October 18, 2024 • 31 mins
In this episode we will continue talking about what was going on behind the scenes in the investigation into Egypt's death, while lies were being spread to the public by Lindsay Turner......
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Episode Transcript
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(00:37):
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Victim's Voice.
I'm your host, Lorelai. Today we are continuing with the
case of Egypt Covington. Last week we went over some
things that had been misconstrued over the last seven
years. Things that the family couldn't
reference at the time for fear of hindering Egypt's case while
having to listen to lies and false information being spread
(01:01):
by a certain individual who has tried to profit off of Egypt's
case for years. A certain individual who was
married to Egypt's half brother,Lindsay Brink Turner.
We also talked about a phone call made on May 7th of 2020
between Detective Bentendorf, who took over Egypt's case in
2019, and the prosecutor's office.
(01:26):
This week we are going to dig deeper into the investigation
and look what really happened behind the scenes as the
different agencies involved in the case worked to catch Egypt's
murderers so that she could havethe justice that she deserved at
the time of Egypt's murder. Detective Charles Bazzi was
(01:46):
assigned to the case. This was during the initial part
of the investigation. Van Buren did their job.
They did interviews, interrogations, filtered through
tips that came in, followed up on tips until they ran out and
they had sent all of the evidence that they had collected
to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab.
After doing their part, Van Buren waited and waited and
(02:09):
waited some more for the resultsto come back from the items that
they had sent to be tested. While they waited, they were
still following up on their tips, interviewing people and
doing whatever they could do to find the monster or monsters
that did this to Egypt. Yes, they believe that Kinney
was the person that killed her even though forensics had not
(02:30):
come back yet. Everything circumstantial such
as his behavior, lies, and failed polygraph pointed at him.
They told the prosecutor's office that they didn't want to
charge Kenny or make an arrest too early and risk not getting a
conviction. They were confident that if he
was the murderer, then that one piece of evidence would
(02:51):
eventually turn up and they would be able to make an arrest.
So they waited for all of the results to come back on the
items that have been submitted to the crime lab, hoping that
they would get a hit on something that would lead them
to Egypt's killer, whether it beKenny or someone else.
Van Buren waited patiently as the days went by, but they heard
(03:12):
nothing from MSP. But then days turned into weeks,
and the weeks turned into months, and before long it had
been over a year since Egypt hadbeen murdered and still no
results from the testing had come back.
At this point, Van Buren startedcalling them repeatedly over and
over, multiple times a week without getting any answers as
(03:34):
to why it was taking so long andwhy there have been no
communication on their end. Then, as we said in the last
episode, Detective Bettendorf took over the case in 2019.
It had been nearly two years since Egypt's murder and still
no movement. Bettendorf had gone over the
case file multiple times. The only hits that had come back
(03:56):
on the evidence from the crime lab were DNA from Kinney and
Curtis, who both had reasons fortheir DNA to be on household
items in Egypt's apartment. Which is why getting back the
results from the other items were crucial, especially the
Christmas lights. They knew they had been touched
by the killer after taking over the case.
(04:19):
Bittendorf, like Bazzi, had beenon the phone with the crime lab
dozens and dozens of times. He had tried to get the evidence
that had been submitted, either tested or retested, and had
asked about results from the items that had already been
tested. He also talked to them about a
new way to test DNA in which female DNA overrides male DNA.
(04:41):
Bettendorf had done whatever MSPhad asked them to do, plus some.
He had other agencies such as the FBI looking into the
electronical evidence such as the phones and GPS data.
After the FBI looked to these things, Bettendorf wanted to get
another opinion so he passed them on to MSP and Oakland
(05:01):
County Sheriff's Department to be looked at.
Detective Bettendorf also had been working on geofence in the
area around Egypt's home, and infact had submitted 3 numbers to
Google and which one had come back to a guy in Toledo.
He looked into it and found no connection between him and
(05:22):
anyone connected to Egypt or Egypt herself.
And besides that, a phone's location wasn't enough.
He needed more. Maybe something like a match on
Adna sample from a piece of the evidence that was submitted.
Maybe that would show a connection, but they were still
waiting on the lab for those results.
So he was back to square 1. Van Buren was doing their job,
(05:47):
but this investigation, like anyinvestigation, involved more
agencies than Van Buren, even though Lindsay would lead people
to believe it didn't. Van Buren had sent the evidence
that they collected to the crimelab for them to do their part in
the process. But without those results, there
wasn't much that Van Buren coulddo.
(06:08):
We're going to go over series ofphone calls between Detective
Bentendorf and Ms. PS Crime Lab.These calls will prove that
someone in MSP's crime lab made a mistake, a mistake that they
would try to cover up and one that would cause this case to
not be solved for years. The first call we will go over
(06:29):
is from June 23rd, 2020 and it'sbetween Detective Bettendorf and
an employee of the crime lab named Jessica Bentendorf asked
Jessica if there was anything that could be retested or
anything that could be given a second look.
Jessica said quote UN quote. Not really.
(06:49):
This is something we're going tohear a lot from this person.
From what Jessica told Bentendorf, she had the case
originally, but then someone took it over from her.
The person that took it over from her no longer worked for
MSP. So then the case went back to
Jessica. Jessica tells Bettendorf that
anything that was able to be tested had been done and they
(07:12):
were about exhausted on being able to do any more testing on
what they had and that if he hadanything else that they could
quote UN quote entertain, then they would.
She stated that even though Van Buren had done their job and
submitted Egypt's fingernails for testing, they hadn't been
testing at the time, so Van Buren had to resubmit them.
(07:36):
So why weren't they tested initially?
