That is so sad, surely a turtle cannot harm anyone! We occasionally find snakes in our garden but fortunately they're mostly harmless grass snakes. I'm still terrified of them but they must be even more alarmed by us humans :)
We once had a leguaan inside our home (we live near a river) & hubby went to great trouble to capture it & took it back to the river. Used to have a couple around our pool area, was so funny watching them chase the poor blue-headed lizzards. Sadly it's more built-up now so we no longer have them wandering into our garden ;)