Pictures key in Louisiana household’s quest to show Megan Parra’s demise was a murder

On a steamy summer season morning in 2014 within the tiny Southern city of Cottonport, Louisiana, Steve and Missy Ducote confronted the unthinkable.

Steve Ducote: I would not know learn how to inform you. I’ve by no means felt like that earlier than or since.

The couple discovered their youngest daughter Megan Parra mendacity on the ground of her front room.

Missy Ducote: I had no concept what was to change into of all this.

The 29-year-old mom of two appeared to have been shot within the head.

Steve Ducote: It was a 357 magnum gun with the 38 caliber bullet..

Simply sooner or later earlier, Megan’s mother and father and her husband, then-30-year-old Dustin Parra, had been coping with the aftermath of a automotive crash.

Missy Ducote: Dustin known as … and stated that Megan had been in an accident.

Megan was alone driving down a stretch of highway not removed from dwelling when she by some means careened off the highway and hit a tree. Dustin grabbed their two younger sons and rushed to the scene. So did Steve and Missy Ducote.

Steve Ducote: Cop stated she was going about 45 miles an hour, wasn’t on her telephone. Had her seatbelt on.

Megan had solely minor accidents. However a state trooper was troubled by the very fact that there have been no skid marks.

Missy Ducote: He stated that … she had not utilized the brakes.

Steve Ducote:  Cop got here, and he requested me, ”would your daughter need to attempt to damage herself?” I stated, ”No, I do not suppose so.”

However it was not clear whether or not Megan really tried to cease the automotive. Missy Ducote says Megan instructed her she was distracted.

Missy Ducote: She stated she had misplaced focus.

However Steve Ducote says Megan instructed him that the brakes did not work, and that she hit that tree to keep away from the river. Nevertheless, the brakes have been by no means examined. On the Avoyelles Parish Hospital the place Dustin labored as a nurse, Megan was handled for a reduce to her proper hand. As soon as launched, Dustin took his spouse dwelling, whereas Missy and Steve Ducote saved their boys in a single day. The subsequent morning, round 7 a.m., Megan despatched her mom a textual content.

Missy Ducote: ”Hello mother. Are — are the boys OK? … are you all OK?”  … I known as her. … And … I instructed her that, um when the youngsters would rise up and I had mounted breakfast, we might … deliver her breakfast and go examine on her.

David Begnaud: Something sound uncommon?

Missy Ducote: In no way.

About an hour later, Missy Ducote says Dustin known as her to say that Megan was going to take a shower whereas he went out to fill a prescription for her on the native Walmart.

Missy Ducote: He stated he would … choose up the youngsters on the way in which again. … Properly, an hour has handed by and he is nonetheless not right here. … after which I stated … let’s go, we — we have to go.

It was near 10 a.m. when Steve and Missy Ducote arrived at their daughter’s home with their grandchildren in tow. There they found Megan mendacity on the ground with blood pooling round her head.

Missy Ducote: She was nonetheless within the paper shirt from the hospital … and … underwear.

Steve Ducote: I grabbed the oldest boy. And once I leaned over to select him up … I noticed the gun type of tucked in opposition to her leg.

Missy Ducote known as her mother and father to select up the youngsters. Steve Ducote known as 911. Missy, a nurse practitioner, knelt beside her daughter and realized she nonetheless had a pulse.

Missy Ducote: She was respiratory … simply barely although.

Steve Ducote known as Dustin.

Steve Ducote: I am unable to bear in mind precisely if I instructed him Megan killed herself or Megan shot … herself.

Steve Ducote: And I stated, ”the place are you?” He stated, ”I am in Mansoura. I simply got here by way of the … four-way cease signal.”

Dave Blanchard was the primary officer on the scene.

Dave Blanchard: I entered the home, noticed the sufferer on the ground … Mrs. Ducote … was administering first assist to the pinnacle space.

Dustin Parra arrived about 10 minutes later.

Steve Ducote: He comes working in … and he slides, and he simply catches the tip of the blood.

Missy Ducote: After … he slid … He received up, he pushed the gun away.

Missy Ducote says Dustin then reached right into a pocket in Megan’s paper shirt.

Missy Ducote: And he pulled out an image.