Then Jessica talked about her last report that she released in
May of 2020 and how the DNA thatwas found on Egypt's under
clothes and under her nails matched the buckle swabs that
were obtained from Curtis, whichdidn't really tell them much
since he had been her current boyfriend.
(07:57):
She said other than this, everything was wrapped up on
their end. They then go over everything
that was submitted on the first round for testing, which
included the pillow from Egypt'scouch that the murderers used to
muffle the gunshot. Curtis and Kinney's DNA had been
found on it. However, she had dated both of
(08:19):
them, so it was obvious that their DNA would be found in her
house on certain items, such as someplace she would set.
Then there was the Christmas lights, the fingernails, than
the sexual assault kit in which the vaginal swabs were
inconclusive for male DNA. Investigators didn't believe
(08:39):
that Egypt had been sexually assaulted at the time of the
murder, as she was fully clothedand there was no other signs of
a sexual encounter. And the last item was her
underwear, which like I said, came back as having Curtis's
DNA. Jessica talks about the articles
of evidence in the next submission.
(09:00):
There was a pipe used to smoke marijuana that was found on
Egypt's table. Jessica stated that the pipe was
too complex for any type of analysis to be done and that
they weren't sure if it had beeninteracted with during the
murder anyway. To me, not being sure of
something isn't an answer. It could have very well been
touched by the killer, yet the crime lab is assuming that it
(09:22):
wasn't, so they didn't bother todo anything with it.
Seems like this is very lazy labwork in my opinion.
It also seems kind of strange that allegedly these guys were
at Egypt's duplex because they were trying to get some
marijuana, yet didn't take the pipe that was sitting right
there in plain sight on the table.
(09:44):
Then Jessica and Bettendorf talked about some non forensic
type of evidence that have been submitted, such as the cell
phone and the grainy video footage.
Bettendorf told Jessica that theFBI had looked at the video
footage while they had Dearborn look at the phones, then had
Oakland County look at them two different times.
(10:05):
After this, Bentendorf went and redid everything, but even with
all of these different eyes looking at it, they got nothing.
Ben Dorf then asked Jessica if there was any more they could do
as far as testing with the Christmas lights.
Ben and Dorf felt that they weregoing to find DNA from the
perpetrator on the lights since the lights were used during the
(10:28):
Commission of the murder to bindEgypt's wrist, causing the
murderer to have direct contact with them.
Jessica went through the report the detailed the testing done on
the lights. They had actually been tested by
the girl who previously was handling the case, the one who
no longer worked for MSP. The report stated strands one
(10:51):
through 4 as Egypt being a contributor to the sample on
them, but Kenny was not a contributor.
She said that all four strands were comparable using the
regular DNA testing that they use.
The only ones that couldn't be tested using this regular
testing was the buckle swabs from strand 5, as the DNA
(11:11):
samples that were found on it was too complex.
There had been a four person mixture and a three person
mixture of skin cells on that strand.
Jessica tried to change the subject.
At this point Bettendorf went right back to talking about the
lights. He knew that they were going to
find the DNA from Egypt's killers somewhere and this would
(11:34):
be the place, but Jessica said that they didn't believe that
the sample of male DNA that was lifted from the strain of lights
was enough to do any further testing on.
At this point Van Buren had submitted their evidence from
the crime scene and the crime lab was adamant that they had
tested everything as much as it could be tested.
(11:55):
They told Van Buren if they had any other evidence they would
like to submit for testing then they could do that.
But they had submitted everything they had since Kinney
had lawyered up and they couldn't question him anymore.
They felt like the investigationwas at a dead end, but that
didn't mean they were giving up.Detective Bettendorf informed
(12:17):
Jessica that they had started working with the prosecutor and
that they were meeting with themthat week to take a look at
everything that had been done sofar in Egypt's case.
Detective Bindorf then asked Jessica about the clothing that
Egypt had been wearing and if they could do anything with
that. Jessica stated that Egypt's
(12:38):
underwear had been in the sexualassault kit that they had
performed, but said she's seen no other clothing that had been
tested. So what about the rest of
Egypt's clothes? Detective Bindorf then had to
refresh Jessica's memory as to the tank top and black shorts
that had been submitted and thatEgypt had been wearing at the
(13:00):
time she was murdered. Then Jessica actually said that
she assumed that the clothes hadbeen collected, but that she had
never thought about testing the clothing in this case.
Then shockingly said maybe that's not a bad option because
maybe he did touch her, he beingthe killer.
(13:22):
Seriously, she never thought about testing the clothing that
a murder victim was wearing at the time that they were murdered
for DNA evidence. She never thought that maybe the
murderer had touched Egypt. I mean, her wrists were bound
with Christmas lights behind herback and her bound wrists were
resting on the back of her shirt.
(13:44):
Why would you not think that themurderer had touched her?
And why not test everything justin case and stop assuming
things? And these are the people that
Lindsay Brink Turner wants to put on a pedestal and then act
like Van Buren didn't do their job.
Is she delusional or just crazy?I say both.
(14:07):
Jessica once again stated that all of the other evidence had
been tested, but said since Van Buren had brought up the
clothing, that could be something they could look into.
She then said that they should theorize that there could be
some blood on the shirt, then asked Detective Bettendorf how
Egypt had been killed. I mean, how much could Jessica
(14:29):
have really looked into this case if she didn't even know how
the murder happened? She said that there would be
most likely the victim's blood on the clothing since there
wasn't an altercation that had made the suspect bleed.
Well, how did she know this? Something could have happened
and the murderer could have bled, but once again, she is
(14:52):
assuming. She said they could swab Egypt's
shorts and shirt that she had been wearing for contact with
the killer. But the problem was that they
didn't know what kind of contactthere had been between the two,
whether it be skin cells they would be looking for, or saliva,
blood, or some other type of bodily fluid.
