Sarah Turney
Appearances
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And my dad made this big show about, you know, suing the phone company, which is so interesting to me because we had caller ID. You know, he also didn't use star 69 or whatever, where you can, you know, call back and get the number. So I believe that during his many trips to California, you know, because when Alyssa first went missing, he was just gone.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I remember him just like not being in the house for weeks on end. And he made several trips to California. So I think during one of those trips, he possibly orchestrated that call. I don't know, paid somebody to do it, had a friend to go do it. I'm not sure. But me and the police, we don't believe that that call came from Alyssa.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So it was for I forget the exact name of it, but it was for basically bombs, bombs and guns. So, yeah, in 2008, I was in college my first few years in college and. They call me down to the station. I had been my sister's point of contact for police since I was a teenager. And so they're like, hey, we have some updates. We want to talk to you. It's not really anything crazy for me.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
It was pretty normal. So I go down there and I'm like, hey, like I have I have a Spanish test. Am I going to be back in time? I'm thinking about college and they sit me down and they're like, actually, we're raiding your house right now. We think your dad killed your sister, which was a huge shock to me, right? You know, obviously my whole world was turned upside down in just a moment.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But later on the news that night, I see that my whole neighborhood had been evacuated because they essentially found the biggest pipe bomb and gun bust in Phoenix history. It was like 26 pipe bombs, all these illegal gun parts or whatever. And he was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison. So nothing related to Alyssa. He just had all these bombs and this manifesto to use them. It was insane.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I think so. Yeah. You know, I think at that point it made us, you know, fairly certain that he had the propensity for violence. You know what I mean? Obviously.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
No, I lived with him, like, right around the corner from the community call. I was with him, living with him, which is insane. These bombs were, like, 100 feet from my head, and I had no idea, you know? But to be totally honest, my, you know, my priority at that time was partying. I was, like, 19. I had the master bedroom, my own entrance, you know?
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
He spoiled me to the point where I didn't see anything. Like, all I could care about was... Oh, I make a bunch of money at the tanning salon I work at and, you know, I can party in my house. And so I had no idea that was going on. I knew that he had guns. You know, we're in Arizona. He'd always had guns. But I had no idea that there were a bunch of bombs in the house.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And I was, you know, to this day, I'm still pretty angry about it. You know, he obviously put me and, you know, my nephew, who often came over, was just a baby in danger.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Oh, a thousand percent. Yeah. It was literally the like two months after Alyssa went missing. He said, I'm going to move you to the master bedroom. And I'm 12. Right. And he says, it's because I want you to have your own bathroom so that you don't walk around the house in a towel. And somebody calls CPS on us saying that I'm sexually abusing you, which is crazy. Right.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But when I'm 12, all I think is master bedroom. Master bedroom.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. So he knew that we were all at my brother's house when everything happened, but I was the first person he spoke with. And right away, he said, everything's going to be fine, but I need you to bail me out. I need money to get out. And I was ready to give him my entire college savings. But they ended up upping the bail. Thank goodness I didn't give that money over.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Right after we had planned to bail him out, they upped it to something like a million dollars, something insane, which is warranted for a domestic terrorist. Like, let's be real. But yeah, I was his first call because, you know, I was the easiest to manipulate. And that's exactly what happened. I essentially became his legal secretary. He gave me legal power of attorney, his youngest child.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I wasn't even 20. I got this legal power of attorney. I took over the house. I took over all his affairs, gave him all my money when he was in prison. And he told me that the police planted those bombs. And which sounds crazy to believe, but I think I just wanted my dad back so much. that I just I believed him. You know, he was my best friend.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I truly believed that he had this very sad story of a life. You know, his wife died when she was very young, leaving him with all these kids. And my sister goes missing. You know, he's on disability. I really felt for him. And I'm such an empath. And I hate saying that, like, I'm an empath. But I'm very empathetic. And so I just wanted to help him.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, yeah. I was just 12 when she went missing. So this has been like a lifelong journey for me. Right.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Nothing, really, to be honest. They didn't help during the bomb trial. I was very much just left on my own. You know, I always say, like, basically, I've been alone since I was about 19. And so has he since been released? Yeah, he got released and then arrested again for Alyssa's murder.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
