Ep8: Crystal Turner ~ Her Story told by Diane Brooke
S1:E8

Ep8: Crystal Turner ~ Her Story told by Diane Brooke

Jasmine Castillo 0:00
Hola my beautiful humans. This is Jasmine Castillo, and I bring stories and cases from the people of color community bringing awareness of murdered and missing Indigenous women girls to spirits, the LGBTQ community, Asian American, Pacific Islander, black indigenous people of color. These are their stories. So welcome to Hands off my podcast.

April 28 2021 was a beautiful, memorable day the day that the loving couple Crystal and Kylen were married in Arkansas, where Kylen was from both of them lived a nomadic life from campsite to campsite primarily living in Moab, Utah with their pet rabbit in on August 13 of 2021. Four months after they were married. They were camping South messa area last cell loop in Moab. During that time, they became somewhat regulars at the Woody's tavern hanging out with friends between 6pm and 9pm. On that evening, they had mentioned to their friends at the time that there was a creepy or weirdo near their campsite, which they had mentioned to their friends a couple of times and text their friends saying that if anything happened to them if they were ever murdered to look into that creepy guy. Two days went by on August 15. Both of the women Crystal and Kylen are on their second day of no call no show of their for their morning shift. Crystal worked at McDonald's. And Kylen worked at Moonflower community Co Op. By the fourth day, August 18. Their friend decided to search for Crystal and Kailyn so instead of turning in one direction, they decided to continue on wander Lake she had this gut feeling to go straight towards their campsite. As she got closer to the campsite. She saw a silver vehicle and didn't notice if that was either crystal or in Kylen vehicle until she got closer. It was a silver Kia parked on the campsite as she's driving. She is speaking with the father of Kylen Schulte as she got out of her car and walk past a few scattered Gatorade bottles. She found Kylen body in an irrigation ditch halfway in and halfway out of the creek. She didn't have time to think the next thing she did was immediately contact the police. As she sat in her car and waited for the police to surveil the campsite. They concluded that they also found Crystal's body not far from Kylen these women were mercilessly killed. I won't go into details and how their bodies were identified and what had happened to them if you want to read additional information about their cause of death, and how they were found. I will have the links in the show notes.

This episode is to shed light on Crystal Michelle Turner's life before this horrific thing had occurred to her and her wife. I will be sitting down with Diane Brooke. Diane is the cousin of crystal crystals mother is Diane's aunt. The reason why I'm doing this interview with Diane, is that she had reached out to me through Twitter and said that not even law enforcement reached out to her. No one from the law enforcement reached out to give her any update to ask any questions to provide any additional information or leads. So I'm honored to speak with Diane about something that should have been done a long time ago. So here is crystal Turner's story before her story,

they I love to hear stories about their family and their lost loved ones, because that just gives us a more personal connection. And not just a random name on a news article, we don't get to hear the story about the person until something horrific happens are some occur now. And I don't like that part of the story. I love to know more about the person themselves, because that should not define who they are.

Diane Brooke 5:29
Yeah, it's kind of like, was it cheated out of knowing that real person?

Jasmine Castillo 5:35
Right, exactly. So if I was just somebody who was just a random, Jane off the street, and I was just starting up some conversation, you know, Southern talk, how would you describe crystal to, to me or to anyone who was listening?

Diane Brooke 5:54
Well, she had a very big heart. She was a very, very hard working person. She worked really hard for all that she had. And she loved Colin. They were a perfect match. She loved her family. She had been through some rough patches in life, but she had started overcoming them. And she had hoped to go back to Arkansas and get her children back that she lost because the drug abuse. Children were put in foster care. And she was hoping to move back to Arkansas to try to get her girls back. But they didn't get there in time.

Jasmine Castillo 6:45
Yeah, that hits home with me. Oh, my God.

Yes. Diane mentions for children. I will keep their names confidential, even though they are of age, just for the respect and the privacy of the family.