(15:13):
So they would most likely have to swab the whole item and try
to avoid the blood stain since it would most likely be from the
victim and you wouldn't want theblood to interact with any small
amount of skin cells or other samples that might be on the
clothing from the murderer. These people in this lab acted
like they had never been involved in a murder
(15:34):
investigation before this crime.Lab employee also likes to say
most likely a lot. I feel like in a murder
investigation the answer shouldn't be most likely for
anything. You should be sure 100%.
And how does she know that the perpetrator didn't get injured
and bleed during the Commission of the murder?
(15:56):
And of course they don't know what kind of contact was made
because they weren't there. That's why there's an
investigation. And who cares if you have to
swab the whole damned article ofclothing?
And why not test the area with blood to make sure it's only the
victim's blood? It sounds like these people want
to do the least amount of work possible and say, well it's not
(16:18):
likely that this happened so let's just ignore it and move
on. What happened to detail and
doing a thorough job? This isn't the kind of thing
that you just gloss over and ignore because you think it's
not going to matter. Then Jessica said we wouldn't
want the bra. There most likely wouldn't be
(16:41):
anything on it anyway. Are you serious?
Here we go again with the most likely nonsense.
So let's not bother to look because God forbid we actually
put in some effort and try to get answers in this case.
And remember everyone, these arethe people that Lindsay Turner
praises and says did an amazing job solving her sister in law's
(17:04):
murder after she did all of the work to get them to take the
case over from Van Buren, who inher opinion was sitting around
doing nothing. In my opinion, it sounds like
the complete opposite was happening.
Van Buren was trying to get answers, but Ms. PS Crime Lab
didn't want to do any more work than the bare minimum.
(17:25):
I'm not saying MSP didn't do anything to get Egypt's case
stopped, they absolutely did, but so did Van Buren.
The hold up in the case and the issues that were happening had
everything to do with the crime lab not doing their job
correctly and instead of admitting to what they did, they
tried to make excuses and point the finger elsewhere.
(17:51):
Jessica asked Detective Bettendorf if they thought Egypt
had been moved at all after she was killed, to which he said
there was no evidence showing that she had.
They then discussed how the Christmas lights have been
wrapped around Egypt's wrist post mortem and then pulled
around to the small of her back.Suddenly it seemed that a light
(18:12):
bulb went off in Jessica's head and she said that maybe the
shirt and shorts would be the most appropriate thing to test
since the killer or killers would have touched her arms to
put them behind her back. Therefore, having had contact
with that region seems pretty obvious to me and it seems that
(18:34):
this would have been a good ideato do right after the murder,
but hey, what do I know? She said they would need to let
the analyst who would be swabbing the items know to focus
on the lower back and upper buttocks regions of the
clothing. She then says that swabbing
(18:54):
clothing isn't ideal because with clothing there could be DNA
from a lot of people. Yes, this is true.
However, there could be the killer's DNA on it.
Also, I'm sure it would be a very time consuming process to
eliminate the different DNA profiles found on her clothing
and rule the ones out that aren't connected to the murder.
(19:18):
But if it means finding Egypt's killer, then it's worth it.
No one said it was going to be easy, but this is their job.
It sounds to me like if anythingwas going to be complicated,
then the lab didn't want to do it.
They wanted to go the easy routeand be done.
Bettendorf and Jessica discusseda protest that had been taking
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place the day before. I bet you can guess who
organized that. I'll give you a hint.
She has a bright Red Nose and a really annoying voice.
If you guessed Lindsay, you would be correct.
Bentendorf and Jessica also talked about all of the other
bullshit that Lindsay and Dwaynehad been doing and the chaos
(20:02):
that they were causing. Bentendorf told her that David
Pomeroy, the Pi who was hired byLindsay and Dwayne, was no
longer looking into the case. Apparently, there was some sort
of conflict between him and Lindsay.
Lindsay. And having conflict with
someone. What a shocker.
(20:23):
They then discussed how Lindsay,Dwayne and some of the people on
Egypt's mom's side of the familydidn't believe it was Kenny who
killed Egypt, as we discussed inthe last episode.
You know, because of the fact that Egypt's dog Ruby still
liked belly rubs from Kenny after the murder.
And of course, how Lindsay and Dwayne thought Van Buren had
(20:45):
tunnel vision when it came to Kinney and refused to look
anywhere else. Jessica agreed with Bettendorf
that even though everything theyhad against Kinney was
circumstantial at that point, when it was all put together it
made a pretty compelling case. Jessica told Bittendorf that
(21:06):
they that she knew they didn't have tunnel vision and that they
were looking for the killer, whether it be Kenny or anyone
else. Van Buren had looked at people
who had lived in the duplex prior to Egypt, people who had
been her neighbors in the past. They had followed up on all the
tips that had came in and had sent in a lot of samples as
(21:27):
comparisons, 12 to be exact, which Jessica complimented them
on. She said that was more than most
agencies submitted in a normal case.
However, they had to be realistic and think about the
fact that even though they were hoping something that was tested
would give them a clue as to whohad done this, that's not always
(21:47):
the case. Sometimes there just isn't
anything that comes back in the way of forensics to work with,
so you have to use common sense and put all the small
circumstantial things together to come up with an answer.
And when they did that, it pointed a Kenny, and yet they
still hadn't arrested him. They knew they needed more
(22:08):
evidence to be able to charge him and get a conviction, and
they knew that they only got onechance at this, so they didn't
want to screw it up. Jessica ends the call by saying
she will work on getting the clothing submitted to be swabbed
and tested. She said she would reach out to
Bintendorf when they got the results back, which would
(22:29):
probably be the following week. As I have already said, Van
Buren was following up on any and all tips that came in
regarding Egypt's case. 1 tip that came in was more than a
little strange. On July 2nd of 2020, Detective
Bittendorf followed up on one ofthese tips.