It was about halfway through his sentence. I was there all through the trial. I went to every single hearing for him. I advocated for him. And then it was about halfway through that I had that, you know, light bulb moment of like, hey, you did this. Like, it's just very, very clear. And I confronted him, you know. He's still in prison, so he has to call me.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And I was like, Dad, this doesn't add up. You didn't tell me that you picked her up early from school. I'm hearing all these things. I want to talk to you about it. And he basically just changed the subject. And I was like, okay. There was no moment. You'd think as a parent, he'd be like, no, how could you think that? Oh my gosh, let's talk this through. Absolutely not.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And he just changed the subject. And I was like, okay, this is real. He did it.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I mean, at that point, I think I finally came to that. He had created the bombs. It took me a while to believe that he was going to use them. If I'm being totally honest, I wish I could have seen it more clearly. But that's just the honest journey of, you know, slowly losing faith in my father.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, to this day, you know, he says that the Phoenix Police Department planted those bombs, even though he wrote the manifesto to use them. And then.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I stopped. I cut off that relationship because I knew that he wouldn't say anything on a prison recorded line. You know, he's too smart for that, unfortunately. I knew that he'd never put anything in documentation, right? He wouldn't write about it. He wouldn't talk about it on a recorded line.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But when he was released in 2017, I went and met with him in person because I was like, okay, this would be the time that he's going to give me answers, right? When nobody's watching, when he thinks that he can manipulate me, I'm going to confront him and record it. And that's exactly what I did. And can you talk about what was said during that conversation? Yeah, I mean, so much.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But I think the most damning things are, you know, when I confronted him, he said, Sarah, come to my deathbed and I'll give you all the honest answers you want to hear. And not only right. That's enough. That's enough for me. But he also said, I'll give a confession if the state gives me lethal injection within 10 days. So he offered to confess twice. And the state doesn't want to do that?
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Or what is going on? Oh, of course, I ran to the police, you know, and I was like, you guys, I got it. I got it. I got the evidence. Like, let's lock him up. And they were like, it's not good enough. He didn't confess. But he's willing to if they kill him. Yeah, right. And that's what I said to them.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I said, OK, if I say I'll tell you what happened to, you know, Kaylee Anthony on my deathbed, what does that mean to you? And they were like, it's not good enough.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I mean, you know, first, I do think I'm okay, thank goodness. And I think a lot of that is, you know, when Alyssa went missing, you know, I didn't have a dad anymore. I had this live-in kind of best friend, you know, guy who paid for all my stuff.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So I I've really supported myself for, you know, most of my life and, you know, in terms of emotional capabilities, not so much financial, obviously. So this is kind of the life that I'm used to is just being on my own, doing it myself. And it certainly has helped to channel that. how I feel into positive, you know, actions, right? I did want to be a lawyer for a long time.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I took the LSATs, but at that time I was in my early twenties and I was like, I'm going to, you know, have all these kids and I don't think I can be a lawyer and juggle both. And so I went with a different career path. But of course, you know, channeling everything into true crime has been so therapeutic for me. To help others gives me so much peace.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And to help Alyssa, you know, at a certain point after I went to the police and, you know, told them, I changed my mind. I see what you guys see now. Here's this conversation with my dad. They told me your best chance of getting justice for your sister is getting media. And that's really where my true crime journey started. I never watched true crime. I was never into it.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But they told me to get media. So I poured myself into that. And it was really, really hard, but in a certain sense, healing. You know, when I felt like I was doing everything I can to help Alyssa to rectify this situation, it's given me peace. Even though I don't have the outcome I want, just working for it is really, really helpful.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I mean, of course, I was really young. But from what I know from my family members and through these home videos is, you know, we were a really fragmented family at that point. You know, my brothers are going into their 20s. They're moving out of the house. And it's really just me, Alyssa, my sister and my dad. So really, Alyssa and I were just raising ourselves.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Do you think he was spending his time doing that? Yeah, I think so. And maybe just losing himself in his new freedom, too. You know, when Alyssa first went missing, he rented a white convertible and said, my dream was always to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, so we went to California, we handed out a few flyers for Alyssa, and then he was like living his dream, which is so looking back now, right? Hindsight is 2020. It's so obvious. It's very it gives me Casey Anthony vibes, you know, her going out to the bar and, you know, doing the hot body contest or whatever. He was just, I think, living his best life, which is so crazy to think about.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. So in the process of making the podcast and, you know, diving into Alyssa's story, I spoke with as many people as I could. And it's very well known that my father has, you know, sexually abused women dating back to the 70s. And it was always like someone he was adjacent to in the family. It was typically a sister-in-law, like the sister of his wife's.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So some things are documented, you know, but back when a lot of this was happening in the 70s and 80s, when they would report it, it wasn't like mandatory charges like it is today. Right. There are some reports on some things and others not. But, yeah, it was one of those family secrets. When I went to my brothers and I was like, did you know this happened? They're like, oh, yeah.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, my mom talks about that all the time. And I'm like, what do you mean? Like, how are we not having these conversations? Yeah, I mean, some of it was known, some of it wasn't. I learned so much just reading these police reports. You know, everybody has their own account of what happened. And they speak so differently in front of a police officer versus at a family function.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I feel like some people were a lot more open with police. So it was very eye-opening. Do you think if the...
