Girlfriend: Dr. Burchard gave Kelsey Turner and mom "About $300,000, possibly more"
The longtime girlfriend of Dr. Thomas Burchard said she was aware for nearly two years of Burchard's relationship with the woman now arrested for his murder.
"Kelsey wasn't the first person he helped, (but) unfortunately the last," Judy Earp told Action News Friday.
25-year-old Kelsey Turner was arrested in Stockton in connection with the murder of Monterey psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Burchard.
Earp said Burchard spent or gave money to about a half a dozen women over their 17 year relationship. But none to the magnitude of Turner and her mother.
Earp said Burchard was a victim of his own compassion and gave the two, "About $300,000 that I know about and possibly more." Earp said aside from the money, he also loaned cars and paid the rent for a year on a Salinas home.
The amount corroborates our anonymous source who told us Thursday that Burchard was giving Turner and her mother, "Anywhere from two-four thousand dollars a week, easily."
Earp said she's not sure how Turner and Burchard met, but someone close to Burchard told Action News that the two met online and that Burchard had an intimate relationship with both Turner and her mother.
Burchard stopped making rent payments and Turner was evicted from the Salinas home, leading the 25-year-old to move to Las Vegas.
Earp believes Turner lured Burchard out to Las Vegas. She told Action News that her, Burchard and a friend went to Las Vegas for a medical conference Feb. 8-18. Earp said Turner reached out to Burchard and he met with her during that trip.
"She had wanted to know who was with him and was he staying in a hotel and who was with him and all that," Earp said. "His friend thinks, perhaps she was planning it then. But there was too many people with him."
On March 1, Earp said Burchard bought a ticket to Las Vegas and flew out without telling her until he arrived Saturday. Earp said Burchard went to see Turner and a magic show and told her he'd be back on Monday.
"I warned him even on Saturday when he was there, you know maybe you ought to not wait until Monday to come home," Earp said. "Maybe you ought to just come home on the next flight. Take a Southwest and I'll pick you up in San Jose. I wish he would have taken that advice."
An anonymous source close to Burchard told KSBW that the last thing Burchard said to him before leaving for his deadly Las Vegas trip was, "seems Kelsey is having trouble with her boyfriend out there in Vegas because he's hitting her. He's abusing her and she has no money, no where to go. He says I feel partially responsible for this."
According to Turner's Facebook page, she is in a relationship with Greg Hagio.
Action News uncovered court documents from January that state Hagio was arrested for strangulation and domestic battery in Las Vegas. Charges would ultimately be dropped in the case.
On March 7, Burchard was found bludgeoned to death in the trunk of a car on Highway 147.
While Earp believes Turner has something to do with Burchard's death, she says she couldn't have acted alone.
"One person could not have put a body in the trunk of a car and also driving the car out to the desert," Earp said. "They had to have had a way to get out of there."
Earp says she plans on going to every court date and testifying if she's asked.