(22:50):
This person who had called in the tip had supposedly reached
out to Dwayne and Lindsay Turneron their Justice for Egypt
Facebook page. I'm not going to say the name of
the person who supposedly calledin this tip.
When she answered the phone Bittendorf told her who he was
and asked her what was going on and she stated that she didn't
(23:11):
know. It kind of sounded like she had
called him already and he was returning her call.
He asked her if she had called in a tip about something to
someone and she said she doesn'teven know anything about it.
Ben N then tells her that he hadreceived information that she
was told by her brother that he knew who killed Egypt.
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Her reply to this was I don't think that's true.
She then says even though she wished she could help him, she
doesn't even know who the girl is and she didn't think her
brother did either. Therefore she isn't sure why she
or he would have any informationabout the case.
(23:53):
She then asked Bettendorf why hewould be calling her and stated
it was weird. He tells her that the
information he got was that she had reached out to Dwayne and
Lindsay on that Facebook page and provided them with this
information. The girl then says that isn't
true. She said that she followed their
(24:13):
page, but the only information that she knew was what Lindsay
and Dwayne provided to everyone on the page.
Bettendorf then asked her if shehad contacted Dwayne and Lindsay
on May 11th and told them that she had received information
that her brother knew who the shooter was.
There was a long pause and it seemed as though they might have
lost connection for a minute. Bentendorf then repeated the
(24:37):
question, to which the girl responded with no, that was not
true. Bettendorf then threw out a
couple of names and asked the girl if she knew either of them.
None of the names mentioned wereKenny.
She replied that she didn't and then he asked her if she if her
brother knew either of the people and she said she didn't
(24:59):
think that he did. Bettendorf then asked this
person if she had ever spoken with the Pi David Pomeroy and
she said no to that. Also.
He told her if he had any more questions that he would be in
touch with her. On that same day, July 2nd,
Bettendorf called another person, this time a man who was
(25:21):
involved in the same tip. Bettendorf told this person that
he was investigating a murder and that his name and a couple
of other names had come up. He asked the person if this rang
a bell and he said he thought heknew who he was talking about.
When asked who he thought it was, he said Egypt.
This person said that his ex used to live next door to Egypt
(25:44):
on Hall Rd. which was the location of the duplex she lived
in at the time she was murdered.He stated that he would stay
there on the weekends sometimes.He and Bendorff set up a time so
that he could come into the station and talk in more detail
about what he might know. So why would Lindsay and Dwayne
(26:04):
say this person called in a tip to them?
Wait a minute. First of all, why would someone
call a tip into them to begin with?
I mean, I know Lindsay wears many hats.
Kindergarten teacher, yoga instructor, plumber for the
inmates in Clearfield County jails, investigative journalist,
(26:26):
lately motivational speaker. I guess she has added detective
to that list of accomplishments.I mean, she did tell the person
in the evidence department that she was, quote, UN quote,
working on Egypt's case in orderto get access to Egypt's case
file. On July 21st, Detective
(26:48):
Bettendorf had another conversation with the
prosecutor's office. He told them about how they,
along with Oakland County, had mapped out Kenny's movements on
the night of Egypt's murder. Bettendorf tells her that on
that night, prior to going home from the bar he'd been at, Kenny
had driven over to Curtis's apartment and did a loop through
(27:10):
the parking lot, went down Main Street, and then shot out to his
house, where he said he was at for the rest of the night
watching a movie. Or maybe it was porn.
His phone showed he was home from 10:00 PM that night until
the next morning, which we talked about in the last episode
and which means absolutely nothing.
(27:33):
Just because his phone was home doesn't mean he was.
They talk about an upcoming meeting that they were having
with MSP, and the prosecutor confirmed in this call that MSP
had been looking at everything from Egypt's case and working
alongside Van Buren the whole time.
Bentendorf said that he had beentrying to get the bullet casing
(27:56):
that they were covered at the scene and for testing since he
took over the case and the detective before him had tried
also, but it had never been done.
Then out of nowhere, after two years of begging and pleading,
MSP decided to get it done. Why did Van Buren have to bug
(28:17):
the shit out of them to get all this evidence tested?
The prosecutor even said that there was more that the state
police could do because of the resources.
And there's the fact that they told Van Buren they would do
whatever they could to help. It was the complete opposite of
Lindsay's narrative. Van Buren was actually begging
(28:39):
MSP, bugging them non-stop to dowhat they could for them to get
this case solved, test things, retest things.
Yet they weren't doing it. 1 excuse MSP crime lab used as to
why they weren't getting anywhere with their testing was
that they could only do so many layers of testing on DNA and
(28:59):
that there are private labs thatcould do three times when MSP
could do that most likely is true.
So the prosecutor asked Bentendorf the obvious question,
why didn't MSP tell them this sothey can have gotten a private
lab to look at the evidence. Instead it was just sitting in a
locker somewhere not being looked at at all.
(29:23):
It seems that MSP is not good atcommunication at all, which is
another reason that this case went on for so long without
being solved. Then on August 5th, 2020, a
bombshell was released by MSPA. Bombshell that caused MSP to
(29:44):
have to do major damage control with Van Buren Township.
It had nothing to do with anything Lindsay and Dwayne were
a part of. Nothing to do with their
protest, nothing to do with an e-mail, her post on social
media, nothing to do with them at all.
But the timing of what happened next would coincidentally fall
(30:08):
into place with Lindsay's false narrative, perfectly making her
followers believe every lie thatI come out of her mouth.
But this bombshell will have to wait until next week.
