“UNDETERMINED” For Too Long—The Mysterious Death of Heather Turner (Heather Milam)

Summary

Crime Salad Podcast Episode Summary: “UNDETERMINED” For Too Long—The Mysterious Death of Heather Turner (Heather Milam)
Release Date: August 2, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of Crime Salad, hosts Ashley and Ricky delve into the perplexing and unresolved case of Heather Turner, a 35-year-old mother whose death remains officially undetermined nearly a decade later. Through meticulous storytelling and analysis, they explore the intricate details, inconsistencies, and unanswered questions that shroud Heather's tragic demise.

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Background on Heather Turner

Heather Nicole Milam was a vibrant and beloved individual, known for her infectious smile and calming presence. Described by friends and family as a devoted mother, friend, and sister, Heather expressed her creativity through singing and writing. Her talents were evident in the heartfelt letters she penned and a poignant YouTube video of her singing from 13 years prior.

Notable Quote:
“She was the kind of person people gravitated towards. She had this big, infectious smile and a calming presence...”
— Ashley [05:41]

Heather's personal life included a high school marriage to Philip Elsner, a preacher's son, with whom she had a son. Their relationship eventually deteriorated, leading Heather to seek counsel within their church community.

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The Relationship Between Heather and Andy Turner

In 2004, Andy Turner, an associate pastor with a charismatic and adaptable demeanor, joined Heather and Philip's church. Through his role, Andy became involved in counseling Heather and Philip during their marital struggles. By 2008, rumors of an affair emerged, culminating in both Heather and Andy divorcing their respective spouses and marrying in 2014—though this marriage was later disputed.

Notable Quote:
"Honestly, it's not every day that a pastor publicly claims that his signature was forged on a marriage license. Let's crazy."
— Heather [09:38]

Heather's relationship with Andy was fraught with tension and allegations of abuse. Friends and family reported that Heather confided in them about Andy's abusive behavior, including physical violence and emotional manipulation. Emails between Heather and her co-worker Rob revealed Andy's threatening behavior, such as stating, “he would bury me before he signed divorce papers.” (Timestamp: [12:48])

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The Fateful 911 Call and Scene Details

On May 4, 2017, just after 6 AM, Andy Turner made a 911 call reporting Heather's death, claiming she had shot herself. The scene was unsettling: Heather was found naked on the bathroom floor with a gunshot wound to her head and the shower still running. However, subtle inconsistencies in Andy's account raised immediate suspicions.

Notable Quote:
"And this is such a difficult call to listen to. At one point, Andy starts making the sound like he's throwing up and all you can really hear is Andy sobbing on the other end of the line."
— Ashley [13:41]

Upon investigation, discrepancies were noted:

• Gun Placement: Andy initially stated the gun was on the floor next to Heather but later reported it wrapped in a towel.
• Presence of Andy's Parents: During the 911 call, Andy mentioned only his daughter was present. However, his parents were physically present in the home, a fact only revealed when his mother joined the call ([14:06]).
• Scene Management: Officers found the bathroom disturbed with steam from the shower and noted inconsistencies in the location and nature of witness accounts.

Notable Quote:
"If Heather never consented to that marriage, what else in her life might have been affected by someone else's control?"
— Ashley [09:38]

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Investigation and Inconsistencies

The initial response to Heather's death lacked thoroughness. Critical steps in processing the crime scene were reportedly skipped:

• No Securing of the Scene: The house was not taped off upon discovery.
• Delayed Search Warrant: It took 12 days for investigators to return with a search warrant, during which time the home was reoccupied, potentially compromising evidence ([22:22]).
• Conflicting Reports: The coroner's report conflicted with the incident report regarding the location of Heather's gunshot wound (left vs. right side of her head) ([23:15]).

Additionally, Heather had been actively planning to leave Andy, as evidenced by her emails and the day-before meeting with a judge about her relationship issues and Andy's possession of a gun. Despite these warning signs, the investigation did not fully explore these aspects, leading the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to classify the case as undetermined ([16:29]).

Notable Quote:
"It just seems like not very characteristic of a typical self inflicted passing and all these things that we're saying caused the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to rule this case as undetermined..."
— Heather [23:22]

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Aftermath and Current Status

Eight years after Heather's death, the case remains unresolved. Heather's family and supporters have been relentless in their pursuit of answers, citing numerous procedural flaws and lack of progress. They have engaged in various advocacy efforts, including petitions, public meetings, and maintaining a dedicated Facebook page to keep Heather's story alive and pressure authorities for a re-investigation.

