Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - UNSOLVED: BEAUTIFUL JULIE NISWENDER FOUND DEAD IN TUB

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

Julia Niswender's roommates are gone for the weekend, but then one stops by the apartment on Monday to pick up some things for class.  She heads out without seeing or talking to Julia. The next day the roommate realizes she hasn't seen or talked to Julia in two days. The bedroom door is locked so she calls security at the apartment complex to check on her roommate. The guard shows up with police, and using a master key to open the door, walks into Julia Niswender's room. It appears as if a home invasion has taken place. Calling out for Julia and getting no reply, the officer walks toward the bathroom door, finding a pair of white latex gloves on the floor in front of the bathroom door. They are twisted and intertwined with each other.   Opening the bathroom door, officers discover Julia's lifeless, nude body, face down submerged in the bathtub filled with water. Her hands are pulled behind her back, her feet are together, and her cell phone is found underneath her body. Niswender's clothes have been cut off, except for a sleeve, and are left on the bathroom floor. Niswender's room looks like it has been tossed. Clothes are all over the floor of the room, drawers are left open, contents from a plastic organizer drawer have been dumped on the floor, and the contents of Niswender's purse is dumped out onto her bed.  A black-and-white zebra-striped pillowcase is missing from a pillow, her keys to the apartment are missing from a lanyard, and police note that it looks like a home invasion took place, but wrapped Christmas presents, an iPod, computer, and tv are not taken from the room. The night her body is found, officers note how her mother is pacing back and forth at the police station, while her stepfather seems stoic as he sits in the lobby. The first of several red flags that led investigators to take a closer look at Jim Turnquist. Looking at Turnquist, the police ask for his laptop, and he complies, they ask for a polygraph, and he complies twice, and passes twice. Investigators consult with the FBI and are encouraged to take a good look at Turnquist. Turnquist is named a Person of Interest, and he is charged, and not in the death of Julia Niswender, but in child pornography. There are 300,000 pictures on his laptop, 7 of which lead to charges of child porn. At trial, experts testified the 7 photos are in temp folders and could have been pop-up ads, and you can't even tell the age of the people in the pictures. Turnquist is acquitted of the child porn charges. The murder case of Julia Niswender turns cold. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Kim Turnquist - Julia’s mother, Facebook: Justice for Julia Niswender Madison Turnquist - Julia’s younger sister   Dale Carson – Criminal Defense Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent, Former Police Officer, Author: “Arrest-Proof Yourself;” X: @DaleCarsonLaw Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Jason Jensen – Private Investigator (Jensen Private Investigations), Cold Case Expert (Salt Lake City, UT), and Co-founder: “Cold Case Coalition;” Investigations; X: @JasonJPI, Facebook/Instagram: “Jensen Investigations”  Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter/X: @JoScottForensic  Ronnie Dahl (Metro Detroit) Investigative Journalist, Private Investigator and Owner of Ronnie Dahl Investigations; FB & X: @ronniedahl IG: ronnie_dahl_investigations  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How does a beautiful young girl end up murdered, dead in her own bathtub, the apple of her family's eye, and still no justice? As the days pass, as the weeks pass, as the months pass, Julia's family wonders why. And so do I. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. First of all, listen to this. Both of Julia Niswender's roommates have been gone for the weekend. And when one of the roommates stops by Monday morning to pick up some things for class that day,

she hears the alarm going off in Julia Neiswinder's bedroom and heads out without seeing or talking to her. The next day, the roommate realizes she hasn't seen or talked to Julia in two days. Her bedroom door is locked, so she calls security at the apartment complex to check on her roommate. The guard shows up with police, and using a master key to open the door, they walk into Julia Nicewinder's room. It appears as if a home invasion has taken place. Calling out for Julia and getting no reply, the officer walks toward the bathroom door.

