Neighbor boy, 14, held in death of Lyle schoolteacher

By Dan Oberdorfer
Southern Minnesota Correspondent

Lyle, Minn.

Sharon Turnbull was killed by a 14-year-old neighbor whom she had taught in school, police alleged Friday.

The boy, described by authorities as a good student and an experienced marksman, was arrested without incident at his house late Thursday night. A .22-caliber rifle, which authorities said they have identified as the weapon in the killing, had been taken from his home in a search earlier Thursday.

The boy is being held in the Mower County Jail in Austin, Minn.

Police say they know of no motive for the killing, in which Turnbull was shot once through a screen door last Friday as she sat in her living room. She lived alone, and her body was not found until the next day.

Last year, the boy was accused of spray-painting Turnbull's car, one incident in a series of acts of vandalism against the teacher over the last 18 months. The charges were dismissed by Mower County Judge Paul Kimball, who refused yesterday to comment about the case.

The boy's attorney in that matter, Mike Siebel, said he argued for dismissing the charges on the ground that police had conducted an illegal search.

Roy Turnbull, Sharon's father, said it is "maddening to think this might have been avoided" if the boy had successfully been prosecuted.

Although the boy is one of several youths believed to have been involved in the vandalism, he is the only suspect in the killing, Mower County Sheriff Wayne Goodnature said. No other arrests were made in the vandalism, he said.

Turnbull's death has stunned Lyle, a four- by seven-block community of 550 people along the Iowa border where there hasn't been a murder for 31 years. Residents yesterday reacted with relief that a suspect had been found, but with sadness for the boy and his family. According to Goodnature, the parents were devastated by the arrest.

Under law, the boy cannot be identified by officials. Three search warrants executed in the case were sealed by Mower County Judge Roger Plunkett after Goodnature said publication of their contents could hurt the boy's reputation and damage the continuing investigation.

Goodnature said investigators suspected the boy "very early on" and were led to him by other youths in town.

He said the search for Turnbull's killer was stepped up on Monday after a Lyle resident received a phone call threatening further killings, believed to have been made by the person who shot the teacher. A second threatening phone call was made to another person later in the week. Goodnature refused to identify the people who were called, except to say they are not teachers.

He said police knew of no threatening calls to Turnbull, although someone called her repeatedly and hung up without speaking.

On Thursday, Goodnature had said no arrest in the case was near. Yesterday, he said he had been "intentionally deceiving" so that reporters would leave Lyle. He said Lyle residents were intimidated by the reporters, and did not want to bring information to sheriff's deputies and agents of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension working in a makeshift command post at city hall.

Turnbull, 33, a math and physical education instructor, was described by several former students as a strict, no-nonsense teacher who was well-liked by some students and much disliked by others.

The boy who has been arrested was described by schoolmates as a loner who likes to ride his bicycle and go hunting by himself.

Goodnature said the boy had been in at least one of Turnbull's classes and did well, although he said he could not recall which class or what year.

The boys' parents could not be reached for comment yesterday. His court-appointed attorney, Scott Richardson, declined to comment on the case.

Mower County Attorney Fred Kraft said he will try to have the boy certified for trial as an adult. To do so, Kraft must convince a judge that the boy is not suited for handling in the juvenile-justice system, which stresses treatment.

Kraft also said he will seek a first-degree murder indictment against the youth. Conviction on that charge carries a mandatory life sentence, and no possibility of parole for 17 years.

Kraft also said he filed a petition of delinquency in Mower County court yesterday in case the boy is not certified for trial as an adult. if he is found delinquent and to have killed Turnbull, he could be incarcerated in juvenile-detention centers until he is 21 years old, at which time he would have to be freed.