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Our dad basically checked out. You know, we were on our own.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
A thousand percent. I think that would have made all the difference, you know, because nobody came. I didn't speak with police for like six years. And if somebody came out to the house that day, they could have seen, oh, my gosh, well, there's a camera here. You know, did it capture anything?
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
They could have spoken to my dad and, you know, felt him out a little bit and probably got those weird vibes that almost everybody did. I think it would have changed everything. And one of my new initiatives is creating Alyssa's Law. where essentially when a child is reported missing in Phoenix, I love for it to be everywhere, but I got to start local.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
When a child is reported missing in Phoenix, an officer has to come in person to take a report. That's it. I don't think it's a lot to ask.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So it wouldn't have been anything the police saw that day. I got it. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, because of his experience in law enforcement, I think that's exactly what happened. He called and said, my rebellious teenage daughter who smokes weed, she's on drugs. She ran away to her aunt's house in California. Like that's he called the non-emergency line. And he spelled it all out.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, absolutely. You know, he'd always struggled with his mental health, but you know, as my family says, after my mom died, he essentially broke. Okay.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, this is a rebellious teenager who is mad at me because she wants to do drugs. And I know where she's at. I know that she's somewhere safe. So, yeah, the police aren't going to come out and investigate that. Did he ever give a reason for why he would say that? No, he says that's not how it happened, that the police are lying in their police report.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, he said that he kept them because he thought that her boyfriend was suspicious. He didn't keep, you know, the tape of the day that she went missing. But all this footage of her and her boyfriend, you know, I think he was very much trying to get, you know, any attention off him and onto this boyfriend because he orchestrated a fight between them.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, he went up to Alyssa's boyfriend, who was like 16 at the time, and said, Alyssa's cheating on you. And so he's like, hey, are you cheating on me? And she's like, what are you talking about? And they get in this fight. He, you know, peels wheel because he's 16 in his truck or whatever. And he gives this to police and says, look, I think the boyfriend did it.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Not according to the police file, but I know that they thoroughly investigated him, you know, and to be fair, he was one of the only people that actually looked for Alyssa that night, her boyfriend. Oh, he physically went out and looked for her? Yeah, the only person. Yeah, his life was, you know, rocked really, really hard after Alyssa was gone.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Even according to, you know, his friends, people that knew him, he didn't date for years. He was just super heartbroken over it.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So he, yeah, we talk, you know, behind the scenes, but he doesn't want to be in the media. And I don't blame him, you know, even in my interviews, you know, they would ask about him and I'm like, yeah, my dad says that he's not a nice guy and that he's hurting my sister. So I don't blame him for wanting to stay away.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, poor him, you know, being somewhat of a suspect in this case, I just feel terrible for him.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, they were like each other's first boyfriend, girlfriend, at least serious ones, right? Yeah. First loves.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I mean, he would have a camera not only in his hand, but also would, you know, he would like set it up in the corner and just record everyday movements. And then, of course, you know, he started hiding cameras from us and recording us secretly, which is just insane.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. Well, his alibi all checks out too, right? You know, he was at work all day, just for the record. Yeah. I know how true crime can be.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I mean, I think it just goes back to conscious consumerism, right? If it feels bad, it probably is affecting the people involved pretty badly. It's really about trusting your gut instinct and remembering what's real and what's entertainment, right? You know, I have seen my sister's story covered on every medium you can think of. Podcasts, YouTube, Dateline, 2020.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And not every source is reliable. So I think at the end of the day, it's really remembering what's real, what's not, and that we're all real people and that unfortunately it could happen to any one of us.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