Andy Turner, Heather's former husband, has remained evasive, refusing interviews with law enforcement. His subsequent relationship with their nanny turned abusive, further casting a shadow over his character and motivations. In 2023, Andy published a book, "Who Turned up the Silence," presenting his perspective on the events, which has been met with skepticism from Heather's family and supporters who dispute the accuracy of his claims.

Notable Quote:
"They are warriors for sure... they've been waiting for years for, quote, unquote, further investigation to arrive, but from their perspective, nothing has changed."
— Heather [29:32]

Heather's family continues to question why key investigative steps were overlooked and why the case has not received the necessary attention to bring closure.

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Conclusion

The mysterious death of Heather Turner remains shrouded in uncertainty and suspicion. Despite substantial efforts by her loved ones to seek the truth, systemic delays and possible conflicts of interest have hindered the investigation. This episode of Crime Salad highlights the profound impact of unresolved cases on families and underscores the critical need for thorough and unbiased investigations in the pursuit of justice.

For those moved by Heather's story, supporting her family's ongoing efforts is encouraged through the Justice for Heather Turner Facebook page, ensuring that her name and quest for truth remain in the public consciousness.

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Support Heather's Loved Ones:
Visit the Justice for Heather Turner Facebook Page to contribute, share her story, and help keep the pressure on authorities to resolve this longstanding mystery.

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Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of Crime Salad. If you found this summary insightful, please leave a comment, share your thoughts, and spread the word about our podcast. Join us next time as we continue to explore the intricate and often unsettling stories that lie beneath the surface of true crime.

Transcript

[Ashley]

What do you think makes the perfect snack?

[Ricky]

Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.

[Ashley]

Could you be more specific?

[Ricky]

When it's cravinient.

[Ashley]

Okay.

[Ricky]

Like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at a.m. pM.

[Ashley]

I'm seeing a pattern here.

[Ricky]

Well yeah, we're talking about what I.

[Ashley]

Crave, which is anything from AM pm.

[Ricky]

What more could you want? Stop by AM PM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience. AM PM Too much good stuff Starting.

[Andy]

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[Ashley]

This episode contains discussions of domestic abuse, physical violence, emotional manipulation and other content that may be Disturbing or triggering to some listeners. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, help is available. You can contact the national domestic violence hotline at 800-79972 or text START to 88788 for confidential 24. 7 support. Please prioritize your well being as you. Listen.

[Dispatcher]

Pauling County 911 was the address of emergency. Listen, listen. Your phone is cutting out. I can't understand you. What's the address? Okay, what are the numerics? I know. Buck Trail. What is the numerics? 88. 88 Buck Trail. Okay. 88 Buck Trail. Yes, ma'. Am. So is that. Is that in Paulding County? It is. Okay. What are you calling. Listen, listen. What are you calling to report? Your wife just shot herself. This was intentional. Listen. Was this intentional? Sir, take a deep breath. Listen. Was this intentional? Okay, listen, listen. Sir, take a deep breath. Listen, responders. Sir, take a deep breath. Responders are being notified, but I have some more questions for you. It's not going to slow them down. Take a deep breath. What's your name? My name is Andy. What's your last name? Andy.

[Ashley]

At just after 6 in the morning on May 4th of 2017, a 911 call came into the Paulding county dispatch in Dallas, Georgia, which is just about 30 minutes outside of Atlanta. A woman had been found with a gunshot to her head, naked, lying on the bathroom floor with the shower still running. Her name was Heather Turner, a 35 year old mother church member who was just hours earlier was planning to leave her serious long term relationship. The man on the phone making the emergency phone call was Heather's boyfriend, Andy Turner. He told dispatch that Heather had taken her own life. But even in that first phone call, things weren't totally adding up. It was a scene that according to Heather's loved ones, felt staged. Today we're looking at the ongoing case of Heather Turner, an open case that after almost 10 years is still ruled as undetermined in relation to her true cause of death. There have been no arrest, no charges, and worst of all, no real closure for Heather's family. The evidence tells a complicated story. And before we dive any deeper, I want to let you know that this is a complex case. It's full of contradictions, inconsistencies and question marks that have been left unanswered. So we're going to do our best to untangle this web. I'm Ashley.

