The son of the Clemmons dentist accused of killing his wife testified yesterday that his mother had told him that she was afraid of her estranged husband.
But Gilbert Turner testified that he believed his mother was more afraid of another man, a contractor who was working on a barn for the horse business she ran on the property she and her husband once shared in Davie County.
Gilbert Turner, 23, showed little emotion as he testified. His eyes darted back and forth between Assistant District Attorney Greg Brown who asked him questions and to the table where his father, Kirk Alan Turner, sat with his defense attorneys, Joe Cheshire and Brad Bannon.
Kirk Turner is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Jennifer Jean Wittwer Turner. Jennifer Turner, 54, was found dead on Sept. 12, 2007, in the shop building of their home at 627 Jack Booe Road. She had gashes on her throat so deep they severed her windpipe, prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors said during trial in Davie Superior Court that Kirk Turner was so rattled by the divorce and a lawsuit that his wife filed against his girlfriend that he brutally killed his wife.
Defense attorneys argue that Kirk Turner was defending himself from his estranged wife, who they say stabbed him with a 7-foot-long spear.
Gilbert Turner said under direct examination that Jennifer Turner had told him that she was afraid that her husband would hurt her.
According to Gilbert Turner, his mother had asked his father if he wanted a divorce. Kirk Turner told her, "There's more than one way to end a marriage."
Gilbert Turner testified that he confronted his father about this mother's allegation. Kirk Turner said that he wasn't threatening his wife when he made the comment, Gilbert Turner testified.
Kirk Turner told his son that he was referring to his own father, who had an arrangement with his mother in which they separated but never divorced, Gilbert Turner said.
Gilbert Turner said that his parents clashed over improvements his mother wanted to make to the property on Jack Booe Road. His father was worried about money, Gilbert Turner testified.
By 2005,he said, his parents' marriage had fallen apart, though they continued to share the house and a checking account.
In May 2006, Kirk Turner moved out of that house and began sharing an apartment with his son, where he was living at the time of his wife's death.
Gilbert Turner testified that his father often carried a semiautomatic handgun in a fanny pack.
He also testified about his father's relationship with his girlfriend, Tondja Woods Colvin. He said that Colvin handled his father's finances and was his parents' personal banker.
Gilbert Turner testified that his father has lived with Colvin since he was freed on a $1 million bond more than a year ago.
During his testimony, Gilbert Turner talked about how the killing had split the family. He has sat on the front row behind his father. His older sister, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Turner, has sat on the other side of the courtroom next to her aunt, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Kennedy, who is the executor of Jennifer Turner's estate. Kennedy has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Kirk Turner.
Gilbert Turner said that he has not had any contact with his sister since November 2007, and that she has refused to return his phone calls and e-mails.
Defense attorneys yesterday played recordings of two phone calls that Gwendolyn Turner made in October 2007 to Greg Smithson, the friend who was with Kirk Turner on the night that Jennifer Turner died,
During the calls, which were recorded by Davie County deputies, Gwendolyn Turner asked Smithson what happened on the night her mother died. Smithson told her that he didn't know. He also said that he had tried to save her mother's life.
At one point, Gwendolyn Turner told Smithson that she had asked her father what happened but had not gotten any answers.
"He wouldn't tell me if my mama was wearing pajamas," she said. "I don't want to talk to him ever again."
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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