"Dear Zachary" Murders ~ The Case of a Flawed System Part 1

 

Good Day Crime buffs. I am going to be sharing the case of Zachary Andrew Turner Bagby and Andrew David Bagby. I am going to give a TRIGGER WARNING with this story as it involves a very young child!!! 

This may be a bit of a long-winded story as there are a few twists and turns throughout it.

The easiest way to begin this one, is to write about the perpetrator/ murderer; then the victims, trial and aftermath...

I am speaking about Shirley Jane Turner. She was born on January 28, 1961 in St. Anthony, NFLD (Newfoundland), CANADA. There honestly isn't much to say about her childhood. She doesn't have too much information on her; other than, she was a Canadian-American citizen, the daughter of a U.S. serviceman and a local Canadian woman from St. Anthony, NFLD. Shirley was raised in Wichita, Kansas with three of her siblings. 

When her parents split and eventually divorced, Shirley returned to NFLD with her mother. This is where she applied and was enrolled at Memorial University of NFLD, which is located in St. John's NFLD. She had set her sights on having a career in the medical field. She began school in 1980, although you'll see single life and school weren't the only things to drastically change within a year...

Shirley Turner got pregnant fairly quickly, and while the University was on their winter hiatus of 1981, Shirley married her boyfriend, and their son was born July 9, 1982. Shirley Turner being so career driven, continued with her schooling, while her husband stayed home to raise their son. Shirley and her husband (no name was ever given), moved to Labrador City, where she worked as a science teacher. Their marriage ended fairly quick, as Shirley had rekindled a relationship with a previous lover.

Not even two years later, Shirley gave birth to her second child, a girl this time. Sometime between the birth of her daughter and January 29, 1988, Shirley had resumed a relationship with a man she knew from Corner Brook, NFLD. Shirley Turner didn't remain single for long, she divorced her husband over her acts of infidelity and went on to marry the former lover (again, no name revealed), the following July. Shirley was obviously very  good at keeping secrets because that same July she had an abortion, without even informing her husband, who was the father of the unborn baby.

On March 8, 1990, Shirley would give birth to her second daughter (now her third child). Approximately a year later, Shirley was single again (separated); even after her second husband was the reason she was able to complete her undergrad education. He remained a stay at home dad to help her succeed in her education.

Eyebrows should have been raised at this point because a roommate of Shirley Turner had confided to his therapist that he had seen Shirley abusing her children; both physically and emotionally. This DID prompt Child Services workers to meet with the children and interview them. 

The children only said that their mom was very disciplinary, using her hand or her belt to punish them; with her second husband backing these claims, the file was closed in January 1994.

We are now in 1997, and her divorce is finalized with her second husband. Shirley Turner was granted custody of her daughter as part of the divorce; but within days, she allowed her youngest daughter to go live in Portland Creek with her father. Oddly, or maybe not so oddly, at this time she reliquished custody of her two older children to their father's parents in Parson's Creek.

Shirley Turner was sort of committing fraud, in the sense that she was collecting baby bonus (what is now referred to as Child Tax Benefits), which she had said she had been putting the money in a college fund for her children; but later it was revealed she used the money to pay for her living expenses and to complete her doctural education. She vowed that once she finished her post residency part of her education, she would be making "big money" and would be able to replace all the money she used, and then some!!!

Shirley Jane Turner finally got her undergrad degree from Memorial University in 1994. Instead of jumping right into a career in one specific medical field, Shirley spend her time from 1998 until 2000 as a resident physician, teaching all over at NFLD hospitals. It was reported that she was lacking in professionalism to the point that even the physician who was overseeing her work would voice complaints that Shirley was very hostile, condescending, yelling and then crying that she wasn't being treated fairly.

Shirley seemed to be slipping even further down when she was doing the second part of her residency. She missed 9 days within a 3 month rotating shifts and was caught falsifying clinical reports. She was so rude to people that even the clinic was losing patients; staff refused to correct Shirley, everyone feeling afraid of the woman and her outbursts. Her supervising physician wrote a scathing review of Shirley Turner, saying they felt manipulated into dealing with her. Shirley had no compassion nor any feelings when dealing with people, it was like she was there, but she wasn't. Her relationships and friendships were both seen as superficial. 

(This was coming from a physician who has been supervising residents for over 21 years... more than 400 residents, and she had seen no one like Shirley before! Even referred to her as a manipulative, guiltless psychopath!!!)

Despite this scathing report about Shirley Turner, she completed her residency training by the summer of 2000 and was now legally qualified to practice medicine. 

(Why did no one see this as a very dangerous individual at this point??? How was she granted the qualifications when she was caught lying on patients' charts and had a wretched bedside manner???)

I am going to continue in part 2 with more of Shirley Jane Turner's personal life and relationships.

To be continued...