No. So he we went to trial and the prosecution did a really terrible job. That's a whole story in itself. But at the end of the day, he was acquitted. They they got to the bench and his defense team said, hey, you know, the prosecution hasn't properly presented their case. They haven't presented the evidence needed. And the judge agreed. So he's a free man.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So almost nothing was presented at trial. All the things that we were told were going to be presented just wasn't. And I will say that the prosecution was very preoccupied with another case right before that. For three years, they told me, you know, we're keeping you in the dark. We can't tell you much, but we're busy with this other case, this serial killer case.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. I mean, you know, as far as I know, there were no recording devices in my room. And, you know, a lot of people say that there were in Alyssa's room. So it was primarily for Alyssa, but I was, you know, also living in that house being recorded. Absolutely.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And it was only about two weeks before the trial that they said, OK, that case is done. Now we're going to start working on Alyssa's case. So they had about two weeks essentially to prep for this trial, which isn't enough. It took me about five weeks to get through her case file. And that's me reading it as fast as I can. So, you know, I think it was truly a lack of evidence being presented.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
They told me that they were going to, you know, show the jury my podcast, my interviews with my dad with him saying, come to the deathbed. I'll confess under these circumstances. That never happened. They weren't able to talk about the sexual abuse. They weren't able to talk about basically anything. So the defense basically said this is a wild teenager who is extremely sexually promiscuous.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
She wasn't a good kid and she ran away. And that's what was presented at court. It wasn't any of this evidence that the police found. It wasn't any of these statements from my dad. Almost nothing got in. And it was extremely frustrating.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Do you could you talk about that? Yeah, you know, there were a variety of things that were found in our house that day when they did the raid in the house. My dad had an off-site storage unit that was just, like, unknown. Nobody knew about it, so he had a place to potentially store a body.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
There was also a receipt found for a large amount of lime, which, you know, not to be morbid, is used to basically dissolve a body. They weren't able to talk about the bombs, his prior convictions for violence. So there was also a really pivotal moment where the prosecution was able to present. One of our neighbors saw our father physically abuse Alyssa.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
She, of course, also knew about the sexual abuse. But at the end of the day, the defense said, OK, we'll allow the prosecution to talk about that incident of physical abuse. And the prosecution said, no, that's OK. We don't think we need it. Like, I truly think they just gave up. And it's so weird. Like, I don't know why.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Like, part of me is wondering if this whole trial and this arrest was to get, you know, the media off their back. You know, did they ever really think that this case was going to win? I don't understand why they didn't try. And, you know, I know that I can sound really biased. Of course, I am biased, right? I'm her sister. But just let me tell you that the night before the trial,
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I got a call at like 9 p.m. from my victim's rights lawyer. And he said, the prosecution wants to know how late you're going to stay up tonight. And I was like, what do you mean? Like, I'm trying to like be chill. The trial's the next day. Like, I'm about to take a bath. And they're like, well, they have questions.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And that night they were like, we need you to find these audio tapes that the police said that they, you know, gave back to you 10 years ago. We think that it has all this damning evidence on it. And they were also asking questions like, which one of your brothers has which mom? Like, they just didn't know anything when this trial started. And this was the night before?
