- Age 20 -

- Possible Death Penalty -

By Ben Murray, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Friday, May 12, 2006

The disposition of exercise equipment in the room and the body’s location, plus the apparent movement of a poster and other evidence shows that Turner may have resisted her attacker, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent Fredrick Ewell said.

Ewell was responding to questions from the investigating officer, Col. Mark Allred, during the Article 32 hearing of Airman Calvin E. Hill of Keflavik’s 56th Rescue Squadron. Hill has been charged with the premeditated murder of Turner.

Ewell, the last prosecution witness in the two-day hearing that ended Wednesday, provided a number of details about the crime previously undisclosed by investigators.

Under questioning from both Allred and Air Force prosecutor Maj. Robert Luttrell, Ewell testified that blood had been found on the lace of a pair of shoes seized from Hill’s dorm room, and said one witness stated she saw him running from the building the night of the murder.

Last Aug. 14, Turner was found lying facedown in a pool of blood in a small room adjacent to the exercise room in a dorm she shared with Hill. Turner later was found to have died from head trauma and a stab wound to the neck.

Ewell also revealed that investigators have not found the weapon used to stab Turner and are analyzing several weights from the exercise room to see if they were used to bludgeon the 20-year-old.

At the time, Turner was waiting to testify against Hill in his court-martial on charges that he stole about $2,800 from her by using her bank card.

Ewell said it was his opinion that a “totality” of the evidence connected Hill to the murder. Ewell said he was not confident that evidence pointed to Turner’s boyfriend, Airman Ronald Ellis, who also was based at Keflavik. (see article)

Keflavik, Iceland - A military hearing to investigate whether a U.S. airman could face court martial on charges accusing him of killing a U.S. servicewoman who was scheduled to testify against him in another case concluded Wednesday in Iceland.

Air Force Airman Calvin Eugene Hill, 20, of Warren, Ohio, has been in military custody in Mannheim, Germany, since last summer. He was charged with murder in February in the death of Airman 1st Class Ashley Turner, 20, of the 56th Rescue Squadron.

Turner, of Frederick, Md., died in a hospital after being found unconscious with head and neck injuries in her dormitory in August on the U.S. Naval Air Station in Keflavik. She had been expected to testify against Hill, who faced three charges of larceny and wrongful appropriation, making false official statements and absence without leave.

(more: see article)