On May 4, 1995, the body of 32-year-old Toni Ann Burdine, a white female, was discovered in an open field in Northeast Washington, D.C. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Her clothes were partially torn away, and her shoes had been knocked off. At the time of her death, Burdine was known to be involved in sex work and drug use. The discovery of her body marked the beginning of what investigators would later suspect to be the work of a serial killer operating in the area.
For years, the case remained cold. However, a breakthrough came in 2001 when investigators reopened the file. DNA evidence that had been collected from Burdine's body was matched to Darryl Donnell Turner, a then 36-year-old man from Washington, D.C. This pivotal DNA match directly linked Turner to the crime scene and provided the evidence needed to move forward with a prosecution. Subsequently, Turner was charged with the first-degree murder of Toni Ann Burdine.
At the time of his charging in Burdine's murder, Darryl Donnell Turner was already under investigation for the 1997 murders of two other women, Jacqueline Teresa Birch and Dana Hill. Both of these women were also sex workers who had been strangled, and their bodies were found in vacant buildings near Turner's residence. The similarities in the victim profiles and the method of killing led authorities to suspect Turner in a string of at least seven murders of women between 1994 and 1997. During the investigation, a former girlfriend of Turner's testified that he had expressed a preference for violent sexual encounters, including strangulation.
