Alissa Turney was 17 years old when she vanished. In May 2001, Alissa Turney attended school for her last day of junior year at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Arizona. Her half sister, Sarah Turney, was 12 at the time of her disappearance. She has been investigating her sister’s disappearance for many years. The true crime documentary explores her findings about what happened to her sister. The documentary ‘Family Secrets: The Disappearance of Alissa Turney will appear on Oxygen True Crime on October 13, 2024. An extended version will be available on October 22 on Peacock.
The Day Alissa Turney Disappeared
Alissa Turney grew up in a blended family with Sarah and four other siblings. Alissa was only 9 when her mother passed from lung cancer. Michael Turney officially adopted Alissa when her mother and he married a year before her passing. Alissa was an average high school student with a part-time job. She was free-spirited and had supposedly dreamed of running away. On the day she disappeared, her stepfather checked her out of school and took her to lunch. Michael Turney claims they got into an argument before he dropped her off at home early that afternoon.
When Sarah arrived home, she found her sister’s room trashed. Alissa Turney supposedly left a letter behind explaining she had run away to California. Sarah believed it at first before finding Alissa’s cell phone, car, and other personal belongings left behind. Michael Turney, who is a former sheriff’s deputy, and their father filed a missing persons report the same day. At first, the police believed it was just a runaway case. After years of no calls, no texts, and no reports of Alissa Turney being alive, Sarah concluded her sister might have been murdered.
Family Secrets: The Disappearance of Alissa Turney
The documentary digs deeper into the disappearance of Alissa Turney. It focuses on the facts of the case and makes some disturbing discoveries. In a 2020 issue of People, Sarah Turney admits she was not worried at first. She said, “I was under the impression she was going to be back. I don’t think her being gone forever was anything that ever crossed my mind.” The more Sarah uncovered about her half-sister’s disappearance, the more she questioned if her father was involved. All five of Michael Turney’s kids believe he had something to do with Alissa Turney’s disappearance. Sarah became the most vocal about it using social media, attempting to bring more attention to her sister’s case.
With this documentary, Sarah attempts to uncover the truth. The documentary on Peacock will produce an extended cut expanding on Oxygen’s version of the film. The trailer shows Sarah confronting her father about Alissa’s disappearance. It also intends to show intimate details about Alissa Turney’s life and her relationships with her friends and stepfather. Directors Ricki Stern and Jesse Sweet made a statement about the nature of the film. They said, “We crafted the film to embody Sarah’s journey of excavating the truth about herself, her family, and what happened to her sister. We are grateful to Sarah for welcoming us into her life and opening up her family archive in support of this vision.”
Final Thoughts
It is presumed that Alissa Turney is dead, but her body has never been found. In 2006, a murder investigation was opened up against Michael Turney. In 2020, Michael was officially charged with second-degree murder; however, he was acquitted three years later due to insufficient evidence. Sarah is still convinced that her father is guilty of murdering Alissa Turney and claims to have evidence proving it. In the trailer documentary exclusively launched by People, Sarah said, “I really wanted to get to the truth of what happened in my family. That’s one of the biggest questions in this case is why didn’t anyone do anything? I realized that it was all on me.”
