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‘I Loved Him ’ Cosplay Actor Gets 20 Years For Stabbing Her Boyfriend To Death
Cosplay model Melissa Turner received two decades behind bars for stabbing her live-in boyfriend Matthew Trussler in the back.
A former Florida cosplay model has been sentenced to twenty years behind bars for stabbing her boyfriend in the back.
Melissa Turner, 29, was sentenced on Friday to twenty years behind bars for the second-degree murder of 25-year-old Matthew Trussler. She was convicted last month, Fox 13 in Tampa reports.
During the sentencing hearing, the victim’s brother Sean Trussler sobbed as he recalled the former couple’s relationship.
"This is not a story about a poor innocent girl,” the said, according to Fox 13. “This is a woman who intentionally isolated and manipulated a good kid away from his loving supportive family.”
Turner had unsuccessfully tried to convince jurors that she killed a drunken Trussler in self-defense after he woke her abruptly in 2019. She claimed he attacked her, choking her and throwing her across a counter before she stabbed him. Turner then waited for four hours before calling 911 and when she did, she told the dispatcher that she had discovered Trussler’s cold and bloody body on their back patio, the Tampa Bay Times reported in 2019. She later changed her story to the self-defense narrative.
Turner took the stand on Friday and stated through tears, "I loved him, and I didn't want to do that to him," Fox 13 reports.
She went on to blame his drinking and his mental health, depicting herself as a victim of abuse.
Trussler's mother Margaret McLaughlin called Turner's story "contrived" in court on Monday.
"You and I both know that Matthew was the best thing that ever happened to you," she said, adding "I have no doubt what is going to happen to you here today would've caused him great anguish."
The three-hour hearing concluded with Judge Samantha Ward stating, this jury did not believe her claims of self-defense nor does this court."
During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors video footage from a neighbor’s surveillance camera that apparently captured audio of a woman stating “you stay down,” “so f--ing die” and “I hate you,” around the time of the incident, WFLA previously reported.