[Heather]

And I'm Ricky.

[Ashley]

And this is Crime salad. Heather Nicole Milam was the kind of person people gravitated towards. She had this big, infectious smile and a calming presence that made her easy to talk to. And she was someone who could light up a room and make you feel like the most important person in it. She was a devoted mother, friend, and sister. She had been described by many around her as an amazing energy and light to everyone around her.

[Heather]

Heather shared that energy and light through two main ways, according to her family and loved ones, and that was through singing and writing. She loved to write letters and was very talented at using words to express herself. And her family still has those beautiful letters that she wrote. And there's this YouTube video of her singing from about 13 years ago. It's kind of a beautiful sadness to go back and watch her.

[Ashley]

She just had such a wonderful voice. As we said, she was a talented singer. And she was very involved in church life. And she actually got married right out of high school, around the year of 2000 to her high school sweetheart, Philip Elsner, who was the preacher's son. Son. And they remained quite active in their church and later would welcome a son together.

[Heather]

So you have to be wondering, how did Heather meet Andy Turner, the guy that was on the 911 call?

[Ashley]

It's a little interesting. So in 2004, the church hired an associate pastor, as we now know, Andy, who was also a preacher's son. And he primarily worked with the kids and youth in the church. So we can assume that he possibly became acquainted with the couple through their son. Andy was described by many as having a big charismatic personality, but also had those chameleon like tendencies, meaning that he was able to match the energy around him and fit in anywhere. So it was kind of easy for him to relate to a lot of different kinds of people. Now, down the road, Heather and Philip, they started to have marital problems and they reached out for counsel from the leadership of the church. And one of those people who counseled them ended up being Andy.

[Heather]

So Heather became close with Andy through him counseling her on her current marriage, which, from what I know, Andy was also married at the time and had two kids of his own.

[Ashley]

And apparently in 2008, there were some rumors that came out that they were having this affair. And a short time later, they both divorced their spouses and started dating each other. Records show a marriage certificate that dated in 2014 between Heather and Andy, officiated, at least on paper, by a local pastor. But here's the complicated piece. That pastor later said he never married them. Actually, he claims that his own signature on their certificate was forged. And according to Heather's friends and one of her co workers, Heather had confided in them that she never agreed to that marriage at all. So while she was legally listed as Heather Turner and also went by that name, it's possible that she never intended to. So this changes how we look at everything else that follows this. If Heather never consented to that marriage, what else in her life might have been affected by someone else's control?

[Heather]

Honestly, it's not every day that a pastor publicly claims that his signature was forged on a marriage license. Let's crazy.

[Ashley]

That's pretty serious. Yet it doesn't seem like that allegation led to any kind of official investigation into the document's authenticity. And as we'll learn, there will be a lot of questions as we continue to unravel this information, especially regarding some of the inactions taken by investigators. So as Andy and Heather's relationship grew, they eventually welcomed their own child together, a daughter. So together they had three boys and one girl from previous marriages and also together, it seemed that things were going pretty well. Heather even got a job in 2016 at the Probate court in Paulding county, where Andy's mother also worked. But it was at this time where Heather told a co worker here that even though she took Andy's last name, she was never really married to him. And from here, eventually, things became more outwardly strained between the couple. Cindy, Heather's aunt and mother figure, reported that Heather would call her, alleging that Andy was abusing her and had even asked her to come and pick Heather up, but would later call it off and tell her not to come. And according to her family, it became worse. Now, this is reported by Cindy, Heather's aunt, but Andy says that this is untrue. So this is kind of like a hearsay situation. But according to Cindy, Heather had given up custody of her son to her previous husband, Philip, after a supposed incident at Heather and Andy's house, claiming that Andy was abusing Heather's child. Now, again, Andy denies this, but it's very important to get this information out there, especially regarding the nature of Heather and Andy's relationship. By early 2017, things had reached a breaking point. Cindy had said that Heather became increasingly more distant from her, and Heather had confided in co workers and, as an advid writer, had even written down her fears about her relationship. According to one main co worker at the probate court named Rob, Heather had sent him numerous emails about the nature of her and Andy's relationship. Rob described himself as being completely in love with Heather, and They had planned to be together after her separation from Andy, although he does say that they never acted on their feelings towards each other and never met outside of work. They were ready to be together after May 5 when Heather had planned to leave. And Rob has provided multiple sources, emails actually between he and Heather, which said that Andy was trying to go to the judge's office to get Heather fired. He had accused her of sleeping with multiple people, also had locked her in their bedroom and had taken his belt off like he was planning to hit her with it. Probably one of the most concerning of these emails is the one that reads, he told me he would bury me before he signed divorce papers. I think that was a threat, but he said it was just an expression.

