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According to CBS News, Melissa Turner and Matthew Trussler met on Tinder, a popular dating app, in April 2017, which eventually led to the start of a relationship and their subsequent engagement. However, things ended badly for the couple when the Trussler was found stabbed to death on the patio of their suburban home in Tampa, Florida, in October 2019.
The investigation, focused primarily on cameras from in and around the house, led authorities to believe that Turner may have killed her boyfriend. Upon rigorous interrogation, she finally confessed to stabbing Trussler in the act of self-defense after he tried to strangle her. Following this, a jury found Turner guilty of second-degree murder during a February 2022 trial.
The upcoming episode of CBS' 48 Hours will further dive into the case, detailing the case from Melissa Turner's perspective, who herself reported a crime she committed. The all-new episode, titled Melissa Turner's Closing Act, airs this Saturday, January 14, 2023, at 10 pm ET. The official synopsis of the episode states:
"A cosplay actor finds herself in the spotlight when she's accused of murdering her boyfriend. Can she convince a jury it was self defense?"
Melissa Turner was the first to find Matthew Trussler's body and to make a 911 call
On October 18, 2019, Matthew Trussler was found dead at a bloody crime scene on the patio of the Tampa, Florida, home he shared with his girlfriend, a popular cosplay model named Melissa Turner. Authorities found him brutally stabbed multiple times in the back with a kitchen knife, lying face-down in a pool of blood after reporting a distressing call made by Turner that morning.
In the call, according to CBS News, Turner said:
"We had a lot of drinks last night and we went to bed drunk… woke up this morning and he was bloody and outside this morning."
She further added:
"He is cold. He is not responsive."
Upon examination, medical examiners found that the victim had suffered defensive wounds to his right forearm, a tiny cut to the right shoulder, a severe laceration to his chest, and a significant stab wound to his back. The cause of death was eventually determined to be blood loss from an "incised wound to the arm with perforation of the cephalic vein."
Investigators questioned Turner about the night before the murder since she was the first to find the crime scene and report the savage killing. She alleged that after drinking with Trussler, she ultimately passed out and found him dead after waking up. However, Turner was unaware that detectives had received information about a surveillance camera that had recorded more than what she had provided.
How was Melissa Turner implicated in Matthew Trussler's stabbing death case?
Detectives searched the area for leads, eventually discovering a neighbor's surveillance camera that consisted of footage from the night of the murder. Two were heard yelling in the surveillance footage, one of which sounded like a woman, saying, "so f***ing die!". Moreover, an ADT camera in the couple's home-recorded their movements from the night, which made Turner look guilty.
When confronted with surveillance footage, Melissa Turner claimed that she had "no memory of any argument." However, she subsequently changed her account, claiming that she did remember the argument.
Turner then confessed that Trussler woke her up that night while in a very drunken state, which upset her, leading to an argument. She claimed that he was holding a knife in his hand, and things got out of hand when she attempted to take it away from him. The suspect further stated that she would have called 911 had it been an accident "and not just let him die."
However, Melissa Turner was immediately arrested on second-degree murder charges. Her case went to trial in February 2022, where she claimed that "there was abuse in this relationship and that she acted in self-defense." But after a week-long trial, she was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20.5 years in prison.
48 Hours airs this Saturday on CBS.
