Evidence photos in the death of Louisiana mother Megan Parra

A younger mom’s loss of life is dominated a suicide, however her father believes she was murdered. See the images he believes present proof of murder.

Megan Parra is shot in her front room

On June 28, 2014, within the tiny city of Cottonport, Louisiana, Steve and Missy Ducote found their 29-year-old daughter Megan Parra mendacity on her front room ground. She had a gunshot wound to the pinnacle.

Missy Ducote, a nurse practitioner, realized her daughter nonetheless had a pulse. When he arrived, Megan’s husband Dustin Parra, a nurse himself, additionally labored to avoid wasting her.

As he rushed in, Dustin Parra slipped in his spouse’s blood and stained his shorts.

A mysterious automobile crash not removed from the Parra dwelling

The day earlier than her capturing, Megan Parra had a automobile accident. She was alone when she veered off a highway and hit a tree. A state trooper famous that there have been no skid marks indicating she had tried to cease the automobile.

Megan Parra stated it was an accident

When requested concerning the crash, Megan Parra stated she had tried to cease however her brakes did not work, and she or he hit the tree to keep away from the river.

Documenting the proof

David Blanchard was the primary officer to reach on the capturing. He took over 100 images of the scene, together with this one in all a gun discovered close to Megan Parra. It belonged to Dustin Parra.

A notice left behind

This notice was found on the kitchen counter and photographed by Officer Blanchard. It seems to be a notice from Megan Parra to the couple’s two younger sons, ages 4 and 18 months. 

Megan’s father Steve Ducote believes that another person wrote the notice. He insists it would not appear to be her handwriting. 

Megan Parra: Nov. 7, 1984 – June 29, 2014

The morning of the capturing, Megan Parra was airlifted to a trauma middle in Lafayette, Louisiana. After lower than 24 hours on life help, Megan was taken off and handed away. Her organs have been donated.

Case closed?

Two days after Megan Parra’s loss of life, Steve Ducote says the lead detective on the case, Christopher Knight, confirmed up at his home and informed him that he had examined the gun that killed Megan Parra, and her fingerprints have been throughout it. Knight denies ever saying he examined the gun.

Inside days, Knight declared Megan Parra’s loss of life a suicide in a one-page report. Inside weeks, an post-mortem report additionally declared her method of loss of life as suicide. 

The gun was by no means examined

Steve Ducote quickly discovered that the gun that killed Megan Parra couldn’t have been examined for fingerprints that rapidly. Knight would later state that he had not despatched it out for testing.

The husband’s alibi

Steve and Missy Ducote quickly grew to become suspicious of their son-in-law Dustin Parra.  He had been at a Walmart the morning of the capturing, although Megan’s household says he informed completely different accounts of precisely the place he was when Steve Ducote referred to as to inform him Megan had been shot.

A recent take a look at the case

4 months after the capturing, Steve Ducote satisfied an area decide that the case ought to be reopened. That decide requested Commander Dan Schaub of the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Workplace to overview the case. 

Schaub reviewed the images taken on the scene together with Knight’s one-page report. 

Making a timeline

Schaub additionally spoke with two neighbors who thought they heard a gunshot that morning — however at two completely different occasions. 

Schaub says the neighbor to the correct stated she heard a really loud “increase” slightly after 7 a.m. However the neighbor to the left stated he heard a gunshot round 9:15 a.m.

Schaub discovered the neighbor to the left extra dependable, so he created a timeline that assumed Megan Parra had been shot round 9:15 a.m. The query grew to become may Dustin Parra have been dwelling?

The place was Dustin Parra the morning of the capturing?

Dustin Parra informed everybody that the morning of the capturing, he was at an area Walmart choosing up prescriptions for Megan. Schaub discovered a time-stamped receipt exhibiting that Dustin paid for the drugs at 9:43 a.m. Schaub then launched an eight-page report concluding that Dustin Parra was at Walmart when his spouse shot herself.

Investigation pictures inform a narrative

Though Steve Ducote was upset by Schaub’s conclusion, he now had one thing that will show invaluable: copies of the images taken on the scene by Blanchard. Steve Ducote and his eldest daughter Betsy Jeansonne started learning them.

Have been there indicators of a wrestle?

Steve Ducote and Betsy Jeansonne consider a number of images present indicators of a wrestle, like a wine rack seemingly misplaced behind a chair.

Was the gun cleaned?

Megan Parra’s post-mortem report had famous that the gun had been in direct contact together with her temple when it went off, however Steve Ducote says he seen that on this photograph of the gun, it seems to be clear. Had somebody wiped it after the capturing?