A pair of white latex gloves are on the floor in front of the bathroom door. They are twisted and intertwined with each other. Just as if somebody had been taking them off and threw them down. What happened to Julia and why still no justice? Joining me in All-Star panel, but first to Julia's mother, Kim Turnquist. Ms. Turnquist, thank you for being with us. Thank you. Ms. Turnquist, it has been a horrible and seemingly never-ending journey for you,

getting justice for Julia. I want you to think back to the moment you found out that your girl, just beautiful young girl, had been killed. What happened? Well, I actually found said that Julia didn't show up for the Christmas party and that friends had stopped over at her place and her car was home but Julia wasn't home that one of the roommates said yeah I haven't seen her all day she's not you know so they so they went on their way well then when my friend called me and said, hey, Kim, you know, I got a call that no one's seen Julia and that she didn't show up for work. And she typically does not just not show up for work.

And she said, where are you at? Well, me and Jennifer, her twin, we were actually playing darts on a dart league. And I told her where I was, and she came and picked us up. And we kept trying to call Julia on our way from Monroe to Ypsilanti, which can be about a 45-minute drive. And her cell phone was going right to voicemail. So then we actually called one of Jennifer's friends who lived on campus, which was right across the street from Julia's apartment. And we asked her to go over there and check on her. So she in the meantime, the roommate had the security guard and the cops there. And then Rachel got there and she called us and said, Kim, I'm given the EMT your phone number because they want to talk to you and I'm like what so me

and Jennifer were obviously freaking out and so then they called me and they asked me if Julia had any medical issues and I said yes she has a cardio neurosyncope which is something I have and Jennifer has which causes your blood pressure to drop it, and you could just pass right out. But then you can come to it after a few minutes. And he said, okay, and I said, why, what's going on? And he goes, I'll call you back. Well, they never called us back. We got up there, and when we got up there, we seen the EMT, but no lights were on.

So there was just a brief moment that we were like, okay, the lights aren't on. So nothing's really wrong. But then there was a security guard stand in there and me and Jennifer just ran right into Julia's apartment and we didn't see anybody. And her apartment was at the back of the apartment in the corner. And so when we ran down, when we ran down the hallway, um, I went to open the door and when I, we went to step in, we could see that there was stuff on the floor, but then a cop came out of the bathroom area and pushed us into the kitchen area. And we said, you know, what's going on with Julia? You know, we, we want to see her that, you know, and of course,

Jennifer being her twin was really freaking out. And he said to us, and he said, you can't see her, she's deceased. And Jennifer just ran out of the apartment. I like fell to the floor. I was like, punching things. I was upset. I was freaking out. I'm like, you're, you're, you're, you're lying. And, you know, and he's like, no, he goes, she's deceased. And, and I just, I lost it. And then at that moment, because on our way up there, we had called Jim, which at the time was my husband and him and Madison were on their way up there because, you know, we didn't know what was going on with, with Julia and no one had heard from her for two days. So we, so everyone was kind of on their way up there. And when my husband at the time

came into the apartment, he said, what's going on? And the officer goes, well, your daughter is deceased. And we all just lost it, you know, and, and, you know, we had to go out and tell Madison who was 10 years old at the time that her sister was, you know, was dead. And it was just, it was, it was the worst, it was the worst moment. I, I, it, to talk about it, even it just, it brings everything right back to that exact moment that, like, in my mind, I, I relive that moment all the time, and, you know, when I, then I get mad and angry, and, and, you know, and I just start crying, and, you know, she was, Julia was definitely special, and her family meant everything to her. And it was right before Christmas. Christmas was her favorite holiday.

She was so excited that, you know, she was finally at an age and had a job that she could buy her family Christmas presents, you know. And she just was so excited for Christmas that year. Me and Jim had gone out and got a real Christmas tree. It was our first real Christmas tree. And Julia was more excited than anybody about the real Christmas tree and decorating it. And we always decorated our Christmas tree, you know, when all of us could be there and have hot chocolate. And, you know, we had already done that when she was home the weekend before. So we got to, you know, have that last memory with her. But it's definitely, it's, yeah, to talk about it sometimes just, you know, is real upsetting.

