Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Third suspect arrested in Las Vegas death of California doctor

Updated Thursday, April 18, 2019 | 11:46 a.m.

Jon Logan Kennison

Jon Logan Kennison

Click to enlarge photo

Kelsey Turner

Click to enlarge photo

This undated booking photo shows Diana Nicole Pena.

A third suspect has been arrested in the slaying of a California psychiatrist whose body was left in the trunk of a car that was abandoned in the desert outside Las Vegas, according to jail logs.

Jon Logan Kennison, 27, was booked Wednesday at the Clark County Detention Center on one count each of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, jail logs show.

It wasn’t clear if Kennison is the last suspect wanted in the death of Thomas Kirk Burchard, 71, of Salinas, Calif., but court records don’t indicate anyone else is being sought, at least formally.

Kelsey Turner, 25, an aspiring model whose work has appeared on Playboy Italy and Maxim magazine, was arrested near Stockton, Calif., two weeks after Burchard’s body was discovered on March 7, police said. Her arrest warrant said that she and the victim had been intimately involved.

Diana Paul Pena, 30, who was a bartender at a Las Vegas Strip property, was jailed Saturday in Las Vegas. Police had said her work identification card was found near Burchard's body in a Mercedes-Benz coupe that belonged to Turner.

After the killing, Pena stopped showing up to work without letting anyone know why, and investigators eventually found pieces of paper torn off Burchard’s personal notebook in which he kept financial records, police said.

Police identified the suspects, who were roommates, because they suddenly abandoned the south valley house where Burchard was believed to be killed, an odd move since the victim had just paid their rent through June.