Playboy model Kelsey Turner charged with murder after psychiatrist found dead in boot of car

Suspect's mother claims model had known Dr Thomas Burchard for a number of years

A Playboy model has been charged with the murder of a children’s psychiatrist after he was found dead in the desert just outside Las Vegas.

Kelsey Turner, 25, was arrested on 21 March by FBI agents and Las Vegas police in Stockton, California in connection with the killing of Dr Thomas Burchard.

The 71-year-old’s body was discovered by police after they responded to a call about an abandoned vehicle near the Lake Mead National Recreation Area entrance, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

When they opened the boot of the car, they found Dr Burchard's body inside. It was later determined that he had died from blunt force trauma to the head and his death was ruled a homicide.

The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement: "The investigation conducted by LVMPD Homicide Detectives determined 25-year-old Kelsey Turner was involved in the incident." It hasn’t been made clear how authorities identified Turner as a suspect.

Turner posed for Playboy in May 2017. In an interview with the men’s magazine, she described herself as “impulsive,” adding: “I love emotions and fun, I live my life fully aware that it is the only one I have.“

Turner’s mother, Samantha, told KSBW that Burchard and Turner had “known each other for years.” Ms Turner said that Burchard paid the rent on the home in Salinas, California, where Turner lived with her mother and children.

Turner was being held in the San Joaquin County Jail without bail as she awaits extradition to Clark County in Nevada.

Burchard had worked near Salinas with Monterey-based Montage Health Foundations for nearly 40 years in the medical nonprofit’s behavioural health programme.

Montage Health spokesperson Mary Barker described his murder as a "very sad situation", adding that the facility was providing staff with grief counselling.