For photos from this case, checkout the Victim's voice on
Facebook, and come back next week for the next episode in the
(30:32):
Story of Egypt Covington. Until then, peace out.
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Victim's Voice.
I'm your host, Lorelai. Today we are continuing with the
case of Egypt Covington. Last week we went over some
things that had been misconstrued over the last seven
years. Things that the family couldn't
reference at the time for fear of hindering Egypt's case while
having to listen to lies and false information being spread
(01:01):
by a certain individual who has tried to profit off of Egypt's
case for years. A certain individual who was
married to Egypt's half brother,Lindsay Brink Turner.
We also talked about a phone call made on May 7th of 2020
between Detective Bentendorf, who took over Egypt's case in
2019, and the prosecutor's office.
(01:26):
This week we are going to dig deeper into the investigation
and look what really happened behind the scenes as the
different agencies involved in the case worked to catch Egypt's
murderers so that she could havethe justice that she deserved at
the time of Egypt's murder. Detective Charles Bazzi was
(01:46):
assigned to the case. This was during the initial part
of the investigation. Van Buren did their job.
They did interviews, interrogations, filtered through
tips that came in, followed up on tips until they ran out and
they had sent all of the evidence that they had collected
to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab.
After doing their part, Van Buren waited and waited and
(02:09):
waited some more for the resultsto come back from the items that
they had sent to be tested. While they waited, they were
still following up on their tips, interviewing people and
doing whatever they could do to find the monster or monsters
that did this to Egypt. Yes, they believe that Kinney
was the person that killed her even though forensics had not
(02:30):
come back yet. Everything circumstantial such
as his behavior, lies, and failed polygraph pointed at him.
They told the prosecutor's office that they didn't want to
charge Kenny or make an arrest too early and risk not getting a
conviction. They were confident that if he
was the murderer, then that one piece of evidence would
(02:51):
eventually turn up and they would be able to make an arrest.
So they waited for all of the results to come back on the
items that have been submitted to the crime lab, hoping that
they would get a hit on something that would lead them
to Egypt's killer, whether it beKenny or someone else.
Van Buren waited patiently as the days went by, but they heard
(03:12):
nothing from MSP. But then days turned into weeks,
and the weeks turned into months, and before long it had
been over a year since Egypt hadbeen murdered and still no
results from the testing had come back.
At this point, Van Buren startedcalling them repeatedly over and
over, multiple times a week without getting any answers as
(03:34):
to why it was taking so long andwhy there have been no
communication on their end. Then, as we said in the last
episode, Detective Bettendorf took over the case in 2019.
It had been nearly two years since Egypt's murder and still
no movement. Bettendorf had gone over the
case file multiple times. The only hits that had come back
(03:56):
on the evidence from the crime lab were DNA from Kinney and
Curtis, who both had reasons fortheir DNA to be on household
items in Egypt's apartment. Which is why getting back the
results from the other items were crucial, especially the
Christmas lights. They knew they had been touched
by the killer after taking over the case.
(04:19):
Bittendorf, like Bazzi, had beenon the phone with the crime lab
dozens and dozens of times. He had tried to get the evidence
that had been submitted, either tested or retested, and had
asked about results from the items that had already been
tested. He also talked to them about a
new way to test DNA in which female DNA overrides male DNA.
(04:41):
Bettendorf had done whatever MSPhad asked them to do, plus some.
He had other agencies such as the FBI looking into the
electronical evidence such as the phones and GPS data.
After the FBI looked to these things, Bettendorf wanted to get
another opinion so he passed them on to MSP and Oakland
(05:01):
County Sheriff's Department to be looked at.
Detective Bettendorf also had been working on geofence in the
area around Egypt's home, and infact had submitted 3 numbers to
Google and which one had come back to a guy in Toledo.
He looked into it and found no connection between him and
(05:22):
anyone connected to Egypt or Egypt herself.
And besides that, a phone's location wasn't enough.
He needed more. Maybe something like a match on
Adna sample from a piece of the evidence that was submitted.
Maybe that would show a connection, but they were still
waiting on the lab for those results.
So he was back to square 1. Van Buren was doing their job,
(05:47):
but this investigation, like anyinvestigation, involved more
agencies than Van Buren, even though Lindsay would lead people
to believe it didn't. Van Buren had sent the evidence
that they collected to the crimelab for them to do their part in
the process. But without those results, there
wasn't much that Van Buren coulddo.
(06:08):
We're going to go over series ofphone calls between Detective
Bentendorf and Ms. PS Crime Lab.These calls will prove that
someone in MSP's crime lab made a mistake, a mistake that they
would try to cover up and one that would cause this case to
not be solved for years. The first call we will go over
(06:29):
is from June 23rd, 2020 and it'sbetween Detective Bettendorf and
an employee of the crime lab named Jessica Bentendorf asked
Jessica if there was anything that could be retested or
anything that could be given a second look.
Jessica said quote UN quote. Not really.
(06:49):
This is something we're going tohear a lot from this person.
From what Jessica told Bentendorf, she had the case
originally, but then someone took it over from her.
The person that took it over from her no longer worked for
MSP. So then the case went back to
Jessica. Jessica tells Bettendorf that
anything that was able to be tested had been done and they
(07:12):
were about exhausted on being able to do any more testing on
what they had and that if he hadanything else that they could
quote UN quote entertain, then they would.
She stated that even though Van Buren had done their job and
submitted Egypt's fingernails for testing, they hadn't been
testing at the time, so Van Buren had to resubmit them.
(07:36):
So why weren't they tested initially?
Then Jessica talked about her last report that she released in
May of 2020 and how the DNA thatwas found on Egypt's under
clothes and under her nails matched the buckle swabs that
were obtained from Curtis, whichdidn't really tell them much
since he had been her current boyfriend.
