A California psychiatrist who was found dead in an abandoned car in Las Vegas had paid the rent for a Playboy model who is now accused of killing him.

The body of Dr Thomas Burchard, 71, was found stuffed in the truck of a car found on the side of the road on March 7.

Kelsey Turner, 25, was arrested for his murder on March 21. She has been charged with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement.

Judy Earp, Burchard's longtime girlfriend, said the psychiatrist had given Turner around $300,000 during the time they knew each other.

Dr Thomas Burchard, the California psychiatrist found dead in an abandoned car in Las Vegas, was paying the rent for Playboy model Kelsey Turner, who has been accused of murdering him

Turner, 25, was arrested for his murder on March 21. She has been charged with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement

Earp said that Burchard had signed a lease for a home in Salinas, California where Turner had lived for 'about a year' with her mother and children.

She said the model, who appeared in Playboy Italia and Maxim, had told Burchard that she couldn't qualify for a lease because she had 'bad credit'.

'He helped a lot of people,' Earp told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 'She had this really sad story. She took the $300,000. I'll just leave it at that.'

Judy Earp, Burchard's longtime girlfriend, said he had given Turner around $300,000 during the time they knew each other

Burchard paid Turner's rent for months but stopped after the 'lease was up'.

'He told her several months before that he was not going to continue,' Earp said. 'He actually paid her money to leave.'

Turner was eventually evicted from the home in Salinas and moved to Las Vegas.

The model's mother told KSBW that Turner and Burchard had known each other 'for years'.

Marcelino Alejandro, Turner's neighbor in the Salinas home, said that there were 'calls for police on a few occasions', as well as parties and disturbances.

An anonymous source told the site that Turner and Burchard had met online.

'He told me he met Kelsey on a website and met up with her and they talked. They had dinner a few times,' the source said.

Earp said that Burchard had signed a lease for a home in Salinas, California where Turner had lived for 'about a year' with her mother (pictured together) and children

The source also claimed Burchard was giving Turner and her mother Samantha 'anywhere from two to four thousand dollars a week, easily'.

He said the last thing that Burchard had told him before heading to Las Vegas was that Turner was being abused by her boyfriend.

Burchard paid Turner's rent for months but stopped after the 'lease was up'. He even paid the model 'money to leave', Earp said

'[He said] it seems Kelsey is having trouble with her boyfriend out there in Vegas because he's hitting her,' the source recalled. 'He's abusing her and she has no money, no where to go.'

The source said Burchard told him he felt 'partially responsible for this'.

Earp criticized the anonymous source, claiming that 'some of the media sources is absolutely so far off, nowhere near the truth'.

But Earp would not elaborate on how Turner and Burchard knew each other, only saying she did not believe the model was one of his patients.

Earp said she and Burchard last visited Las Vegas together in February for a psychopharmacology conference. She declined to reveal why he had returned to the city last month.

Turner's Facebook stated that she was in a relationship with Greg Hagio.

Hagio was arrested for strangulation and domestic battery in Las Vegas in January. The charges were dropped.

Burchard's body was found earlier this month after the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a call about a vehicle with a broken window on State Road 147.

The Clark County Coroner's office revealed that Burchard died from blunt force injury to the head. His death was ruled a homicide.

Turner was eventually evicted from the home in Salinas and then moved to Las Vegas

An anonymous source told the site that Turner and Burchard had met online and that he gave her 'two to four thousand dollars a week, easily'

An arrest warrant for Turner was issued on March 15. She was arrested by members of the FBI in Stockton, California almost a week later.

Earp (pictured) would not elaborate on how Turner and Burchard knew each other, only saying she did not believe the model was one of his patients

Turner remains in San Joaquin County Jail awaiting extradition to Clark County. She is next due to appear in court on April 8.

The model had spoken about her money troubles during an interview with Maxim last year, saying she would pay off her student debt if she won the magazine's $25,000 Cover Girl contest. She placed eighth.

Burchard was a psychiatrist at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. He worked there for nearly 40 years in the hospital's behavioral health program.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said Burchard worked well beyond retirement age because he didn't want to abandon his patients.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has asked anyone with information about Burchard’s death to contact Metro’s homicide section at 702-828-3521. Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.