Bond Set At $1 Million For Turnell and Payne
Bond was set at $1 million each for Sharon Turnell and Katie Payne and at $300,000 for Charles Turnell at an arraignment hearing Monday July 19 in Kearney County Court by Judge Robert Ide.
Katie Payne (a.k.a. Katie Scoville) was released from the Phelps County jail on a modified $500,000 P/R bond on Tuesday, July 20.
Sharon Turnell remains in custody in the Phelps County jail. Charles Turnell is being held in the Kearney County jail.
The three adults have been charged with aiding and abetting child abuse that resulted in the death of four-year-old Landon Payne.
Landon died at 5:00 a.m. on December 22, 2009 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney.
Charles Turnell, Sharon Turnell, and Katie Payne were charged with Aiding and Abetting child abuse resulting in death (Class I felony) and Accessory to a felony, (Class III ) in Kearney County Court.
Charles Turnell, Sharon Turnell, Katie Payne and Dustin Scoville were living in a rural farmhouse at 1627 F Road south east of Minden with eight children.
It is believed the children and four adults are related, however the relationships are unclear.
According to a court affidavit, a Nebraska State Patrol investigator stated that Landon Payne and his sister Haley were placed in the care of Charles and Sharon Turnell in August of 2009 after their father, Clinton Payne, was incarcerated in South Dakota.
Sharon Turnell is the brother of Clinton Payne.
According to Kearney County Attorney David Wondra, the family relocated to Kearney County late in the summer of 2009 from the Ravenna area in Buffalo County.
At the time of Landon’s death, he had been living in the Turnell home on F Road south of Minden since October of 2009, said the affidavit.
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