PERRY, Ga. — Four years after her husband was mysteriously poisoned to death, Julia Lynn Turner inquired at an animal shelter about the effects of antifreeze on cats, according to a witness in her murder trial who testified Thursday.

Turner, a former 911 operator, is on trial for the 1995 antifreeze-poisoning murder of police officer Maurice Glenn Turner. She is also a suspect in the 2001 antifreeze-poisoning death of Randy Thompson, with whom she was having an affair at the time of Glenn's death.

"We discussed the stray cat problem she was having at the time and she asked if antifreeze had the same effect on cats as it did on dogs," said shelter manager Samantha Gilleland, who indicated that she did not know the answer because no one had ever asked before.

Turner — who made several visits to the shelter to play with cats that recently had been recovered in an animal cruelty case — later learned from Gilleland that antifreeze did in fact poison cats.

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Gilleland said she advised Turner to trap the feral cats and bring them to the shelter to be euthanized.

"She wanted to know how the euthanasia process went, and I explained that it was an injection," Gilleland said. "She asked me what we used, but I didn't know the name of it. I just called it the purple stuff. She asked me could anybody get it. I said, 'No, it was a controlled substance.'"

Samantha Gilleland said Turner asked about euthanizing cats.

Under cross examination, Gilleland admitted Turner never asked her to inquire what the name of the "purple stuff" was. She also said the defendant seemed to show sympathy for the cats.

"She thought it was kind of cruel to trap them only to put them down at the shelter," Gilleland told jurors.

Gilleland also testified that she contacted prosecutors after seeing Turner's face on television in 2002.

"I told my sister, 'I know her ... that's the one who asked about antifreeze and cats," Gilleland said.

Her testimony was heard despite objections from the defense, who argued outside of the jury's presence that Turner's questions about antifreeze sprung from nothing more than a casual conversation about pets.

"To put something in like that is devastating and it has no correlation to anything in reality," said defense attorney Jim Berry.

Prosecutor Jack Mallard argued that Turner's statements, although not made during the time of either man's deaths, established that she understood the fatal effects of antifreeze. Judge James Bodiford allowed the testimony under the similar-transaction evidence ruling.

A funeral, a cruise and another funeral

Jurors also heard from Glenn Turner's sister, Linda Hardy, who completed her emotional testimony that began Wednesday.

Hardy had testified that when Glenn died, Lynn was "adamant that she did not want her name listed as Lynn Turner" in the obituary. Mallard presented Hardy a copy of a news obituary that listed Glenn's wife as "Julia Turner."

"No one knew her as Julia," Hardy said. "She said she didn't want the police and news media getting ahold of her name."

Presumably, she also didn't want her boyfriend at the time, Thompson, and his family to learn that she had lied about being divorced while she was spending weekends and holidays with them.

Hardy also testified that during Glenn's funeral, Lynn said, "I gotta get the hell out of here," a statement that other witnesses also have said they overheard.

During cross-examination by Victor Reynolds, Hardy was visibly upset and on the defensive when he asked about her diminished correspondence with her brother after his marriage to the defendant.

Jurors heard details about a cruise that Turner and Thompson took with another couple three months after Glenn Turner's death.

The couple, Samantha Garman Butler and Terry Pruitt, each testified that Lynn planned the trip for Thompson's 26th birthday.

"We said we didn't have the money for it so she offered to pay," Butler told jurors.

Pruitt said Turner laid out about $2,400 for their portion of the cruise, and that the group took a limo to Miami to board the ship. They cruised to St. Thomas, the Bahamas and Puerto Rico during the seven-day vacation.

Butler testified that although she had lost touch over the years, she called Turner after hearing about Thompson's death.

Butler said that the defendant told her that the night before Thompson passed away, he was feeling sick, so she had given him either soup or Jell-O, and left when he went to bed. Turner and Thompson were no longer living together at the time.

"She also said she was treated like an outcast at the funeral, and that Randy's ex-wife sat up in front with the family," Butler testified.

Attorneys for both sides informed the judge Thursday that they might complete their cases by the end of next week.

It is not known whether Lynn Turner will be called to testify. If convicted of murdering her husband, she faces life in prison.

Court TV is broadcasting the trial live.