[Heather]

Yeah, I mean, according to these emails, it seems like she was documenting her abuse.

[Ashley]

Exactly. So the last that Rob knew, allegedly Heather was planning her separation and the next time anyone saw her, she was lying on the bathroom floor of her and Andy's shared home with the shower still running. So let's talk about the timeline. So according to the official timeline, andy Turner called 911 just after 6am from their home in Buck Trail claiming that Heather had shot herself. He sounds panicked and distraught as the 911 dispatcher asks questions. He says the gun was beside her and that there's blood everywhere and he doesn't know what to do at this point. He says that she was still conscious. So the dispatcher directs him to use life saving measures.

[Heather]

And this is such a difficult call to listen to. At one point, Andy starts making the sound like he's throwing up and all you can really hear is Andy sobbing on the other end of the line. At that point, Andy's mother actually got on the phone with emergency dispatch, which was a surprise because Andy told the dispatch the only other person in the house was his 8 year old daughter that he had with Heather.

[Dispatcher]

Your baby daughter's there. Okay, Andy? Andy, Is she in a different room? Okay, take a. Take a deep breath for me, okay? I want you to keep compressing. Andy, where is your daughter? Is she asleep? She's asleep on the couch in the living room. She's in the living room. Okay. Are you confessing? At least two inches. Okay, take a deep breath. This is mother. Okay. Is Andy still there? Okay. Just as long as he's doing compressions. At least 2 inches. 100 times a minute. Okay? Okay. 100 times.

[Ashley]

So the presence of Andy's parents is confirmed in the official police report, but on the call itself, Andy never says anyone else is there. Even after the dispatcher asked him, he says that his daughter is in the house and in another room, but never mentions his parents being in the actual bathroom with him while he's trying to revive Heather. It's not obvious until his mother literally gets on the phone and says, this is his mother.

[Heather]

Right. And that's just another thing that makes this whole thing so complicated and hard to follow. So we learn later that Andy's parents live about 10 minutes away from him. And according to his father's statement to the police, Andy called them about five minutes before he called 911 to make sure his daughter didn't come into the room. We hear Andy's mother get on the phone about 11 minutes into the 911 call.

[Ashley]

So at this point, the dispatcher asks if Andy is still trying to revive Heather. And right after that, Andy's father then gets on the phone, confirming very solemnly that Heather is beyond all help.

[Dispatcher]

Bad reception. You believe she's beyond all help? Yes, ma'. Am. Okay.

[Ashley]

And we can't leave out the incident report that was filed that day by the investigating officer, Curtis Turner. Andy's father was standing in the front yard and told them that Andy and Heather were in the bathroom inside the house. Pamela, Andy's mother, was sitting in the living room and stated that they were in the bathroom by the bedroom and pointed them in the right direction.

[Heather]

Okay. So the confusing part of this is during the 911 call, Andy claims his daughter is asleep in the living room. But when the officers arrive, they don't report this. She wasn't in the living room sleeping. Who was in the living room was Andy's mother. And why this sticks out is Andy said that he called his parents before 91 1, and the reason being was so that his daughter didn't enter the bathroom. But when the police arrive, neither of his parents are actually with his daughter. And that's just weird to me.

[Ashley]

So the officer walked into the bathroom and noted that there was a lot of steam, as if someone had taken a shower. And Heather's hair was wet, as if she had been in the shower at the time of the incident. Andy was holding Heather in his arms. And the officer noticed a gunshot wound on the left side of Heather's cheek, right in front of her ear. The officer asked Andy where the gun was located, and he stated it was wrapped in a towel next to the toilet.

[Heather]

So that means that Andy had moved the gun and wrapped it in a towel, because during the 911 call, he told the dispatch that the gun was on the floor next to Heather. I mean, not to fault him or anything, but this is definitely going to affect how the crime scene is processed.

