48 Hours - The Suspicious Death of Megan Parra

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

When a mother of two is found dead in her home, her father obtains death scene photos that help solve the case. "48 Hours" contributor David Begnaud reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Megan was one of the most charitable people I knew. She was always so giving of herself. She was a kindergarten teacher. She was the most amazing mother. She was my kindergarten teacher. She was the most amazing mother.

She was my little sister. But I really looked up to her. She was very loving, caring, and the last of my three. A bit of a daddy's girl? Yep. You know, we were close. It was a Saturday morning. We walked in, and when we got to the dining room,

we saw her laying on the floor. I thought she had slipped and fell. Then we saw the blood, and I saw the gun kind of tucked against her leg. I'm hollering, screaming, yelling at Steve to call 911. She was barely breathing. I thought she had shot herself. I mean, I didn't see anybody else around. I thought she had shot herself.

I mean, I didn't see anybody else around. The next morning at 7.55, they pronounced her dead. Pretty quickly, the police declared it a suicide. Then the medical examiner declared it a suicide. What was your reaction? No way. Something's not right. I knew something was wrong with this case from the start.

I knew she hadn't killed herself. Had blood splatter on top of it. Very important. We were on the computer researching and learning about ballistics, about blood splatter. Blood splatter. The gun. I would expect if the barrel of a gun

is up against someone's temple that there would be blood and hair on that barrel. And there is not. Completely clean. Not even on the end of the barrel. No hair, no blood. The state shuts you down. Oh yeah. Sheriff shuts you down.

Right. Coroner shuts you down. Right. The state shuts you down. Oh, yeah. Sheriff shuts you down. Right. Coroner shuts you down. Right.

Thereby launches a years-long investigation, spearheaded by your husband. Absolutely. He was our leader, and he kept us going. People thought we were just a grieving family. People thought he was just not able to move forward. And he just led us for nine years, still leading us. Altyazı M.K. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most.

Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the troubled case against Crosley Green, wherever you get your podcasts. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Crosley Green, wherever you get your podcasts. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one

belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime, early and ad-free right now. On a steamy summer morning in 2014, in the tiny southern town of Cottonport, Louisiana,

Steve and Missy Ducote faced the unthinkable. I wouldn't know how to tell you I've never felt like that before or since. The couple found their youngest daughter, Megan, lying on the floor of her living room. I had no idea what was to become of all this. The 29-year-old mother of two appeared to have been shot in the head. It was a.357 Magnum gun with a.38 caliber bullet. Just one day earlier, Megan's parents and her husband, then 30-year-old Dustin Parra, had been dealing with the aftermath of a car crash.

Dustin called and said that Megan had been in an accident. Megan was alone, driving down this stretch of road not far from home, when she somehow careened off the road and hit a tree. Dustin grabbed their two young sons and rushed to the scene. So did Steve and Missy. Cop said she was going about 45 miles an hour, wasn't on her phone, had her seatbelt on. Megan had only minor injuries, but a state trooper was troubled by the fact that there were no skid marks. He said that she had not applied the brakes.

Cop came and he asked me, would your daughter want to try to hurt herself? Well, I said, no, I don't think so. But it was not clear whether Megan actually tried to stop the car. Missy says Megan told her she was distracted. She said she had lost focus. But Steve says Megan told him the brakes didn't work and that she hit that tree to avoid the bayou. However, the brakes were never tested.

At the Avoyles Parish Hospital, where Dustin worked as a nurse, Megan was treated for a cut to her right hand. Once released, Dustin took his wife home, while Missy and Steve kept their boys overnight. The next morning, around 7 a.m., Megan sent her mother a text. Next morning around 7 a.m., Megan sent her mother a text. Hi, Mom. Are the boys okay? Are y'all okay? I called her and I told her that when the kids would get up and I had fixed breakfast, we would bring her breakfast and go check on her. Anything sound unusual?

