JAVA Oct 2018

Kardashian is getting into the series, albeit four years after its release and to
much ridicule on social media.
In the wake of the incredible success of “Serial,” a wave of true crime podcasts
and documentaries has attracted an ever-widening audience. There is “Serial”
spinoff “S-Town” and others such as “Crimetown,” “In the Dark” and even the
Netflix series “The Making of a Murderer.” Like so many of these programs,
Zappala’s podcast draws inspiration in terms of format, storytelling and music
from “Serial.” Also like “Serial,” she explores the case in painstaking detail,
walking the listener through every twist and turn.
Zappala first learned of Turney’s disappearance and probable murder the way
most people did, by watching the “20/20” episode exploring the case. She
enjoyed watching reruns of such shows and was keenly on the lookout for a
potential cold case meriting further investigation. As she watched the “20/20”
episode “What Happened to Alissa?” which originally aired in October of 2014,
Zappala became fascinated by the strange story and knew she had to dig deeper.
“I’ve had very few moments of clarity in my life like this one,” Zappala said.
While we can’t recount the whole case here, the basic points are that Alissa
Turney was checked out of school early by her stepfather, Mike Turney, on May
17, 2001. She was never seen again. For whatever reason, police accepted Mike
Turney’s story that Alissa had run away to California. The case languished until
2006, when Thomas Hymer, a convicted murderer incarcerated in Florida, sent
investigators a letter stating, “I am going to make you famous. I am a serial
killer.” He claimed that he had kidnapped and murdered Alissa Turney, and was
ready to confess.
Investigators traveled to Florida and interviewed him, concluding he had likely
seen something in a newspaper about Alissa Turney’s disappearance and
fabricated the story for attention. However, this dead end did serve to reignite
the investigation, leading detectives to look deeper into Mike Turney. As they
looked further, the detectives found all the red flags they missed the first time.
When they searched Mike Turney’s residence in late 2008, they found more
than two dozen improvised explosive devices, 19 firearms and two homemade
silencers. They believed Mike Turney had been preparing a murderous rampage
against an electrical workers union local who he claimed had taken Alissa as part
of a decades-long conspiracy against him. They even found a 98-page document
outlining his plan and motivations. Though he was arrested, prosecuted
and incarcerated for this, he has never been charged for his stepdaughter’s
disappearance and likely murder.
Sarah Turney, Mike’s natural daughter and Alissa’s half-sister, features
prominently in the podcast. When Zappala and Shanna Hogan, an early
contributor to the project, initially contacted her, Sarah Turney was skeptical. She
had been unhappy with aspects of the “20/20” program. Over the course of their
many talks, phone calls and interviews, Sarah Turney and Zappala grew to share
a deep trust and friendship. “It became more and more clear that she was serious
and that she wanted to do something and wanted to help,” Sarah Turney said.
14 JAVA
MAGAZINE