Chester County man beat girlfriend to death with fists, steel-toed boots, police say
"It is not easy to kill somebody with just your fists and feet," Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said in a statement. "But the defendant was determined to kill the victim. This is the ugly face of domestic violence."
When Mark Turner suspected that his girlfriend was being unfaithful, he beat her to death, authorities said Wednesday.
By the time police arrived at the couple's East Pikeland apartment, Rachel Yeager, 43, was unresponsive on the sofa. Turner had repeatedly punched her in the head and kicked her in the genitals multiple times with steel-toed work boots, according to court documents.
At the hospital, Yeager was placed on life support and pronounced dead of blunt impact head injuries the next day, Nov. 2. And Turner, 53, was charged with first-degree murder and other offenses related to the attack.
"It is not easy to kill somebody with just your fists and feet," Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a statement. "But the defendant was determined to kill the victim."
On Nov. 1, authorities say, Turner went to work as a handyman, had drinks at a couple of bars, and then returned home to the apartment on the unit block of Ridge Road. Inside, Yeager was sitting on the couch in a robe and shirt. Still in his work boots, Turner went upstairs to bed. Something about the condition of the bed made him think his girlfriend had cheated on him, authorities said, so he went downstairs and attacked her.
About 11 p.m., police received a 911 call about a domestic disturbance. When officers arrived at the apartment, they found Turner inside with the unresponsive Yeager, who had dark bruising on the left side of her face from her temple to her chin. The rest of her body was riddled with bruises as well. She was taken first to Phoenixville Hospital and then to Paoli Hospital's trauma center, where she died.
When questioned by police, Turned confessed to attacking Yeager, authorities said.
Turner has had a number of run-ins with authorities over the last few years. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making false written statements in relation to the sale, purchase, or transfer of firearms. And he recently pleaded guilty to public drunkenness stemming from an incident in August.
No attorney was listed for him on court documents as of Wednesday. He is being held without bail at the Chester County Correctional Facility, awaiting a preliminary hearing Monday.