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Dear Zachary · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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Many true crime cases fade out of our memory, no matter how horrific or
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disturbing they might be, But sometimes the details of a case are preserved in
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a piece of media. Shirley Turner's crimes and the first name of the son
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she murdered, became immortalized in the true crime film Dear Zachary, a letter
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to a son about his father. Throughout her whole life, Shirley became incredibly
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good at playing the victim and her eyes, nothing was ever her fault.
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There was always someone else to blame. And when Shirley blamed somebody, she
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was violent, obsessive, and abusive. She had three children by different fathers
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and a string of failed relationships and marriages. One of her former roommates,
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who had lived with Shirley and her kids, was so concerned about how the
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children were treated that he reported her to a psychiatrist and then promptly moved out.
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When social services were notified by the psychiatrist, they discovered that Shirley would
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regularly hit her kids with belts and then left them home alone for days at
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a time. Worst of all, she didn't even see anything wrong with what
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she was doing, despite the evidence of abuse. The case was dropped and
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Shirley's children remained in her custody until she decided that she wanted to attend medical
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school and then dumped the children back with their fathers without a second thought.
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And it wasn't just Shirley's children that suffered under her care, it was also
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her romantic partners who received a heaping helping of cruelty. Shirley systematically abused every
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single man she ever dated, playing psychological mind games and obsessing over every little
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detail of how they behaved. She didn't just want a happy relationship, she
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wanted to have complete control at all times. When one boyfriend attempted to break
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up with Shirley, she started stalking and harassing him before attempting suicide in his
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house, dressed in black and holding a bunch of roses. The message behind
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the suicide attempt was clear. She wanted to teach him a lesson so that
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he wouldn't go through with the breakup. After being rushed to the hospital,
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Shirley survived, but the relationship did not. Like so many abusers, Shirley's
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pattern of violence and control escalated and escalated until it reached a breaking point.
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The trigger that made Shirley finally snap was her relationship with Andrew Bagbie, who
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was twelve years younger than her. Shirley actually had a habit of dating much
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younger men, probably she found them easier to control. The pair kept up
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a strained, long distance relationship until Shirley's manipulative jealous behavior was finally too much
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to deal with. One stage, she even robbed his apartment, taking many
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of Andrew's personal items as well as his laptop. Three years into her relationship
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with Andrew, Shirley figured out the perfect way to manipulate him, pretending that
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she was pregnant with his child. What she didn't know was that she actually
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was pregnant with a baby boy, who would later be named Zachary. Andrew
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suspected that Shirley was faking the pregnancy, and when she finally admitted it,
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Andrew broke up with her. It was around this time, late two thousand
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and one, that Shirley bought a gun. She started going to shooting lessons,
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seemingly passionate about handling the weapon correctly, But on the fifth of November,
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Shirley didn't show up for her shooting lessons or her job. Instead,
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she drove to Andrew's apartment, where she verbally harassed him until he agreed to
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meet her at a local park. As promised, Andrew arrived at Keystone State
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Park to talk to Shirley at around eight pm that evening. The next day,
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his body was found laying next to his parked car. He had been
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shot five times. Identifying the murder weapon was made easy for investigators because Shirley's
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gun had a noticeable flaw it often ejected bullets prematurely. A sixth ejected bullet
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was found close to Andrew's body, and law enforcement was on the hunt for
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Shirley Turner. Shirley abandoned her gun and drove to Canada, but she was
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followed, and by mid December, she was located and arrested. Instead of
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following the State of Iowa's request to extradite Shirley back to the United States,
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Justice Gail Welsh decided to keep Shirley in Canada with strict probation conditions and bail
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set at seventy five Canadian dollars. It's likely that Shirley's pregnancy was a key
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factor in this decision, but nobody could have predicted how damning the choice would
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become. In July of two thousand and two, Shirley gave birth to Zachary.
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Andrew's parents, David and Kate, were desperately worried about the well being
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of their grandchild. They couldn't believe that the woman who had recently shot and
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killed their son in cold blood was now being allowed to raise his child.
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The Bagbees were granted shared custody of Zachary, but there were no legal processes
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in place to stop Shirley from harming him. Shirley quickly began dating another man
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and continued her pattern of severe psychological abuse, verbal harassment, and stalking.
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She never told her new boyfriend about the fact that she had murdered her last
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boyfriend, and when he found out, he broke things off quickly. After
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the breakup, Shirley called him hundreds of times to threaten him, but he
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never pressed charges. That breakup sent Shirley into another tailspin. She got her
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hands on large quantities of an anti anxiety medication, lorazepam, and overdosed on
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it. She also mixed a toxic amount of the drug into a bottle of
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baby formula and fed it to Zachary. Shirley left her car parked on the
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street outside her most recent boyfriend's house. The front seat was covered with printed
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out pictures of Zachary and Shirley together, as well as a used tampon.
