Born in May 1987, Bree Kuhn spent her early childhood surrounded by family—but not peace. Though her exact birthplace remains unverified, official records place her upbringing in Pennsylvania. Bree’s parents divorced when she was still young, prompting a major transition: she and her older brother, Eric Junior, moved to Texas with their mother.
Life wasn’t easy. According to Eric, their mother was physically abusive, and Bree—just a child herself—often stepped in to protect her younger brother, absorbing the worst of the mistreatment. These early experiences forged Bree Kuhn into a resilient, self-sacrificing figure, though not without emotional consequences.
In high school, Bree Kuhn made another life-altering move. She left Texas to live with her father, Eric, and his new partner Karen, in New York. Though physically separated, Bree and her brother remained deeply connected. But the scars from their upbringing lingered. By age 13, Bree had already attempted suicide—an early sign of the depression and anxiety she would battle for much of her life.
Despite her mental health challenges, Bree Kuhn remained determined. She enrolled in two community colleges and, still in her youth, joined the U.S. Navy—a move that would define much of her adult life.
Over the course of 17 years, Bree Kuhn served at various naval stations across the United States. Her dedication was clear, but even in uniform, she faced personal challenges.
In 2009, Bree Kuhn became a mother to Kaylee, her daughter with then-partner James. Though the relationship ended, Bree retained primary custody. She continued to juggle single motherhood and military service until she met Collin Turner—a fellow member of the armed forces with his own complex past.
A New Chapter: Marriage and a Blended Family
Collin Turner, born December 28, 1987, was a Marine Corps explosives expert from a tightly-knit religious family. Before meeting Bree Kuhn, he had been married to Casey Gotsman and had a son, who remained in Casey’s custody but stayed close to the Turner family.
Bree and Collin married on May 29, 2016, and built a blended family. Collin took Kaylee under his wing as his own daughter. Together, they had two more children: John Patrick in 2017 and Lani in 2018. The family settled in Gulf Breeze, Florida—a serene community far from Bree’s turbulent beginnings.
Collin retired from the Marines after 14 years and began studying electrical engineering at Arizona State University while staying home with the kids, especially during COVID-19 lockdowns. Outwardly, their life appeared calm and conventional. But privately, tensions were rising.
By 2020, cracks in the marriage had become harder to hide. According to Eric Junior, Bree confessed that her relationship with Collin had grown increasingly toxic. During one visit, Eric heard Collin make an unsettling remark—that the two got along because they were “both narcissistic psychopaths.”
Bree, who was carrying the financial weight of the household, felt overwhelmed. Despite Eric’s pleas to leave, she hesitated. Collin’s strong family backing and her own mental health history made her fear losing custody of the kids.
A Desperate Cry for Help
In April 2021, things spiraled. Bree attempted suicide while on the phone with her brother—mixing pills and alcohol during the call. Eric, realizing what was happening, tried contacting Collin, who was in the home at the time but allegedly did nothing. Eric was the one who contacted emergency services.
Bree survived, but the mental toll was heavy. She spent ten days in a psychiatric facility, followed by another week-long stay a month later. During recovery, she claimed that stress at work—exacerbated by Collin’s interference—had contributed to her breakdown.
Despite the turmoil, Bree didn’t accuse Collin of abuse, and she returned to work at Naval Air Station Pensacola as a limited duty sailor while continuing treatment through an outpatient program.
By late summer 2021, Bree began quietly preparing for what seemed like an inevitable separation. She contacted a group of mothers online, asking for referrals to a good attorney. She noted the situation could become “ugly,” hinting at a custody and property dispute.
The date was Wednesday, September 8, 2021.
What happened next would tragically change everything.
The First Call: A Desperate Plea for Help
On the afternoon of September 8, 2021, the tension that had been building behind closed doors finally reached a boiling point. At exactly 12:53 PM, Bree Kuhn dialed 911. Her voice was clear—she needed help. There had been a domestic dispute with her husband, and she wanted police presence at their home in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Responding swiftly, two officers arrived. What they found was unexpected. Collin Turner was seated casually in a beach chair at the edge of the driveway. Calm and collected, he informed them that Bree was inside, armed with both a pistol and a shotgun. He also disclosed that he had a firearm locked in his truck. Despite the situation, he made it clear that Bree had been the one to call for assistance.
When asked where Bree was, Collin walked them to the front door and gestured toward the kitchen. One officer stepped inside, where he was momentarily distracted by the couple’s young son, curious about the officer’s gear. Moments later, Bree appeared—visibly frustrated and emotionally charged.
Bree quickly voiced her anger. The officer listened but explained there was little he could do without evidence of injury or direct physical assault. Bree’s response dripped with frustration: “Next time, I’ll make sure he hits me in the face.”