It was an image of their boys.

Dustin and Missy, each medically educated, labored to avoid wasting Megan. Minutes later, paramedics arrived. That is when Blanchard started documenting the scene.

Dave Blanchard: I did not need to intervene in them giving the primary assist.

Megan was airlifted to a trauma heart in Lafayette. The mayor of Cottonport drove Steve and Missy Ducote and Dustin in his automotive. Again on the Parra dwelling, Blanchard continued to doc the scene and acquire proof — together with that gun, which belonged to Dustin; Dustin’s shorts, which have been bloodied from that slide; and a notice, which was found on the kitchen counter.

Steve Ducote: It says, ”inform the boys I like them. I am sorry.” That was it.

The morning after the taking pictures — as her mother and father struggled with how Megan might have taken her personal life — docs instructed the household they’d carried out all they may. That’s when the choice was made to take her off life help.

The subsequent morning, Megan’s organs have been donated. Her physique was transported to the medical expert’s workplace for an post-mortem. That is when Dustin and the Ducotes headed for the Cottonport Police Division, to fulfill with lead detective Christopher Knight.

Steve Ducote: Properly, Dustin went in first … he got here again out, and he raised his arms and stated, ”I am not a suspect.” … it was type of surprising. … Then Missy and I am going in. And, you realize, Chris did not ask us a complete lot. Wasn’t a lot of an interview.

Steve and Missy Ducote say it was that day after they started to query all the things concerning the investigation into their daughter’s demise. Particularly when Knight handed Dustin that notice, presumably left behind by Megan, and Dustin debated what to do with it.

Missy Ducote: He stated, ”I do not know what I am gonna do with it. I feel I am simply gonna throw it away.” I stated, ”No, do not throw it away. We would want it in a while.”

The very subsequent day, Steve Ducote says Knight confirmed up at his dwelling. He had some information for him.

Steve Ducote: He says, ”Mr. Steve, Megan’s fingerprints have been all around the gun. Dustin’s have been too, but it surely’s his gun.”

Steve Ducote’s brother-in-law Luke Welch was there.

Luke Welch: Steve repeated to him. ”So, the one fingerprints on the gun have been from Megan and Dustin.” And he stated, ”That is it. That is the one ones. Finish of story.”

Steve Ducote: I stated, ”Properly, she will need to have shot herself, then.”

However Steve Ducote would quickly be taught that what he says Det. Knight instructed him was not true. The gun that killed Megan had not been examined in any respect.

David Begnaud: That was a serious flip within the story.

Luke Welch: Sure. That is one of many main turns. This … factor goes 360 levels lots.

QUESTIONING THE INVESTIGATION

Three weeks after Megan Parra’s demise, an post-mortem report declared her reason for demise to be ”a gunshot wound to the pinnacle.” The way of demise was ”suicide.” The report stated Megan examined detrimental for sedatives, and that the gun was in direct contact together with her temple when it went off.

Betsy Jeansonne (crying): A lot life to dwell and love to present.

Megan’s uncle Luke Welch says the medical expert confirmed Knight’s idea that Megan had shot herself. As a result of bear in mind, in line with Knight, Megan’s fingerprints have been discovered throughout that gun.

Luke Welch: With that info coming from Chris, I feel there isn’t any doubt it is a suicide.

Knight denies ever saying he examined that gun, and simply 4 days after the taking pictures, he closed his investigation and summarized it in a one-page report.

David Begnaud (studying Knight’s report): ”In line with the proof, collected statements from household and the physician’s report, this investigation reveals … Megan Parra did in reality commit suicide.”

Betsy Jeansonne: The one physician’s experiences we had have been Lafayette Basic.

David Begnaud: Yeah, however Lafayette Basic was not doing any type of forensic examination on her.

Betsy Jeansonne: No, no.

Jeansonne, who was pregnant together with her first youngster on the time, says Megan had been planning her child bathe.

Betsy Jeansonne: Two days earlier than she died, she requested me what shade balloons I wished.

Megan was additionally simply months away from getting a grasp’s diploma. She had her eye on changing into a faculty principal. Steve Ducote says the extra he considered his daughter’s demise, the much less it made sense.