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Four years. Four years, which is a big deal when you're, you know, 12 and 17. Those are totally, you know, two different worlds.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Hmm. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I wish that they would have been prepared. If they needed another few years, then let's wait. Absolutely.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. So I'm told that essentially if we can find Alyssa's remains, that he can catch other charges. But that's basically our best hope.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Well, so I'm and I'm like just talking to prosecutors and lawyers like whoever will help me. It's actually, I guess, in our favor if it is found across state lines, because then they can make charges there, too, apparently. I am by no means a legal expert. Like I said, I took the LSATs, never went never went to law school. But, yeah, I'm told that it's almost better if they find it in California.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
No, I don't think that he has that kindness in his heart. I don't think that he has any sympathy or empathy for his children. So, no, I think that he'll go to the grave with this secret. What was the last conversation that you had with him? That was what you saw in the documentary. You know, I yeah, I called him and was like, let's talk. And we we met the next day.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And, you know, this time I was a lot more prepared. I think all the other times I was just like speaking from my heart. You know, I was just like, Dad. And this time, because the trial had happened, I wanted to ask him the questions that I wish they would have asked him at trial.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, because he like he wrote crazy letters to Alyssa about Alyssa, you know, talking about the contracts he made her sign that said that she wasn't sexually or physically abused. So I was ready. So the last time I spoke with him was February 2024. Which was recent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And he's still I don't know if you've seen he has a YouTube channel now where he posts almost every single day. And it's mostly about how terrible of a person I am. And a lot of like government conspiracies, too. He essentially wants to be an influencer now.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I mean, I think he has like one or two people that are like, yeah, the government's out to get us all. And, you know, you're just a patriot or whatever, just insane stuff. But no, you know, most of the comments are hate because it's just so clear what he's doing and his story continues to pivot.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So I do watch, I record them because he does trip up and, you know, change his story sometimes, which I think is really interesting.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
No, that was pretty normal. You know, especially in the summertime, May in Arizona can get up to like 110 degrees. So even walking just the short distance, you know, from school to our house was unbearable. So he'd usually pick us up and drop us off.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Only one. His oldest son. Yeah, I know. Exactly. And I told him that when my dad got out of prison, I found out that my brother had been helping him secretly. And of course, nobody told me because they knew that I'd be pissed. Right. And so I told him, I said, I don't forgive you. Like, I don't have it in my heart to forgive you for helping dad when you wouldn't even help me.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
i begged my brothers to help with this trial i said you know the prosecution is not talking to me um but they'll talk to you somebody needs to know what's going on with this trial and they won't tell me you have to step in i called them crying begging and they would promise me that they would and then they never did um so yeah when i found out that one of my brothers is still helping him um i was pissed and
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
He says, you know, that's our dad. We have to love him. And I'm like, the fuck we do. No, we fucking don't. I haven't had a dad since I was, you know, since Alyssa left. I was never fathered or, you know, I never had that parental figure. Fuck that. You know, Alyssa was a child. What are you doing? And, you know, he just that's our dad and I need to help him. But no, nobody else talks to him.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, does he also think he's guilty but feels like that's your dad? So he both are true. Yeah. Yeah. He was actually, I believe, the first person that told police, I think my dad did this. He was sexually abusing my sister. Like, he's crazy.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So I think it's possible. And there are some stories in the family that my brothers have tried to elicit, you know, information from him. So I think it's possible, but I don't think it's the main the main reason. I do truly think that he has that, you know, he was born, you know, in like 1971. Right. So I think he has that old school mentality of that's our parent.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
He lives a few cities away, but he's close enough and he knows where I live. It's scary. You know, when I hear something, a bump in the night, I certainly think it could be him. That's terrifying. Yeah. And I can't get a restraining order because he hasn't like I know because the first thing after trial, my victim's rights attorney, who was amazing, he volunteered his time.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
He was like, do you want a restraining order? And I was like, fuck, yeah, I do. Like, get him away from me. I don't want him to talk to me, you know, nothing. And they're like, well, he hasn't made any actionable threats. So it looks like we're not going to be able to get it, even though he said in a video that I'm going to die soon.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. So my entire childhood growing up, he had like, you know, a part of his disability was he had this mandated therapy that was, I think, like three times a week. So he was under extensive care for most of my life. But that's where the manipulation factor comes in. He manipulated his doctors.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, during his bomb trial, he admitted that he had this like deal with his psychiatrist where he would give her his extra pills. Like, so it was never like legitimate care. Are you kidding right now? No. No, I fucking wish. Like, it is insane. His first doctor lost his license and moved all his stuff into our house.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
He's always had these really inappropriate relationships with his psychiatrists.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
2001. So we're using like Nokia cell phones at this time. So very low tech.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
I mean, some days, you know, of course I have good days and I have bad days. It just depends. But I think it goes back to, for me, the piece comes in trying to, and it sounds so cheesy, right? But like make the world a better place to, you know, I'm working on a new season about Alyssa where it'll be like my definitive word on what happened to her, what I think happened to her.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And so, yeah, I think it's just paying it forward and knowing that I'm hopefully doing something to make these situations better. But yeah, I mean, I'm not going to lie. Some days it's unbearable. And I think, you know, why me? Why my sister? Why did this happen? Why does my family act this way?
