Killings of Andrew Bagby and Zachary Turner

Andrew David Bagby, an American medical student and later surgical/family-medicine resident, was in a relationship with Shirley Jane Turner beginning in early 1999 while both were connected to Memorial University of Newfoundland. The relationship deteriorated after Turner falsely claimed to be pregnant and the two later broke up on 3 November 2001 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where Bagby was completing a residency. Turner had a documented history of erratic and threatening behavior, including a 1997–1999 stalking case involving a former boyfriend and professional concerns raised by supervising physicians during her medical residencies.

On 4–5 November 2001, Turner drove roughly 1,523 kilometres from Iowa to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, with a handgun and ammunition. Bagby's body was found shot multiple times in a parking lot at Keystone State Park. Investigators developed extensive circumstantial and forensic evidence connecting Turner to the crime, including phone records, an unspent shell casing consistent with her firearm's known ejection issue, eyewitness accounts placing vehicles at the scene, and physical evidence recovered from her apartment. Turner fled to Canada before a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Newfoundland authorities, working with Pennsylvania State Police, placed Turner under surveillance after she resettled in St. John's. She was arrested in December 2001 and extradition proceedings began, but a Newfoundland judge granted her bail, reasoning that she did not pose a danger to the public. During this period it was revealed that Turner was pregnant with Bagby's child, transforming the extradition case into a custody dispute as Bagby's parents, David and Kathleen Bagby, moved to St. John's to seek custody of their forthcoming grandchild. Zachary Turner was born in July 2002. Turner was briefly returned to custody in late 2002 but was again released on bail by the same judge in January 2003, who again cited the presumption of innocence and the view that the alleged murder was not a danger to the public at large.

On 18 August 2003, while Zachary was in her custody, Turner administered a sedative to the infant and ingested a toxic dose of the same medication herself before jumping from a wharf at Foxtrap Marina into the Atlantic Ocean, drowning them both. Their bodies were subsequently found on a beach.

A 2006 government-commissioned inquiry led by coroner Peter Markesteyn found that Zachary's death had been preventable and that social services, judicial, and prosecutorial actors had prioritized presuming Turner's innocence over safeguarding the child, citing poor communication between caseworkers. The province accepted the report's 29 recommendations. Separately, a psychiatrist who had helped Turner post bail was found guilty of professional misconduct by a disciplinary board in 2006.

The case led to the 2010 passage of federal legislation known as "Zachary's Bill," amending the Criminal Code of Canada to allow courts to weigh child welfare when deciding bail for those accused of serious crimes. The killings were also the subject of the 2008 documentary film "Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father," directed by Kurt Kuenne, and a 2007 memoir by David Bagby.