A Colorado woman who sought donations to fulfill her terminally ill daughter’s “bucket list” was arrested and charged with the girl’s murder.
Kelly Renee Turner, 41, organized ride-alongs with police and fire crews for 7-year-old Olivia Gant, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation paid $11,000 for a “bat princess” costume party for Olivia.
Turner publicized her daughter’s terminal illness and promoted the girl’s “bucket list” of dreams to fulfill before she died.
When Olivia died in 2017, her cause of death was listed as a variety of ailments including an intestinal disorder, brain seizures, and a buildup of fluid deep in the brain.
But when Olivia’s body was exhumed last year, a coroner did not find physical evidence of those disorders. Her cause of death was listed as undetermined.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office arrested Turner at a Denver-area hotel on Friday. She is being held without bond.
Police say Olivia was in and out of hospitals for most of her 7 years. In the months before she died she received nutrition through a feeding tube.
She was admitted in July 2017 to Children’s Hospital Colorado, where doctors said she showed signs of malnutrition.
One doctor told investigators Turner insisted that he sign a “do not resuscitate” (DNR) order for her daughter.
The doctor said Turner wanted to withdraw all medical care and give Olivia nutrition intravenously (via IV) rather than through a feeding tube in her stomach.
Doctors told Turner Olivia wouldn’t survive on IV nutrition, and Turner was given the option of taking her home on hospice care. Olivia died at home a few weeks later.
Doctor’s suspicions grew when Turner brought another daughter to the hospital and claimed she had “bone pain.”
Turner brought up Munchausen syndrome by proxy in an interview with investigators last year.
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a psychological condition in which a parent or caregiver exaggerates or causes medical illnesses in children for attention from healthcare workers.
“That has never been my case, like at all, whatsoever,” Turner said in the interview.
Turner is also accused of fraudulently obtaining about $539,000 worth of medical care for her two daughters from the government-funded Medicaid program.
Last week, a Dallas woman was sentenced to six years in prison for subjecting her 10-year-old son to hundreds of procedures and 13 major surgeries in another case of Munchausen by proxy.