[Ashley]

Right. And another thing the officer found was a notepad on the vanity in the bathroom with I'm sorry, I love you written on it. And along with that was a cell phone lying by the notepad. The officer spoke with Andy's father, Curtis, after this, and he explained how Heather had been having just a hard time since her grandfather passed away, which was about a week before this. And upon speaking with Andy, he explained how the night before had been completely normal, where they ate dinner, hung out in the bedroom doing husband and wife things. He explained how Heather didn't act like she was thinking about harming herself last night or this morning, but did say that her ex husband was filing for full custody of their son with his second wife planning to adopt him, and that she was going to have to resign to be fired from her job that morning. So definitely all contributing to the self inflicted aspect of this case. But that note really sticks out to a lot of people. They question that note a lot. Because if you remember from the beginning of this episode, we mentioned how Heather loved to write and she was extremely expressive and thorough with her words. This is a woman who poured her heart into lyrics, into her letters, and she was someone who communicated. That was a big part of who she was. And maybe that doesn't prove anything on its own, but. But I mean, it adds to the larger picture of doubt and also the fact that Andy mentioned that Heather was going to be fired that day because there are emails from Heather to Rob that Andy was actively trying to get her fired from her job at the probate court. But you wouldn't expect the investigators to know this about Heather, so they just obviously wouldn't look into that any further. Now, according to Rob, Andy had called him, threatened him for talking to his wife, and had even showed up at the probate section of the courthouse in April of that year to talk to the judge about firing Heather for the email exchanged between her and Rob. But he was escorted off the property. And on May 3, a day before this incident, Heather had actually met with the judge at the probate court to speak with him about her and Andy's relationship. There's documentation of this conversation where the judge says that she was made aware by Heather that the couple was having domestic problems and that Andy had a gun in his possession. This report also says that because of their issues, Heather was concerned for Andy to come to the probate section of the courthouse. And because of this, there was another employee of the courthouse who was sent to speak with Heather about this situation.

[Dispatcher]

And.

[Ashley]

And Heather advised that she did not wish to file a report because she didn't want to make her husband mad. And it was at this point that Rob made the judge aware of the threatening phone call from Andy, and courthouse security was made aware of that as well. But Rob also declined to make a police report because he didn't want to make Heather's problems worse. Now, this is an incident report, so it's just a record of what was said by Heather and Rob. So we're not saying that this is proof, but it's just important information to put out there. And with all of this background information, Especially since this conversation happened the day before Heather's passing, It makes the nature of her death seem so suspicious, Especially since Heather was planning to leave the next day. But investigators wouldn't know any of this when they walked into the house that day, which maybe the assumption of the officers that Heather did this to herself Caused them to just handle the scene differently from a typical crime scene. The house wasn't taped off, and it doesn't seem like any physical evidence was collected. Andy was never tested for gunshot residue on his hands. So it seems that this assumption caused a lot of typical crime scene processes to be skipped over.

[Heather]

And you can't really overstate how unusual that is. An unattended death by a gunshot, a crime scene that could have already been messed with, but then there's no scene control when emergency services get there. Usually, standard practice would involve testing anyone at the scene for gunshot residue, Andy included. And it's so discouraging that this step was skipped because it could have added so much clarity to the case.

[Ashley]

It's definitely strange. And it actually took 12 days for investigators to return to the Turner home with a search warrant, which was issued based on suspicions of felony murder and aggravated assault. And by that point, the scene had already been lived in for almost two weeks by Andy and his children. So we have no idea what could have been changed during that time.

[Heather]

Yeah, exactly. And I can't help but to think about Heather's family and friends during this. I mean, their hope of having any physical evidence to give them answers Seemed like it was basically gone.

[Ashley]

The only real evidence that we really have is the coroner's report and the autopsy, so we can talk about that. The coroner's report stated that the entrance wound on Heather's head was on the right side with no obvious exit wound, and Heather was found Naked on the bathroom floor.

[Heather]

Yeah. And didn't the incident report from the officer state that the wound was on the left side of Heather's head?

