Mum who claimed daughter was severely ill charged with her murder
A mum has been charged with first degree murder after claiming her seven-year-old daughter suffered from multiple diseases.
Olivia Gant captured hearts in Denver when she appeared on local media with a bucket list of wishes she wanted to experience, with her mother telling local media “we don’t know how much longer she has”.
Kelly Renee Turner spent years telling people her daughter suffered from rare and fatal disease, seizures, autism, severe allergies, and intestinal failure.
Olivia became the darling of the Make-A-Wish foundation as she helped police ‘catch a bad guy’ and posed as a firefighter for a day.
A GoFundMe page raised around US$22,000 and local media closely followed the story of the ‘terminally ill’ seven-year-old.
In August 2017, Ms Turner announced she had decided to stop all medical care, including intravenous nourishment, so her daughter could live her final days in peace.
She claimed the young girl’s quality of life had decreased with all the treatment.
Olivia passed away on August 20. Her cause of death was attributed to intestinal failure.
Dr Kramer, one of Olivia’s many physicians, told police she was not a terminal patient and said he was ‘shocked’ to hear that the seven-year-old had passed away.
In 2018, authorities became suspicious when Ms Turner said Olivia’s sister, now 11, was diagnosed with cancer, despite medical records proving otherwise.
Ms Turner was arrested and faces 13 different charges including murder, defrauding the health care system and two foundations that provide memorable services to ill children, as well as the hundreds of people that donated to the GoFundMe page.
She is also facing child abuse charges.
When Investigators exhumed Olivia’s body in November 2018, a forensic pathologist found no evidence of intestinal failure or “many of the conditions” that Ms Turner claimed Olivia had been diagnosed with and the cause of death is now “undetermined”.
Ms Turner is being held without bail and will face court on November 1.
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