Steve Ducote: By no means shot a gun. By no means fooled with a gun. Would not have identified learn how to maintain a gun.

He says there was additionally no manner that Megan would have shot herself realizing that he, Missy and her boys would uncover her that manner.

Steve Ducote: She’d by no means do one thing like that.

However Megan was discovered behind locked doorways, there was no proof of pressured entry. So, if she did not kill herself, who pulled the set off?

David Begnaud: Did you begin to imagine that Dustin shot her?

Betsy Jeansonne: Sure.

David Begnaud: And tried to cowl it up.

Betsy Jeansonne: Sure.

There have been questions on Dustin’s alibi. Jeansonne says he instructed three totally different tales to 3 totally different individuals about the place he was when Steve Ducote known as him, however in line with Megan’s household, Knight by no means resolved these conflicting tales.

Betsy Jeansonne: There have been so many issues that weren’t carried out.

Knight additionally by no means adopted up on experiences that Dustin could have been having an affair.

David Begnaud: Did Megan ever speak to you about hassle they have been having within the marriage?

Betsy Jeansonne: She did not.

David Begnaud: Did you ever ask her?

Betsy Jeansonne: I did not. … And I really feel like that is one among my greatest regrets.

Steve Ducote fears that within the days main as much as Megan’s demise, the couple could have been preventing. And one thing within the post-mortem report haunted him.

Steve Ducote: It indicated she had some bruises within the stomach and chest space.

David Begnaud: What do you suppose occurred that morning she was shot?

Betsy Jeansonne: I feel she was leaving him.

Ducote says across the time he was changing into more and more involved about Knight’s investigation, an investigator for the District Legal professional’s Workplace instructed him there was no manner Knight had fingerprinted that gun in simply two days.

Steve Ducote: ”Uh-uh Steve. It takes me, with a rush on it, about 14 days.” … Then I knew.

David Begnaud: Knew what?

Steve Ducote: I knew she hadn’t killed herself then.

However by then, the gun was not in proof. With Knight’s permission, it had been returned to Dustin.

Steve Ducote: They gave him the gun again … earlier than the coroner ever dominated.

Ducote says he begged native authorities to simply hear him out, however nobody would hear. Till 4 months later, when an area decide agreed to assist.

Dan Schaub: Steve Ducote … satisfied the decide that there was one thing to take a look at.

Dan Schaub was commander of the Felony Investigations Unit on the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Workplace. That decide requested Schaub himself to evaluation the case.

Dan Schaub: Very first thing I did was uh, you realize, speak to uh, Steve, see what his considerations have been.

Steve Ducote: We began engaged on issues. And, boy, he was working.

Sadly, says Schaub, there wasn’t a lot to work with.

Dan Schaub: Right here there was not even fundamental Detective 101 that was carried out by Chris Knight.

Schaub says his arms have been additionally considerably tied by Steve Ducote, who prevented him from accessing sure proof, like Megan’s cellphone.

Dan Schaub: At that time … Dustin had the cellphone, and he didn’t need to ask Dustin … for her cellphone.

In line with Ducote, Dustin and the boys have been dwelling in Steve and Missy’s home on the time —and he did not need his son-in-law realizing they have been investigating him. So, Ducote says he requested Schaub to not speak to Dustin till they’d extra proof.

Steve Ducote: I wished to make sure.

David Begnaud: Why not a minimum of name the husband — to not go after him, however to say, hey, hear, simply need to ask some questions so I can button some issues up.

Dan Schaub: That is actual straightforward. I — I did it out of respect for — for the Ducote household.

Reasonably than go in opposition to Steve Ducote, Schaub steered away from Dustin Parra. As an alternative, he reviewed Chris Knight’s one-page report – examined 115 pictures taken by Officer Dave Blanchard, and he talked with two witnesses who had not been interviewed — neighbors, who every thought they heard what seemed like a gunshot that morning, however at two totally different instances. The neighbor on the fitting instructed Schaub she heard a really loud ”increase” slightly after 7 a.m.. However the neighbor to the left instructed Schaub he was sure he heard a gunshot about two hours later.

Dan Schaub: He was nonetheless in mattress, and he wasn’t positive of the time. He supposed at round 9:15.

