Kerry Turner’s killer has never been caught.
Camera IconKerry Turner’s killer has never been caught. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Kerry Turner murder: police, family not giving up on catching a killer

Greig JohnstonEastern Reporter

THE parents of murdered Perth woman Kerry Turner are confident progress will be made in the hunt for their daughter’s killer.

Wednesday marks 25 years since the beginning of one of the city’s most baffling murder mysteries.

Kerry was just 18 on June 29, 1991, when she went for a night out with a girlfriend to Pinocchio’s nightclub on Murray Street, but she never made it home.

PerthNow Digital Edition.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Her body was found a month later near Canning Dam.

Kerry’s father John Turner said he and his wife Sue were confident advancements in technology and cold-case investigation would see justice done eventually.

Sue and John Turner today.
Camera IconSue and John Turner today. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

“I’d be very worried if I were a perpetrator,” Mr Turner said.

“The technology is improving all the time; we find that very comforting.

“We feel confident that eventually there will be progress made.

“I hope they are sweating.

“There are people there whose relationships have changed. Maybe they no longer feel threatened.

“They might want to come forward and unburden themselves.

“If I had knowledge of something I would hate to carry that around.”

Kerry’s mother Sue Turner remembered her daughter as a “bubbly, outgoing girl who enjoyed life”.

“She was a good girl; we were close,” Mrs Turner said.

“This particular Saturday, she called me, and she said she was coming home.

“Then she called me back a couple of hours later to say they’d changed the arrangements and that her and her friend were going into the city, to the nightclub.”

It was the last time Sue Turner spoke to her daughter.

Kerry Turner.
Camera IconKerry Turner. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Kerry had become separated from her friend soon after entering Pinocchio’s, and had spent the evening mingling before leaving on her own about 4am.

That friend, Kylie Gilchrist, has been haunted ever since.

“I was angry with myself that we didn’t leave that nightclub together,” Kylie said.

“She was my friend and I really loved her a lot.

“I can’t change what’s happened.

“I just wish she was still here, it still affects me really badly now.

“I rack my brain constantly, trying to put that night together.”

Kerry was last seen alive about 5am on the morning of Sunday June 30, 1991, on Shepperton Road near Millar Street, in East Victoria Park – directly opposite Conca’s Family Restaurant, which was then known as Cafe Affair.

She had been dropped there by a taxi driver when he realised Kerry had no money to pay the fare home to Bickley.

Kerry and her father John in 1989.
Camera IconKerry and her father John in 1989. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Shortly afterwards, a vehicle heading south on Shepperton Road – believed to be a dark coloured or blue Datsun sedan – stopped.

Kerry was seen getting into the car, which headed south on Shepperton Road.

It was the last time she was seen alive.

John Turner is certain someone out there knows what happened to his daughter, and police agree.

Acting Superintendent Peter Branchi from the State Crime Operations Division said police would not give up trying to bring her killer to justice.

“WA Police believes there are people in the community who know what happened to Kerry,” he said.

“Over time allegiances change, people change and circumstances change, and someone who may have felt intimidated or uncomfortable sharing information with police back in the 1990s may now be in a position to do so.

“We ask them to come forward now by calling Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

“Their information, however insignificant it may seem, could help bring Kerry’s killer to justice.”