(07:57):
She said other than this, everything was wrapped up on
their end. They then go over everything
that was submitted on the first round for testing, which
included the pillow from Egypt'scouch that the murderers used to
muffle the gunshot. Curtis and Kinney's DNA had been
found on it. However, she had dated both of
(08:19):
them, so it was obvious that their DNA would be found in her
house on certain items, such as someplace she would set.
Then there was the Christmas lights, the fingernails, than
the sexual assault kit in which the vaginal swabs were
inconclusive for male DNA. Investigators didn't believe
(08:39):
that Egypt had been sexually assaulted at the time of the
murder, as she was fully clothedand there was no other signs of
a sexual encounter. And the last item was her
underwear, which like I said, came back as having Curtis's
DNA. Jessica talks about the articles
of evidence in the next submission.
(09:00):
There was a pipe used to smoke marijuana that was found on
Egypt's table. Jessica stated that the pipe was
too complex for any type of analysis to be done and that
they weren't sure if it had beeninteracted with during the
murder anyway. To me, not being sure of
something isn't an answer. It could have very well been
touched by the killer, yet the crime lab is assuming that it
(09:22):
wasn't, so they didn't bother todo anything with it.
Seems like this is very lazy labwork in my opinion.
It also seems kind of strange that allegedly these guys were
at Egypt's duplex because they were trying to get some
marijuana, yet didn't take the pipe that was sitting right
there in plain sight on the table.
(09:44):
Then Jessica and Bettendorf talked about some non forensic
type of evidence that have been submitted, such as the cell
phone and the grainy video footage.
Bettendorf told Jessica that theFBI had looked at the video
footage while they had Dearborn look at the phones, then had
Oakland County look at them two different times.
(10:05):
After this, Bentendorf went and redid everything, but even with
all of these different eyes looking at it, they got nothing.
Ben Dorf then asked Jessica if there was any more they could do
as far as testing with the Christmas lights.
Ben and Dorf felt that they weregoing to find DNA from the
perpetrator on the lights since the lights were used during the
(10:28):
Commission of the murder to bindEgypt's wrist, causing the
murderer to have direct contact with them.
Jessica went through the report the detailed the testing done on
the lights. They had actually been tested by
the girl who previously was handling the case, the one who
no longer worked for MSP. The report stated strands one
(10:51):
through 4 as Egypt being a contributor to the sample on
them, but Kenny was not a contributor.
She said that all four strands were comparable using the
regular DNA testing that they use.
The only ones that couldn't be tested using this regular
testing was the buckle swabs from strand 5, as the DNA
(11:11):
samples that were found on it was too complex.
There had been a four person mixture and a three person
mixture of skin cells on that strand.
Jessica tried to change the subject.
At this point Bettendorf went right back to talking about the
lights. He knew that they were going to
find the DNA from Egypt's killers somewhere and this would
(11:34):
be the place, but Jessica said that they didn't believe that
the sample of male DNA that was lifted from the strain of lights
was enough to do any further testing on.
At this point Van Buren had submitted their evidence from
the crime scene and the crime lab was adamant that they had
tested everything as much as it could be tested.
(11:55):
They told Van Buren if they had any other evidence they would
like to submit for testing then they could do that.
But they had submitted everything they had since Kinney
had lawyered up and they couldn't question him anymore.
They felt like the investigationwas at a dead end, but that
didn't mean they were giving up.Detective Bettendorf informed
(12:17):
Jessica that they had started working with the prosecutor and
that they were meeting with themthat week to take a look at
everything that had been done sofar in Egypt's case.
Detective Bindorf then asked Jessica about the clothing that
Egypt had been wearing and if they could do anything with
that. Jessica stated that Egypt's
(12:38):
underwear had been in the sexualassault kit that they had
performed, but said she's seen no other clothing that had been
tested. So what about the rest of
Egypt's clothes? Detective Bindorf then had to
refresh Jessica's memory as to the tank top and black shorts
that had been submitted and thatEgypt had been wearing at the
(13:00):
time she was murdered. Then Jessica actually said that
she assumed that the clothes hadbeen collected, but that she had
never thought about testing the clothing in this case.
Then shockingly said maybe that's not a bad option because
maybe he did touch her, he beingthe killer.
(13:22):
Seriously, she never thought about testing the clothing that
a murder victim was wearing at the time that they were murdered
for DNA evidence. She never thought that maybe the
murderer had touched Egypt. I mean, her wrists were bound
with Christmas lights behind herback and her bound wrists were
resting on the back of her shirt.
(13:44):
Why would you not think that themurderer had touched her?
And why not test everything justin case and stop assuming
things? And these are the people that
Lindsay Brink Turner wants to put on a pedestal and then act
like Van Buren didn't do their job.
Is she delusional or just crazy?I say both.
(14:07):
Jessica once again stated that all of the other evidence had
been tested, but said since Van Buren had brought up the
clothing, that could be something they could look into.
She then said that they should theorize that there could be
some blood on the shirt, then asked Detective Bettendorf how
Egypt had been killed. I mean, how much could Jessica
(14:29):
have really looked into this case if she didn't even know how
the murder happened? She said that there would be
most likely the victim's blood on the clothing since there
wasn't an altercation that had made the suspect bleed.
Well, how did she know this? Something could have happened
and the murderer could have bled, but once again, she is
(14:52):
assuming. She said they could swab Egypt's
shorts and shirt that she had been wearing for contact with
the killer. But the problem was that they
didn't know what kind of contactthere had been between the two,
whether it be skin cells they would be looking for, or saliva,
blood, or some other type of bodily fluid.