Diane Brooke 6:59
She was doing very well with their life and working so hard at it so hard at it, she she was a good person. She was a good mother. Even though you know, she was involved with the drugs. She entailed me and she was a wonderful mother. And she loved her family. She had four older brothers. Now two of them were older and two of them were younger than her. And there's only one surviving. They have all passed away except for one. So one of them passed away just a few minutes before she did. Any way it was. It's been pretty rough. Yeah, I think that's another reason she wanted to move back home was to be near her mother more. And it was so expensive to live in Moab. The housing and everything. Just very expensive there. But they live for they were at the time and they had some goals set. And they were going to try to be back in Arkansas within five years. And they were working really hard at it. Yeah, she was the she was like the mother to her brothers. I don't know if it's because she was the only girl that she just seemed like their mother also. And when my aunt would work, I guess maybe she did seem like a mother to them.

Jasmine Castillo 8:37
What makes me so proud is that Crystal saw in her life, a moment of change a moment to make a transition to get out of drug addiction. It is a very hard beast to slay.

Diane Brooke 9:10
All the way from Arkansas to Moab to get a new start. That's a long like, yeah, that

Jasmine Castillo 9:18
is my gun is. Arkansas within itself is a very high cost living environment. Oh my goodness. Yeah. What was her? Do you know the actual reason why she decided to move from one from one place to the other.

Diane Brooke 9:39
She had a friend, a childhood friend that she grew up with that was living in Moab Utah. And her friend had invited her to come up there and she'd help her get on her feet. And she had her job waiting. And so that's what she did. She just she had someone offering to help her and she needed to get away from hot springs. And so she just took off one day and told her mom, she talked to her later. And she was going to go make some changes. And she did.

Jasmine Castillo 10:12
Diane was able to talk about some happy memories. And this is what she had to say.

Diane Brooke 10:18
favorite memories. I was, I was 20 something years older than crystal. I grew up with her, her two older brothers from a previous marriage, then her dad and her mom. And when she was born, she was born on my mother's birthday. And my mother was tickled think about it. She kept telling my aunt that she had to have her on her birthday. And she did. And anyway, she was in a little beauty pageants when she was a little girl. And there wouldn't a time that I didn't ever see her that she wasn't all dressed in a little dresses, her little pretty socks pretty shoes, her hair done real pretty. She was so petite, just a little bat thing. And, of course, everybody saw how little she was. At the end of her life. Also, she's just little little bitty person. But one of the funniest stories my aunt told me was that one time she had crystal in her baggie at the grocery store. And she had her aunt Chris, Christmas aunt was also with her. And they were right beside each other. Well, my aunt walked away for just a second crystal started hollering. She was just telling me that to learn how to talk. She started hollering child abuse child, because she had left her in the basket by herself right there. And then the other aunt just died laughing. And that was one of their funniest memories. When she did that. I can see her doing it.

Jasmine Castillo 11:58
Oh my gosh, yeah, I've had loved her grandmother, too. Oh, that is so good as a cutest story.

One of the things that she had hit on is that crystal had a hard life from the get go.

Diane Brooke 12:15
And when her her father died when she was about five years old and a car accident. So crystal sadness started at a young age. And she had twin twin baby brothers, and then two older brothers. And the twins were by her father, and the older brothers were by my aunt, first husband. But they were all so close. They weren't good kids, good kids. And then unfortunate things in life happened. And you know, we've lost four of them. And there's just one child surviving. So

Jasmine Castillo 12:56
it's been really hard. Yeah, that is. Oh, my God heard from

Diane Brooke 13:01
everyone, but especially my aunt. Yeah. She's a tough lady.

Jasmine Castillo 13:09
So, I mean, without going into detail, is there anything that you'd like to share regards to their passing? I'm an only child. So I feel like oh, my gosh, having to have siblings. And then he turned around and they're, they're not there anymore. That's just got ready. And just the thought of

Diane Brooke 13:29
that is that they were accidental dad. And then the last one that the last one that passed away. He had a heart condition. And he had a little run in with the police. And they tased him and he died. But it was it was yes. It was because of his heart condition that he had. Yeah,

Jasmine Castillo 13:55
yeah. That doesn't help with the whole law enforcement and trustworthiness of long for now. Oh, my God.

Diane Brooke 14:02
And he had been having some health issues that year also. But he died. Believe it was four months before crystal did that Oh, yeah. Oh my,

Jasmine Castillo 14:17
my I'm so sorry about this. Yeah. One on top of the year they're on top of the other with me. And then you're the antithesis Oh, she is just this to me. She's like the strongest woman I've I've heard

Diane Brooke 14:34
she is she's very strong. I was really worried about her at first with crystal because it came with such a shock and that's her only daughter. And I mean, not that she loved her more than her son's but, you know, that was her only daughter. And it was just a shock. But she she came through it and she had a lot of people praying for it. A lot of well wishers. So she came through it and she's still coming through it. Trying to take care of herself right now with some health issues. Nothing serious. So, yeah, you guys, take care yourself now?

