Dr. Andrew Bagby: Murder, Custody Battle, and Bail Reform

The Dr. Andrew Bagby murder case is the 2001 killing of a 28-year-old family medicine resident in Pennsylvania by his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Shirley Jane Turner, who then fled to Newfoundland, was released on bail during extradition proceedings, gave birth to Bagby’s son, and killed the child and herself before she could be returned to face trial. The case exposed serious gaps in Canadian bail and child welfare law and eventually produced a federal statutory change, Bill C-464.

Who Andrew Bagby Was

Andrew David Bagby was born on September 25, 1973, to David and Kathleen Bagby. He attended medical school at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he met Shirley Turner, a fellow medical student who was older, had been married twice before, and had children from those marriages.¹ After finishing his studies, Bagby moved to western Pennsylvania and began a first-year residency in family medicine at Latrobe Hospital.²

On November 5, 2001, Bagby was found shot to death at Keystone State Park, roughly 36 miles west of Pittsburgh. He had been shot five times, in the head, chest, and buttocks.³ Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck charged Turner with murder and criminal homicide.⁴ Before Pennsylvania authorities could arrest her, she drove north and crossed into Canada, settling back in St. John’s, Newfoundland.⁵

How Turner Was Released on Bail in Canada

The United States sought Turner’s extradition, and the case moved through the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador. In the fall of 2002 that court ruled she could be extradited, and on June 11, 2003, the Canadian Minister of Justice signed the extradition order. Turner’s lawyer, Randy Piercy, appealed, and the appeal was still pending when she died.⁶

Throughout that process she was free on bail. At her first bail application, the Crown did not oppose release. At a second hearing, the Crown argued she was a flight risk, but a judge granted bail again.⁷ A later government investigation found that counsel for the Justice Minister and the United States had actually proposed her release at the first hearing and offered no evidence opposing it at the second.⁸

Federal Crown prosecutor James Martin later disclosed what the bail courts had not been told. Turner had a history of suicide attempts, had threatened a former boyfriend, and had received psychiatric care from at least four different psychiatrists. There was also a child abuse report involving her older children from 1993 or 1994. Much of this material was never put before the judges who considered her release.⁷³

Zachary’s Birth and the Custody Fight

After returning to Newfoundland, Turner announced she was pregnant with Bagby’s child. Zachary Andrew Turner was born on July 18, 2002.³ David and Kate Bagby relocated to St. John’s to be near their grandson. They applied for full custody, hoping to raise Zachary themselves if Turner was convicted.⁹ The grandparents were granted supervised visitation. Zachary remained in Turner’s custody.¹⁰

David Bagby later said the family knew from the criminal record that Turner was dangerous and blamed judges and lawyers for leaving her “free on the streets” with a child in her care.⁹

The Murder-Suicide

On August 18, 2003, Turner killed herself and 13-month-old Zachary by jumping into the North Atlantic from the main wharf at a small-craft marina in Foxtrap, Conception Bay South. Zachary was strapped to her body. Both drowned.³ Her car was found on a dirt road in Kelligrews, about a kilometer from the beach where a vacationing couple discovered the bodies.¹ The extradition case for Andrew Bagby’s murder died with her.

What the Turner Review Found

In 2005 the Child and Youth Advocate of Newfoundland and Labrador commissioned a formal investigation into why Zachary had been left in his mother’s care. Dr. Peter H. Markesteyn, a Winnipeg-based coroner, led the review with legal counsel David C. Day, Q.C. The team reviewed roughly 100,000 pages of documents and conducted about 150 interviews over 15 months.³

The three-volume, 1,165-page report was released on October 4, 2006.¹¹ Its central finding was that Zachary’s death was preventable. Markesteyn wrote that the child “was in the care of his mother when he should not have been,” and that the information needed to reach that conclusion “could have been known, if investigated, by the parties responsible for Zachary.”¹²

The report found that social workers had prioritized Turner’s interests over the child’s, had failed to apply common sense in assessing risk, and had operated under a misplaced “presumption of innocence” toward Turner’s pending murder charge instead of focusing on Zachary’s safety.¹¹ Because it was a provincial inquiry, the review could not scrutinize federal legislation such as the Extradition Act, the conduct of federal officials, or the judicial decisions in the extradition and bail proceedings.⁸ Its framing was systemic: “This Report does not blame anyone. It is not meant to do so. It was commissioned to find out not who was wrong, but what was wrong with the system.”³

Bill C-464 and Canadian Bail Reform

David and Kate Bagby turned their grief into a campaign for federal legislative change. After Liberal Member of Parliament Scott Andrews saw the documentary about the case, he introduced Bill C-464 on October 22, 2009.¹³ The bill amended section 515(10)(b) of the Criminal Code, which sets out grounds for denying bail, by adding “any person under the age of 18 years” to the list of people whose protection and safety a court must weigh when deciding whether to detain an accused person before trial.¹⁴

In March 2010 the Bagbys testified in Ottawa before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, arguing the amendment would function as a red flag prompting prosecutors and judges to prioritize the safety of children in an accused person’s care.¹⁵¹⁶¹³

Newfoundland also made provincial changes. Responsibility for child welfare was transferred to a new Department of Child, Youth and Family Services in April 2009, and in June 2010 the province enacted the Children and Youth Care and Protection Act, requiring a statutory review by the Minister every five years.¹⁷

The Dear Zachary Documentary

Kurt Kuenne, Bagby’s best friend since age seven, had filmed him in home movies throughout their childhood. After the murder Kuenne began a tribute film intended for a private audience. When he learned in February 2002 that Turner was pregnant, the project became a way for the child to someday know his father. As Turner won bail and kept custody, Kuenne and the Bagbys decided to take the film public.¹⁸

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father premiered at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival, was released theatrically by Oscilloscope Pictures on October 31, 2008, and aired on MSNBC on December 7, 2008.¹⁹ The National Board of Review named it one of the year’s top six documentaries, and it won the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for television documentaries.²⁰²¹ The film generated a wave of public letters to the Canadian government calling for bail reform, and Kuenne released a short follow-up, Epilogue, in 2013 covering the legal changes that followed.¹⁸²² Kuenne directs his proceeds to scholarship funds created in Bagby’s memory.

1
CBC News. Shirley Turner, Son Found Dead
2
Independence Health. Dr. Andrew D. Bagby Family Medicine Scholarship
3
Child and Youth Advocate of Newfoundland and Labrador. Turner Review and Investigation, Volume I
4
Pocono Record. Authorities Seek Extradition of Doctor Suspected in Murder
5
The New Yorker. A True-Crime Story That Puts the Victims First
6
CBC News. Shirley Turner, Son Dead
7
CBC News. Crown Stands Behind Handling of Turner Case
8
Lewis Day. Turner Review and Investigation, Volume II
9
CBC News. Bagbys Blame Turner, Legal System for Loss
10
House of Commons of Canada. Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Meeting 2
11
CBC News. Reforms, Not Firings, Priority in Wake of Turner Review
12
Dear Zachary. Findings of the Turner Review and Investigation, Volume I
13
Dear Zachary. Bail Reform
14
Open Parliament. Bill C-464
15
Senate of Canada. Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Proceedings
16
Parliament of Canada. Bill C-464, Royal Assent
17
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Annual Performance Report 2009-10
18
Documentary.org. Meet the Filmmakers: Kurt Kuenne, Dear Zachary
19
IndieWire. IndieWire Interview: Dear Zachary Director Kurt Kuenne
20
NBC News. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
21
Quill Magazine. SDX Award Winners: Television Documentaries
22
Kurt Kuenne. Dear Zachary