Lynn Turner’s Antifreeze Murders: Victims, Convictions, and Prison Death

The Lynn Turner antifreeze murders were a pair of Georgia poisoning cases in which a 911 dispatcher killed her husband, Cobb County police officer Glenn Turner, in 1995 and her boyfriend, Forsyth County firefighter Randy Thompson, in 2001, by lacing their food with ethylene glycol and collecting on their life insurance. Both deaths were initially ruled natural because standard autopsies don’t test for the chemical. Turner was convicted of both murders, sentenced to life and then life without parole, and died by suicide in her prison cell in 2010.

The First Death: Glenn Turner, 1995

Lynn met Glenn Turner at a party for local police officers and married him in August 1993. The marriage was troubled from early on. She controlled the household finances and kept Glenn on a $20-per-week allowance even though he was working multiple jobs. Shortly after the honeymoon, she made herself the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy.¹

In late February 1995, Glenn came down with nausea and flu-like symptoms. He went to a hospital, was treated for dehydration, and was sent home. On March 3, 1995, Lynn served him green Jell-O. He was dead within hours, at 31.²

The Cobb County medical examiner called the death natural and blamed an enlarged heart. Glenn’s mother, sister, and brother suspected foul play from the start. Lynn had shown no grief at the funeral and had left the house to run errands while Glenn was dying. When the family pushed for further testing, an assistant at the medical examiner’s office told them it would cost $10,000. They couldn’t afford it, and they felt dismissed.¹

Four days after the funeral, Lynn moved in with Randy Thompson, a former sheriff’s deputy turned firefighter with whom she had been having an affair. She collected roughly $147,000 from Glenn’s life insurance and about $800 a month in police retirement benefits.³

The Second Death: Randy Thompson, 2001

Lynn and Thompson had two children together, a daughter born in 1996 and a son born in 1998. His family described Lynn as controlling and said she used the children as leverage. The couple separated in 1999.⁴

On January 20, 2001, Thompson told his mother he had been sick and vomiting after having dinner with his children. A friend later testified that the day before he died, Thompson ate a grilled cheese sandwich and drank tea that Lynn had given him. On January 22, 2001, fellow firefighters found him dead on his couch after he stopped answering his phone. He was 32.³

The initial autopsy again ruled the cause natural, this time cardiovascular disease. Lynn tried to collect on a $100,000 life insurance policy but found it had lapsed. She did receive $36,000 from another policy.⁵

How Lynn Turner Was Finally Caught

The case broke open through a mix of family persistence and a chance encounter. Mike Archer, a former Cobb County police colleague of Glenn’s, had suspected Lynn all along. Glenn had told Archer and other officer friends that he was afraid his wife might harm him. Archer reported those concerns to the head of homicide after Glenn died, but the medical examiner’s ruling shut the inquiry down.⁶

After leaving law enforcement, Archer took a job at a car dealership. A customer named Randy Thompson happened to walk in and mentioned he was dating Lynn Turner. When Archer heard in January 2001 that Thompson had died under nearly identical circumstances, he knew what had happened.⁶

At the same time, the mothers of both victims, Kathy Turner and Nita Thompson, compared what they knew and contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI opened a formal investigation in June 2001. Toxicologists retested Randy Thompson’s blood and found ethylene glycol, the toxic ingredient in antifreeze. Investigators exhumed Glenn Turner’s body and found the same chemical in his tissues. Forensic toxicologist William Dunn of National Medical Services testified that ethylene glycol does not occur naturally in the human body and rejected a defense theory that embalming fluid could explain its presence.⁷ Both death certificates were revised, and both cases were reclassified as homicides.⁴

Why Antifreeze Poisoning Went Undetected

Ethylene glycol is colorless, nearly odorless, and slightly sweet, which makes it easy to hide in food or drink. Prosecutors argued Lynn slipped it into Jell-O, sweet tea, or soup. The compound itself is not especially toxic, but the body metabolizes it into organic acids, including glycolic acid and oxalic acid, that cause severe metabolic acidosis, kidney failure, and death.

The larger problem is detection. Most hospitals and medical examiners do not routinely screen for ethylene glycol. Confirming it requires gas chromatography, a specialized laboratory procedure many facilities cannot run in-house. The symptoms, nausea and vomiting followed by organ failure, look like common medical emergencies. Calcium oxalate crystals in the kidneys can be a telltale sign but don’t always show up in time to raise flags. In both Turner deaths, the chemical was only found once toxicologists were specifically told to look for it.

The Trials and Convictions

Lynn Turner was indicted for the murder of Glenn Turner on November 1, 2002. On May 14, 2004, a jury convicted her of malice murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison. The prosecution introduced Randy Thompson’s death as a “similar transaction,” arguing it showed a common scheme of poisoning romantic partners for insurance money. Defense attorney Vic Reynolds argued the case was built on gossip and circumstantial evidence and suggested Thompson, who had a history of depression, may have died by suicide.⁸²

The second trial, for Randy Thompson’s murder, was prosecuted by Forsyth County District Attorney Penny Penn, who sought the death penalty. Penn portrayed Turner as a “classic black widow” who lured two law enforcement officers into her life and killed them for money.⁹ Evidence showed Turner had pushed Thompson to take out a $200,000 life insurance policy with her as beneficiary, though the policy lapsed before he died. Turner did not testify. On March 24, 2007, the jury convicted her of malice murder after about five hours of deliberation. Three days later, it returned a sentence of life without parole, rejecting the death penalty.¹⁰

Turner appealed the first conviction, arguing the trial court should not have let jurors hear about Randy Thompson’s death. On February 26, 2007, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed in Turner v. State, holding that the Thompson evidence was properly admitted as a similar transaction showing motive and a common scheme of poisoning partners with antifreeze to collect insurance proceeds.²

Death in Prison

On the morning of August 30, 2010, guards at Metro State Prison in DeKalb County found Lynn Turner unresponsive in her cell. She was 42. Her two children, then 12 and 14, and her mother had visited her the day before.¹¹

The initial autopsy found no obvious cause. On September 15, 2010, Georgia’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Kris Sperry, announced that toxicology testing had found a lethal level of propranolol, a blood pressure medication Turner had been prescribed, in her blood. Sperry said she had taken an amount “well above the prescribed dosage” and that there was no sign of injury or foul play. The death was ruled a suicide.¹²

1
NBC News. Dateline NBC – Lynn Turner Story
2
FindLaw. Turner v. State, S06A1971
3
Forsyth County News. Lynn Turner Found Dead in Prison
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People. Antifreeze Killer Lynn Turner Poisoned Partners
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Corrections1. Convicted GA Anti-Freeze Killer Dies in Prison
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AOL. Her Police Officer Husband’s Death
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CNN. Turner Trial – Toxicology Testimony
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CNN. Turner Trial – Defense Arguments
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Killer Who Eluded Detection for Years Brought to Account
10
Statesboro Herald. Georgia Jury Spares Antifreeze Killer the Death Penalty
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CBS News. Antifreeze Killer Lynn Turner Dies in Prison
12
Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Statement of Dr. Kris Sperry, Chief Medical Examiner