WASHINGTON, D.C., Friday, October 23, 2024 – A Maryland man was sentenced to nearly 70 years in prison for the 2021 murders of his newborn son’s mother and grandmother, followed by an arson attempt to kill the infant.
Keanan Turner, 35, was convicted in July after a D.C. Superior Court jury deliberated for seven hours, finding him guilty of two counts of premeditated first-degree murder in the deaths of Ebony Wright, 32, and her mother, Wanda Wright, 48.
Prosecutors presented the case that Turner shot both women and set the apartment on fire in a bid to murder his newborn son.
The attack, they argued, was driven by Turner’s fear that child support claims would disrupt his family life and threaten his federal security clearance.
Defense attorneys claimed an unidentified intruder committed the murders, but the jury rejected this argument.
The case is currently under appeal.
In a statement to the court before sentencing, Turner apologized to both families but maintained his innocence, stating, “I’m not the monster prosecutors and the media have portrayed.” He also said he would accept the punishment “like a man.”
Judge Maribeth Raffinan sentenced Turner to 68 years, acknowledging the impact of the brutal crime. “In a short time, Turner destroyed the lives of these individuals with senseless acts of violence,” Raffinan said.
The Murders and Arson
On April 12, 2021, Turner visited Ebony Wright’s Southeast Washington apartment, allegedly to meet his newborn son.
Prosecutors revealed that Wright had filed for child support a month earlier, and Turner, fearing the financial and personal consequences, planned the attack to prevent the claim.
Prosecutors stated Turner knew Wright since high school but had reconnected with her two years prior.
During his visit, he sat with the Wright family for about an hour before retrieving a firearm from the bathroom and shooting both women.
The Wrights’ apartment security system captured Turner’s partial tattoo while he attempted to destroy the camera. He then set the apartment on fire, leaving the baby to perish.
Ebony’s younger sister, Destiny Wright, survived the attack. She recounted how Turner discovered her hiding in a bedroom closet, pointed a gun at her face, and fired.
Destiny managed to escape with her nephew after hearing his cries, which she later credited with saving her life.
“It was his cries that got me up,” Destiny told the court during sentencing. “That one cry woke me, got me out of the closet, past the fire, and out the door where I called for help.”
Destiny found her mother and sister dead on the floor and carried her nephew to safety. The boy, now three years old, is being raised by Wanda Wright, Ebony’s godmother and family friend.
Sentencing and Impact Statements
Assistant U.S. Attorney Miles Janssen argued for a life sentence, describing the crime as one of the most horrific in recent Washington, D.C., history. He compared it to the infamous 2015 mansion murders, where Daron Wint killed four members of the Savopoulos family and was later sentenced to life in prison.
“The gravity of this crime cannot be expressed in mere numbers,” Janssen said. “It calls for a word: life.”
Several Wright family members spoke during sentencing, expressing their grief and trauma. Destiny, now 23, described the emotional toll of losing her mother and sister but shared her resolve not to be consumed by hatred.
“My mother and sister were my life,” she said. “But I saved my nephew, and I cannot live my life filled with hate.”
Originally a college student at North Carolina A&T, Destiny returned to school to “make her mother and sister proud,” finally graduating with plans to raise her nephew, per a GoFundMe established by Angela Hargrove, a godmother.
Now three, Grayson is nonverbal and has autism but is “strong and demanding,” Hargrove, who is looking after aunt and kid, said in an August update to the campaign website.
She said, “Ya’ll know it takes a village to raise a child,” then “Please continue to pray and thank God that Justice has been served.”
Turner’s defense presented testimony from his family, describing him as a supportive and loving father. A letter from Turner’s daughter was read in court, in which she expressed how much she missed her father.
Case Background
Turner was married at the time of the attack and worked as an executive driver for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Prosecutors argued that the child support case threatened his federal security clearance and disrupted his family life in Forestville, Maryland.
Despite Turner’s attempts to deny his involvement, the jury was convinced by evidence, including the partial view of his tattoo and Destiny Wright’s testimony. The case is now pending appeal, though the convictions stand.
