ALISSA TURNEY - 17 yo (2001) - Phoenix AZ

Hopefully his inmates will 'encourage' him to say what happened to Alissa.

Stepdad of missing girl to be sentenced in bomb plot


Michael Roy Turney

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Posted: Sunday, September 26, 2010 10:00 am | Updated: 1:12 pm, Sun Sep 26, 2010.
Mike Sakal, Tribune It’s been nearly 10 years since Michael Roy Turney picked up his stepdaughter on the last day of her junior year at Paradise Valley High School. That was May 17, 2001, and Turney was the last known person to see 17-year-old Alissa Turney. Now an investigative lead in her disappearance, he refuses to answer questions and will not sit down for a police interview as he nears sentencing Tuesday in an unrelated federal case on charges stemming from a bomb plot to attack a local union hall. Phoenix police detectives William Anderson and Stuart Somershoe,who have investigated Alissa’s disappearance since September 2008,believe she is dead and that Turney “wins” until her body isfound.“Alissa was under this guy’s thumb since she was 3, and for himto sit back and show her no regard is despicable,” Anderson said.“He needs to explain a lot of things.”The detectives continue to focus on Alissa’s disappearance inhopes that somehow there will be a break in the case.At approximately 11 a.m. on May 17, Alissa was last seen in thearea of East Bell Road and North 39th Street on the last day of her junior year at Paradise Valley High School. She stuck her headinside the shop classroom, told her boyfriend that her stepdad was going to pick her up and that she’d see him later.The day Alissa vanished, Turney had taken Alissa out of school early and claimed he left her at their home after an argument. Hesaid he returned that evening to find Alissa gone and a handwrittennote saying she was going to California.Foul play is suspected in her disappearance.Alissa had alleged that her father was sexually inappropriate with her and she would sometimes wake up bound and tied, according to court documents and police reports.Turney, a father of five, had video surveillance outside and inside his home, but no known video exists of Alissa at the home the day she went missing.“She was going to go to an older friend’s graduation that night,was scheduled to go to work the next day where she had never missed a shift. She left behind a necklace her boyfriend had bought her,her cell phone, $1,800 in her bank account and only had a backpack with her,” Anderson said. “That’s not indicative of someone who was planning to run away.”Turney, 62, has a long history of claiming people have conspired against him in his past jobs as a deputy with the Maricopa CountySheriff’s Office and later as an electrician, according to authorities and forensic experts. He is facing up to 10 years in prison in a sentencing scheduled for Tuesday with U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix. Turney has been held in a federal prison since his arrest in December 2008, soon after Phoenix police arrived at his home in northeast Phoenix with acourt order to obtain DNA evidence from him in connection with Alissa’s disappearance.Instead, police discovered 26 pipe bombs, including one about 2feet long filled with 20 pounds of roofing nails and gunpowder, andnumerous firearms. From Turney’s home, police also confiscated a97-page manifesto titled “Diary of a Madman Martyr,” in whichTurney wrote that the International Brotherhood of ElectricalWorkers were out to get him and that he shot and killed two of theunion’s “assassins” — who he said claimed responsibility forAlissa’s death.“He portrays himself as a victim of a mass conspiracy,”Somershoe said. "He goes through great lengths to cover up hislies.”In the manifesto, Turney also claims one of the “assassins”buried Alissa in Desert Center, Calif. — a vast swath of dessert between Blythe and Indio.Turney’s case was profiled in a segment last year on ABC’s“Primetime” news show by reporter John Quiñones.In recordings, Turney described Alissa, whom he adopted at age 4during his third marriage, as an “it that needed spayed” when she was 9 years old.Alissa’s mother died in 1993, and Turney never remarried.Turney once told extensive lies about his military service in the Vietnam War when he never was there, the detectives said.In court proceedings, Turney also has been trying to buck the maximum sentence recommended by prosecutors and prominent forensic psychologist Erin Nelson.Nelson, who works for Steven Pitt and Associates in Scottsdale,fueled Turney’s ire by deeming him someone who has a “greater hostility and resentment to those who conspired against him” and said she has a “significant concern” for his possibility of future danger to others.Turney, who is defending himself with a legal adviser, pleaded guilty to possession of explosive devices, but is now trying to withdraw the plea. Nelson said she believes Turney should get at least 10 years in prison.As for whether Alissa is buried in California, Anderson said:“The person who knows she was buried there, would be the person who put her there.
”http://eastvalleytribune.com/local/cop_shop/article_b7e7631e-c835-11df-b80b-001cc4c002e0.html

