FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – Florence County Investigator Farrah Turner was buried Sunday afternoon at the Florence Memorial Gardens in the Veterans’ Garden of Freedom, a section reserved for people who served our country and our community.
Investigator Turner’s funeral was held at noon at the Florence Center. Thousands of people packed the arena to pay their final respects to her. Some of the speakers included Sheriff Kenney Boone (Florence County Sheriff’s Office), Chief Allen Heidler (Florence Police Department) and Investigator Thomas McFadden (Florence County Sheriff’s Office). Her first cousin, Britney Weaver, Esq., spoke, as did her uncle Reverend Herbert Godwin who delivered the closing remarks. Investigator Turner’s fitness coach at 9Round kickboxing and her sorority sisters of Delta Sigma Theta also spoke at the podium. They all shared fond memories of her.
Jerry Vinson, Jr. of the Family Court 12th Judicial Circuit said Turner worked as a deputy in the courtroom and he “had never met anyone who smiled so much in the courtroom” in his 14 years on the bench. He said she was calm and had a warm smile but was “as tough as any other deputy” and “could hold her own in any situation.”
Investigator Thomas McFadden took to the podium and thanked Turner’s mother, Katie Godwin, for “sharing your daughter with us and with the world.” He went on to say Investigator Turner always knew her family worried about her but she was determined to do her job.
“She said ‘Thomas, they be afraid. They scared. They worried about me out here.’ She said ‘But I got a job to do and I’m going to do my job no matter what. I have no fear. If something happens to me, it just happens. But I’m going to do my job,’” McFadden recalled her saying. “And on October 3rd, because of the kids in that house, she did her job. A thousand times over, she would do her job again. Not one step backwards.”
Sheriff Kenney Boone thanked Investigator Turner’s mother for raising her to be a “strong, courageous woman who set the example for others to follow through her selfless service to her family, her law enforcement community, her friends and the children as well in this county.” He called Turner a hero “not because of her death but beside of what did in her daily life.”
“Rest easy my sweet girl. We’ll take it from here,” Sheriff Boone said tearfully.
Florence County Sheriff’s Investigators Sarah Miller and Arie Davis, who were injured in the October 3rd shooting, were also in attendance. They were both released from Carolinas Hospital on October 19th.
Governor Henry McMaster, Mayor Stephen Wukela, Congressman Tom Rice, and Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott were also there. Sheriff Boone thanked Sheriff Lott and the FBI for leading the investigation.