ms. Turner's role in Olivia's death in 2018, when she started seeking care for another daughter, claiming the child was suffering from “bone pain” from cancer. When doctors looked into those complaints, they found no indication of cancer.
Months before Olivia died, Turner helped her make a “ bucket list” of things she wanted to do. According to the indictment, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, under the assumption that Olivia was dying, gave the child a Bat Princess party. A GoFundMe set up by Turner brought in more than $22,000. She was also accused of defrauding Medicaid of thousands of dollars in unnecessary medical care.
Abstracted from story by Michael Roberts, Westword
October 15, 2021 — On October 13 th Longmont postal worker Jason Schaefer was gunned down in broad daylight in a driveway near some mailboxes. That night, the Longmont Police already had a suspect in custody, and new details about the crime were released yesterday, October 14 th .
The original release from Longmont Police states that at 12:33 PM on October 13 th , officers responded to a report of a shooting near the intersection of Heatherhill Street and Renaissance Drive. There they found a male postal worker later identified as Mr. Schaefer. He was declared dead at the scene.
The report referenced a “male suspect ” who “ was seen fleeing the area south on Renaissance Drive. The suspect was wearing dark clothing, a hoodie and a blue mask.” An hours-long search of the area failed to turn up the alleged shooter.
The arrest affidavit in the case quotes the Longmont postmaster posing this question upon arriving at the scene of the shooting: “ Did the baby mama do it? ”
Devan Schreiner was Jason Schaefer's former lover and the mother of his child. As word spread about his murder, she immediately became a suspect. And shortly after noon on October 13 th , a car matching the description of her black Nissan Rogue had been spotted in the area where Mr. Schaefer was shot a short time later.
During the early evening of October 13 th Ms. Schreiner spoke to a police detective and agreed to drive from her home in Fort Collins to Longmont. The majority of Schreiner's statements to authorities were redacted in the release given to the press, but her wardrobe spoke volumes: She wore a blue face mask and a black hoodie.
Later that day, at around 10:30 PM, Longmont police put out another alert, revealing that officers with the department, in conjunction with agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, had arrested Devan Schreiner, 26, on suspicion of first-degree murder. “ She is the victim's ex-girlfriend, ” the release stated. Ms. Schreiner was booked at Longmont police headquarters before being transported to Boulder County Jail. The department added this assurance: “ This was not a random act of violence. This crime appears to be an isolated incident and an act of domestic violence.”
Devan Schreiner was recently fired from her post office job because of a thus-far-unspecified incident involving Jason Schaefer.
Two days before the shooting, Mr. Schaefer had asked a local court to modify his parenting time. It's unclear whether Devan Schreiner was served with papers regarding that request before the murder.
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