But I also want to talk about it because I want to keep her story alive I don't want anyone to forget her I want everyone to know that this case is still unsolved and it's been 11 years too long that we need some answers more for Julia than us but I really want justice for Julia she deserves it guys you are hearing Julia's mom, Kim Turnquist, and I want you to know that Kim is battling leukemia on top of everything else, and she is with us today help in solving her girl's murder. Also with us is Madison Turnquist. This is Julia's little sister. Madison, thank you for being with us, dear.

Thank you for having us today. Madison, I hear your mom, Kim, state how awful it is to retell the story. I feel the same way when people just out of the blue ask me about my fiance's murder. I hate that. But yet I will tell it if I feel like I need to tell it or if I have to tell it in some way to help someone. Can you tell me, Madison, about the moment you learned your big sister had been killed? I can replay exactly how it happened 11 years ago.

So as you guys already heard, the first beginning from my mom, but to go a little back to when she had said that Jennifer ran out of the first, you know, beginning from my mom. But to go a little back to when she had said that Jennifer ran out of the room, Jennifer actually ran to me in my dad's truck. So at that time, I was sitting in the truck with my mom's two best friends when Jennifer had run out to me. And she had run out. She was was bawling she hugged me that I love you and I had no idea what was going on still at that moment and she did that and then she had walked away I don't know she went to go find my mom or

I just I don't know what had happened in that moment, but she walked away. And then I seen my mom and my dad walking back. So my mom's two friends got out of the truck and my mom and my dad got in the truck. And it was just, I believe it was like a Toyota style truck at the time. So my dad just had like that one seat bench with the driver passenger than the little seat in the middle. And I was in the little seat in the middle and right in front of me dashboard mom's on the right of me, my dad's on the left. And it was quiet for like the first five minutes in the truck. And now so back then I didn't know but now I know that was them trying to figure out how they were going to tell me because know who my uncle was and never had the chance to. So when my parents told me, my mom grabbed my hand and my dad looked at me and said, your sister is safe with your uncle Jeff.

I didn't cry. I didn't scream. All I could do was punch my dad's radio. And that's the only reaction that I had because at 10 years old, I know what they're saying to me. I know what they meant when they said that. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, you are hearing Madison Turnquist, Julia's little sister, and Kim Turnquist, her mother, describing the moment they find out their girl, their big sister, has been killed, her body dumped in her apartment bathtub. Now, this apartment was an off-campus apartment there at Eastern Michigan University. This girl, Julia, scrubbed in sunshine.

Beautiful, sweet, not some wild party girl, never had an arrest, never run away from home. So excited about having her very first Christmas tree in her very own off-campus apartment. Now, how in the hay does this case go unsolved? In addition to Kim and Madison joining us, an all-star panel, first to Ronnie Dahl joining us, investigative journalist and private investigator, owner of Dahl joining us, investigative journalist and private investigator, owner of Dahl Investigations.

Ronnie, what do you make of it? When you're a reporter and you get called to these stories, there are so many questions that you're trying to get covered. Obviously, it's who, what, when, where. Eastern Michigan University is about 20,000 students. A lot of them are commuter students. And as you know, this happened off campus. So there weren't a lot of people on campus at the time. It was around exam time. Oh, my goodness.

Ronnie Dahl, you're reminding me so much of the Idaho Four Slays in Moscow, Idaho, where four students in an off-campus home, they rented it. When I say off-campus, I mean right across the street. I've been there. You look right at Fraternity Row. When I say off-campus, it's literally in the shadow of campus. So it's very, very close to campus. And you said 20,000 students. Go ahead, Ronnie. And, you know, the city, since this was off campus, it falls to the jurisdiction of the Ypsilanti Police Department. So it's a smaller police department.

I don't even think at that time they maybe had 50 employees. Half of that's the police officers. So when the city itself, the population is about the same as that of the university. Right. So you have to go to the jurisdiction. So Ypsilanti police, they're handling the investigation. And pretty much from the beginning, they were pretty tight lipped on what was happening in this case. And they have remained that way all these years later. Guys, what do we know about the attack? Take a listen to Sydney Sumner, CrimeOnline.com.