Not at all. About an hour later, Missy says Dustin called her to say that Megan was going to take a bath while he went out to fill a prescription for her at the local Walmart. He said he would pick up the kids on the way back. Well, an hour has passed by and he's still not here. And then I said, let's go. We need to go. It was close to 10 a.m. when Steve and Missy arrived at their daughter's house with their grandchildren in tow. And there they discovered Megan laying on the floor with blood pooling around her head. She was still in the paper shirt from the hospital and underwear.

underwear. I grabbed the oldest boy, and when I leaned over to pick him up, I saw the gun kind of tucked against her leg. Missy called her parents to pick up the kids. Steve called 911. Missy, a nurse practitioner, knelt beside her daughter and realized she still had a pulse. She was breathing just barely, though. Steve called Dustin. I can't remember exactly if I told him Megan killed herself or Megan shot herself. And I said, where are you? He said, I'm in, man, sir.

I just came through the four-way stop sign. Dave Blanchard was the first officer on the scene. I entered the house, saw the victim on the floor. Mrs. Ducote was administering first aid to the head area. Dustin arrived about 10 minutes later. He comes running in, and then he slides, and he just catches the end of the blood. After he slid, he got up. He pushed the gun away.

Missy says Dustin then reached into a pocket in Megan's paper shirt. And he pulled out a picture. It was a picture of their boys. Dustin and Missy, both medically trained, worked to save Megan. Minutes later, paramedics arrived. That's when Officer Blanchard began documenting the scene. I didn't want to interfere in him giving a first aid. Later, paramedics arrived. That's when Officer Blanchard began documenting the scene. I didn't want to interfere in him giving a first aid.

Megan was airlifted to a trauma center in Lafayette. The mayor of Cottonport drove Steve, Missy, and Dustin in his car. Back at the para home, Officer Blanchard continued to document the scene and collect evidence, including that gun, which belonged to Dustin, Dustin Dustin's shorts which were bloodied from that slide, and this note which was discovered on the kitchen counter. It says, tell the boys I love them. I'm sorry. That was it.

The morning after the shooting, as her parents struggled with how Megan could have taken her own life, doctors told the family they had done all they could. That is when the decision was made to take her off life support. The next morning, Megan's organs were donated. Her body was transported to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. That's when Dustin and the Ducotes headed for the Cottonport Police Department to meet with lead detective Christopher Knight. Well, Dustin went in first. He came back out and he raised his hand and said,

I'm not a suspect. It was kind of shocking. Then Missy and I go in and, you know, Chris didn't ask us a whole lot. It wasn't much of an interview. Steve and Missy say it was that day when they began to question everything about the investigation into their daughter's death, especially when Detective Knight handed Dustin that note, presumably left behind by Megan, and Dustin debated what to do with it. He said,

I don't know what I'm going to do it i think i'm just gonna throw it away i said no don't throw it away we might need it later on the very next day steve says detective knight showed up at his home he had some news for him he says mr steve megan's fingerprints were all over the gun. Dustin's were too, but it's his gun. Steve's brother-in-law, Luke Welsh, was there. Steve repeated to him, so the only fingerprints on the gun were from Megan and Dustin. And he said, that's it. That's the only ones. End of story.

I said, well, she must have shot herself then. I said, well, she must have shot herself then. But Steve would soon learn that what he says Detective Chris Knight told him was not true. The gun that killed Megan had not been tested at all. That was a major turn in the story. Yes, that's one of the major turns. This thing goes 360 degrees a lot. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy

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Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Three weeks after Megan Parra's death, an autopsy report declared her cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the head. The manner of death was suicide. The report said Megan tested negative for sedatives and that the gun was in direct contact with her temple when it went off. So much life to live and love to give. Megan's uncle, Luke Welch, says the medical examiner confirmed Detective Chris Knight's theory,

that Megan had shot herself. Because remember, according to Knight, Megan's fingerprints were found all over that gun. With that information coming from Chris, I think there's no doubt it's a suicide. Detective Knight denies ever saying he tested that gun. And just four days after the shooting, he closed his investigation and summarized it in this one-page report. According to the evidence collected, statements from family

and the doctor's report, this investigation shows Megan Parra did, in fact, commit suicide. The only doctor's report we had were Lafayette General. Yeah, but Lafayette General was not doing any kind of forensic exam on her. No, no, no. Betsy, who was pregnant with her first child at the time, says Megan had been planning her baby shower. child at the time, says Megan had been planning her baby shower.

