Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / The Disappearance Of Alissa Turney
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Alyssa Toorney was a seventeen year old American girl who
- 0:03was last seen in the vicinity of Phoenix, Arizona, on
- 0:07May seventeenth, two thousand and one. Alyssa Marie Turney born
- 0:12in nineteen eighty four in Phoenix, Arizona, was the daughter
- 0:16of Barbara Farna and Stephen Strahm. Her parents divorced when
- 0:22she was just three years old, after which her mother
- 0:25married Michael Turney, who had three children from a previous relationship.
- 0:31Michael adopted Alyssa and her older brother John, and soon
- 0:35after he and Barbara welcomed a daughter, Sarah. Tragically, Barbara
- 0:41passed away from cancer when Alissa was nine, leaving Michael
- 0:46to raise the children alone. At the time of her disappearance,
- 0:50Alyssa resided with her adoptive father, Michael Turney, and her
- 0:55half sister, Sarah Attorney. The other siblings had reached adult
- 0:59woo and no longer lived at home. Alissa was employed
- 1:03at the fast food chain Jack in the Box and
- 1:06was in a relationship with John Lackman. Disappearance on May seventeenth,
- 1:15two thousand and one, Alyssa concluded her junior year at
- 1:19Paradise Valley high school. Her stepfather reported that he dropped
- 1:23her off in the morning as per routine, and later
- 1:26picked her up around lunchtime. It is alleged that an
- 1:30argument ensued between them, leading Elissa to leave in a huff. Subsequently,
- 1:37he and Sarah discovered a note in her bedroom authored
- 1:40by Alissa, in which she expressed her intention to run
- 1:44away to California. Notably, she left behind her cell phone
- 1:50and other personal belongings. That evening, Elissa had intended to
- 1:54attend a party, but ultimately did not go. On May
- 1:58twenty fourth, Tan Tourney stated that he received a phone
- 2:03call from a number in California, during which Alissa reportedly
- 2:08used profanity before abruptly ending the call. In two thousand eight,
- 2:14Tourney asserted that Elissa had been murdered by two assassins
- 2:17affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and claimed
- 2:22that her remains were interred in Desert Center, California investigation.
- 2:29On May seventeen, two thousand one, Tourney submitted a report
- 2:34regarding his daughter Alyssa's disappearance. However, in the days that followed,
- 2:40law enforcement did not suspect any criminal activity, and consequently
- 2:45no investigation was initiated in two thousand six, Thomas Albert Heimer,
- 2:51who claimed to be a serial killer, informed a prison
- 2:54guard of his involvement in Alissa's death. Heimer had been
- 2:59incarceret since two thousand three for an unrelated homicide. Nevertheless,
- 3:05upon questioning by the Phoenix police, it was concluded that
- 3:09he had no direct connection to Alissa, and he later
- 3:12acknowledged the possibility of confusing her with another victim. The
- 3:18investigation into the case was reopened in two thousand eight.
- 3:23In December of that year, detectives informed Sarah that her
- 3:27father was considered the primary suspect. Concurrently, law enforcement executed
- 3:33a search warrant at the Tourney residence, where they discovered
- 3:37over two dozen improvised explosive devices, nineteen firearms, two homemade silences,
- 3:45and a van filled with gasoline. Additionally, a manifesto detailing
- 3:50his intentions for an attack on the International Brotherhood of
- 3:54Electrical Workers building in Phoenix was uncovered. Michael Turney was
- 4:00subsequently arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years in prison,
- 4:05ultimately being released in August twenty seventeen. In the media,
- 4:11Alyssa's case was highlighted in two episodes of the program
- 4:15twenty twenty. The first episode, titled What Happened to Alyssa,
- 4:20aired in October twenty fourteen as season three episode fifty seven.
- 4:27The second episode, Since You've Been Gone, was broadcast in
- 4:31September twenty twenty three as season forty five, episode thirty seven.
- 4:38Throughout both episodes, Michael Turney consistently maintained his innocence. In
- 4:44December twenty twenty three, Dateline NBC presented the latest updates
- 4:50regarding Alyssa's case in an episode named The Day Alyssa Disappeared.
- 4:56Michael Turney participated in the interview segment of the episode,
- 5:00reiterating that he had no involvement in Elissa's disappearance. In
- 5:05August twenty twenty, Michael Turney was apprehended in Mesa, Arizona,
- 5:11after marth a grand jury in Maricopa County indicted him
- 5:16on charges of second degree murder related to the death
- 5:19of Elissa. All charges against Michael Turney were dropped in
- 5:24July twenty twenty three. As of September twenty twenty three,
- 5:30the remains of Elissa have still not been located. Alyss
- 5:35attorney went missing in two thousand and one. At the
- 5:37age of seventeen. Her younger half sister, Sarah, has dedicated
- 5:42years to investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. The findings
- 5:48of her investigation will be showcased on Oxygen True Crime
- 5:52and subsequently on Peacock. Initially, law enforcement in Phoenix suspected
- 5:58that Elissa may have left her home voluntarily. However, as
- 6:02time went on without any leads, Sarah Attorney, now thirty
- 6:06five years old, became convinced that her sister was not
- 6:10a runaway, but rather a victim of foul play. A
- 6:14new documentary titled Family Secrets The Disappearance of Alyss Attorney
- 6:20is set to premiere on Sunday, October thirteenth at eight
- 6:24p m. Eastern time Pacific time on Oxygen True Crime. Sarah,
- 6:30who serves as an executive producer for the film, collaborates
- 6:33with the New York based media company Story Syndicate to
- 6:38explore the intricacies of the case, revealing more details