Schaub says the neighbor to the fitting wasn’t positive if what she heard at round 7 a.m. was really a gunshot—so he created a timeline based mostly on what the opposite neighbor reported listening to. Then, the query turned might Dustin have even been dwelling at 9:15 a.m.?

David Begnaud: Dustin arrives at Walmart – 

Dan Schaub: Sure.

David Begnaud: — at 8:53 a.m.

A state trooper instructed Commander Schaub that he noticed Dustin at an intersection not removed from that Walmart, simply earlier than 9 a.m. Knight by no means had Walmart’s surveillance footage subpoenaed to confirm Dustin’s alibi, however Schaub discovered the following greatest proof: a time-stamped receipt.

David Begnaud: Dustin indicators for scripts at Walmart at 9:43 a.m.

Dan Schaub: OK, yeah.

David Begnaud: So based mostly on this timeline from you, there isn’t any manner Dustin might have been on the home when the shot was fired?

Dan Schaub: That is a — uh, uh, uh, an affordable conclusion, sure.

On Jan. 15, 2015, Dan Schaub launched his eight-page report, additionally concluding that Megan ”died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

Ducote didn’t purchase Dan Schaub’s timeline, which he had based mostly on the neighbor who reported listening to a gunshot round 9:15 am. However Schaub’s report ended up being a present. Ducote now had these 115 pictures taken the morning of Megan’s taking pictures—and his investigation was about to ramp up.

Steve Ducote (displaying Begnaud a photograph): This, you realize, caught everyone’s consideration.

THE FAMILY FINDS CLUES IN THE PHOTOS

Commander Dan Schaub’s conclusion that Megan Parra seemingly shot herself, was yet one more blow to the Ducote household’s idea that she could have been murdered by her husband, Dustin Parra. However Schaub’s report did present some useful clues, says Steve Ducote.

Steve Ducote: That report got here with some blurred footage.

So Steve Ducote tracked down the officer who took the pictures, Dave Blanchard, and it seems he nonetheless had the originals. He by no means deleted them from his digital camera.

David Begnaud: Why did you save them?

David Blanchard: As a result of it was proof. … I do not know. It caught out. … Suspicious.

Charles Riddle: He thought that there have been some issues that weren’t resolved within the investigation.

Blanchard gave the digital pictures to Avoyelles Parish District Legal professional Charles Riddle, and Riddle shared them with an insistent Steve Ducote.

Steve Ducote: I stated … ”I am not leaving with out these footage.”

David Begnaud: Did you undergo all of the … pictures?

Betsy Jeansonne: Sure.

Steve Ducote and his daughter Betsy Jeansonne started learning these 115 pictures from the day Megan was shot.

Betsy Jeansonne: And I’ve had lots of people ask me … how might you take a look at these crime scene pictures of your sister?

David Begnaud:  Yeah.

Betsy Jeansonne:  And I might say, she’d have carried out it for me.

Jeansonne says she additionally spent hours on the web learning blood spatter patterns, as a result of one thing concerning the blood round Megan simply did not look proper to her.

Betsy Jeansonne: You’ll be able to see the blood spatter the place it ought to have been on the exit wound aspect.

Steve Ducote: Mm-hmm.

Betsy Jeansonne: It is really on the doorway wound aspect. And there isn’t any spatter on the exit wound.

Steve Ducote: There’s all the time extra exit wound blood than entry wound blood.

Steve Ducote was starting to imagine that his daughter had been rolled over, after she was shot. Additionally troubling to him was that seemingly clear gun—Dustin Parra’s gun, which Ducote says ought to have had blood on it.

To Ducote, it appeared that the gun had been cleaned. Then there was that image of Megan’s boys, that Dustin found in her pocket. Ducote believes it was Dustin who put it there within the first place.

Steve Ducote: In case you gonna make it appear like suicide, you are going to do issues like that.

Ducote additionally thinks Dustin planted the alleged suicide notice, and firmly believes it was not even written by his daughter.

Steve Ducote: She by no means wrote in strong print. She’d write blended, print, script, print, in the identical phrase.

A few of the pictures revealed clues of a battle says Steve. Like a wine rack discovered behind a chair, and this guitar mendacity on the ground.

