AUSTIN -- New details emerged Monday from arrest affidavits for Meagan Work, the mother of 2-year-old Colton Brandt Turner, and Michael Turner, Work's boyfriend.
Work and Turner are charged with tampering with physical evidence.
Authorities found remains believed to be Colton's in a shallow grave in southeast Austin on Friday. According to an arrest affidavit, Turner led police to Colton's body after he and Work dug a grave there.
The affidavit says Work, 20, told police conflicting stories about her son's whereabouts. Police say Work told them Colton was staying with a friend in Sachse, Texas, but Work had told a friend he was staying with family in East Texas. Detectives confronted Work about the inconsistency, at which point she told them Colton had been kidnapped while her vehicle was parked in the East Rundberg area of Austin, then told them she had given Colton to a couple with kids at a fast food restaurant.
Police began interviewing Turner, 29, at the San Saba County Jail, where he was serving time for a probation revocation. Turner initially backed up Work's statement that Colton was with the couple from the fast food restaurant, then told police that Colton was actually dead and that he would show them where he was buried.
Turner told investigators that after Colton died, he was wrapped in a purple blanket and buried approximately two to three feet in the ground, with wood and sheet rock placed on top of the grave. Turner showed police where the grave was off of Felter Lane in Austin.
After Turner led police to the grave, detectives then interviewed Work. She told police that sometime in early July, she and Colton were waiting for Turner outside of where he worked when Colton had a seizure. She said she yelled for Turner, who got into the car and drove them back to the motel room where they were staying. Turner told police that Meagan told him they could not take Colton to the hospital because they would "get in trouble and Colton would be taken away from [them]."
Police said Work told them they attempted to care for Colton at the motel, then she fell asleep. When Work woke up the morning of July 7, Colton was dead. She said she and Turner waited until it got dark to bury Colton's body. When they tried to bury him, the grave was too shallow because Turner was using a knife to dig, so they drove back to the hotel and waited until the next night. Work told police around 6 or 7 p.m. on July 8, they took Colton's body to Felter Lane to bury him, borrowing a shovel from a man nearby to make the grave deeper.
Work told police that on July 6, Colton hit his head on an air conditioning unit inside of the hotel room as a result of being assaulted. She said Colton could not walk and was not acting normal.
Turner told police that even though he was not Colton's biological father, he felt as though the boy was "his son." Turner talked with police about being at the hospital when Colton was born, saying that he had "accepted the child to the point that the boy was given [Turner's] middle and last name."
Police initially received a welfare call on Wednesday afternoon from a friend of Work's who was concerned about Colton. She said she had not seen the boy in "some time" and had photos of Colton depicting severe bruising to his back and left side of his head. Police said the photos appeared to be in "various stages of healing, which suggested continued abuse."
Work is in the Travis County Jail on a $250,000 bond. Turner is in the San Saba County Jail.