Nice Winder's room looks like it has been tossed. Clothes are all over the floor of the room. Drawers are left open. The contents from a plastic organizer drawer have been dumped on the floor. The contents of Nice Winter's purse also dumped out on her bed. And some items are missing too. A black and white zebra-striped pillowcase is missing off the pillow. Her keys to the apartment are missing from a lanyard.

And police note that it looks like a home invasion took place, but wrapped Christmas presents, an iPod, computer, and TV are not taken from the room. So, why? To Jason Jensen joining us. Jason is private investigator, owner of Jensen Private Investigations, and co-founder of the Cold Case Coalition. You can find Jason at JensenPrivateInvestigations.com. Jason, thank you for being with us. I want to absorb what we're just hearing.

And guys, we're back at ground zero, square one, trying to solve the murder of this beautiful young co-ed murdered in her off-campus apartment. Did you hear that, Jason? It looked like everything had been dumped on the floor, but what's really missing? The keys to the apartment, and police note that there were unwrapped gifts, an iPod, computer, and TV still there. Right. It definitely does not sound like it was a home invasion for a robbery. It sounds like there was a targeting of Julia herself, which indicates strongly because like the pillowcase is missing and her keys are gone. And to me, to Joe Scott Morgan joining us, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State

University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and host of Body Bags with JSM. Also, death investigator. He has investigated over 1,000 death scenes. Joe Scott, is it staged? Did someone come to kill Julia and then make the place look ransacked? That's certainly a possibility because, you know, if you look at the inventory of the items that had been left behind, there's nothing of significance missing here. Things are there, but yet you get this idea that someone went through and rifled the area. And we see this

lots of times with staging cases. So that leads you to this idea. I mean, Joe Scott, you've turned on the TV, haven't you? Every time there is a homicide depicted, it's always staged. They tear the room up. They act like someone came in to steal something. That's staging. Staging the scene, Dale Carson, high-profile lawyer out of Jacksonville, joining us. And more importantly, for my purposes, former FBI and former beat cop in Miami, Dade. You can find him at DaleCarsonLaw.com. Dale, staging is normally done by someone that knows the victim, who is trying to make it look as if it was a random attack. Yeah, but there are a couple of things going on here.

And Joe will back me up on this. You know, this could be somebody gathering a trophy. Or from my perspective, this is somebody removing items that connect that individual to that lady. Hence the missing pillowcase to be used as a sack. You throw stuff in there in order to get it out and that things are missing that no one would expect to be there. And there's more. When people die in bathtubs, the mistake of uninitiated law enforcement is to drain the tub in order to get the victim out. And what Joe and I can both tell you is that once you've done

that, you've lost a considerable amount of evidence down the drain. And I've seen this happen on at least two occasions in my FBI and my police career in Miami. And so you lose that evidence. So that takes somebody with some sophistication who recognizes that when you put somebody in the water, you're taking away important evidence. Now, maybe they didn't get it all, but it's an effort, and it shows some sophistication that's sort of unusual. We believe that this occurred in the early, early morning hours. Kim Turnquist is Julia's mom.

Were there any items of note missing other than the pillowcase? Her keys, which, like we said on the lanyard, which have a key to her bedroom. And then we have the pillowcase. And then we have, they said that there was a purple rug missing from the bathroom because her bathroom was zebra and a bright purple. And so they said that the rug was missing. I don't know, to be honest. I know that when we went to, when we were allowed to clean up, go clean up her apartment, I'll be honest, we didn't pay much attention to what was still there and what wasn't because we were all obviously very upset and crying and it was a really emotional time. But, you know, we do know that one of the plastic drawers is missing too, but we don't know

what it was in it. Did she have any valuable jewelry that you know of that was missing? No. Her checkbook was still there. Her credit cards, everything was still in her room. Nancy, I think that one of the questions I would ask is, were there any items of clothing missing as well from the scene

that were tied back to her? Because that might be an evidence of a trophy taker, Nancy. Kim Tarquist, anything? We're not sure what was in that drawer that is missing. So we're not sure. Okay. What kind of drawer was it?