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But it took a lot of years to realize that I was just a child and that it wasn't my fault and that my brother's reactions to everything is also not my fault and that I did nothing wrong. And I'm so thankful that I had, you know, honestly, it sounds so parasocial, but when I had nobody, I had TikTok.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, I had a million people there that were cheering me on and telling me, you know, fuck what your family says. You are doing the right thing. And that was so healing for me. And it continues to be healing for me.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, you know, I get asked this often, and it comes down to, I'm sorry. You know, I think a part of me will always be sorry that I didn't see what was right in front of me. And I'm sorry that she had to, you know, she felt the need to stay to protect me. That's one of the hardest things.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, she wanted to leave, but all her friends say she stayed because she didn't want to leave me alone in that house. So that's an unbearable guilt, to be totally honest. Again, I've forgiven myself. So part of me would say, I'm sorry. I love you. And also just thank you for everything she did for me. She truly was the only mother I really ever knew.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And she had to give up so much of her childhood to make that happen. to, you know, do my laundry, to do my hair, to make sure my nails were done, to make sure I didn't look, you know, crazy or insane going to school or whatever when I was a kid. So, yeah, you know, thank you. I'm sorry. And I love you.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, my podcast is called Voices for Justice. I also produce the Media Pressure podcast where I help other families like me tell their stories of their loved ones. You can find me everywhere. Hopefully TikTok will stay around and you can find me there at Sarah E. Turney across all platforms or the Voices for Justice podcast.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, you're so sweet. No, just thank you. And to be honest, I've followed your journey since the beginning, like I'm sure a lot of your guests have. And you were always so inspirational to me because I always felt like you were also on your own at a young age. And I remember watching your journey and thinking like, I can do it too. I don't even have like a kid strapped to me, right?
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So I felt like I could do it too. So I just wanted to thank you because you've always been a really big inspiration to me.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I mean, you know, the note really correlates with an incident that happened quite, you know, some time before she went missing. It references a conversation she had with our aunt about going to go live with her in California. But we had such an estranged family. We didn't know our aunt. And me and Alyssa talked about this. She didn't want to go to California to go be with her.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
She didn't know her. She didn't want to leave me. So the context of that note, when she says, I really am going to California, references a really old conversation. She also talks about taking $300, which is a well-documented incident that Alyssa did take that money from her dad months before and gave it back.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So I think that note was from quite some time ago and that my dad just kind of kept it and planted it.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, and he did. You know, he would go through her stuff. You know, obviously he watched her every move. We had a passive recording system on our home phone. Everything we did was monitored, and especially Alyssa. He would watch her outside of her work and, you know, ask, who's that guy that came through the drive-thru? Who's that guy that's working with you? It was obsessive.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
She eventually did find out about the camera in the event. She would tell her friends about it. So I think that she knew on a certain level, but not I don't know. You know, it's hard to say for sure, but she definitely knew about a lot of the monitoring. I don't know if she knew about everything. And to be honest, I'm sure that there are things that we still don't know to this day that he did.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
No. So the recording system on the phone had been there since before I was born, since the 1970s. So, you know, all of us really grew up in this environment where we were being monitored in some fashion. And unfortunately, it became our new normal. But of course, as our brothers got older and got out of the house and, you know, explored the world, they began to realize that that's not normal.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. Yeah. I remember finding that video and freaking out. We were just camping and I have the video camera, which, you know, was pretty often. I would always try to grab it and, you know, little kid stuff. And I was like, hey, I want to film me. And then Alyssa all of a sudden says, Sarah, Sarah, dad's a pervert.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
And then my dad kind of freaks out and tells me, you know, he grabs the camera for me, which is something he didn't really do. My dad was never really aggressive towards me. So it kind of shocked me. But he grabs it and he continues filming. It's very strange.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
He calls Alyssa a moron. Yeah. And he goes, and Alyssa is a moron in response to her calling him a pervert.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. I mean, just discrediting her, which is, you know, something he did our whole lives. You know, Alyssa is stupid. Alyssa needs extra help. He's always said horrendous things about Alyssa.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, like literally everybody. And by the time I came around, I was like, hey, I think this. And my brothers were like, yeah, this is essentially like our big family secret. And I was like, what do you mean this is our big family secret? Like, what are we doing about it? It was really, really shocking.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, you know, it was a lot of different factors. I think one, just getting older and getting out from under his manipulation. You know, he did go to prison and we can talk all about that. He went to prison for quite some time as I was entering my early 20s. I was in college and I was finally able to get that separation from him.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But one major point I can turn to is I remember, you know, my boyfriend at the time, we'd been together for like 10 years. He lived with me and my dad when we were teenagers. And I said, do you think my dad could have killed my sister? And he said, Sarah, everyone thinks your dad killed your sister. And I was like, OK, all right. You know, I think people were just trying to be kind.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
You know, I lost so many people in my life that they didn't want to take away my dad, too. So I get it. I do wish people had told me earlier, to be totally honest. But I get it. It was crazy.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
That's a great question. And, you know, I don't want to villainize them either. You know, I think, you know, out of six kids, we were all on very different journeys. But yeah, I do think about that all the time. Why was I left in that house when they knew what was going on? I don't know.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So I will say that at one point, one of my brothers did try to take me. They tried to convince me to like move back east. But that came with a lot of rules. And when I'm 15 and the choice is going with my brother who wants to give me structure or staying with my dad where I can be absolutely feral and do whatever I want, I'm going to stay with my dad.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, absolutely. I started with my missing sister's case and then I moved on to other cases that just need justice. So unsolved true crime cases. Absolutely. Who do you think killed JonBenet Ramsey? Oh, my gosh. I don't know. I feel like that one is so tricky, to be honest, and I could probably argue every side. Do you know? Do you have a theory?
