By Darcie Moran
December 09, 2015 at 5:45 AM, updated December 09, 2015 at 7:52 AM
This week marks three years since Julia Niswender’s life was cut tragically short.
On Dec. 11, 2012, police found the 23-year-old Eastern Michigan University student dead in the bathtub of her off-campus Ypsilanti apartment.
Her death was ruled the result of asphyxiation associated with drowning, but police said the oxygen deprivation occurred prior to her being placed in her bathtub at Peninsular Place apartments.
Since Niswender’s death, her family has held vigils and fundraisers in her memory while they hope for an arrest, and Ypsilanti Police continue to work on the case.
Jennifer Niswender, 26, said despite the lapse of time and a difficult year in which her stepfather was named a person of interest in her twin sister’s death, the family hasn’t given up hope.
“Three years later, we still believe that one day justice will be found for Julia,” she said. “Every day we pray and hope for that to happen.”
Kim Turnquist, Julia’s mother, said that today she believes there may be two killers, based on the recovery of DNA noted in a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Ann Arbor News earlier this year.
The documents revealed that FBI experts thought the different DNA could have been the result of a calculated killer attempting to confuse police.
Ypsilanti police Lt. Deric Gress said Tuesday that investigators are waiting on some laboratory results, but confirmed the case remains active.
Jennifer Niswender said the family has not continued contact with the Ypsilanti Police Department. She added that they have lost faith in the department due to accusations against her stepfather, James Turnquist, who was found not guilty of possessing child pornography earlier this year in Monroe County.
The charges stemmed from the police investigation into Julia’s death and, shortly after Turnquist was charged, the Ypsilanti Police Department named him a person of interest in her killing.
Following the release of documents detailing police suspicions and Turnquist’s acquittal in September, Ypsilanti Police Chief Tony DeGiusti released a statement to The Ann Arbor News on the status of the investigation.
He clarified that the child pornography case was filed in Monroe County and said any assumption that Turnquist was the only focus in his department’s investigation was inaccurate.
“This is a very complicated case and has taken us in many different directions and although Mr. Turnquist is a person of interest in the case we have not regarded him as a suspect,” he said in the statement.
“The Ypsilanti Police Department has spent thousands of hours investigating this case and will run down every lead to its logical conclusion,” DeGiusti said in the statement. “We remain vigilant in trying to find the person responsible for Julia’s death and remain fully engaged in this investigation.”
Kim Turnquist and Jennifer Niswender support James Turnquist, and both said they’ve been threatened and yelled at because of their allegiance to him.
Kim said that has made her feel as though she can no longer ask for the public’s help in finding her daughter’s killers.
With the three-year anniversary of Julia’s death this week, Kim and Jennifer said memories of Julia should not be mingled and tarnished with the events of the last year.
This week, Jennifer will take off work – as it’s an emotional time of the year – and her immediate family will visit her sister’s grave and spend time together.
“Julia lives on in all of us and is in our hearts every day,” Kim said of her daughter.
Her grief has never left her. She still reviews old Facebook messages from her daughter, she said.
The ones that read “I love you, mommy,” often meant her daughter wanted something. Others were reminders to not work so hard and to take her blood pressure medication.
“I will cry on the way to work, on the way home … it’s still right there,” she said of her grief.
Jennifer said she will forever remember the happy lunch she and her half-sister shared with Julia in the days before her death.
They walked through Walmart and Julia pointed out what she wanted for Christmas, Jennifer said. The twins discussed getting rings to symbolize their sisterhood.
“I wish that everybody could have gotten a chance to meet her,” she said. “She was just such a fun-loving and great person to be around.”
“We forever pray that this will get solved,” she said.
Those with information on Niswender’s death are asked to contact the Ypsilanti Police Department at 734-482-9847.
Darcie Moran covers cops and courts for MLive and The Ann Arbor News. Email her at dmoran@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter @darciegmoran.