A sterlite drawer. One of those bigger three compartment sterlite drawers. Oh, like the packable plastic ones? Yeah. Nancy? Yeah, jump in. If the drawer is missing, that's an important clue because that too is unusual. And it may reflect that the gloves were taken off, grabbed that, put fingerprints and DNA on it,

and then took it with them when they realized that they didn't have the gloves on when they were actually doing, tossing the apartment. Okay, can we talk about something just for a moment? Who wears gloves to a crime of opportunity? Like, you're watching Julia and you say, I'm going to sex attack her. You break into her place and you happen to have gloves with you? The same person who wears a mask does that. And the reason you wear a mask is so you can't be identified.

What I'm saying is this wasn't planned out, Joe Scott. No. I mean, it was planned out to bring gloves. Yeah, you don't show up randomly with latex gloves. And to Dale's point, I find it fascinating with this case that you talk about preparedness when you show up. You show up with the gloves and not just that, but also there's a level of sophistication when you think about the bathtub in and of itself. Well, what do you do in the bathtub normally in life? You get in the bathtub to get clean. So could this person have been sophisticated enough in order to

facilitate that or at least think about facilitating that, cleaning her so that none of his DNA is left behind. To Karen L. Stark joining us, high profile psychologist, renowned TV and radio trauma expert. You can find her at karenstark.com. That's Karen with a C. Karen, what do you make of the scene? It was totally ransacked, but yet nothing of value was taken. There is no doubt in my mind, Nancy, that what Joe and Gail are saying is absolutely

correct. I believe that this is someone who knew he had time, who planned how he was going to do this, who made it look like absolutely this was just, you know, a robbery or a spontaneous break-in. And I think it's really interesting that those draws are missing, that I wonder what kind of trophies he was able to take, because that reminds me of something that would happen in a scene like this, where the person who killed her would want to have things that belong to her, to remember and relive the scene, which you can be sure happened over and over again. To Ronnie Dahl, joining us, investigative journalist and PI at RonnieDahlInvestigations.com. I understand that the cause of death was asphyxiation and drowning. Detectives noted originally that she was partially nude in the bathtub in a very unnatural position. What does that mean, Ronnie Dahl? You know, I can tell you in the

beginning of this case, they did not release that information. It was months and months later before that information came out. At first, they were saying it didn't appear to be any trauma to the body. So part of that could have been as part of these investigations, they don't want to release information in the beginning while they're still trying to collect the evidence. But you have to remember this is a small town. Half of the town's population is college students. So as the investigation goes on, I don't think we even found a lot of these details out until 2015. And that was when some of this information came out in an affidavit for when they were trying to arrest the father, Jim Turnquist. So it was a long time before we found out some of this information. Joining me is Kim Turnquist,

Julia's mom and her sister, Madison Turnquist. I'm curious, Miss Turnquist, when they say she, your daughter, Julia, was in an unnatural position, what do they mean by that? Well, from what I was told, she was partially nude and her legs were like flipped up it was like um almost like you're um swimming on your stomach and your legs you kind of look like you're laying in a bound position laying in a bound position is that what you're saying yep hands behind your back legs bent up got it got it yes an unusual position everybody jump in if you have a thought on this. But to you, Joe Scott Morgan, I find it very, very difficult to believe that DNA cannot be obtained from inside the insides of plastic gloves or when those bindings were put on her hands, her wrists. When you tie something, you have to touch it,

especially inside the knots. Where's all that evidence? Has it been compared for DNA in the system? We, what we were told was that two DNAs were collected from her, one from the glove, well, one from the glove that she had blood in that they think that if that maybe whoever it was, um, went to try to shut Julia up or something.

And she bit down on her bit down and drew blood from her lip. And then they said that they found two male DNA on her inner thigh. One was inconclusive and the other one hasn't supposedly matched anybody in CODIS. That's what we were told. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joe Scott Morgan, Ronnie Dial, somebody jump in, explain to me about the DNA. Has the DNA, all of it, been subjected to the most recent technology DNA comparisons, such as genetic family tree DNA or touch DNA.