Two days before she died, she asked me what color balloons I wanted. Megan was also just months away from getting a master's degree. She had her eye on becoming a school principal. Steve says the more he thought about his daughter's death, the less it made sense. I never shot a gun, never flew with a gun. Wouldn't have known how to hold a gun. He says there's also no way that Megan would have shot herself, knowing that he, Missy, and her boys would discover her that way. She'd never do something like that.

But Megan was found behind locked doors. There was no evidence of forced entry. So if she didn't kill herself, who pulled the trigger? Megan was found behind locked doors. There was no evidence of forced entry. So if she didn't kill herself, who pulled the trigger? Did you start to believe that Dustin shot her? Yes. And tried to cover it up? Yes.

There were questions about Dustin's alibi. Betsy says he told three different stories to three different people about where he was when Steve called him. But according to Megan's family, Detective Knight never resolved those conflicting stories. There were so many things that were not done. Knight also never followed up on reports that Dustin may have been having an affair. Did Megan ever talk to you about trouble they were having in the marriage?

She didn't. Did you ever ask her? I didn't. And I feel like that's one of my biggest regrets. Steve fears that in the days leading up to Megan's death, the couple may have been fighting. And something in the autopsy report haunted him. It indicated she had some bruises in the abdomen and chest

area. What do you think happened that morning she was shot? I think she was leaving him. Steve says around the time he was becoming increasingly concerned about Detective Chris Knight's investigation, an investigator for the district attorney's office told him

there was no way Detective Knight had fingerprinted that gun in just two days. Uh-uh, Steve. It takes me with a rush on it about 14 days. Then I knew. Knew what? Well, I knew she hadn't killed herself then. But by then, the gun was no longer in evidence. With Detective Knight's permission, it had been returned to Dustin. They gave him the gun back before the coroner ever ruled. Steve says he begged local authorities to just hear him out. But no one would listen.

Until four months later when a local judge agreed to help. Steve Ducote convinced the judge that there was something to look at. Dan Schaub was commander of the criminal investigations unit at the Avoyals Parish Sheriff's Office. That judge asked Schaub himself to review the case. First thing I did was, you know, talk to Steve, see what his concerns were. We started working on things. Boy, he was working. Unfortunately, says Schaub, there wasn't much to work with.

Here there was not even basic Detective 101 that was done by Chris Knight. Schaub says his hands were also somewhat tied by Steve Ducote, who prevented him from accessing certain evidence, like Megan's cell phone. At that point, Dustin had the cell phone, and he did not want to ask Dustin for her cell phone. According to Steve, Dustin and the boys were living in Steve and Missy's house at the time, and he didn't want his son-in-law knowing they were investigating him. So Steve says he asked Schaub not to talk to Dustin until they had more evidence. I wanted to be sure.

Why not at least call the husband? Not to go after him, but to say, hey, listen, just want to ask some questions so I can button some things up. It's real easy. I did it out of respect for the Ducote family. up. It's real easy. I did it out of respect for the Ducote family. Rather than go against Steve Ducote, Schaub steered clear of Dustin Parra. Instead, he reviewed Chris Knight's one-page report, examined 115 photos taken by Officer Dave Blanchard, and he talked with two witnesses who had not been interviewed. Neighbors, who each thought they heard what sounded like a gunshot that morning,

but at two different times. The neighbor on the right told Schaub she heard a very loud boom a little after 7 a.m., but the neighbor on the left told Schaub he was certain. He heard a gunshot about two hours later. He was still in bed, and he wasn't sure of the time. He supposed around 9.15. Schaub says the neighbor to the right wasn't sure if what she heard at 7 a.m. was actually a gunshot.