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In her erratic drug addled state, Shirley seemed to be hoping that she could
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manipulate her ex one last time by framing him for what was about to happen.
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Shirley carried Zachary from the fox Trap Marina and walked to the edge of
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the fishing wharf. She used the arms of her sweater to tie Zachary to
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her chest. By now, the high dose of lorazepam had already sedated Zachary
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and he was limp and unconscious by the time Shirley threw them both into the
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Atlantic Ocean. Shirley and Zachary drowned quickly. A couple of tourists found Shirley's
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body washed up on the beach nearby, and a further search of the area
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uncovered Zachary's remains as well. So many people had failed Zachary and the rest
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of Shirley's children, Only one person was ever found guilty of contributing to the
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three deaths, doctor John Ducett, Shirley's psychiatrist, doctor Ducett, was investigated
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and found guilty of misconduct, for which he received a ten thousand dollars fine
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and mandatory psychiatric counseling. This brings us to the film Dear Zachary, A
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Letter to a Son about his father. Possibly the most tragic thing about the
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film is that it wasn't created because of Zachary's death. It was directed by
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Kurt Kenney, one of Andrew's close friends, in response to his murder.
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At the time of the filming, Zachary and Shirley were still alive. It
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was meant to be a tribute to Andrew, away for those who loved him
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to remember him by telling the story of his life. The film's intended audience
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were just a group of close friends, as well as Zachary himself once he
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was old enough to understand what had happened. Instead, Dear Zachary inadvertently documented
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Shirley escalating and her eventual murder suicide. The purpose changed now, Dear Zachary
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needed to reach a wider audience to raise awareness of abuse, the failure of
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social services, and the way that the legal systems had failed Zachary and contributed
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to his murder, Kurt Kenney was dealing with indescribable grief and anger. He
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became a man on a mission, and that mission was to show Dear Zachary
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to every single member of the House of Commons of Canada. While Kurt kept
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raising awareness, he got more and more support. Before long, mass screenings
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of the film were being held in front of groups of Canada's parliament, and
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in two ten, Kurt succeeded in changing Canada's laws to deny bail to any
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criminal who posed a threat to a child. The bill, named Zachary's Bill,
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would hopefully prevent other children from meeting the same fate, but it was
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too late to save the boy it was named after. If Shirley had not
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been granted bail in Canada, Zachary Bagbie would still be alive. That is
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ten minute murder for today Grief and binge Able True Crime. I'm Joe the
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host, and thank you so much for listening today. And I know in
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the past on this show I've talked about doing a whole episode where I do
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nothing but answer random questions that people send me about various topics and subjects.
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And the reason I didn't do that is because there's a sizeable amount of you
9:30
listening that don't care about my favorite football team that it is and always has
9:35
been, the Buffalo Bills. Believe it or not, some people don't care
9:39
about me, and I'm okay with that. It doesn't bother me. But
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I didn't want to bog down the whole show flow with a whole episode about
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me. It seems self serving. So I will periodically grab one or two
9:52
questions that get emailed to me and answer them here during this part of the
9:56
show, the part that people can skip if they want to. And this
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one that I'm gonna talk about today, this one is a question from Amy
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in Texas. Hey, Joe, are you a millennial or a gen x?
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And I'm just barely considered a gen x. I'm right on the on
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the edge of it. But I fully grew up like I was just completely
10:15
gen X. I had a three wheeler when I was in the fourth grade,
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a three wheeler that's like a four wheeler, but with three wheels instead
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of four. And you know why you don't really see those anymore because they
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were super dangerous in the government banned them. I nearly killed myself on that
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thing. But my parents bought me. One told me to wear a helmet
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and go at it have fun. I've also gone into gas stations by myself
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with a note from my mother and a check and bought cigarettes. It sounds
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unbelievable now, but that's that was the norm back in like the eighties.
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I've jumped off a roof holding an umbrella because someone said, hey, I
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bet you can float if you do. I've seen, you know, cartoons
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or Mary Poppins. I guess this is where it came from. I did
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that multiple times. I don't know how it didn't break my ankles, but
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it doesn't work. In case you're wondering, you just used fall just as
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fast with that umbrella. And that's how gen x I am. If you
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have a question or you want to suggest an episode of ten Minute Murder,
11:16
you can do that Joe at ten minute Murder dot com. And if this
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is your first time listening to ten Minute Murder, please subscribe now so that
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leave a rating and review on Apple or any place that's possible. Your positive
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feedback is very much appreciated. Go to ten minute murder dot com for all
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