PERRY, Ga. — Two months before his mysterious death, police officer Glenn Turner told a close friend that he should "look at Lynn" if anything were to happen to him, according to a witness who testified Monday in the trial of Julia Lynn Turner.

The Georgia woman is accused of killing her husband in 1995 by feeding him antifreeze.

"He was twice her size, I knew she wasn't going to beat him up," Corp. David Dunkerton of the Cobb County Police Department said about his conversation with Glenn Turner. "But he didn't say anything beyond that comment."

Many jurors appeared to take notes about this remark. Lynn Turner, 35, scribbled on a notepad herself as she listened intently throughout a long day of testimony.

Turner, who was indicted in November 2001, faces life in prison if found guilty of murder.

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In March 1995, Glenn Turner, 31, was admitted to the emergency room complaining of flu-like symptoms. He was released after a slight recovery, but then died at home the following day.

His cause of death was initially ruled heart failure, but when Lynn Turner's boyfriend, firefighter Randy Thompson, 32, died six years later after complaining of the same symptoms, medical examiners exhumed Turner's body and discovered that both men had died from poisoning by ethylene glycol — the fatal substance in antifreeze.

Nine witnesses, six of whom were friends and fellow co-workers of Glenn Turner, testified Monday that the officer spoke openly about how he and his wife had slept together just twice during their two-year marriage, that Lynn's spending was out of control, and that Glenn was ready to "give up" on the marriage.

But the most damaging testimony to the defense came from Sgt. Robert Fisher, who spoke with Glenn 10 days before he died.

Angie Bollinger, sister of the defendant's late boyfriend

"He told me that Lynn and him had gotten into a verbal altercation and that she made a threat to harm him," Fisher said. "He said she had threatened to shoot him with his own service weapon."

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Vic Reynolds, Fisher admitted he had never filed a police report on the incident, because he felt it was Glenn's personal business.

During the second day of testimony, defense lawyers worked to undermine witnesses' direct knowledge and recollection of events. The defense contends that though prosecutors' evidence may show plenty of gossip about Lynn and that her marriage may have suffered from her spending habits and adulterous relationship with a firefighter, there is no evidence that Lynn Turner is a killer.

'My best friend'

Emotions ran high in court Monday as some witnesses shed tears while recalling discussions they had with the Cobb County police officer. Several men described him as "my best friend," a "big teddy bear" and the kind of guy "who always looked on the bright side of things."

Turner's devotion to his wife, and her coldness to him—in life and in death—seemed to be a running theme.

According to police officer Mike Archer, Glenn told him that during a heated argument with Lynn, she admitted "that she didn't love him, and she had never loved him."

"He said he was going to move out and live with his father," Archer told jurors. "He said he didn't trust her anymore. She wasn't the same person that he married."

"The police department is kind of a rumor mill, isn't it?" Berry asked during cross-examination.

Archer conceded that there were rumors floating around about Lynn at the time.

Lynn reportedly also told several witnesses who testified that she woke up at about 3 a.m. the night before Glenn's death to find him in the basement, acting delusional and trying to drink gasoline.

The next morning, she gave him some Jell-o, and he went back to bed. When she returned from errands at about 2 p.m., she found him dead in bed and his face was purple.

Stacy Hendrix Roaderick, who was the defendant's maid of honor at her marriage, testified that Lynn told her that when Glenn was sick, "the only thing he could hold down was popsicles and Jell-o," so she was feeding him plates of green Jell-o.

Cobb County District Attorney Patrick Head also asked Roaderick about Lynn's demeanor at Glenn's funeral. She testified that Lynn seemed unusually calm and did not cry—and that she was wearing a hot-pink suit. But on cross-examination, she admitted that she wasn't sure about the color of Lynn's suit, which that defense insisted was a pale grey.

The "hot-pink suit" comment, like much of Monday's testimony, was an attempt by the prosecution to drill into jurors a portrait of a cold and calculating woman who lured men with expensive gifts and then murdered them for their money.

Expensive gifts

Jurors also heard testimony from friends and family members of Randy Thompson, who Lynn started dating in 1994 while she was still married to Glenn.

Turner is also suspected of murdering Thompson, with whom she had two children, by poisoning him with antifreeze. Because of the similarities of the deaths, the court ruled that jurors may hear evidence about Thompson's death and his relationship with Lynn, even though she has not been charged in his murder.

Perry Thompson, Randy's father, said when Lynn spent Christmas with the family in 1994, he was uncomfortable with the expensive gifts that she gave them, including a $1,100 pair of leather boots for Randy. The Thompsons had believed Lynn was divorced at the time.

Angie Bollinger, Thompson's sister, recalled a Christmas shopping trip with Lynn in 1994.

"She had an enormous stack of credit cards that had to be banded with a thick rubber band," Bollinger testified, adding that Lynn had explained that she had received an inheritance from her late grandmother.

When asked if the women had discussed Glenn Turner, Bollinger testified that Lynn said her husband had died in the line of duty.

"I didn't question it and she didn't offer anything additional," Bollinger said.

Bollinger said that at her brother's funeral, the defendant was stand-offish.

"I didn't notice that she showed any emotion during the entire time that we were there." she said.

Moreover, Perry Thompson testified that Lynn refused to view Randy's body.

Jurors also heard testimony for the first time about an incident on March 23, 1999, when Thompson had attempted suicide with sleeping pills.

Perry Thompson described how his son called him in the middle of the night to say he had done "something stupid." He was brought to the hospital where his stomach was pumped and he was released into his family's custody.

The defense likely will argue that it was possible that Thompson, who had a history of depression, could have taken his own life in January 2001.

When asked if suicide may have been a consideration of Thompson's at the time of his death, Perry said that his son was going back to school and returning to his Christian faith, and that taking his own life would have been inconceivable.

"Based on my opinion, he loved his children and he wanted to make the relationship work with Lynn," Perry said. "Randy had bad times, just like anybody, but Randy is not the kind of person to be suicidal."

Lynn Turner's murder trial, which is expected to last three weeks, is being broadcast live on Court TV.