Search goes on for suspect in February murder

A search presses on for Tambra Turner, a Sikeston woman accused of killing her estranged husband's girlfriend, 20-year-old Chabreshea Egson, on Feb. 22 at a North Spanish Street residence.

Turner, 29, was charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and burglary the day after Egson was shot to death, but she allegedly went on the run.

Recently, police have received some new leads, and they are still following up on tips they received earlier in the case pertaining to Turner's whereabouts, according to Sgt. Barry Hovis, spokesman for the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

"We're still actively looking for her," Hovis said.

Because police received information indicating that Turner skipped the state after the charges were filed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation secured a federal warrant for her arrest in March.

Because murder is not a federal charge, the warrant is for unlawfully fleeing the state of Missouri.

If Turner were apprehended in an another state on other charges, such as speeding, she would need to waive extradition in order to be transported to Missouri; if she did not, an extradition hearing would be held, Hovis said.

"Hopefully, we would win the extradition proceedings in that case," Hovis said.

Hours before Egson was shot, Turner allegedly showed up at Egson's residence and smashed some windows with a tree limb, causing Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle to file property damage charges against her. Investigators hoped she would turn herself in so they could speak with her, because she appeared to have had a confrontation with Egson shortly before the murder, but she did not. The next day, Swingle filed the murder charges against her.

Turner allegedly confessed portions of the crime to a third party, who told police that Turner wrecked her Mustang on the ice while driving away from the crime scene.

Police later found the car in Sikeston, missing its front bumper.

Turner told someone else that she "felt like killing" the woman she had caught with her husband, according to a probable cause statement.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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