So he created a timeline based on what the other neighbor reported hearing. Then the question became, could Dustin have even been home at 9.15 a.m.? Dustin arrives at Walmart at 8.53 a.m. A state trooper told Commander Schaub that he saw Dustin at an intersection not far from that Walmart just before 9 a.m. Chris Knight never had Walmart surveillance footage subpoenaed to verify Dustin's alibi. But Schaub found the next best evidence, a time-stamped receipt. Dustin signs for Scripps at Walmart at 9.43 a.m. Okay, yeah.

So based on this timeline from you, there's no way Dustin could have been at the house when the shot was fired? That's a reasonable conclusion, yes. On January 15th, 2015, Dan Schaub released his eight-page report, also concluding that Megan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Steve did not buy Dan Schaub's timeline, which he had based on the neighbor who reported hearing a gunshot around 9.15 a.m.

But Schaub's report ended up being a gift. Steve Ducote now had those 115 photos taken the morning of Megan's shooting. And his investigation was about to ramp up. This, you know, caught everybody's attention. It'll caught everybody's attention. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman.

The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who'd attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created, literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder,

early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Commander Dan Schaub's conclusion that Megan Perra likely shot herself was yet another blow to the Ducote family's theory that she may have been murdered by her husband, Dustin. Para likely shot herself, was yet another blow to the Ducote family's theory, that she may have been murdered by her husband, Dustin. But Schaub's report did provide some valuable clues, says Steve Ducote. That report came with some blurred pictures.

So Steve tracked down the officer who took the photos, Dave Blanchard. And it turns out he still had the originals. He never deleted them from his camera. Why did you save them? Because there was evidence. I don't know, it stuck out. Suspicious. He thought that there were some things that weren't resolved in the investigation. Blanchard gave the digital images to the Avoyles Parish District Attorney, Charles Riddle, and Riddle shared them with an insistent Steve. I said, I'm not leaving without those pictures. Did you go through all the photos? Yes.

Steve and his daughter Betsy began studying those 115 photos from the day Megan was shot. And I've had a lot of people ask me, how could you look at those crime scene photos of your sister? Yeah. And I'd say, she'd have done it for me. Betsy says she also spent hours on the internet studying blood spatter patterns. Because something about the blood around Megan just didn't look right to her.

You can see the blood spatter where it should have been on the exit wound side. It's actually on the entrance wound side. And there's no spatter on the exit wound. There's always more exit wound blood than entry wound blood. Steve was beginning to believe that his daughter had been rolled over after she was shot. Also troubling to him was that seemingly clean gun, Dustin's gun. People all said blood should have been all the way up here. To Steve, it appeared that the gun had been wiped clean. Then there was that picture of Megan's boys that Dustin discovered in her pocket.

Steve believes it was Dustin who put it there in the first place. If you're going to make it look like suicide, you're going to do things like that. Steve also thinks Dustin planted the alleged suicide note and firmly believes it was not even written by his daughter. She never wrote in solid print. She write mixed print, script, print, script, in the same word. Some of the photos revealed clues of a struggle, says Steve. Like this wine rack found behind a chair

and this guitar lying on the floor. I think they were fighting. Several months later, Steve Ducote circled back to District Attorney Riddle and showed him some of the photos that concerned him. And as I looked at it, I kept saying, this can't be what was found to be a suicide. Riddle says he tried to get the sheriff's department to take another look at the case, but they refused. The local police department really didn't have the

capacity, so we tried to get state police to look into it, and they didn't seem to be interested. So Riddle went to then-of-Oyles Parish coroner Dr. L.J. Mayu, who had issued Megan's death certificate. Based on the medical examiner's report, Mayu had classified Megan's death a suicide. Riddle tried to get him to change it to undetermined. Why did you want that? So that we could open up an investigation. And we started showing him some of the photos, and he said, hey, I'm convinced that it ought to be reopened. Dr. Mayu reviewed Detective Chris Knight's one-page report.

