Developing·Case the developing record
#DC-0148

Heather Turner

Death of a Paulding County woman now headed to a coroner’s inquest.

Civil case
last updated 20 August 2026 · 1 sources
Confirmed facts
17
Open questions
4
Death date
4 May 2017
Inquest
Jan 2027
Charges
None reported
This case is still developing. Get an email when the file updates.
Audio brief · automated narration of the sourced record
Transcript

Case file Heather Turner, reference D C zero one four eight. According to CBS News Atlanta, Heather Turner, thirty-five, was found dead on May fourth, twenty seventeen, with a gunshot wound inside the bathroom of her home on Buck Trail in Paulding County. CBS News Atlanta reported that Andy Turner called nine one one and said Heather Turner had died by suicide. CBS News Atlanta reported that on February twentieth, twenty twenty-six, Sheriff Ashley Henson announced the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office had completed its investigation and concluded Heather Turner died by suicide. Investigators cited gunshot-residue testing, DNA evidence, analysis of a handwritten note, and other reviewed evidence, according to CBS News Atlanta. CBS News Atlanta reported that Coroner Lindsey Eberhart later said she had not been formally presented with the evidence, and on July thirty-first decided she would not support changing the manner of death from undetermined to suicide. According to CBS News Atlanta, Eberhart announced an inquest expected in January twenty twenty-seven. The file’s open questions include the inquest’s exact date, its determination, any death-certificate amendment, and which specific unresolved questions remain. This has been an automated reading of case file D C zero one four eight at developing case dot com. Every fact you heard names a public source.

Timeline of what's confirmed17 entries
4 May 2017
Heather Turner, 35, was found dead with a gunshot wound inside the bathroom of her home on Buck Trail in Paulding County.
CBS News Atlanta
4 May 2017
Andy Turner called 911 and reported that Heather Turner had died by suicide.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
Sheriff Ashley Henson announced that the Paulding County Sheriff's Office had completed its investigation and concluded Heather Turner died by suicide.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
Investigators said the sheriff's office conclusion was supported by gunshot-residue testing, DNA evidence, analysis of a handwritten note, and other evidence reviewed during the renewed investigation.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
Investigators said Heather Turner's DNA was the only DNA recovered from the trigger guard of the gun.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
Investigators said Heather Turner's hands tested positive for gunshot residue and Andy Turner's hands did not.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
Investigators said a handwriting analysis determined a note found in the bathroom, reading "I'm sorry, I love you," was written by Heather Turner.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
The sheriff's office sought to rebut public claims that evidence was missing or that the scene had been manipulated.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
Henson acknowledged shortcomings in the original investigation, saying evidence collection and documentation had been mishandled before he became sheriff and that the department had changed its crime-scene protocols.
CBS News Atlanta
20 February 2026
After the sheriff's announcement, Paulding County Coroner Lindsey Eberhart said she had not been formally presented with the evidence authorities relied on and requested the complete investigative, medical, and forensic record.
CBS News Atlanta
31 July 2026
Eberhart decided she would not support changing Heather Turner's manner of death from undetermined to suicide.
CBS News Atlanta
31 July 2026
Eberhart said questions remained unresolved and that she had been excluded from key discussions surrounding the proposed change in manner of death.
CBS News Atlanta
13 August 2026
Eberhart announced that she will convene a coroner's inquest into Heather Turner's 2017 death.
CBS News Atlanta
13 August 2026
Eberhart said she had spent about five months conducting her own independent review of the case.
CBS News Atlanta
January 2027
The coroner's inquest is expected to take place in January 2027; the exact date was not reported by the source.
CBS News Atlanta
January 2027
The inquest is expected to be a civil proceeding to determine Heather Turner's manner of death, not whether anyone is criminally responsible.
CBS News Atlanta
January 2027
Eberhart said five jurors and one alternate will hear the inquest, and that a simple majority will determine the outcome.
CBS News Atlanta
Open questionsunconfirmed · not conclusions
What manner of death will the inquest jury determine?unconfirmed; pending January 2027 inquest · unconfirmed
What exact date will the coroner's inquest take place?unconfirmed; exact date not reported · unconfirmed
Will Heather Turner's death certificate be amended, and to what manner of death?unconfirmed; pending inquest outcome · unconfirmed
Which specific unresolved questions led the coroner to reject the sheriff's suicide conclusion?unconfirmed; source reports unresolved questions generally · unconfirmed
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