What do we know about the DNA tests done on the DNA found at the scene? Ronnie Dahl, what do you know? So that's part of the problem with this case is even 10, 11 years later, you try to put in a FOIA, Freedom of Information Act request, to try to get some of this information and they're not releasing it but so really all we have to go on is what has been told to the family and what's coming from a retired detective and what was in that affidavit for the search warrant and so the DNA from my understanding was as Ken mentioned you had the two from two unknown male subjects that they have not been able to place just yet. I don't know how much DNA they do have. I know that all the evidence is being processed by the Michigan State Police Crime Lab. But, you know, they do hold on

to that evidence with the new technology. Wait a minute, you said, Ronnie Dahl, it's being processed or it was processed? Well, or it was processed. The status of where this investigation is today, you don't get any updates out of the police department. I think one of my questions today, one of my questions, Nancy, when, you know, we're talking about has been examined, I hope that they still have retained a significant amount of DNA that can be tested. You had mentioned genetic DNA testing just a moment ago. Remember, compared to 2012, this is relatively new technology. Light years. Yeah, it is. And look, if this individual is not in CODIS, which there's two categories in CODIS, you have knowns and then you have what's referred to as the forensic database.

That's unknowns that are out there. So after that, the next leap is either phenotyping, if they're willing to do that, where you can come up with a physical description of the individual and or you then plug it into a genetic database to try to see, you know, the familial tree. You know, I'm not even sure, Joe Scott, if they were using mitochondrial DNA matches in 2012. So if you could even get part of the DNA, you can make a match on the mother's side. Yes, you can. You don't necessarily need, you can use like a hair. You don't need the hair nucleus. There's been so many advances since 2012. It's like light years ahead.

What more do we know about how Julia was found dead? Listen to Rachel Bonilla Crime Online. Opening the bathroom door, officers discovered Julia's lifeless nude body face down submerged in the bathtub filled with water. Her hands are pulled behind her back, her feet are together, and her cell phone is found underneath her body. Nicewinder's clothes have been cut off except for a sleeve and are left on the bathroom floor. Police don't find the instrument used to cut the

clothes from her body. Okay, I want to circle back to what we're hearing. Joe Scott Morgan, how would her body being submerged in the bathtub water affect the recovery of DNA? Well, there's a flushing that goes on, isn't there, Nancy? When you're, when, if there is, okay, let's just say that you have topical DNA, you have a deposition of, say, forgive me, but semen on the body, or if even there's blood, it can be compromised externally, you know, dependent upon how long she was in the water, if there was any attempt to clean her in the water. Now, when we get to this idea of perhaps a rape kit, that's internal. So hopefully something could be found within there. But it sounds like they're not having success in that.

Well, they had to get DNA from somewhere. They got it from the gloves and her inner thigh. Coming out of the glove and on the inner thigh. Isn't that fascinating, considering that she was submerged in water? Nancy, one more thing about this that is really striking out of all the cases that I've covered and worked in my career. Do you realize how rare homicidal drowning is? Very rare. It's not something that occurs on a regular basis.

And this goes to a degree of violence that you don't normally see because, you know, what they're talking about is that her tongue is actually lacerated. That gives you an idea that she was forced or held beneath the water. And she bit her own tongue is what they're opining. And nobody does that normally. You can bite your tongue as you're eating something. But I think that she was held underwater and she bit her tongue as a result of this force and it lacerated her tongue.

You've got a lot going on here. And somebody has really, really thought this through. To Ronnie Dahl joining us, private investigator and investigative reporter. Ronnie, what can you tell me about potential video of the perp? Well, that's one of the first things you do, especially if you're in a small community near a college campus, is you're looking for video. But again, 2012, we don't have the security

cameras and the number of security cameras that are around today. There was video from the apartment complex. And from my understanding, around 5.30 in the morning, I believe on December 9th, the video did show an individual that was standing out in the parking lot near the trash dumpster, which was close to Julia's apartment. The individual was seen kind of frustrated, walking back and forth, pacing back, forth, back and forth. But when police went back to get the video, they didn't pull it right away. And unfortunately, the video was recorded over how many times is that going to happen it first came to light in the chandra levy case where the video in her high rise in dc recorded over so we didn't know when she left what was she wearing was she going jogging