Steve Ducote: I feel they have been preventing.

A number of months later, Steve Ducote circled again to District Legal professional Riddle and confirmed him among the pictures that involved him.

Charles Riddle: And as I checked out it, I saved saying … ”this cannot be what was discovered to be a suicide.”

Riddle says he tried to get the sheriff’s workplace to take one other take a look at the case, however they refused.

Charles Riddle: The native police division actually did not have the capability. So, we tried to get state police to look into it and so they did not appear to be .

So, Riddle went to then-Avoyelles Parish coroner Dr. L. J. Mayeux — who had issued Megan’s demise certificates. Primarily based on the medical expert’s report, Mayeux had labeled Megan’s demise a ”suicide.” Riddle tried to get him to alter it to ”undetermined.”

David Begnaud: Why did you need that?

Charles Riddle: In order that we might open up an investigation. … And we began displaying him among the pictures … And, uh, he stated, ”hey, I am satisfied that we — it should be reopened.”

Mayeux reviewed Knight’s one-page report.

David Begnaud: What are you aware about Chris Knight’s investigation of this demise?

L.J. Mayeux: Sloppy and really questionable.

Mayeux says he came upon that Knight had not even attended Megan’s post-mortem. However the former nook admits that his workplace additionally didn’t conduct a lot of an investigation.

David Begnaud: Did you ever interview the husband?

L.J. Mayeux: No, sir.

David Begnaud: Why not?

L.J. Mayeux: We could not discover him.

David Begnaud: Did you attempt calling him?

L.J. Mayeux: Sure. No reply.

In 2017, Riddle despatched a letter written by Mayeux to the Louisiana State Police, requesting a evaluation of the case. Within the letter, Mayeux wrote, ”I used to be knowledgeable that there have been pictures … which I had not seen …” and ”many questions are unanswered.”  The state police did agree to take a look at the case.

David Begnaud: What got here of that?

L.J. Mayeux: The state police discovered no proof to overturn the preliminary findings.

By now, Dustin Parra had moved on. He married his second spouse, and so they have been elevating Megan’s sons. However Steve Ducote couldn’t transfer on, and he known as an outdated highschool buddy for assist: David Lemoine, a extremely revered FBI agent who was now retired and dwelling in Nebraska.

David Begnaud: What’d you inform him?

Steve Ducote: I stated I would like some assist. … I would like to search out out who did it.

In 2018, greater than 4 years after Megan was shot, David Lemoine flew to Cottonport to spend time along with his brother, Peter Lemoine, and to take a gathering with Steve Ducote.

Steve Ducote requested his outdated buddy to evaluation a binder full of pictures and paperwork, says Peter Lemoine.

Peter Lemoine: He got here to my home that evening, spent hours and hours simply sifting by way of the proof. And by the following morning, he went to Steve’s home and stated … ”Your daughter was murdered.”

FORMER FBI AGENTS TAKE A NEW LOOK AT THE CASE

Peter Lemoine: I might all the time inform Steve … ”so long as my brother is on this case, you are going to be OK.”

Peter Lemoine remembers the day in 2019 when his brother, former FBI agent David Lemoine got here out of retirement, decided to assist Steve Ducote unravel his daughter Megan’s demise.

Peter Lemoine: As soon as David Lemoine knew that that lady was killed, nothing was going to cease him.

Zack Shelton: He was fired up when he known as me.

Zack Shelton received a name from his buddy and fellow retired FBI agent asking for assist.

Zack Shelton: And once I reviewed the file … there was one thing there. There was little doubt in my thoughts that we have been headed in the fitting path.

Steve Ducote: I had no assist. Little or no assist. … Then, I had the perfect I might ever get.

However to dig into the case, the previous FBI brokers wanted new badges. So, they turned to one of many solely native regulation enforcement officers prepared to assist. On the time, Earnest Anderson was Cottonport’s police chief. He agreed to reopen the case, and to deputize David Lemoine and Zack Shelton.

Zack Shelton: And he swore us in as Cottonport … law enforcement officials. And that gave us the authority to look into it.

Then-Assistant Police Chief Justin Chenevert requested to be assigned to the case. He strapped on his bodycam, and helped two seasoned investigators interview witnesses.

