Jury Finds Mother Guilty of Killing Track Star Daughter

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ Vivian King was a worried mother 10 months ago, weeping for the TV cameras as she pleaded for help in finding her 17-year-old daughter, a nationally ranked high school track star.

King shed tears of a different sort on Thursday after being convicted of murdering her daughter by shooting her five times, and then leaving the body in the woods.

King, 43, could get 10 to 20 years in prison for third-degree murder, plus five years for use of a gun.

The body of Shilie Turner was found frozen and covered with debris in February, a month after King reported her missing. Weeks later, King confessed she shot her daughter in a drunken rage after the teen-ager came home late from a party.

But the woman recanted within days, saying she had only wanted to end 10 hours of interrogation, and she continued her denials throughout her trial. No physical evidence linked her to the slaying.

Defense attorney Jack McMahon, trying to show the confession was false, focused on discrepancies between her statement and the prosecution’s evidence. King, for example, said she shot her daughter three times; the medical examiner said the young woman was shot five times.

During her two days on the stand, King was asked by her lawyer if she killed Turner, and she replied: ″No, no. I loved my daughter.″

However, the woman admitted that her relationship with her daughter had become strained after Turner had an abortion several months before her death.

Assistant District Attorney Judith Rubino had argued that King was jealous of her daughter’s success, often forcing Turner to baby-sit to prevent her from attending track meets. The prosecutor said King also began disposing of Turner’s belongings before the body was discovered.

Turner was ranked among the top five high school runners in the country. She hoped to attend Clemson University on an athletic scholarship.