Alissa Turney

Case background and investigation

Alissa Turney was 17 when she disappeared on May 17, 2001, the last day of her junior year at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Arizona. Her stepfather, Michael Turney, who according to Wikipedia's account had adopted her, reported her missing. He told police he had found a note in her room saying she was leaving for California. ABC News reported that he also said he received a phone call about a week later from a payphone in Riverside, California. Phoenix police initially treated the case as a runaway.

Investigators later pointed to circumstances that did not fit that explanation. According to ABC News, Alissa left behind her cellphone, personal items such as her hairbrush and makeup, and about $1,800 in a bank account that was never touched. Silent Witness, the Phoenix-area tip program, lists her case as a missing person under suspicious circumstances.

ABC News reported that detectives took a fresh look at the case after a Florida inmate made a confession in 2006 that proved to be false. NBC News reported that the Phoenix Police Department's Missing Persons Unit reopened the investigation in 2008 and concluded that foul play was involved. During a search of Michael Turney's home that year, police found more than two dozen explosive devices and 19 firearms, according to ABC News. Wikipedia's account says he was prosecuted over the devices, sentenced to 10 years and released in 2017. That case was separate from Alissa's disappearance.

Alissa's younger half-sister, Sarah Turney, campaigned publicly for charges, including through a podcast and social media posts that drew wide attention. In August 2020, Michael Turney, then 72, was arrested in Mesa, Arizona, after a Maricopa County grand jury indicted him for second-degree murder. He denied the allegations made against him, including claims reported by ABC News that Alissa had told a friend of attempted abuse.

The case went to trial in Phoenix in July 2023. According to NBC News, prosecutors rested on July 17 after five days of testimony, and the defense argued that the state had no physical evidence that Alissa was dead or that Michael Turney had caused her death. On July 18, 2023, Judge Sam Myers granted a defense motion for a judgment of acquittal under Rule 20 of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure. ABC News quoted the judge as finding that substantial evidence did not exist to warrant a conviction. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said it disagreed with the ruling but respected it.

Michael Turney was therefore not convicted, and no one else has been charged. Alissa Turney remains missing, and Silent Witness continues to ask for information under Phoenix police case number 2001-928.