Jasmine Castillo 15:16
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yes. That is a complete priority.

In this conversation, we talk about the person of interest, I will have more information about that person in the show notes.

Diane Brooke 15:29
Well, when they were first murdered, we could not get Brian Landry. And Gabby, they were all over the news. And we just could not get their story out there. It was just really frustrating. And I often wondered if it was because they were gay. Or he bees or living in their van, you know? And, and not to say anything negative about Gabby, because, I mean, that's her heart. She went so much before she died and the blond haired blue eyes, you know what I mean?

Jasmine Castillo 16:14
Yeah, it's actually called the white woman syndrome.

Diane Brooke 16:17
Yes, yes. Yes. I hate to say it, but that's exactly what it's dubbed. Yes, you can, you can edit it to however best it would sound. But, but, I mean, I'm thankful to her. Because I wonder if the girl's story would have been told, or even known. Even though we couldn't get any, any information out to the public, it seemed like it was all Brian and Gabby. But because of the domestic violence, that story also needed told. And it was just very hard to get their story out there. None of the news stations would return calls. It was just very frustrating. But finally we we got through and it got a lot better. But people still on the Facebook pages in our group. Feel say Brian did it. I mean, I'm like, give up on the guy. He's gone. He didn't do this. They have evidence, and it was not him. But he just has bands, I guess that's all I know, to call them. Fans, because they just won't give up on Brian.

Jasmine Castillo 17:33
Because I know that I don't want her story to to kind of be drowned out by the outcome or the end result, or the most current results about this guy, be somewhat part of their

Diane Brooke 17:50
game we're still waiting on, we're still waiting on tests to come back in before the case gets closed. So we're still just still hanging in there with being patient. But they're pretty sure that it was him. They have a lot of evidence that that it was him, but they're still waiting on. I guess I could say the science and have it. And like they do every case they leave no stone unturned and will get closure. It won't. We know the girls are at peace because he can't hurt anyone else. And that's what matters. Not now.

Jasmine Castillo 18:34
That's the upside of that. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. I mean, I mean, if that was hypothetically, or if he was still walking this earth, I know there will be a lot of people will with pitchforks, you know, hunting him down. Because yeah, they'll be he'll be held accountable one way or another because I know there's a lot of people who are shouting out for justice in honor of crystal and Kylan. So yeah, I am so glad that she found happiness and makers. I'm not sure. And I'm glad you know I'm even though it's a bittersweet what I'm going to say I'm glad that she was able to be with the person she loved at the end is Well, that's

Diane Brooke 19:31
exactly it took while getting there I think I think it did for both of them and they were drawn to each other because of what both of them had went through in their life. And it all it it was good. It was a good thing what they had.

Jasmine Castillo 19:49
Yeah. It just hurts my heart. Like you know how many people have lived all their life to find that that I now have some Someone just completely destroyed their future as well as their families. You know, definitely, definitely,

Diane Brooke 20:10
oh my gosh, when I first got the news that they, they had the suspect and that he committed suicide. I was, I was happy that they had to suspect. And then when they said that he committed suicide, I kind of my heart dropped because I wouldn't wish suicide on anyone. Because that's got to be one of the loneliest places in the world to be. And you always hope that they can get to a good place before it comes to that, but apparently he did. I mean, I have compassion for his family. Because, you know, they're going through a lot also. Yeah, but I've not heard anything about any family members, he he kind of kept under the radar. There wasn't very much to, to know about him, and kind of kept to himself, I guess.

Jasmine Castillo 21:16
Yeah, one of the things that. I think when you're at that time, you know, thinking to yourself, this is only going to affect the person who's ended their life on their own accord. It's, it's a ripple effect. It's a fast, even if people that you thought would never be affected by something like this. And that's, it's just it's just so frustrating. It's so sad. Yeah, it's just they don't understand that they were all in this big ocean, and anything that affects anyone. It's a rippling effect. And it's not a it's not a it's not a LGBTQ thing. It's not a white thing. It's not an indigenous thing. It's not a black thing. It's not. It's a human, human behavior, human connection thing, we're all connected in, you know, even the lowest of the low, the people that are on, who've done the most heinous hideous, unspeakable things to other people. They are, they are also part of that chain.