On Jan. 15, 2019, the unique detective on the case agreed to speak. By then a police officer in a neighboring city, Chris Knight stated that on the day of the taking pictures he felt overwhelmed and known as for backup. Amongst others, Chad Jeansonne, a widely known detective and blood spatter skilled confirmed up, and Knight says Chad Jeansonne instructed him it was clear, Megan had shot herself.

CHRIS KNIGHT (police interview): The best way the physique was positioned and the blood splatter and the gun that it really was a suicide.

However on a recorded interview, Chad Jeansonne disputed Knight’s account.

CHAD JEANSONNE: What Detective Knight mainly wished to know was … might I decide if this was a suicide or not? I stated, no, it is not that straightforward.

Chad Jeansonne says he instructed Knight that the scene was badly contaminated — and he suggested Knight to analyze carefully, till he might rule out murder. However Knight admits he by no means even despatched the gun out for testing:

DAVID LEMOINE: Why not?

CHRIS KNIGHT: I do not know.

And Knight stated he had by no means absolutely examined the proof:

CHRIS KNIGHT: As a result of I checked out it as a suicide and never murder. …

CHRIS KNIGHT: If I botched this, you realize, then I imply, I am going to take the butt — my fault, you realize? However was it carried out — however was it carried out on function? Completely not.

Knight repeatedly refused ”48 Hours”’ requests for an interview, however did ship a written assertion, which reads partially: ”I used to be a younger, inexperienced investigator,” and ”Would I do some issues in another way at the moment? With the coaching and expertise I now have, completely.”  Shelton and David Lemoine have been now working arduous to do higher—and did one thing Knight by no means had.

JUSTIN CHENEVERT: Go forward and state your title for me.

DUSTIN PARRA: Dustin Parra.

They questioned Dustin Parra extensively, for greater than an hour.

ZACK SHELTON: Was there any arguing occurring, any preventing occurring?

DUSTIN PARRA: Not in — not something {that a} regular married couple would undergo.

Dustin stated that within the weeks main as much as her demise, his spouse had appeared depressed, and obsessive about the query of the place younger kids go after they die.

DUSTIN PARRA: In the midst of the evening, she’d come wake me up. I am unable to cease pondering that my children would not go to heaven if one thing occurred to them.

Steve Ducote: Dustin’s the one one who stated that. … She by no means talked about it to anyone.

Zack Shelton: What by no means made sense to me is, if he thought she was going to commit suicide … it was no manner he would have left his spouse alone to go to Walmart.

And what about these rumors of infidelity?

ZACK SHELTON: Did you’ve gotten affairs?

DUSTIN PARRA: Sure …

ZACK SHELTON: Did she find out about it?

DUSTIN PARRA: To my information, no, as a result of she did not query me.

Additionally troubling to David Lemoine and Zack Shelton was the way in which Steve Ducote described Dustin sliding into Megan’s blood.

Steve Ducote: He got here working in from the storage door … he will get in a baseball slide place, and he slides.

DUSTIN PARRA: I slipped in a pool of blood at her — at round her head.

Dustin stated it was an accident. However Shelton didn’t purchase that.

Zack Shelton: What higher factor to slip in, proper within the blood. And disrupt the crime scene.

Dustin was additionally requested concerning the alleged suicide notice, which Lemoine and Shelton have been now satisfied had been planted by Dustin himself.

DAVID LEMOINE: Any individual planted this notice after she died, who might which have been?

DUSTIN PARRA: I actually do not know.

Dustin repeatedly denied having something to do with Megan’s demise, or any type of coverup:

DUSTIN PARRA: I really feel like y’all attempting to incriminate me.

DAVID LEMOINE: You want to come clear, and you might want to say, we received in a combat and possibly she grabbed the gun first …

ZACK SHELTON: Perhaps she shot herself in entrance of you. I do not know, however you have been there.

DUSTIN PARRA: When she was shot, I used to be not there.

David Lemoine pushed so arduous that Dustin abruptly ended the interview:

DUSTIN PARRA: All proper, I am carried out guys.

Zack Shelton: In that second … I am pondering he is undoubtedly concerned. … See, that is early on.