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
But yeah, you know, I do certainly have some resentment. I'm not going to lie. It's hard now. that I'm closer to their age. And I think I would never do that to my little sister. So yeah, you know, it's a mix. They tried. And I think one of the biggest factors too is that Alyssa wasn't his biological daughter. And I was. And they always told me that they never thought that he would hurt me.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah. I mean, I went to them right away and I was like, you guys, like, what are we going to do about this? And again, they were just kind of like, we already knew this. And, you know, at that point, I didn't know that they had told this to the police. Many of them had said what they saw. They just didn't tell me. Because you were so young. Yeah, exactly.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Nobody sat me down at 12 and said, hey, your dad's a monster. You know, your only parent left. Yeah, we just, you know, I think over the years, too, we just kind of stopped talking about it. It just hurt too much.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, they know. And they all have different feelings about it. But all of them basically just don't want to be involved, which is
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
really really hard i'm not gonna lie you know i understand and i forgive them for that um but at the same point i get really protective over my sister and you know i do wish that they fought this fight with me it certainly would have been a lot easier yeah no doubt i can't even imagine like essentially you feel like you're fighting it alone
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
Yeah, I mean, I am, you know, and a lot of them have families now and their concern is, you know, the family name, the family name. We don't want our kids to Google this and see it, which I can certainly empathize with. But at the end of the day, Alyssa is forever a 17 year old. And I feel like I have to take care of her as if she is my child at this point. You know, she doesn't have anybody else.
Barely Famous
Sarah Turney Fights for Answers
So the call came in. We have the call records to confirm that a call came from that payphone, right? But I believe it was orchestrated. Again, we had a passive recording system on our phone. That didn't catch it. We had multiple cameras in the house. That didn't catch the phone call.
My Friend Daisy
Episode 1 - Sitting Ducks
I started TikTok to ask for Gen Z's help to share my missing sister Alyssa Turney's story. And they are powerful.
My Friend Daisy
Episode 1 - Sitting Ducks
The algorithm behind TikTok, you know, it's been likened to a slot machine in which, you know, you'll post a video and cha-ching, it goes viral. The next few may not, and then again, it goes viral. It's kind of addicting, right?
My Friend Daisy
Episode 1 - Sitting Ducks
I think that is why families gravitate towards TikTok. It is the most even playing field out there in terms of all these social media platforms.
My Friend Daisy
Episode 1 - Sitting Ducks
I have never once met a family who said option number one to help my family's case is to become a content creator and try to become an influencer. Not once have I met somebody where that was option A. That's Sarah Turney.
My Friend Daisy
Episode 1 - Sitting Ducks
Usually when people begin to tell their loved ones stories, it is their last resort. They don't know what else to do. You know, they've tried to go on the mainstream media to get them to care. And their last resort is making a podcast or a YouTube channel or a TikTok because that's free and accessible to them.
My Friend Daisy
Episode 1 - Sitting Ducks
We are sitting ducks for anybody to just prey on us. We are asking the world, we are begging the world to care about our loved ones. And that comes with a lot of negativity, unfortunately.