April O'Neil

Splinter (Master) Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rafael and Donatello (Turtle friends) and Casey Jones (human partner)

Introduced as a television reporter for Channel 6 News. She had a strong nature and passion for her work, often expressing disagreement with her employer Burne Thompson's assignments. She also clashed repeatedly with Vernon Fenwick, the director/camera operator whose enormous ego compelled him to scoop April into his stories whenever possible. April was best friends with Irma Langinstein, the Channel 6 receptionist. She lived in an apartment in New York City, although during the course of the series she was forced to move several times due to a variety of Turtle-related mishaps.[3] April was reporting on a series of high-tech equipment thefts when she was attacked by a gang of street punks. Thinking quickly, she managed to squeeze into a manhole and ran from the crowd until she reached a dead end. The Turtles were nearby and defeated the punks. She was taken back to their sewer lair, where they explained their origins to her. At first, she believed they were responsible for the equipment thefts, but they agreed to help find the real culprits if she kept quiet about the Turtles' existence. April quickly became their main link to the outside world, as their unusual appearance effectively prevented them from functioning above ground without some sort of disguise.[3] To communicate with the Turtles, she used a Turtlecom, a device that functioned as a two-way audio and video communication system. April's friendship with the Turtles resulted in the opportunity to record exclusive footage of their encounters with Shredder, but despite her intimate knowledge of the details of their lives, she tended to keep her professional reporting on them impersonal and mysterious. She was a vocal advocate for their cause, despite Burne Thompson's opinion that the Turtles were a threat.