(15:13):
So they would most likely have to swab the whole item and try
to avoid the blood stain since it would most likely be from the
victim and you wouldn't want theblood to interact with any small
amount of skin cells or other samples that might be on the
clothing from the murderer. These people in this lab acted
like they had never been involved in a murder
(15:34):
investigation before this crime.Lab employee also likes to say
most likely a lot. I feel like in a murder
investigation the answer shouldn't be most likely for
anything. You should be sure 100%.
And how does she know that the perpetrator didn't get injured
and bleed during the Commission of the murder?
(15:56):
And of course they don't know what kind of contact was made
because they weren't there. That's why there's an
investigation. And who cares if you have to
swab the whole damned article ofclothing?
And why not test the area with blood to make sure it's only the
victim's blood? It sounds like these people want
to do the least amount of work possible and say, well it's not
(16:18):
likely that this happened so let's just ignore it and move
on. What happened to detail and
doing a thorough job? This isn't the kind of thing
that you just gloss over and ignore because you think it's
not going to matter. Then Jessica said we wouldn't
want the bra. There most likely wouldn't be
(16:41):
anything on it anyway. Are you serious?
Here we go again with the most likely nonsense.
So let's not bother to look because God forbid we actually
put in some effort and try to get answers in this case.
And remember everyone, these arethe people that Lindsay Turner
praises and says did an amazing job solving her sister in law's
(17:04):
murder after she did all of the work to get them to take the
case over from Van Buren, who inher opinion was sitting around
doing nothing. In my opinion, it sounds like
the complete opposite was happening.
Van Buren was trying to get answers, but Ms. PS Crime Lab
didn't want to do any more work than the bare minimum.
(17:25):
I'm not saying MSP didn't do anything to get Egypt's case
stopped, they absolutely did, but so did Van Buren.
The hold up in the case and the issues that were happening had
everything to do with the crime lab not doing their job
correctly and instead of admitting to what they did, they
tried to make excuses and point the finger elsewhere.
(17:51):
Jessica asked Detective Bettendorf if they thought Egypt
had been moved at all after she was killed, to which he said
there was no evidence showing that she had.
They then discussed how the Christmas lights have been
wrapped around Egypt's wrist post mortem and then pulled
around to the small of her back.Suddenly it seemed that a light
(18:12):
bulb went off in Jessica's head and she said that maybe the
shirt and shorts would be the most appropriate thing to test
since the killer or killers would have touched her arms to
put them behind her back. Therefore, having had contact
with that region seems pretty obvious to me and it seems that
(18:34):
this would have been a good ideato do right after the murder,
but hey, what do I know? She said they would need to let
the analyst who would be swabbing the items know to focus
on the lower back and upper buttocks regions of the
clothing. She then says that swabbing
(18:54):
clothing isn't ideal because with clothing there could be DNA
from a lot of people. Yes, this is true.
However, there could be the killer's DNA on it.
Also, I'm sure it would be a very time consuming process to
eliminate the different DNA profiles found on her clothing
and rule the ones out that aren't connected to the murder.
(19:18):
But if it means finding Egypt's killer, then it's worth it.
No one said it was going to be easy, but this is their job.
It sounds to me like if anythingwas going to be complicated,
then the lab didn't want to do it.
They wanted to go the easy routeand be done.
Bettendorf and Jessica discusseda protest that had been taking
(19:41):
place the day before. I bet you can guess who
organized that. I'll give you a hint.
She has a bright Red Nose and a really annoying voice.
If you guessed Lindsay, you would be correct.
Bentendorf and Jessica also talked about all of the other
bullshit that Lindsay and Dwaynehad been doing and the chaos
(20:02):
that they were causing. Bentendorf told her that David
Pomeroy, the Pi who was hired byLindsay and Dwayne, was no
longer looking into the case. Apparently, there was some sort
of conflict between him and Lindsay.
Lindsay. And having conflict with
someone. What a shocker.
(20:23):
They then discussed how Lindsay,Dwayne and some of the people on
Egypt's mom's side of the familydidn't believe it was Kenny who
killed Egypt, as we discussed inthe last episode.
You know, because of the fact that Egypt's dog Ruby still
liked belly rubs from Kenny after the murder.
And of course, how Lindsay and Dwayne thought Van Buren had
(20:45):
tunnel vision when it came to Kinney and refused to look
anywhere else. Jessica agreed with Bettendorf
that even though everything theyhad against Kinney was
circumstantial at that point, when it was all put together it
made a pretty compelling case. Jessica told Bittendorf that
(21:06):
they that she knew they didn't have tunnel vision and that they
were looking for the killer, whether it be Kenny or anyone
else. Van Buren had looked at people
who had lived in the duplex prior to Egypt, people who had
been her neighbors in the past. They had followed up on all the
tips that had came in and had sent in a lot of samples as
(21:27):
comparisons, 12 to be exact, which Jessica complimented them
on. She said that was more than most
agencies submitted in a normal case.
However, they had to be realistic and think about the
fact that even though they were hoping something that was tested
would give them a clue as to whohad done this, that's not always
(21:47):
the case. Sometimes there just isn't
anything that comes back in the way of forensics to work with,
so you have to use common sense and put all the small
circumstantial things together to come up with an answer.
And when they did that, it pointed a Kenny, and yet they
still hadn't arrested him. They knew they needed more
(22:08):
evidence to be able to charge him and get a conviction, and
they knew that they only got onechance at this, so they didn't
want to screw it up. Jessica ends the call by saying
she will work on getting the clothing submitted to be swabbed
and tested. She said she would reach out to
Bintendorf when they got the results back, which would
(22:29):
probably be the following week. As I have already said, Van
Buren was following up on any and all tips that came in
regarding Egypt's case. 1 tip that came in was more than a
little strange. On July 2nd of 2020, Detective
Bittendorf followed up on one ofthese tips.