was she dressed up was she with anybody but yet it's still happening they recorded over the video it's been reported there was an individual a male pacing back and forth and back and forth near the trash cans at the apartment and isn't it true kim turnquist that apparently julia went out to empty the trash well that's what that's what Well, that's what, that's what they're, that's what we were told is that, um, Julia did woke up that day, obviously got ready for, for school and made herself some breakfast because they did find eggs in her stomach. And, um, and then it appeared that she had taken her garbage out. So they, their theory to us was that they think she took her garbage out and then, um, she was followed in her apartment. So that's how the person got, got in.

There was no forced entry, but they think that, um, they followed her in when, uh, when she went back into her apartment. I do want to say too, that we did learn that they now, which didn't release to us before that they think that the theory the theory is that Julia was tortured all day long. That this wasn't just a few hours. That they followed her in in the morning and that person didn't leave until nighttime. So she had been in her room and pretty much had been tortured all day. Well, where was the roommate?

Wouldn't the roommate have been in and out during that time? From what we were told, the one roommate was, but she didn't hear anything. And the other one wasn't still there. That doesn't make sense to me that she was held and tortured all day long and the roommate was there and didn't hear or see anything. But, yeah, I mean, nothing is out of consideration right now because it's been this long and still no answers. Another thing, we must address this. Listen to Dave Mack.

The night Julia Niswinder's body is found, officers note how her mother is pacing back and forth at the police station while her stepfather seems stoic as he sits in the lobby, the first of several red flags that lead investigators to take a closer look at Jim Turnquist. Looking at Turnquist, the police ask for his laptop. He complies. They ask for a polygraph. He complies. Twice. And passes twice. Investigators consult with the FBI and are encouraged to take a good look at Jim Turnquist. Turnquist is named a person of interest and he's charged, not in the death of Julia Neiswender, but child pornography. There are 300,000 pictures on his laptop, seven of which lead to charges of child porn.

At trial, experts testify the seven photos are in temp folders and could have been pop-up ads. You can't even tell the age of the people in the pictures. Turnquist is acquitted of the child porn charges, but nothing has moved forward on the murder of Julia Niswender. To Julia's mom, Kim Turnquist, what do you make of them charging your then-husband? Isn't it true you gave him a rock solid alibi for the time during which Julie was killed? Yes. So here's that whole thing is so absurd. So we live in Monroe, which I said earlier, is about 45 minute drive. And let me tell you, I'm not a I'm a person who gets up in the middle of the night all the time. Jim was home with me, sleeping in the bed with me, got up that same morning to go to work, like he usually does. I did the same thing.

He was home all night long. And all this, this story with Jim is just absurd. I, you know, I never, I just, I couldn't believe what they were trying to do to him. And I'll be honest, the first lead detective on the case, he is the one who has spoken up recently. The other one is the one who tried to do all this stuff who had, uh, I hate to say it this way, but I think she had a for Jim. She just wanted to solve the case to all of our lives in different ways. And mainly Jim's because people accused him of these things. And I think that it's just it's ridiculous.

They wanted to find someone to pin this murder on. And that's what they did. Didn't a friend of Julia's state that Mr. Turnquist had made advances on her? You know what? So that's what they said. But then when you talk to her, she said that she did never said that, that she would testify to that if had to, that family was torn apart because the police were telling my family certain things and making my family believe that, you know, all these things were going on and they weren't. Guys, I want to address what we do know. We know that the father, Mr. Turnquist,

was suspected he was a person of interest. He passed two polygraphs and was found not guilty by a jury on other charges of child porn. Seven photos out of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos. What does that mean? I've never had child porn pop up on my computer, But a jury found him not guilty. Now, what do we know? We know his wife and his daughters gave him an alibi and that they lived a good distance away from the crime scene. That said, who killed Julia? I guarantee you this. I guarantee you that male DNA and those gloves have been run against the stepdad. You agree with that, Joe Scott? Yes, I agree. So, I mean, I don't care what he did before. I don't care if he was guilty or innocent on anything before. All I care about is who killed Julia.