Shelton and David Lemoine additionally interviewed Anne Guillory, the neighbor who thought she could have heard a gunshot early that morning:

ANN GUILLORY: Slightly after 7 a.m., I heard a increase (claps arms), a loud increase.

DAVID LEMOINE: And also you clearly heard it?

ANN GUILLORY: Oh, sure, it was very loud ’trigger I stated to myself, ”Oh my gosh, that was a loud noise.”

Zack Shelton: We even have a man on the left aspect that stated he had heard a gunshot round 9:20 … however he wasn’t positive if it was a gunshot.

Zack Shelton and David Lemoine have been satisfied, that Anne Guillory, the neighbor to the fitting, heard the shot that killed Megan slightly after 7 a.m., leaving Dustin loads of time to shoot his spouse and canopy up his crime, then drive to Walmart. However their case was purely circumstantial, till a forensic skilled employed by Steve Ducote found what he believes to be the bodily proof connecting Dustin Parra to the taking pictures.

Missy Ducote: Places him there. Places him there when my daughter was shot.

AN EXPERT DISCOVERS KEY EVIDENCE

It was now 2020, and Zack Shelton and David Lemoine have been feeling assured concerning the case they have been constructing in opposition to Dustin Parra. Then, says Peter Lemoine, as COVID-19 hit the U.S., the lethal virus killed his brother David Lemoine on Dec. 28, 2020.

Peter Lemoine: I made up my thoughts at that very time that, I used to be going to complete what he began.

Betsy Jeansonne: Mr. Peter simply actually picked up the place Mr. David left off.

Zack Shelton and Steve Ducote now had a brand new accomplice, a extremely revered native lawyer.

Steve Ducote: Went to work on it as arduous as any human might have labored on it, you realize.

Peter Lemoine says his predominant job was to maintain their case in entrance of District Legal professional Charles Riddle.

Peter Lemoine: In an effort to be sure that it was aggressively prosecuted. … What he instructed me was … we’d like extra.

So, Steve Ducote requested the Jefferson Parish Crime Lab to look at the proof and examine for suspicious blood spatter on Dustin’s clothes. The lab discovered no proof of homicide, or any proof Dustin was there when the gun went off. However Ducote was nonetheless satisfied that Dustin had shot Megan and had purposely slid into her blood to cowl up any incriminating spatter. So, in April 2021, Ducote employed an impartial crime scene analyst named Eric Richardson.

David Begnaud: Are you able to present me the blood spatter?

Eric Richardson: Yeah. … OK. So, once you look shut, you see these very, very small misting sample proper right here.

Richardson examined pictures of the shorts worn by Dustin Parra—and he homed in on a high-quality mist of blood proper underneath a pocket flap. It is a sample he says can solely be attributable to excessive velocity blood spatter from a gunshot wound.

Eric Richardson: It instructed me that Dustin was there when that gun was discharged into Megan’s head.

David Begnaud: You positive?

Eric Richardson: Constructive.

Betsy Jeansonne: It was concrete, concrete proof.

Peter Lemoine (to Shelton): We proved he was within the room subsequent to her. We all know that it was his gun.

Zack Shelton: The one rationalization is that he killed her.

Eric Richardson additionally agreed that the gun appeared prefer it had been cleaned. On Oct. 13, 2021, Riddle took the case to a grand jury.

David Begnaud: Six minutes after you current it to the grand jury, they arrive again with a cost of?

Charles Riddle: Second-degree homicide.

Dustin was arrested, pleaded not responsible, and was launched on bond. Primarily based on the blood spatter that Richardson discovered on Dustin’s shorts and the costs, the medical expert revised Megan’s post-mortem report, and adjusted the way of demise from ”suicide” to ”undetermined.” Riddle ready for a now almost nine-year-old case to go to trial.

Charles Riddle: We imagine she was shot about 7:30.

David Begnaud: You suppose he left her there whereas she was nonetheless alive?

Charles Riddle: Oh, I do know he did. Yeah.

