Emily S. Rueb and Mariel Padilla

A local CBS station in Denver captured a heartwarming scene as Olivia, dressed in a blue Batman mask, shiny purple cape and custom logo, walked through a cheering crowd holding swords above her head and battled with a volunteer dressed as Ursula, Disney’s sea witch from “The Little Mermaid.” Olivia later sang “Part of Your World” with Ariel.

“You could give me all the money in the world, and I would give it back to you to be able to watch this again,” the girl’s mother, Kelly Renee Turner, told reporters at the time.

Six months later, Olivia died after “a long battle to a rare disease” that required “many operations and numerous stays in the hospital,” according to her obituary.

But now authorities say most of Olivia’s medical problems were made up. Turner, 41, was arrested Friday on charges of first-degree murder in her daughter’s death, after a yearlong investigation found that she had Olivia treated for conditions the girl did not have and withdrew medical care when Olivia was in hospice.

Last week, a grand jury in Douglas County, Colorado, indicted Turner on 13 charges, including charitable fraud, Medicaid theft and attempts to influence a public servant, court records show. Turner is also charged with abusing another daughter.

Turner is currently being held without bond at the Douglas County Detention Facility. The mandatory penalty in Colorado for first-degree murder is life in prison without possibility of parole.

A call to Turner’s lawyer, Ara K. Ohanian, was not immediately returned on Tuesday.

An investigation led by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office revealed that Turner had a long history of presenting doctors with false diagnoses, while blogging about her daughters’ fictitious medical conditions and soliciting financial support from charitable organizations, individuals and the government.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the Jefferson County Department of Human Services initiated the investigation, the indictment said.

The medical staff became worried about possible child abuse after Turner claimed in 2016 that her other daughter had been treated for cancer in Texas, which a doctor found to be not true, according to the indictment.

Turner began bringing the girl in for her “bone pain,” the indictment said. Staff members found articles, blog posts and Facebook pages in which Turner described medical conditions that did not match the girl’s medical records. By that time, Olivia had died, and staff members became suspicious about the care she had received and the circumstances of her death.

Turner “may have been benefiting from this attention and motivated some of the medical treatment,” according to the indictment.

“There is also concern,” that Turner “has a financial and social motivation for her children’s medical conditions, both real and fictitious,” and that she “has lied about the children’s medical conditions and therefore may have caused harm to the children and/or caused them to have significant medical procedures,” the indictment said.

When Olivia was 2 years old, Turner sought treatment for constipation and developmental delays, the indictment said. Turner later told news reporters her daughter had autism and a neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy, a rare disorder impacting organ functionality.

Five years later, Olivia was placed in hospice care, where she was fed through a tube and eventually died.

During the investigation, several doctors at Children’s Hospital Colorado said Olivia was never found to have a terminal illness, and were “shocked” to learn that Turner had withdrawn all medical care when Olivia was in hospice. Others disputed the “intestinal failure” as the cause of death. An autopsy conducted on her exhumed body in November 2018 showed “the manner of death is best certified as undetermined,” according to the indictment.

During one interview with investigators, Turner, unprompted, brought up Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental disorder in which a parent or caretaker induces illness in a child to get attention.

“That has never been my case, like at all, whatsoever,” Turner said, according to the indictment. “You can talk to anyone.”

While Olivia was in treatment, Turner solicited donations from her community, for which she is now facing theft charges.

Turner raised $22,270 from 161 donors through a GoFundMe page, meant to “offset” the costs of expensive trial medications that weren’t covered by Medicaid, according to the indictment. (A GoFundMe spokeswoman said the company had banned the account and was working with law enforcement officials to process refunds.)

She also received a $3,000 check from Professionals Miracles Foundation, a charity set up by the Denver real estate community to help families with very sick children.

Although her children had access to health insurance through their father, Turner falsified documents in order to receive Medicaid assistance. Turner received $538,991 from Medicaid for her daughters’ medical bills between March 2014 and December 2018, according to the indictment.

Turner also owes $5,398 to the funeral home and cemetery that buried Olivia.

As part of her bucket list, Olivia also fulfilled her wish to be a firefighter and a police officer, garnering national media attention.

Olivia’s daylong experience as the Bat Princess, which included a limousine ride, costumes, balloons, props and a party space at a hotel, cost Make-a-Wish $11,264.88, according to the indictment.

A spokeswoman for Make-a-Wish Colorado said the organization did not plan to press charges.

“We are deeply disturbed by the allegations in this case and intend to follow it closely in the hope of learning exactly what happened,” the spokeswoman said. “As we seek to learn more about the circumstances that led to Olivia’s death, we fondly remember her spirit and hope that granting her wish brought some joy to her tragic life.”

Turner’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 1.

This article originally appeared in

Woman Charged With Murder After Claiming Her Daughter Was Terminally Ill

After the Make-a-Wish Foundation was told that Olivia Gant, who was 6, had a terminal illness, it made one of her dreams come true. In 2017, the girl was transformed into a superhero Bat Princess for a day so she could save other princesses from evil villains.

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Emily S. Rueb and Mariel Padilla

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Woman Charged With Murder After Claiming Her Daughter Was Terminally Ill