What do you know about Chris Knight's investigation of this death? Sloppy and very questionable. Mayu says he found out that Chris Knight had not even attended Megan's autopsy. But the former coroner admits that his office also didn't conduct much of an investigation. Did you ever interview the husband? No, sir. Why not? We couldn't find him. Did you try calling him? Yes. No answer. Yes. No answer. In 2017, District Attorney Charles Riddle sent this letter, written by Dr. Mayu,

to the Louisiana State Police requesting a review of the case. In the letter, Mayu wrote, I was informed that there were photographs which I had not seen, and many questions are unanswered. The state police did agree to look at the case. What came of that? The state police found no evidence to overturn the initial findings. By now, Dustin had moved on. He married his second wife, and they were raising Megan's sons. But Steve Ducote could not move on.

And he called an old high school buddy for help, David Lemoine, a highly respected FBI agent who is now retired and living in Nebraska. What'd you tell him? I said, I need some help. I need to find out who did it. In 2018, more than four years after Megan was shot, David Lemoine flew to Cottonport to spend time with his brother, Peter Lemoine,

and to take a meeting with Steve Ducote. Steve asked his old friend to review a binder filled with photographs and documents, says Peter Lemoine. He came to my house that night, spent hours and hours just sifting through the evidence. And by the next morning, he went to Steve's house and said, your daughter was murdered. What do you make of the family's determination to get answers? See more evidence from the case at 48hours.com. I'd always tell Steve, as long as my brother is in this case, you're going to be okay.

Steve, as long as my brother is in this case, you're going to be okay. Peter Lemoine remembers the day in 2019 when his brother, former FBI agent David Lemoine, came out of retirement, determined to help Steve Ducote get to the bottom of his daughter Megan's death. Once David Lemoine knew that that girl was killed, nothing was going to stop him. He was fired up when he called me. Zach Shelton got a call from his friend and fellow retired FBI agent asking for help. And when I reviewed the file, there was something there. There was no doubt in my mind that we were headed in the right direction. I had no help, very little help.

Then I had the best I could ever get. But to dig into the case, the former FBI agents needed new badges. So they turned to one of the only local law enforcement officials willing to help. It's great to see you. At the time, Ernest Anderson was Cottonport's police chief. He agreed to reopen the case and to deputize David Lemoine and Zach Shelton. And he swore us in as Concord Police officers, and that gave us the authority to look into it. Then-Assistant Police Chief Justin Chenevert asked to be assigned to the case.

He strapped on his body cam and helped two seasoned investigators interview witnesses. Go ahead, state your name. Christopher Knight. On January 15th, 2019, the original detective on the case agreed to talk. By then, a police officer in a neighboring town. Chris Knight said that on the day of the shooting, he felt overwhelmed and called for backup. Among others, Chad Jansan, a well-known detective and blood spatter expert, showed up.

And Knight says Jansan told him it was clear Megan had shot herself. The way the body was positioned and the blood splatter and the gun,

that it actually was shot. But on a recorded interview, Okay, we're on the record. Jansan disputed Knight's account. What Detective Knight basically wanted to know was, could I determine if this was a suicide or not?

I said, no, it's not that simple. Jean-Saul says he told Detective Knight that the scene was badly contaminated. And he advised Knight to investigate closely until he could rule out homicide. But Knight admits he never sent the gun out for testing. Went off? I have no idea. And said he had never fully examined the evidence. I looked at it as a suicide and not a homicide. If I boxed this, you know, then I mean,

I'll take the button my fault, you know, then I mean, I'll take the button. My fault. But was it done on purpose? Absolutely not. Chris Knight repeatedly refused our request for an interview, but did send this written statement, which reads in part, I was a young, inexperienced investigator. And would I do some things differently today? With the training and experience I now have, absolutely.

