PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — The case has been closed on the death of a woman who was found fatally shot in the bathroom of her Paulding County home. Authorities have ruled her death a suicide.
Paulding County Sheriff Ashley Henson held a news conference Friday and spoke at length about the investigation that has received national attention.
“I wish we could have told the community and the world this information sooner, but I wasn’t the sheriff then. And I’m not throwing anybody under the bus, but I’m the sheriff now, and, by golly, this is the way it is, and these are the facts, and this case is closed,” Henson said.
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Heather Turner was shot and died in May 2017.
Her husband, a local pastor, called 911 and said his wife died by suicide, but the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office says they were not convinced and continued investigating.
Sheriff Henson says for years, podcasters and television producers have flocked to the case and speculated about what happened. He hopes that Friday’s update will put those rumors to rest.
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In 2022, Henson, who was the public information officer for the department at the time, told Channel 2 Action News that Turner’s husband had not come in for a formal interview.
“We would like the opportunity for him to come in and speak with us. That is something that has not occurred. We’ve not had a formal interview,” said Henson at the time. “We would love for that to happen.”
Channel 2 Action News called her husband back in 2022. He said he couldn’t talk with us because he’s under contract for a book and a movie about the case. He also called it “silly” to ask if he had any involvement in his wife’s death.
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