Published: June 23, 2009 05:08 pm      

COURTS: 5 years in Hamilton kidnap/torture case

A Hamilton County woman will serve five years in prison for her role in the brutal years-long confinement of a family member. Jessica Lynn Turner, 24, was arrested in 2007 in the kidnap/torture of a 27-year-old woman. Three other family members were also arrested.

Johnny Dale Nichols and Martha Irene Turner, who remain in the Hamilton County Jail without bond, await trial. A juvenile male has already completed his sentence.

All four were charged with kidnapping and aggravated battery for the confinement and abuse of the woman, reportedly kept bound and gagged and subjected to beatings two or three times a day. The victim is said to have been reunited with her children.

The victim managed to escape the home near White Springs where she was kept prisoner and sought help from a neighbor on October 22, 2007.

"In my 20 years as sheriff and 10 additional years as deputy, I have never seen the amount of physical abuse that was endured by this victim," Sheriff Harrell Reid said of the case in 2007.

Sentence was pronounced on Jessica Lynn Turner in the Hamilton County Courthouse. She will also serve 15 years’ probation.