todayDecember 12, 2017
The mother of a Fond du Lac girl murdered on Halloween 44 years ago has launched an online petition to keep her daughter’s killer behind bars. Maryann Gehring is the mother of Lisa French. The nine year old girl disappeared while trick or treating in Fond du Lac in 1973. Her body was found a few days later in a ditch on McCabe Road just northeast of the city. Her neighbor, Gerald Turner, was arrested and later convicted in the death. The 68 year old Turner was sentenced to 38 years in prison, was released for good behavior and then was sentenced in 2003 to an additional 15 year sentence after pornographic images were found on a computer at his Madison halfway house. He is scheduled to be released February 7. Gehring started an online petition at www.thepetitionsite.com
to spread the news about Turner’s upcoming release. “Halloween marked the 44th anniversary of Lisa’s death, and to this day, I feel in my heart he will commit another violent sex crime if he is released,” Gehring wrote in the petition. “Turner’s current and prior actions indicate that he is still a dangerous person and should not be released.” As of this week the petition has already received more than 20,000 signatures. Fond du lac County District Attorney Eric Toney tells WFDL news he is exploring a Chapter 980 sexually violent person petition to keep Turner in custody. “He (Turner) is going through that evaluation process by the Department of Corrections right now and I’ve been making some requests for documentation so that my office can continue to track the progress of that,” Toney told WFDL news. “We’ve had some discussions with the attorney general’s office as well and they have been assisting and are aware of the situation.” But Toney says he is not able to file a 980 petition unless the Department of Corrections makes a referral and so far that has not happened. Toney says if Turner is released there would be no requirement that he move back to Fond du Lac because he would not be under supervision.
Written by: Radio Plus
photo: waupun mayor rohn bishop The Waupun Common Council has postponed action on wage increases for paid on call firefighters and elected officials to get more public input. The council discussed the matter, sometimes heated, at their meeting this week and will take up the issue again at their April 8th meeting. If […]
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