Despite her sarcasm, she made her intentions clear—she didn’t want to press charges. She just wanted to leave with her children. But legally, that wasn’t simple. The officer reminded her that without a court order or legal custody arrangement, Collin—who was the biological father of two of the children—had equal rights.
As Bree began gathering her things, she moved several items from Collin’s truck to her own car. That’s when the situation escalated again.
Seeing Bree move the children’s belongings, Collin objected. He stated that he wouldn’t allow her to take the kids, insisting he was their main caregiver and only planned to take them to his parents’ home in Georgia temporarily. He denied any intention of cutting Bree out of their lives.
The officers again explained they could not mediate parenting disputes without violence or a court order. When asked if he wanted to file a formal report, Collin agreed, and both parties received paperwork to fill out. Bree, still on edge, asked what she should do if Collin became violent after they left. The officer’s only advice was to record everything with her phone.
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The Second Call: A Household Divided
By 5:00 PM, the police were back. This time, Collin was the one who called. He stood outside the house, holding their youngest daughter, and claimed Bree wouldn’t let him back inside.
As the officers arrived, Bree came out to take the child from his arms. But instead of a handoff, another argument sparked. Officers stepped in and encouraged Bree to return indoors so they could de-escalate the scene.
After verifying that Collin had legal rights to the property, an officer informed him he could re-enter the home. While making it clear that force was not encouraged, they reiterated his legal standing. Cautiously, Collin asked an officer to accompany him back inside.
During this second conversation, Collin told police that Bree had tried to take their daughter inside, but the child resisted—crying and clinging to her father. He denied any physical altercation and described the entire conflict as part of a long-term dispute.
Inside the house, Bree told her side. She said the couple had been discussing divorce and that Collin wanted to take the children out of state. She accused him of being aggressive and blamed him for contacting her military superiors—actions she interpreted as manipulative and emotionally abusive.
She expressed fear of what could happen if Collin stayed in the home and insisted that he posed a danger. She refused to let him back in and reiterated her concern that verbal aggression might escalate into violence.
But without evidence or a restraining order, police could only offer suggestions—not protection. They advised both parties to separate within the home, to sleep in different rooms, and minimize contact. Again, Bree was told to document everything on her phone.
Despite two police visits in a single day, no arrests were made. No protective orders were issued. The officers acknowledged Bree’s history—including a suicide attempt earlier that year—but the legal system required more than fear to act.
And tragically, fear alone wasn’t enough to stop what was coming.
The Final Moments Before It All Changed
As Florida’s summer heat pressed down and mosquitoes swarmed, Collin Turner stood outside with his daughter—sweating, uncomfortable, and running out of options. He told the responding officer that the situation wasn’t sustainable. Before returning to the house, he made a request: he believed Bree Kuhn had taken his wallet and asked the officer to retrieve it.
At the door, Bree Kuhn met the officer calmly. She denied taking the wallet but admitted to taking Collin’s credit card. The officer reminded her that a wallet was personal property and should be returned. Bree didn’t argue further.
She agreed to allow Collin and their daughter back into the house—but only if he wouldn’t harass her or the children. The officer promised she could call them again if anything escalated.
Before leaving, the officer let Collin know that Bree Kuhn claimed not to have the wallet. Collin smiled slightly—choosing, for the moment, to let it go.
But nothing was truly let go.
6:22 PM: A Deadly Silence Shattered
Less than two hours later, a third and final 911 call rang out from the Turner home.
It was 6:22 PM.
During the call, a gunshot echoed live over the line. By the time officers returned, Collin Turner—just 33 years old—was dead.
They found Bree Kuhn sitting calmly on the porch. Without prompting, she confessed:
“I shot my husband.”
She didn’t resist arrest.
When asked about the children, Bree told officers she had taken them to a neighbor’s house for safety. Paramedics assessed her on the scene while police secured the area. Bree offered no response when asked if she needed medical care—so EMS made the call to evaluate her condition further.
She was then transported to the station for questioning.
The Interrogation: A Story in Fragments
At the police station, the interview moved slowly. Bree wept often, her words interrupted by long silences. She tried to explain the years of control and emotional torment she said she had endured.
She described Collin as the primary caregiver, which left her feeling legally vulnerable. With her mental health history, she believed she had no chance of keeping custody. She claimed that Collin had threatened to take the kids to Georgia and warned that if she reported him, no one would believe her.
Bree admitted to removing the batteries from the garage door opener—a move to prevent Collin from leaving with the children. She said his recent concerns about her mental health were a tactic to manipulate the situation because she had finally decided to file for divorce. She had, in fact, scheduled an appointment with a lawyer for the very next day.
