Newstalk ZB
For years, baby killer Lise Turner hid in plain sight — shielded by medical uncertainty, misplaced trust and the tragedy of so‑called cot death. Her crimes ended only after the death of 8‑month‑old Michael Tinnion exposed a fatal pattern authorities had missed. Turner was then convicted of murdering three babies, including her two newborn daughters, and trying to end the lives of three other infants. Now, more than four decades on, Michael’s mother, Lauree Ashworth, is confronting the day her baby died – and the truth that emerged from it. Senior journalist Anna Leask reports. Lauree Ashworth and her baby Michael. He was murdered by Lise Turner in 1984. Lauree Ashworth remembers every minute of the day her son was murdered. When she left her Christchurch house, her happy, healthy baby boy was tucked up in his bed, his sheets tight around him and his breaths deep and steady. When she returned, there was no more breath – no more life left in his tiny body. As she sat watching tragedy unfold in what was, hours before, the happiest of homes, she was comforted by Lise Turner, her so-called friend and trusted babysitter. Little did she know, Turner was a killer. And Michael was not her first victim. “It amazes me just how accurate everything is in my mind, how much detail I can recall – so it’s always there. I live with it every single day,” Lauree told the Herald. “I’ve always said that I can talk about my whole experience like a documentary, but when ... people ask me questions, that makes me stop and think, and that’s when I feel the emotion … which I’ve always usually tried to avoid. “I don’t even think my other children – who are all adults now – have ever really known what we went through. “I’ve never really talked about what we actually went through … I don’t think you can really explain the magnitude of what happened.” Michael Clark Tinnion was born in September 1983. He was the third son for Lauree and her first with her then-partner, Kelvin. Michael was a beautiful little boy. His big dark eyes were framed with long, fluffy lashes, and rosy cheeks punctuated his always-smiling little face. He was a much-loved son and baby brother. And then, soon after a deeply troubled and dangerous woman got an opportunity to be alone with him, he was gone. The life and lies of Lise Turner Turner was born Lise Dwan, the younger daughter of June and Patrick Dwan. Her sister was about 13 when she was born. Born in Upper Hutt, Turner moved with her family to Levin when she was 4, and then to Christchurch a year later. She attended Fendalton Primary School, Heaton Intermediate and Burnside High School. Her final year in education was spent at a “special” school in Salisbury near Nelson. Lise Turner was convicted of murdering three babies including her own two daughters, and attempting to murder three others. Photo / 60 Minutes From an early age, there were concerns about Lise. Before she started high school, she spent four years under the care of child psychologists for issues including “drawing attention to herself” and “general misbehaviour”. At 16, she left school and went to work for her godfather until he died nine months later. After that, those close to Lise said she only had odd jobs and was “very unsettled in life”. In 1973, she was in a relationship with James “Jimmy” Lewis. She left him about six months before he and his brother murdered an elderly woman, Phyllis Reidy, in her Christchurch home in April 1974. When she was 21, she married Aiden Duckworth. Six months later, that relationship ended. Duckworth was later jailed in Australia for fraud. In April 1978, she met Godfrey Turner, a superintendent for the Ministry of Energy. The couple lived together in various locations around the country, including Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington and Twizel. They never married, but Turner legally changed her name to match her partner. In October 1979, they welcomed their first daughter, Megan Jennifer. Just three months later, while...
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