However it was not an open-and-shut case says Riddle. He says consultants from the State Police and the Jefferson Parish crime labs have been going to be known as by the protection and instructed him they’d be testifying that the blood spatter on Dustin’s shorts didn’t show he was current when the gun went off. After which there was Megan’s notice to her sons. A handwriting skilled employed by Steve Ducote was going to testify that it was more than likely written by Megan. However Riddle says he was ready to argue that it was not a suicide notice.

Charles Riddle: I assumed that she was simply leaving him.

There was additionally the issue of proving what time Megan was shot, the place Dustin was when it occurred and the way lengthy Megan might had been mendacity on the ground earlier than Steve and Missy Ducote found her nonetheless alive.

David Begnaud: the harm it did to her mind, proper?

Charles Riddle: Oh, God, sure. … I am stunned she was nonetheless alive. Yeah.

David Begnaud: What might you see the protection making hay of efficiently?

Zack Shelton: They have been gonna make hay over the accident the evening earlier than. … they have been gonna say that she tried to commit suicide the evening earlier than.

On Friday, March 24, 2023, simply three days earlier than Dustin Parra’s homicide trial was set to start, Riddle says his telephone rang.

Charles Riddle: I get a name from the protection lawyer. … He stated, properly, ”I need to provide a plea. … Negligent murder.”

Negligent murder within the State of Louisiana isn’t outlined as a criminal offense of violence, and solely carries a sentence of as much as five-years.

Peter Lemoine: David, it was an terrible deal. If all you gonna get is negligent murder, you are not risking a lot in any respect by going to trial.

Steve Ducote: I used to be involved that he might … stroll away a free man. By no means clear her title for these boys … and so they by no means know the reality.

The Ducotes stated they’d conform to a deal, however provided that Dustin answered some very particular questions. On March 26, 2023, Dustin Parra pleaded nolo contendere or no contest to negligent murder, and Riddle received to query him on the stand. Riddle learn to ”48 Hours” from the document.

CHARLES RIDDLE (studying): ”Your marriage to her was a battle for the final couple of months of her life, right?” Reply by Parra, ”sure, sir.”  ”On the morning of June twenty eighth, 2014, you and her have been arguing and he or she threatened to go away, right?” Parra, ”sure. I am not contesting this a part of the nolo contendere plea.” … ”You had a pistol in your hand and within the battle, the gun went off firing into her head, right?” Reply, ”sure. I am not contesting this a part of the nolo contendere plea.”

Charles Riddle: We wished to be sure that he admitted that he shot her, and it was not suicide.

Steve Ducote: To us, as a household, him admitting to that, that was big.

David Begnaud: You all weren’t carried out. What was the final and subsequent factor you wished to do?

Missy Ducote: Get these boys.

Dustin had full custody of his and Megan’s sons—and he’d had it for almost 9 years. They lived with him and his new spouse.

David Begnaud: You wished full custody?

Missy Ducote: Full custody.

David Begnaud: Stripping him of his rights?

Missy Ducote: Full custody.

David Begnaud: And you bought it.

Missy Ducote: And we received it.

On April 20, 2023, Missy and Steve Ducote have been granted full custody. 

Seven days later, ”48 Hours” was there when Dustin and his spouse arrived on the sheriff’s workplace in order that Dustin might flip himself in.

David Begnaud: Dustin, we tried to succeed in you. I wished to get your aspect. I wished to listen to from you. … Individuals are going to observe this and so they see your silence. … Silence is all you are leaving us with.

Dustin by no means stated a phrase.

David Begnaud: I do marvel what you suppose Megan would say to you on the conclusion of all of this if she might.

Steve Ducote (emotional): She’d say, deal with these boys, and possibly say thanks for not giving up.

Missy Ducote: God blesses those that starvation and thirst for justice, for they are going to be glad. Am I glad? … If I do know Meg’s OK up there alongside Jesus and all of the angels … However in my coronary heart … she’ll be perpetually 29.

Megan Parra’s demise certificates now lists her method of demise as murder.

Dustin Parra will seemingly serve 18 months in jail and the rest of his five-year sentence out on parole. His nursing license has been completely revoked.

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Produced by Judy Rybak. Emily Wichick Hourihane is the sector producer. Anthony Venditti is the content material analysis supervisor. Shaheen Tokhi is the affiliate producer. Jud Johnson and Grayce Arlotta-Berner are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.