Kim, Madison, anybody on this panel, do you know if they ran the DNA panel from the crime scene against the stepdad? Yes or no? Yes. Okay, who's speaking? Is this Madison or Kim? Kim. Okay, if they got a match on that,

he would have been charged. It has totally changed our lives. Everyone who, you know, every family member that has been touched by this, you know, our life is not the same without Julia. Family was really important to her. And, you know, and then as you heard all the other accusations from 2015, you want to talk about losing a daughter to a murder and no one being arrested. And then you have people trying to accuse at the time your husband of something that he would never, ever do. And you have to deal with all the public, you know, saying things about you, whispering behind your back. We got death threats.

You know, your youngest child, remember, she was 10 in 2012, so she was 13 in 2015. Going to school and dealing with kids saying things like it had totally changed our our whole lives in so many different ways and um you know that things will never be the same um i still to this day will get messages and um accusing people of things and they just people can be cruel and you're trying to deal with the death of your daughter and you know deal with that and now the fact that it's 11 years and it hasn't been solved and you know for a while they're under old management at the if city police department you know you weren't getting

any cooperation you weren't getting getting any. You weren't getting, getting, uh, any communication. Now we are in, uh, talks with the new chief, which we are, um, happy about. He communicates to us. And we really think that with this chief in place that we will have a good chance of, of getting some assistance that he won't be afraid to ask for assistance and that Julia's case may finally get solved. So, but it has changed our lives in so many ways, so many ways. Well, nobody really truly understands what it does to the 10-year-old that has to grow up, you know, now being being I'm 21 now um nobody asked me when I was a kid you know how I felt how all of it affected me you know um it changed it changed my life a lot my uh my sisters I was a little

sister but I was the protector over my sisters um the the last thing that I did with Julia was spend you know little sibs weekend with her and you know, not build, but create, you know, a heart on her wall made out of, you know, photos. She was my biggest supporter. She, anytime I come around, it's, oh, my God, my little sister this, my little sister that. She would, you know, introduce me to all her friends. I was like, I literally felt like a famous person when I was hanging out with my sister. When everything had happened after she passed away,

I kind of became a support system for the family because, you know, I have a mom who, I have parents that are dealing with the grief of their child. And then I have my other sister who is grieving the loss of her twin. And so I spent a lot of, you know, the first, you know, six years of Julia's murder being, you know, a support system to my family. It wasn't until I was 16 that I went to my parents and said, I need help. I need to go to counseling because I need to grieve my sister in the right way. And I still grieve her. There are so many things now in my life being 21 that I would want to have my sister here for. I graduated high school when I wanted

to drop out because of everything that I went through with her murder and the false accusations on my dad. I was ready to drop out in the sixth grade. I graduated high school. I started a trade school college two to three months after I graduated high school. Matter of fact, I graduated high school four months early compared to everybody else. But my sister wasn't here for that, and she should have been. My sister would have been screaming my name and cheering for me at my graduation. But I didn't get any of that.

I now own my own dog training business. She would be my number one supporter. She would be my number one networker. She would be like, what do you need, Madison? I'm going to tell everybody. They got a dog, go to my sister. You got a dog, go to my sister. That would have been her. She would have been here for it all. And I want her to be, but obviously that can't happen. I want to move forward. We don't have the video. We don't have DNA. What do we have that's where jason jensen comes in private investigator at jensen private investigations.com is it true that you have agreed

to cover expenses to retest the dna so fig can be done is Is this true? Yes, it is true, Nancy. I mean, what we have and what we've discussed so far is the fact that there was SDR DNA ran through CODIS. Well, that's the old technology. You have to really start from scratch again in order to do genetic genealogy. You have to have SNPs. So you have to run through whole genome sequencing. Exactly. So now it will be a matter of obtaining the DNA from LA law enforcement in order for you to do the test. If you know or think you know anything about the murder of this beautiful young girl,

call toll-free 1-800-speak-up 1-800-773-2587. We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend. This is an I Heart Podcast.