Zach and David were now working hard to do better and did something Knight never had. Go ahead and state your name. My name is Dustin Perra. They questioned Dustin Perra extensively for more than an hour. Is there any argument going on, any fight going on? Not anything that a normal married couple would go through. extensively for more than an hour. Dustin said that in the weeks leading up to her death,

his wife had seemed depressed and obsessed with the question of where young children go when they die. In the middle of the night, she'd come wake me up. I can't stop thinking that my kids wouldn't go to heaven if something happened to them. Dustin's the only one who said that. She never mentioned it to anybody. What never made sense to me is if he thought she was going to commit suicide, there was no way he would have left his wife alone to go to Walmart. And what about those rumors of infidelity?

Did you have affairs? Yes. Did she know about it? To my knowledge, no, because she didn't question me. Also troubling to David and Zach was the way Steve Ducote described Dustin sliding into Megan's blood. He came running in from the garage door. He gets in a baseball slide position and he slides. I slipped in a pool of blood around her head.

Dustin said it was an accident, but Zach Shelton did not buy that. But what better thing to slide in right ahead of the blood and disrupt the crime scene? But what better thing to slide in right ahead in the blood and disrupt the crime scene? Dustin was also asked about the alleged suicide note, which David and Zach were now convinced had been planted by Dustin himself. Somebody planted this note after she died. Who could that have been? I really don't know.

Dustin repeatedly denied having anything to do with Megan's death or any sort of cover-up. I feel like that's why I think Kremlin ate me. You need to come clean, and you need to say we got in a fight, and maybe she grabbed the gun first. Maybe she shot herself in front of you. I don't know, but you were there. When she was shot, I was not there.

David Lemoine pushed so hard that Dustin abruptly ended the interview. I'm done, guys. In that moment, I'm thinking he's definitely involved. See, this is early on. Zach and David also interviewed Ann Guillory, the neighbor who thought she may have heard a gunshot early that morning. A little after 7 a.m., I heard a boom, a live boom. And you clearly heard it.

Oh, yes. It was very loud. So I said to myself, oh, my gosh, that was a loud noise. We also have a guy on the left side that said he had heard a gunshot around 9.20, but he wasn't sure if it was a gunshot. Zach Shelton and David Lemoine were convinced that Ann Guillory, the neighbor to the right, heard the shot that killed Megan a little after 7 a.m., leaving Dustin plenty of time to shoot his wife and cover up his crime, then drive to Walmart. But their case was purely circumstantial, until a forensic expert hired by Steve Ducote discovered what he believes to be the physical evidence connecting Dustin to the shooting.

Puts him there. Puts him there when my daughter was shot. It was now 2020, and Zach Shelton and David Lemoine were feeling confident about the case they were building against Dustin Parra. Then, says Peter Lemoine, as COVID hit the US, the deadly virus killed Peter's brother

David on December 28th, 2020. I made up my mind at that very time that I was going to finish what he started. Mr. Peter just literally picked up where Mr. David left off. Just like that, okay? Zach Shelton and Steve Ducote now had a new partner, a highly respected local attorney. Went to work on it as hard as any human could have worked on it, you know.

Peter says his main job was to keep their case in front of District Attorney Charles Riddle. In an effort to make sure that he was aggressively prosecuted. What he told me was, we need more. So, Steve Ducote asked the Jefferson Parish Crime Lab to examine the evidence and check for suspicious blood spatter on Dustin's clothing. The lab found no evidence of murder or any evidence Dustin was there when the gun went off.

But Steve was still convinced that Dustin had shot Megan and had purposely slid into her blood to cover up any incriminating spatter. So in April of 2021, Steve hired an independent crime scene analyst named Eric Richardson. Can you show me the blood spatter? Yeah.