Video gives new insight into missing teen's life

May 15, 2012 at 12:34 PM
Phoenix man pleads guilty to possessing pipe bombs
Phoenix man gets 10 years for plan to attack local union hall

PHOENIX -- Alissa Turney was a bright, energetic
high school student, but on her last day of her junior year at Paradise
Valley High School she vanished.

First believed to be a runaway, police did little to find her, until
years later when detectives uncovered a sinister secret inside Alissa's
North Phoenix home.

3TV has obtained telephone and videotape conversations never heard or seen until now.

Only four years younger, Alissa's sister, Sarah Turney, always looked up to Alissa.

"She was my hero," Sarah said. "She was my big sister. Everything she did was really cool and I wanted to be just like her."

Just days after her junior prom in May 2001, 17-year-old Alissa
vanished. As Sarah explains, "It didn't sink in for a long time that she
wasn't coming back."

Classified as a runaway, police did little to find her. Sarah was frustrated.

"There was absolutely nothing in the beginning," she said. "No one
interviewed me, no one wanted to know what my side of the story was and I
lived there. I was part of the entire action and the police had never
asked me about it until years later."

Detective Will Andersen picked up the case in 2007.

"The last person to see this child was her stepfather, Michael Roy Turney. He's where we begin," Andersen said.

In hopes of uncovering evidence pertaining to Alissa, Andersen served
a search warrant on Michael Turney's Valley home. They ended up seizing
a massive amount of explosives, rounds of ammunition, even homemade
silencers.

They also discovered evidence that gave them new insight into Michael
Turney. Police said he set up hidden cameras in and outside of the
house to keep tabs on Alissa. According to police, he even recorded
thousands of hours of phone calls.

In one conversation obtained by 3TV, you can hear Turney talking
about Alissa, who was 9 years old. Turney is recorded saying, "Should
probably have her spayed. How's that for a disgusting thought? I'm
sorry, that's really gross to say about your own daughter."

When Andersen heard those comments, he told us, "There's clearly a
wrath there, there's clearly anger and animosity geared specifically
towards Alissa."

As for the video found on the hidden cameras, Sarah explains, "When
she was with boys, we'd keep an eye on her to make sure she wasn't going
too far. But I don't know if he was viewing it from a different room, I
have no idea how he had that set up, I was just aware that they were
there. And when she was gone, I made it clear, he was not going to do
that with me."

But when Andersen requested the video from the day Alissa reportedly
ran away, "Mike is the only one who says that child returned to that
home that day. He does not provide us with the videotape that shows her
coming home. He does not provide us the videotape that shows us her
walking out the door with her luggage."

"I have never seen the tape, I would love to see the tape," Sarah said. "It sounds, it sounds pretty suspicious."

Tuesday night on 3TV News at 9pm, we explore what's on the tape from
the day Alissa disappeared. The investigation takes more twists and
turns. Everything from allegations of sexual abuse to reports of
bondage. There is also a call to CPS.

For any tips regarding this case, contact the Phoenix Police
Department Family Investigations Bureau Missing and Unidentified Persons
Unit at 602-534-2121. Detective Will Andersen can be reached at william.andersen@phoenix.gov or Detective Stuart Somershoe at stuart.somershoe@phoenix.gov.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is www.missingkids.com or NamUs at
www.namus.gov
http://www.azfamily.com/news/9pm-extra/Video-gives-new-insight-into-missing-teens-life-151446225.html