Latest: St. Paul man murdered his 40-year partner, charges say

After sticking with a relationship for 40 years, Mona Turner was ready to leave, she told her niece this week.

But before she could, Turner’s partner fatally shot her early Thursday in the St. Paul home they shared, according to the relative, Kelly Askew.

John “Jack” Weisner Jr., 56, then stabbed himself, Askew said.

Police said the male suspect, who was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, is being detained.

“She didn’t deserve this,” Askew said of her aunt Thursday. “This shouldn’t have happened. She was an amazing woman. We just lost our life link, our heart.”

Ramona Ann Turner, 54, whom everyone called Mona, had told police six years ago, when Weisner assaulted her, that he owned a rifle. But she said it was kept hidden from him for fear of when he “gets drunk and angry,” according to a police report.

On Thursday, police said, officers were called about a dispute at the couple’s Dayton’s Bluff home in the 1000 block of East Sixth Street about 1:30 a.m. and found an injured woman inside. Paramedics pronounced her dead.

The couple has two adult sons. One saw Weisner shoot Turner in the neck with a shotgun and then stab himself, Askew said of what her cousin told her. “He didn’t know what happened until after the shotgun went off,” she said. “He remembers everything going black.”

The other son came into the house just after it happened and asked his father, “What did you do? What did you do?,” and Weisner had no response, Askew said.

Askew was at her aunt and uncle’s home Sunday, when they were barbecuing and celebrating Askew’s daughter’s 18th birthday. It was then that Turner told her, “I’m done. I can’t do it no more,” and that she was leaving Weisner, Askew said.

“My uncle used to beat her, but she stood up for herself one time, and he never put his hands on her again,” Askew said. But she said Weisner continued to emotionally and verbally abuse Turner.

“They had a relationship that should have ended a long time ago, but she was strong, and she stuck with it,” she continued.

Askew said she also talked with her uncle Sunday, saying, “Don’t you think it’s better to go your separate ways?” She said he told her, “No. It hurts. It hurts.”

“We’d been telling her to go for years,” Askew said, “and now that she was going to, I think he knew she was going to leave for real.”

Turner “would do anything for anybody and always made sure she was there for everybody,” Askew said. She enjoyed spending time outside and being with her family — she loved her five grandchildren and two pit bulls with all her heart.

Turner had been an employee at the McKesson pharmaceutical warehouse in Little Canada for about 17 years, her niece said.

“The McKesson team is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a well-loved colleague and friend at our Minnesota facility,” spokeswoman Kristin Hunter said. “Our hearts go out to her family during this very difficult time.”

With Turner’s death, there have been 22 domestic-violence-related homicides in Minnesota so far this year, 11 of them in the past two months, according to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women. The coalition tracks such homicides but has not determined a pattern for the times of year they occur, said Liz Richards, executive director.

“What we do know is domestic violence is happening at an extraordinary rate in every community every day,” she said, pointing to the more than 62,000 people who seek help from domestic-violence advocacy and service programs in Minnesota each year.

Domestic-abuse experts say that a critical time for victims is when they are leaving an abusive relationship. Research has shown they are at increased risk of being severely harmed or killed then.

And while mental health issues and alcohol use do not cause domestic violence, they can make the violence more explosive, Richards said.

Weisner has struggled with depression and is a drinker, Askew said.

“I think after a while, you put those things together and it becomes toxic,” she said.

In 2009, when Turner told police about the rifle, she said Weisner was an alcoholic and had been diagnosed with depression. She said he took medications, “but the doctor told her they do not work well when he has been drinking,” a police report said.

In that case, Turner said Weisner was on his fifth day of drinking when he pushed her around and punched her in the arm, then later grabbed her by the hair and pulled and yanked her around, the report said. He pulled a clump of hair out of her scalp.

Weisner pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault and was put on probation for one year. Conditions included that he undergo chemical dependency evaluation and treatment, not drink alcohol, and complete domestic abuse counseling.

Though people in the community might feel overwhelmed when they see stories “day after day” of domestic-violence homicides, there are small ways they can try to help, Richards said.

One example is “paying attention to people around you, making connections with people, because isolation is a big issue for victims of domestic violence,” she said.

A fund has been established for burial costs for Ramona Turner’s family.

Katie Kather contributed to this report. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.

TO GET HELP

People experiencing domestic violence can call the Minnesota Day One Crisis Hotline at 866-223-1111.