As for the shooting itself, Bree said her memory was blurred after the second police visit. She claimed Collin had tried to re-enter the home through the side garage door. According to her, she tried to stop him—but the next thing she remembered was delivering the children to a neighbor’s house and returning to try to help Collin.
When investigators asked for a clearer sequence of events, she gave only pieces. She recalled walking back into the garage. She remembered the blood. That was all.
Throughout the interrogation, Bree begged to call her father. When finally allowed, she spoke to him for 18 heartbreaking minutes—mostly sobbing.
Her father listened quietly. He told her she would probably spend the night in jail, and to call him if she ever felt like hurting herself again. He urged her to find the light, to hold on, and try to see through the darkness.
Near the end of the call, Bree made a request:
“Can you take the kids?”
Her father didn’t give a clear answer. He said they’d have to speak with Collin’s mother first. He also advised Bree Kuhn to work with a public defender if that’s all she had access to—for now.
And then came her quiet, final confession:
“I don’t know what’s worse—knowing Collin is dead… or knowing I’m the one who did it.”
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Indicted and Remembered
In early October 2021, a Santa Rosa County grand jury indicted Bree Kuhn for first-degree premeditated murder. The state had not yet confirmed whether it would seek life in prison or the death penalty.
Just a few days later, on October 16, friends, family, and fellow service members gathered to say goodbye to Collin James Turner at a solemn military funeral. He was honored for his 14 years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps.
An American flag was placed gently in the hands of his eldest son, Brody Turner.
Collin’s two youngest children—now without either parent—were taken in by their paternal grandparents. They surrounded the children with love, but the void left by tragedy could never fully be filled.
The Trial Begins
After three years of delays and mounting public interest, the long-awaited trial of Bree Kuhn, now 37, began on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, in the Santa Rosa County Courthouse.
The prosecution wasted no time. From the outset, they painted Bree Kuhn as a deliberate killer—someone who, after a day of tension and confrontation, executed a calculated plan to end her husband’s life. Their story was one of motive, opportunity, and cold resolve.
The defense offered a starkly different version. They described Bree Kuhn as a woman trapped—emotionally battered, psychologically exhausted, and living in fear. According to them, she had suffered for years under the control of a man whose behavior had changed drastically after a traumatic brain injury sustained during his military service. They argued that Bree Kuhn believed her life—and the lives of her children—were at risk.
Over the course of four days, the jury and courtroom audience were walked through every moment of September 8, 2021. Police bodycam footage captured it all: the sarcastic remarks from Bree Kuhn, Collin’s composed tone, and the chilling final 911 call—gunshots audible in real time.
Every officer who had interacted with the family that day took the stand. One confirmed his response to Bree’s previous suicide attempt months earlier. Another described the gruesome crime scene—Collin’s body found slumped over a portable cooler in the garage, the gun still holstered at his side. Blood, shell casings, and his still-connected phone—dialed to 911—surrounded the area.
Crime scene photos were presented by an analyst, clearly showing Collin had not been moving when shot. The angle of entry, the spread of fragments—all suggested he was stationary and unaware when the bullets struck.
Mental Health, Military Stress, and Marital Breakdown
The prosecution introduced Bree’s medical records, including prescriptions for ADHD and anxiety. Then came the testimony of Cray Forham, Bree’s supervisor at Naval Air Station Pensacola. He stated Bree Kuhn had been on limited duty due to mental health struggles, and on the day of the shooting, she failed to report to work.
Forham also revealed that Collin had called him that same day, saying Bree Kuhn had cut off his access to family finances, sabotaged their electronics, and skipped therapy. Collin sounded calm, Forham testified, and even asked for help finding a family counselor.
Later, Forham spoke to Bree Kuhn. She told a very different story—that Collin was manipulating the situation and planning to unjustly take the children.
Forensic Science Speaks: Four Shots, All From Behind
Day two brought the most damning physical evidence. Dr. Diana Oleski, a forensic pathologist, reviewed the autopsy completed before the original medical examiner died in a car accident.
Dr. Oleski confirmed: Collin Turner was shot four times, all from behind. One bullet entered through his left shoulder, exited near his neck, and lodged in his wrist—suggesting his hand may have been raised instinctively. The damage was catastrophic: punctured lungs, spinal injuries, a ruptured spleen, and trauma to the membrane surrounding his heart.
He wouldn’t have survived more than a few minutes.
When asked whether there was any sign Collin’s arm had been broken—as he claimed during the 911 call—Dr. Oleski was clear: there was no evidence of that.