Diane Brooke 22:43
You had asked me one of the things that we're going to try to do in their memory is we're we're, we haven't found out all the right steps yet. But we're working on them a little bit at a time. We're trying to get a law passed called the campground law. So that when people go to those dispersed campsites, like the girls, were at that there's a camera there that rake their license plate. That way, someone will always, you know, they will always be able to trace who went in and out of there. And also, let let you know that the girls are there. Because you just never know. I don't think that the girls would have been alive had they had that information. I think he pretty much done what he did. And there was no hope of them. Finding the girls alive. I think he he just the he did it all that day. But it could help find somebody. Or it could help find somebody that's done something they shouldn't have done. But only in those dispersed camp fights. And Collins father is trying to start a foundation called the Sandy Rose Foundation. And it's to help the housing problem in my lab, because he feels that had the girls been in a safe place where they could have locked their doors that maybe they wouldn't have been such an easy target. And he's working on getting some property and getting some little houses built for people that work and under that the price would be I think 900 a month. So we're all working on something in honor of the girls. And it feels good. Yeah.

Jasmine Castillo 24:49
In my opinion, Crystal found the love of her life, Thailand, there are two people that I would have loved to meet in real life. I mean, just the thought of traveling the world living free, and having a strong supportive community around her people in that community, the Moab community, just listening and watching the videos through YouTube and other resources. They are some loving, passionate, affectionate people out there. And I get it. That's the reason why Crystal and Kylen decided to stay in a place like that, that they were accepted

that it's almost like to have anything actually moving shake, you have to have something like this happen to make move forward. And it's very rare that you have to have something such a negative, horrific impact on people's lives to make someone like, oh, you know, they were stagnant, or they were there was sleeping, they were asleep in this world. And they just asked, it's I'm glad that you're able to share that with me, because that was definitely wonderful. Keep the healing also. Yes, it does. It does. And Absolutely.

Diane Brooke 26:37
One of the Facebook groups that we also have, we're going to also help other families and research in a crime, you know, like flu do, and like they did for our okay. So there's a lot of good things coming out of this.

Jasmine Castillo 26:55
Oh, yes, for sure. Yeah, there's a couple. I mean, just being in the true crime community and in the Twitter. So social media, there is so many loving people who aren't just slow. I know. Amazing. And I have to keep in touch with all of them. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they are. Go ahead.

Diane Brooke 27:24
There's a lady by the name Jane Doe. And she did all the Tick Tock for cakra. If you go to tick tock and search tak Ra, you'll see all the tick talks that she did. And she just was added every day 24/7. We were very grateful to her for all the people that that helped with stuff like that. Yeah. Fair.

Jasmine Castillo 27:51
I think that's how I originally found out more about it because I was following her and I think she said she referred me to her. I'm sorry, she referred me to you. Or someone of that. Who was connected. Yeah, yeah.

Diane Brooke 28:12
Very, very dedicated.

Jasmine Castillo 28:17
I have reached out to many of the friends and family of crystal and Kylen . And Diane was the one that actually reached out to me. I do hope that in the near future, who I've left multiple messages would reach out to me so we can get the other side on behalf of Kylen . So for now, Diane had one last word that she wanted me to express on this episode, Diane said, quote, Crystal made people smile and feel better when they saw her. She was a tough lady who would take care of herself and Kylen she was proud of every little thing she owned. She loved to make people feel better, and she loved helping others and quote, Crystal and Kylen may you rest in peace. And thank you for letting me share your side of the story. Thank you for listening to hands off my podcast. If you're enjoying the podcast, and you'd like to support the mission, I do have a patreon membership that will help the cause and bring more detail on cases and stories from the people of color community. If you yourself has a lost loved one, or a story suggestion, please don't hesitate to contact me email. Handsoffmypodcast@gmail.com and if you are only able to support in another way, please give this podcast a five star rating on Apple or Spotify and continue to listen to upcoming episodes every Thursday. Wherever you listen to your podcasts. Dios de Bendiga

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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