(22:50):
This person who had called in the tip had supposedly reached
out to Dwayne and Lindsay Turneron their Justice for Egypt
Facebook page. I'm not going to say the name of
the person who supposedly calledin this tip.
When she answered the phone Bittendorf told her who he was
and asked her what was going on and she stated that she didn't
(23:11):
know. It kind of sounded like she had
called him already and he was returning her call.
He asked her if she had called in a tip about something to
someone and she said she doesn'teven know anything about it.
Ben N then tells her that he hadreceived information that she
was told by her brother that he knew who killed Egypt.
(23:32):
Her reply to this was I don't think that's true.
She then says even though she wished she could help him, she
doesn't even know who the girl is and she didn't think her
brother did either. Therefore she isn't sure why she
or he would have any informationabout the case.
(23:53):
She then asked Bettendorf why hewould be calling her and stated
it was weird. He tells her that the
information he got was that she had reached out to Dwayne and
Lindsay on that Facebook page and provided them with this
information. The girl then says that isn't
true. She said that she followed their
(24:13):
page, but the only information that she knew was what Lindsay
and Dwayne provided to everyone on the page.
Bettendorf then asked her if shehad contacted Dwayne and Lindsay
on May 11th and told them that she had received information
that her brother knew who the shooter was.
There was a long pause and it seemed as though they might have
lost connection for a minute. Bentendorf then repeated the
(24:37):
question, to which the girl responded with no, that was not
true. Bettendorf then threw out a
couple of names and asked the girl if she knew either of them.
None of the names mentioned wereKenny.
She replied that she didn't and then he asked her if she if her
brother knew either of the people and she said she didn't
(24:59):
think that he did. Bettendorf then asked this
person if she had ever spoken with the Pi David Pomeroy and
she said no to that. Also.
He told her if he had any more questions that he would be in
touch with her. On that same day, July 2nd,
Bettendorf called another person, this time a man who was
(25:21):
involved in the same tip. Bettendorf told this person that
he was investigating a murder and that his name and a couple
of other names had come up. He asked the person if this rang
a bell and he said he thought heknew who he was talking about.
When asked who he thought it was, he said Egypt.
This person said that his ex used to live next door to Egypt
(25:44):
on Hall Rd. which was the location of the duplex she lived
in at the time she was murdered.He stated that he would stay
there on the weekends sometimes.He and Bendorff set up a time so
that he could come into the station and talk in more detail
about what he might know. So why would Lindsay and Dwayne
(26:04):
say this person called in a tip to them?
Wait a minute. First of all, why would someone
call a tip into them to begin with?
I mean, I know Lindsay wears many hats.
Kindergarten teacher, yoga instructor, plumber for the
inmates in Clearfield County jails, investigative journalist,
(26:26):
lately motivational speaker. I guess she has added detective
to that list of accomplishments.I mean, she did tell the person
in the evidence department that she was, quote, UN quote,
working on Egypt's case in orderto get access to Egypt's case
file. On July 21st, Detective
(26:48):
Bettendorf had another conversation with the
prosecutor's office. He told them about how they,
along with Oakland County, had mapped out Kenny's movements on
the night of Egypt's murder. Bettendorf tells her that on
that night, prior to going home from the bar he'd been at, Kenny
had driven over to Curtis's apartment and did a loop through
(27:10):
the parking lot, went down Main Street, and then shot out to his
house, where he said he was at for the rest of the night
watching a movie. Or maybe it was porn.
His phone showed he was home from 10:00 PM that night until
the next morning, which we talked about in the last episode
and which means absolutely nothing.
(27:33):
Just because his phone was home doesn't mean he was.
They talk about an upcoming meeting that they were having
with MSP, and the prosecutor confirmed in this call that MSP
had been looking at everything from Egypt's case and working
alongside Van Buren the whole time.
Bentendorf said that he had beentrying to get the bullet casing
(27:56):
that they were covered at the scene and for testing since he
took over the case and the detective before him had tried
also, but it had never been done.
Then out of nowhere, after two years of begging and pleading,
MSP decided to get it done. Why did Van Buren have to bug
(28:17):
the shit out of them to get all this evidence tested?
The prosecutor even said that there was more that the state
police could do because of the resources.
And there's the fact that they told Van Buren they would do
whatever they could to help. It was the complete opposite of
Lindsay's narrative. Van Buren was actually begging
(28:39):
MSP, bugging them non-stop to dowhat they could for them to get
this case solved, test things, retest things.
Yet they weren't doing it. 1 excuse MSP crime lab used as to
why they weren't getting anywhere with their testing was
that they could only do so many layers of testing on DNA and
(28:59):
that there are private labs thatcould do three times when MSP
could do that most likely is true.
So the prosecutor asked Bentendorf the obvious question,
why didn't MSP tell them this sothey can have gotten a private
lab to look at the evidence. Instead it was just sitting in a
locker somewhere not being looked at at all.
(29:23):
It seems that MSP is not good atcommunication at all, which is
another reason that this case went on for so long without
being solved. Then on August 5th, 2020, a
bombshell was released by MSPA. Bombshell that caused MSP to
(29:44):
have to do major damage control with Van Buren Township.
It had nothing to do with anything Lindsay and Dwayne were
a part of. Nothing to do with their
protest, nothing to do with an e-mail, her post on social
media, nothing to do with them at all.
But the timing of what happened next would coincidentally fall
(30:08):
into place with Lindsay's false narrative, perfectly making her
followers believe every lie thatI come out of her mouth.
But this bombshell will have to wait until next week.
For photos from this case, checkout the Victim's voice on
Facebook, and come back next week for the next episode in the
(30:32):
Story of Egypt Covington. Until then, peace out.
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