Funeral services are scheduled Wednesday for a Mt. Airy teen killed in a wreck near Maysville. 19-year-old Robert Turpin was found dead in his pickup truck off Georgia Highway 52 on November 8. At the time his body was discovered he’d been missing for eleven days.
The Georgia State Patrol post in Athens says a trooper was flagged down by a witness who located Turpin’s overturned truck down an embankment off Highway 52. Upon investigation, Trooper Jonathan Folendore determined Turpin was traveling south when he ran off the road in a curve near Bold Road in Jackson County. The truck started rotating, went down the embankment and overturned multiple times before crashing into a tree.
The report does not indicate how long Turpin had been there. Family members say they were told he most likely died on impact.
Heartbreaking end to search
The discovery of the wreck was a heartbreaking end to a frantic search by family and friends desperate to bring Robert safely home.
He was last seen by a family member in Mt. Airy on October 28. Turpin was supposed to pick up a co-worker in Maysville the next day on his way to work in Jackson County but he never arrived. Family members reported him missing to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office, saying it was completely out of character for him to just disappear.
Authorities, too, grew increasingly concerned as days went by without any activity on Robert’s cellphone and bank account.
Habersham Sheriff’s Lt. Matthew Wurtz says investigators followed up on numerous leads. There were reported sightings of Robert and his truck in and around Gainesville but nothing ever came of them, according to family. Days of empty leads led to dashed hopes until finally, his loved ones received the tragic news.
Saying goodbye
Touching tributes were posted to the Facebook page Robert’s family set up to help find him.
For complete obituary for Robert Leon Turpin click here
Robert Turpin was the son of Edward and Tina Turpin Kelly. He was a 2015 graduate of Habersham Central High School and was employed as a dock worker with Americold Freezer in Pendergrass at the time of his death.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, November 16 from the Chapel of McGhee Griffin and Stewart Funeral Home in Cornelia. The family will receive friends from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 15 at the funeral home.
