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Linda Summitt’s son left Bloomington in 1992 to fulfill his dream of being a Navy SEAL.
Now 50, he will soon return after three decades in prison for the Virginia Beach murder of 21-year-old Jennifer Lea Evans.
Life didn’t turn out like Dusty Turner and his mother had planned. And Evans, killed while a pre-med student at Emory University, never got to live the future she envisioned.
Three decades later, the Virgina Parole Board has voted 3-2 to free Turner, a Bloomington South High School graduate.
The decision comes 23 years after Turner’s SEAL partner, also convicted of murder in the case, confessed he alone killed Evans. Turner, he said, tried to stop him, then helped conceal the crime.
Turner, with a long beard and wearing a blue work shirt, appeared for the Jan. 7 parole hearing via a video call from Buckingham Correction Center, a prison in Virginia.
It was his fifth time before the parole board; members had denied him release during the previous four hearings.
Before the vote, he thanked them for another chance at freedom. He said Evans’ death “haunts me every day.”
He expressed “profound sorrow for Jennifer Evans and her family and loved ones, and my deep remorse for choices that I made, actions and inactions. The tragedy of Jennifer’s murder has had an impact on me.”
A double tragedy
Parole board member Lloyd Banks described Evans as “a beautiful young lady who did not deserve to die under any circumstances.” He called her killing a tragedy, adding that “at the same time, it’s also a tragedy what happened to you.
“I believe you have served far more time than you should have served,” Banks said in voting to grant parole. “You received an excessive sentence in my judgment.”
He said three decades in jail for a murder someone else committed was wrong. “I believe what Billy Brown said was true. He killed her. You have served a long time for your involvement,” he said, pointing out Turner’s role in disposing of Evans’ body.
Banks said Turner could have been charged with being an accessory to the murder after the fact, which might have resulted in one year behind bars.
Parole board member Michelle Dermyer said she met with Turner for two hours before deciding to support his parole. She said it was a high-profile case and she wasn’t going to put her name on the recommendation unless she was confident Turner deserved to be freed.
“This may come with great criticism from some, but that being said, this by no means was an easy decision on my part,” Dermyer said. “You will have people watching you and what you do on the outside and I imagine you won’t want to let them down.”
She asked Turner to not contact people who knew Evans and to refrain from referencing them on social media. “Let Jennifer Evans’ family and friends live in peace and not make any contact with them for any reason,” Dermyer said. “I know these 30 years have been difficult for them. I expect no contact whatsoever.”
Turner said he understood. “Yes ma’am. I agree 100%. Thank you.”
Parole board chairwoman Patricia West voted no, saying it was wrong to second-guess the prosecutor, jurors and multiple refusals for a new trial or parole for Turner.
“We’re setting a dangerous precedent by questioning the charges filed, and he was found guilty. Appeals were all denied, a pardon was denied, everything has been denied.” She said Brown’s sworn statement exonerating Turner of the murder wasn’t enough to warrant parole.
Turner will be processed out of Virginia’s prison system over time, West said. His release date isn’t known. His lawyers said he will move back home to southern Indiana.
What happened to Evans?
In the early morning hours June 19,1995, Evans was killed in the parking lot of a Virginia Beach nightclub. Turner’s SEAL partner, Billy Joe Brown, later admitted he strangled the woman as she sat in the front passenger seat.
They disposed of the body, which was found in a park after more than a week of frantic searching.
Brown initially told police Turner was the killer. Both men were found guilty of murder and abduction in separate trials. Even though Brown had a third conviction for attempted rape, his prison sentence was a decade shorter than Turner’s 82-year term.
Then in 2002, Brown admitted he alone had killed Evans. He confirmed Turner’s story, that he had tried to stop the killing and was involved only after when Brown forced him to help hide the woman’s body.
He became a Christian in prison, Brown said, and decided to tell the truth. “If it helps Dusty, that’s great,” he told a news reporter then.
Brown’s revelation? It changed nothing. Turner’s attempts to return to life outside prison walls continued to fail. Years, then decades, passed.
Families left behind
Evans’ parents divorced and her mother, Delores Paulk Evans, died in 2024. Donations in her memory went to the Jennifer Lea Evans Memorial Fund at Emory University, where her daughter had been a student when she was killed.
When an appellate court briefly overturned Turner’s conviction in 2009, Delores Evans told a reporter she and her husband “just have to keep picking ourselves up and go to the next hurdle.”
She tried to maintain confidence in the justice system. “Even if it doesn’t come out the way we think it should, I know there’s a higher authority where he will ultimately be judged.”
Summitt, who lives in Bloomington, fought all these years for her son’s release. Her faith runs deep, making the upheavals bearable. She never gave up hope her son would come back home.
“All of this time, the outpouring of support Dusty has received from thousands of people around the world who learned of this injustice, it has been astounding,” Summitt said. “They say it takes a village to make something big happen but, in this case, it took the world. I can never thank them enough.”
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: After 30 years in prison and another man’s confession, Dusty Turner freed
Reporting by Laura Lane, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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