The Canadian court that ordered a news blackout on extradition proceedings for a doctor accused of killing her former lover in Derry Township is keeping a possible custody battle over her newborn under wraps.
Westmoreland County authorities are seeking to extradite Dr. Shirley Turner from St. John's, Newfoundland, to stand trial on charges that she fatally shot 28-year-old Dr. Andrew D. Bagby, a resident at Latrobe Area Hospital. State police allege that Turner lured Bagby to Keystone State Park on Nov. 6 and shot him five times with a .22-caliber handgun because she was angry over the breakup of their relationship.
At 11:45 p.m. Thursday, Turner, 41, gave birth to a healthy, 8-pound, 7-1/4-ounce baby boy at Health Sciences Centre in St. John's. Turner has repeatedly claimed that the baby was fathered by Bagby and in a weekend interview with The Telegram, a newspaper in St. John's, she disclosed that she named the baby after the man she is accused of murdering.
The boy is named Zachary Andrew Turner. Turner, who has been married twice, has two daughters, 17 and 12, and a 20-year-old son in Newfoundland with whom she is currently residing.
The chief justice of the Newfoundland Supreme Court, Derek Green, has imposed a publication ban that prevents the media from reporting details of evidence presented during Turner's extradition proceedings, which began in May. The matter was to resume with a hearing July 30, but it has now been postponed until Sept. 19.
Acquaintances of Andrew Bagby's parents, David and Kathleen Bagby, of Sunnyvale, Calif., said the couple is currently in Newfoundland to attend the court proceedings, but Turner refused to permit them to see the baby at the hospital Friday. The acquaintances, who wish to remain anonymous, said the Bagbys have filed paperwork in the family division of the Supreme Court seeking custody of the child.
However, a representative of the Tribune-Review who sought court documents in St. John's regarding the custody issue was told they are private documents and cannot be released to the public.
A family court administrator there, Patricia Furlong, said this week that all paperwork and proceedings in child custody matters are considered "in camera," or private, and the Turner-Bagby issue falls under that ruling.
In her brief interview Saturday with The Telegram at the hospital, Turner said she has no doubt the child is Bagby's and indicated she would agree to paternity testing.
"Oh yeah, yeah, I do know — 100 percent for sure — that it is his baby. I'm the type of person that if there was ever any doubt, I would've never named him as the father.
"People told me I was asking for more trouble when I first said this, but I don't lie. I'm sorry, it's his child, and if (Bagby's parents) need paternity testing, that's fine. ... I have no problem with that," Telegram reporter Brian Callahan quoted Turner as saying.
Turner, who is released from jail pending the outcome of the extradition proceedings, said her family and friends recently held a baby shower for her. She told Callahan that her family has kept her strong throughout the ordeal of being pregnant and accused of murder.
"A lot of people say I'm a survivor. But for me, it's my children," Turner said.
"They're my inspiration, helping me get through all this," she said.
Turner declined a request from the Tribune-Review for an interview Friday.
Police allege that Turner fled from Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she was working at the time of Bagby's murder, to Newfoundland, where she grew up, after learning that she was the chief suspect in the killing.
However, Turner said that she did not "flee" to Canada, but returned there because of the death of a friend. Subsequently, she said that her oldest son was almost killed in a car accident and she wanted to be at his side during his recovery.
Repeated attempts to reach the Bagbys for comment were unsuccessful.
Turner and Bagby, a first-year resident at Latrobe Area Hospital, met in the late 1990s when they were both studying medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Both later moved to Syracuse, N.Y., where they began a relationship.
The couple reportedly spent the week prior to Bagby's murder together in Latrobe. Police allege that Turner flew from Pennsylvania to her home in Iowa, then turned around and drove back to Latrobe to kill Bagby after he broke up with her.
Police traced her travel by charting cellular telephone calls she made while en route.
The extradition proceeding has been delayed while Judge Green considers a motion filed by Turner's lawyer, Randolph Piercey, of St. John's, who is seeking to bar statements Turner made to authorities after she fled to Canada last year.
Piercey is on vacation and could not be reached for comment.
If Turner, who holds dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, is extradited, Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck has said he will not seek the death penalty. Peck waived the possible death sentence in the case to satisfy a Canadian law that prohibits deporting people who could face execution if convicted.
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