[Ashley]

Yeah, so just another piece of confusing information, honestly. And the medical examiner wrote in that report that there was no obvious exit wound. So we don't really know which one is correct at this point. And if it was the left side, that's definitely concerning since Heather was right handed. But again, I mean, things happen. We really don't know. The report also stated that officers took photos of the scene, so there's that at least. But obviously we don't have access to those photos since it's still technically an open case. So then another weird part was that the coroner's report noted that the initial 911 call came in at six o' clock in the morning. Now, when police spoke to Curtis, Andy's father, he said that Andy called him about five minutes before the 911 call. The officer also wrote in the incident report that Curtis then pulled out his phone to give the officer an accurate time of the phone call and stated that the call was at 5:59am and they weren't there the night before or stayed the night or anything because Curtis also said to the officer that when they got the call from Andy, they drove right over. And also in the coroner's report, the medical examiner summarized the same thing that Andy had told the investigating officer about Heather's recent struggles and the events of the evening before in the morning of the incident. The only additions here from the incident report is that there was alcohol present on one of the nightstands in the bedroom and a wall near the toilet had appeared to be washed. I feel like it's kind of odd to spend time cleaning the bathroom wall before officers get there when you're in such a state of shock with a tragedy like this. Not to mention the fact that as we've said a couple times, Heather was found naked, her hair was wet from the shower. And I mean, just an opinion. It seems odd for someone to go into a bathroom, take their clothes off, get into the shower and then shoot themselves in the head. That just, it just seems like not very characteristic of a typical self inflicted passing and all these things that we're saying it caused the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to rule this case as undetermined, noting that there was just as much of a case for self infliction as there was for someone else doing this to her. We don't have the autopsy report, but whatever they found during that autopsy caused them to be Unsure of what really happened. So those are the facts of the actual incident, really, which leaves everything so complicated and, honestly, suspicious. So this case, it has the news reports about the incident, it has interviews and has updates from the investigative offices themselves, which have their own series of complications and inconsistencies, starting with the interviews with Andy from a couple different news outlets following Heather's death. And Andy was very willing to talk to news outlets about the incident and continued to mention the prolonged husband and wife time that they had the night before Heather died, with his children in the room during this interview. And what's very interesting about Andy's interviews, though, is that during his account of the events, when talking to the news sources, he claims that he and his daughter both ran into the bathroom when they heard the gunshot, saying that we found her in the bathroom. This instead of what he originally had said about her being asleep in the living room, which is what he told the 911 operator. It's just kind of, I mean, another story. I mean, it's not an admission of guilt or anything, obviously, but it's. It's confusing.

[Heather]

And it was during these interviews with reporters that he realized officers were calling this case questionable, which must have been surprising for him.

[Ashley]

Yeah, I mean, I guess that would be. Huh? What do you mean, they're calling this questionable? Yeah, the back and forth and all the opinions are so complicated, which makes the truth about Heather's state of mind in those final days really foggy. But what we do know is that she was planning to leave, at least from the multiple testimonies from those around her. She was making it known to the people that she talked to, that she trusted. And from that perspective, she died before she had the chance to leave.

[Heather]

Yeah, I think so, too. And it makes sense that the family wants answers, because, I mean, given all of this background information in the crime scene, that's basically useless. It seems like the investigation was barely moving at all.

[Ashley]

Well, a lot of public conversations around this case believe that Andy's relationship with the local community may have contributed to the delays that we saw with investigators. So let's take a little walk through what is known publicly. Okay, so Andy's father, Curtis Turner, he was a pastor. His uncle, John Turner, serves as a chaplain for the Paulding county fire department. And his mother, Pam Turner, worked at the courthouse, where Heather also worked before she died. And Heather's family say that Pam was friends with the probate judge and the district attorney's office staff.

[Heather]

And we're not saying this means something is being covered up in small towns like Dallas, Georgia, it's common for people to take on multiple roles. Everyone knows everyone, and lines can blur. But in a case like this, it can raise serious concerns, especially when key decisions are delayed or handled strangely.

[Ashley]

Right. And those questions grow when we learn that in 2019, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reportedly handed its findings in the case over to the district attorney's office. But upon contact with the district attorney's officer, they reported that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had not handed their findings over. So, yeah, they're just still waiting for this documentation, apparently. And since then, there's been no indictment, no closure, and according to Heather's family, very little communication.

[Heather]

And that silence prompted Heather's supporters to speak out more publicly. They launched petitions and posted online, pointing out what they saw as inconsistencies in the investigation. They even began naming those they believed were responsible for the lack of progress, including elected officials, prosecutors, and law enforcement leaders.

