Authorities didn't know teacher shot until 12 hours later

By Bill McAuliffe
Southern Minnesota Correspondent

Austin, Minn.
Investigators did not discover that Sharon Turnbull had been shot to death until 12 hours after neighbors found her body, testimony revealed Monday.

The testimony came during the first day of the first-degree-murder trial of a 14-year-old youth charged with shooting her in her home in Lyle, Minn., in August.

Turnbull, 31, a teacher, was shot while sitting on her living room floor, sewing and watching television.

John Lindbergh, her landlord, discovered her body on the morning of Aug. 7 and called the Mower County sheriff's office in Austin, Minn.

Sheriff Wayne Goodnature testified yesterday that a discoloration of the victim's right eye was the only injury he observed. He said he had suspected that she had died of a blow to her eye or a cerebral hemorrhage, although there was blood beneath her head and blood stains on her clothes.

Deputy Sheriff Clayton Miller, the first officer at the scene, said he had noted fluid that had come from Turnbull's mouth, but did not mention any blood in his testimony.

Investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension also spent the afternoon of Aug. 7 at Turnbull's home without discovering any gunshot evidence, according to Terry Laber, supervisor of the bureau's serology laboratory. He testified yesterday that he examined Turnbull's body without noticing any gunshot wound.

Officials returned to the house in the evening, however, after Lindbergh called to tell them he had found what appeared to be a bullet hole in Turnbull's screen door.

Deputy Sheriff Scott Moldenhauer testified that several hours after that he found a .22 caliber casing in the flower bed near the front door.

Crime bureau agents returned on Aug. 8 to conduct ballistics tests.

Turnbull's body, meanwhile, had been sent to Minneapolis for examination at about 4 p.m. Aug. 7.

Dr. Ned Austin, deputy medical for Hennepin County, testified yesterday that during his autopsy he found a small bullet hole in the left side of her head, concealed by her hair.