Las Vegas -- A former Maxim model who says she also posed for Playboy Italia pleaded not guilty along with her boyfriend to murder and conspiracy in the killing of a 71-year-old California psychiatrist in Las Vegas. Kelsey Nichole Turner and Jon Logan Kennison stood in shackles Thursday as they appeared in court.
The District Attorney's office will put the case of Turner and Kennison in front of a committee to decide if the DA's office will pursue the death penalty, CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reports.
Kelsey Turner appears for her court hearing where she pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the death of a California psychiatrist, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Thursday, June 13, 2019. ERIK VERDUZCO / AP
On Tuesday their former housemate, Diana Pena, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and implicated Turner and Kennison in the March killing of Dr. Thomas Burchard.
Pena is free from jail and is due to testify against Turner and Kennison.
Burchard lived in Salinas, California. Police say he had an intimate relationship with Turner and paid rent on a Las Vegas home where Turner, Kennison and Pena lived.
"It's been really hard realizing he's never coming home," Burchard's girlfriend of 17 years, Judy Earp, told CBS Sacramento.
Police found blood, footprints, cleaning supplies and items bearing Kennison's name in the house and garage, and towels that matched one found with Burchard's body.
Turner, 26, was arrested March 21 in Stockton, California. Kennison, 27, was arrested April 17 in Las Vegas.