[Ashley]

But so much time has passed. It's been, as of today, eight years since Heather died. I mean, you can only imagine how that feels to the family. They just want answers, and it's just, like, all stuck in limbo.

[Heather]

So what was Andy doing during all this time?

[Ashley]

Well, firstly, to this day, Andy has refused to speak with the sheriff's office or Bureau of Investigation for an interview on Heather's case. But one of the biggest aspects of this case that lends to the nature of Andy and Heather's relationship is his subsequent relationship with their nanny. So apparently, their relationship had become romantic soon after Heather died, and that relationship apparently didn't go very well. According to news sources, a Paulding county judge actually granted this nanny a restraining order against Andy, citing that he eventually began to abuse her physically and even sexually as the relationship progressed. We won't get into the specifics of that, but it's really concerning, to say the least, with the nanny even alleging that Andy had threatened her life before, saying, if I could do this to Heather, what makes you think I couldn't do this to you? That's directly from an interview with this nanny.

[Heather]

That is messed up.

[Ashley]

Andy's only response to this was that he has hundreds of hours of video of their sexual encounters, which I don't really know what that proves. But he also points out that her claims are very convenient for the public's current opinion about him. And in all this stuff coming up about Heather's private life with Andy, as well as his pretty questionable relationship with their nanny, Andy actually later self published a book in 2023 called who Turned up the Silence, where he describes himself as a grieving husband and offers his version of the relationship. The description and excerpt of this book it's publicly available and his main claim is that he's breaking his silence amid people using social media to tell a twisted story and quote unquote weaponize their right to free speech in order to slander those they uneducatedly turn against and crush anyone brave enough to oppose them. The book is described more as his own life story, but focuses on breaking his silence about his wife's passing. And in this book, Andy highlights Heather as having emotional struggles and engaging in infidelity. This is in relation to the co worker we mentioned earlier, Rob, who had said that in interviews Andy was fully aware of Rob and Heather's relationship. Heather's family and friends have said that a lot of this book is not at all accurate to what Heather had privately shared with them. It probably felt like a rewriting of history to them, which disconnected them even more to the idea that she did this to herself. Plus this information about the nanny. I mean, why wouldn't you keep fighting for answers? And that brings us to everything Heather's loved ones have been doing to keep this case moving. I mean, they've shown up at city meetings, filed open records requests, kept detailed notes of timelines, inconsistencies and unanswered questions. And they've done it while navigating a system that they felt like was keeping them in the dark and pointing fingers to everyone else. So Paulding county police, they say that they can no longer investigate because they had already handed it over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. And the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said that their investigation is concluded and has been handed over to the district attorney. But as we know, the district attorney is disputing that. So this case is basically just stuck in limbo right now. Heather's close ones have repeatedly asked why no one secured the home, why the warrant came so late, why Andy never tested for gunshot residue, and why a case labeled as undetermined hasn't moved forward in almost a decade. Even after the Georgia Bureau of Investigations supposedly submitted their findings, the family has been speaking to the public and even brought their concerns directly to law enforcement, the district attorney's office, and also the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. At one point, they even met with the governor's office, hoping to bring more visibility to Heather's case. They are warriors for sure. So there's been a lot of visibility for her case, which includes the justice for Heather Facebook page where Heather's family And friends have shared documents, timelines, and official correspondences to keep everyone in the loop. It's almost like they're doing their own investigative work. But they're honestly so inspirational in the strength that they've shown through all of this. And to think that this case is still undetermined after all of their efforts, it's so discouraging. They've been waiting for years for, quote, unquote, further investigation to arrive, but from their perspective, nothing has changed. And we don't know if it ever will. It's easy to look at a case like this and feel overwhelmed. I know there's a lot to this case, but for families like Heather's, giving up isn't an option. They keep pushing for clarity, truth, and just want to be at peace. No matter what the actual outcome of this case is. Whether Heather's death was a tragic suicide or a malicious act, they just want to know what really happened. If you would like to support Heather's loved ones, please visit the justice for Heather Turner Facebook page. And even just sharing her story helps keep her name alive, and it puts more pressure and it puts more eyes on this case that has gone way too long without a resolution. Thank you all so much for listening to this week's episode. If you found this episode meaningful, please feel free to leave a comment, tell us what you think, and also tell a friend about crime. Salad, thank you so much for supporting our show. We really greatly appreciate it. We will see you next time.