Okay, so when you look close, you see these very, very small misting pattern right here. Richardson examined photos of the shorts worn by Dustin Perra, and he honed in on a fine mist of blood right under this pocket flap. It's a pattern he says can only be caused by high-velocity blood spatter from a gunshot wound. It told me that Dustin was there when that gun was discharged into Megan's head. You sure? Positive. It was concrete, concrete evidence.

We proved he was in the room next to her. We know that it was his gun. The only explanation is that he killed her. Eric Richardson also agreed that the gun looked like it had been wiped clean. On October 13th, 2021, Charles Riddle took the case to a grand jury. Six minutes after you presented to the grand jury, they come back with a charge of second-degree murder. Dustin was arrested, pleaded not guilty,

and was released on bond. Based on the blood spatter that Richardson found on Dustin's shorts and the charges, the medical examiner revised Megan's autopsy report and changed the manner of death from suicide to undetermined. Charlie Riddle prepared for a now nearly nine-year-old case to go to trial. We believe she was shot about 7.30. You think he left her there while she was still alive?

Oh, I know he did. Yeah. But it was not an open and shut case, says Riddle. He says experts from the state police and the Jefferson Parish crime labs were going to be called by the defense and told him they would be testifying that the blood spatter on Dustin's shorts did not prove he was present when the gun went off. And then there was Megan's note to her sons. A handwriting expert hired by Steve Ducote was going to testify that it was most likely written by Megan.

But Charlie Riddle says he was prepared to argue that it was not a suicide note. I thought that she was just leaving him. There was also the difficulty of proving what time Megan was shot, where Dustin was when it happened, and how long Megan could have been lying on the floor before Steve and Missy discovered her still alive. You know the damage it did to her brain, right? Oh, God, yes. I'm surprised she was still alive, yes.

What could you see the defense making hay of successfully? They were gonna make hay over the accident the night before. They were going to say that she tried to commit suicide the night before. On Friday, March 24th, 2023, just three days before Dustin Parra's murder trial was set to begin, Charlie Riddle says his phone rang. I get a call from the defense attorney. He said, well, I want to offer a plea for negligent homicide.

Negligent homicide in the state of Louisiana is not defined as a crime of violence and only carries a sentence of up to five years. David,

it was an awful deal. If all you're going to get is negligent homicide, you're not risking much at all by going to trial. I was concerned that he could walk away a free man, never clear her name for those boys, and they'd never know the truth. The Ducotes said they would agree to a deal,

but only if Dustin answered some very specific questions. On March 26, 2023, Dustin Parra pleaded no low contendry or no contest to negligent homicide. And Charlie Riddle got to question him on the stand. Riddle read to us from the record. Your marriage to her was a struggle for the last couple of months of her life, correct? Answered by Parra, yes, sir. Riddle read to us from the record. You had a pistol in your hand, and in the struggle, the gun went off, firing into her head. Correct? Answer, yes. I'm not contesting as part of the no-loathe contingent plea. We wanted to make sure that he admitted that he shot her and it was not suicide.

To us, as a family, him admitting to that, that was huge. We all weren't done. What was the last and next thing you wanted to do? Get those boys. Dustin had full custody of his and Megan's sons, and he'd had it for nearly nine years. They lived with him and his new wife.

You wanted full custody. Full custody. Stripping him of his rights. Full custody. And you got it. And you got it. And we got it. On April 20th, 2023, Missy and Steve Ducote

were granted full custody. Seven days later, we were there when Dustin and his wife arrived at the sheriff's department so that Dustin could turn himself in. Dustin, we tried to reach you.

I wanted to get your side. I wanted to hear from you. People are going to watch this, and they see your silence. Silence is all you're leaving us with. Dustin never said a word. is all you're leaving us with. Dustin never said a word. I do wonder what you think Megan would say to you at the conclusion of all of this, if she could.

She'd say, take care of those boys and probably say thanks for not giving up. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, but they will be satisfied. Am I satisfied if I know Meg's okay up there alongside Jesus and all the angels? But in my heart, she'll be forever 29. Join me Tuesday for Postmortem from 48 Hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. the case.