Eric Kuhn Testifies: A Brother’s Warning Unheeded
Next on the stand was Eric Kuhn, Bree’s brother. He recounted the emotional spiral he’d witnessed in his sister, especially in the months before the shooting. He spoke about the suicide attempt—how Bree Kuhn had called him, slurring, after consuming pills and alcohol. How Collin hadn’t called 911, even after being informed.
Eric described Bree’s fear of losing her children, particularly with Collin’s family offering financial and legal support. On the morning of the shooting, Bree Kuhn was worried about an upcoming surgery. She told Eric she believed Collin would use her recovery time to take the kids away.
Eric said he spoke with Bree throughout the day. She was up and down—sometimes calm, other times frantic. In their final 45-minute call, he heard yelling, crashing, and then the sound of Bree picking up a gun.
When pressed on how he knew, Eric hesitated. Then he said, “She told me.”
He pleaded with her to leave. She didn’t.
The last words he heard were chilling:
“You’re not going to take the kids.”
Then—gunfire.
Children crying.
And Bree’s voice breaking through the chaos:
“Oh my God, I killed him. I have to call the police.”
Cross-Examination and Collapse: The Turning Point
As the trial moved forward, the credibility of key witness Eric Kuhn—Bree’s brother—came under fire. During cross-examination, the prosecution confronted Eric with inconsistencies between his courtroom statements and his earlier interview with Pennsylvania detectives. Eric claimed the discrepancies were due to his first interview not being recorded, but the detective involved denied this flatly.
The blow to Eric’s testimony marked a significant shift in momentum.
Then came another twist. The defense, which had previously told the court it would present testimony from both a mental health expert and Bree Kuhn herself to support a case of battered woman syndrome, abruptly changed course. Neither took the stand. The courtroom was left without an explanation.
Instead, the defense called James, Bree’s ex-husband and the biological father of her daughter Kaylee.
A Call and a Confession
James testified that on the day of the shooting, he had been texting with Collin. Later, Bree Kuhn called him. Her voice was calm but direct:
“You need to come get Kaylee. I just shot Collin.”
When he asked why, she replied:
“I don’t know.”
James immediately went to pick up his daughter. On the stand, he told the court that Kaylee always spoke well of Collin, and that he personally believed Collin had been a caring stepfather.
Due to a hurricane warning, the court adjourned early on day three. But when proceedings resumed on Friday, September 27, the courtroom was braced for final arguments.
The Final Word: Closing Arguments
The prosecution delivered a confident close. They argued that Bree showed no visible injuries on the day of the incident and had orchestrated the entire confrontation—recording it secretly on her phone while keeping her brother on the line. She was not reacting in fear, they claimed, but attempting to trap Collin into reacting, and when he didn’t, she acted anyway.
They painted the motive not as self-preservation, but control.
The defense fired back, insisting that Collin had walked the house with a weapon and hid it before officers arrived. They referenced the 911 call where Collin accused Bree Kuhn of trying to break his arm—a claim the autopsy failed to support.
One defense attorney even mocked Collin’s behavior during the 911 call, questioning why a trained Marine didn’t force entry if his children were in danger. He suggested other Marines would’ve “laughed at his hesitation.”
Finally, they blamed law enforcement for failing to protect Bree Kuhn after multiple calls for help, arguing that the justice system had ignored a woman in distress until it was too late.
The Verdict: Four Hours to a Lifetime
The jury deliberated for just four hours.
They returned with a guilty verdict.
Before sentencing, impact statements were read aloud. Collin’s mother spoke first. She thanked the court for justice and said she was pursuing formal adoption of the grandchildren. Through tears, she condemned Bree for taking her son’s life and attempting to damage his legacy.
Collin’s father, visibly emotional, said the children were doing well in school and surrounded by support—but he could never understand why Bree Kuhn had done what she did. He expressed sadness, not just for the loss of his son, but for the chaos it had brought to their lives.
Then the sentence was read:
Bree Kuhn was sentenced to life in prison.
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Aftermath: A Story Still Unfolding
But the courtroom verdict did not end the story.
On October 3, 2024, Bree’s legal team filed an appeal with the Florida Court of Appeals, seeking a new trial and arguing that the conviction was flawed.
Although no military disciplinary action was taken against Bree Kuhn, she was discharged from the U.S. Navy with a general discharge under honorable conditions, ending a 17-year military career.
But for her children, no sentence, appeal, or legal technicality can undo what happened.
And the questions still echo:
Could this have been prevented?
Was Bree Kuhn acting out of desperation and fear, as her defense argued?
Or did Collin—a man with no history of domestic violence—become the target of a tragic, irreversible decision?
The trial may be over, but the debate—and the impact—remains.
