- At the end of January, human remains were found in the Ouachita River. A month later, the remains were identified as New Iberia native Sheryl Turner.
- According to the Catahoula Sheriff's Department, detectives have been "making headway" on the case but call on the community for help.
It's a case that law enforcement says they 'never seen before.' KATC Investigates is following up on the case of Sheryl Turner, a New Iberia woman whose body was found, dismembered in a river, hours away from her home.
After Sheryl's family had been informed, KATC's Iberia Parish reporter, Anna Fischer, sat down with Michael Turner (her father), and her twin sister Sherry Turner.
“It went from us busting our head about if it was her or not, to…how did she go,” said Sherry. Now a little over a month late, Detective Dewain Littleton of the Catahoula Sheriff's Department says "information is slowly trickling in."
“During the investigation," explained Detective Littleton, "we have been reaching out to several social media platforms that the victim had been using…trying to identify who she’s been in communications with, and who all she had been talking to and possibly identifying who she had went to stay with.”
According to the Turner family, Sheryl had been in contact with an unknown person via Facebook, and possibly other social media platforms. These messages contain some of the last conversations that Sheryl would have had.
"That's been slowing going, it always takes time to get that information back from these platforms," said Littleton. "The warrants, and the subpoenas and so forth have been sent through to them...and it's starting to lead us to places to look."
Detective Littleton says that based on communication between the Catahoula Sheriff's Dept., the Catahoula Parish Coroner's Office, and the forensic investigating office on the case, further updates should be expected in the coming weeks.
"By the early part of next week, they said we should have the reports on those forensic findings."
On Friday, April 5, the family held a candelight vigil in honor of Sheryl. The following is a statement sent in from Sheryl's twin sister Sherry, on behalf of their family:
"As the days and weeks have went by now, knowing that we won’t see Sheryl ever again, our biggest focus has just been Justice! We are all still trying to cope with this difficult loss, but one thing we know for sure is our girl didn’t deserve to go in such a gruesome way; and we can’t just live and go about our days knowing that the person, or people, that did this is still out there, alive and breathing and going on with their daily lives. Not a day goes by that we don’t miss Sheryl. She was one of a kind and nobody really understood her like we did. She was like the icing on cake, she just knew the right words when I asked for advice, and I no longer can get those talks anymore like we used to. Justice will be served and we will find the person involved who took such a beautiful soul away from us."
If you have any information regarding Sheryl's case contact the Catahoula Sheriff's Department immediately:
Phone: 318-744-5411
Fax: 318-744-5568
301 Bushley St.
P.O. BOX 655
Harrisonburg, LA 71340