A mysterious photograph

Megan Parra’s mother and father say that after Dustin Parra bumped into the room and slid in his spouse’s blood, he reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out this image of their boys. Steve Ducote started to consider that Dustin Parra planted the image. “In case you gonna make it appear to be suicide, you are going to do issues like that,” Steve Ducote stated. 

David Lemoine evaluations the case

Megan Parra’s household pushed for solutions for years with out success, till Steve Ducote referred to as an previous buddy, a retired FBI agent now dwelling in Nebraska named David Lemoine.  In 2018, greater than 4 years after Megan  was shot, Lemoine flew to Cottonport, met with Ducote and spent the evening reviewing a binder of proof compiled by the Ducotes. By the following morning he got here to the conclusion that Megan had been murdered. 

Two FBI brokers come out of retirement

Lemoine recruited fellow retired FBI agent Zack Shelton to assist him examine. In 2019 they have been deputized as cops by the Cottonport police chief. That allowed the previous particular brokers to interview witnesses and report them on bodycam.

The unique detective is interviewed

On Jan. 15, 2019, David Lemoine and Zack Shelton interviewed Det. Christopher Knight.  He admitted that he ought to have investigated extra completely, citing his lack of expertise as an investigator on the time. He informed Lemoine and Shelton, “if I botched this, you already know, then I imply … my fault, you already know. However was it achieved — however was it achieved on goal? Completely not.”

Dustin Parra questioned

Lemoine and Shelton additionally questioned Dustin Parra for greater than an hour.  He admitted that not lengthy earlier than Megan Parra’s loss of life, he had been having an affair, however did not suppose his spouse knew about it. He insisted that he had nothing to do together with his spouse’s loss of life.

“Possibly she shot herself in entrance of you. I do not know, however you have been there,” Zack Shelton stated. Dustin Parra replied, “when she was shot, I used to be not there.”

A tragic loss of life

David Lemoine labored on Megan’s case for 2 years, however by no means obtained to see the decision. Lemoine handed away on Dec. 28, 2020, after contracting COVID-19.

A sample within the bloodstains

In April 2021, a still-determined Steve Ducote employed unbiased crime scene analyst Eric Richardson to look over the proof.  

It was a photograph of the shorts worn by Dustin Parra the morning of the capturing that caught Richardson’s consideration. He seen a wonderful mist of blood close to one of many pockets that he says can solely be attributable to excessive velocity blood spatter. To Richardson, meaning Dustin Parra needed to be there when the gun went off.

A grand jury returns fees

On Oct. 13, 2021, Avoyelles Parish District Lawyer Charles Riddle took the case to a grand jury.  It returned a cost of second-degree homicide.  Dustin Parra was arrested and pleaded not responsible. 

It was not an open-and-shut case says Riddle. He says state and native regulation enforcement specialists have been going to testify that the blood spatter on Dustin Parra’s shorts didn’t show he was current when the gun went off.  Bear in mind, Dustin had slid in Megan’s blood, and had labored to avoid wasting her life.

A decision to the case

On March 24, 2023, simply three days earlier than Dustin Parra’s homicide trial was set to start, his legal professional provided a deal. After talking with the district legal professional to debate their choices, Steve and Missy Ducote accepted the deal.

On March 26, 2023, Dustin Parra pleaded “nolo contendere” or no contest to negligent murder within the loss of life of Megan Parra.

Dustin Parra takes the stand

Through the plea listening to, Dustin Parra needed to reply a number of questions and admit that he had the gun in his hand throughout a wrestle with Megan and it went off firing into her head.

The decision to a custody battle

Megan Parra’s sons had been dwelling with Dustin Parra ever for the reason that capturing — however that modified on April 20, 2023.  After petitioning the court docket, Missy and Steve Ducote have been granted full custody of their grandsons.

“To us, as a household, him admitting to that, that was big,” Steve Ducote says. Dustin Parra was sentenced to 5 years however will probably serve solely 18 months in jail and the remainder on parole. 

Remembering Megan Parra

For the Ducote household, life with out Megan won’t ever be the identical. “Megan … was one of the crucial charitable individuals I knew,” Betsy Jeansonne recalled to David Begnaud by means of tears. “She was at all times so giving of herself … She was probably the most wonderful mom … She was my little sister … however I actually regarded as much as her.”

When requested what Megan would say to him if she may, Steve Ducote stated, “handle these boys, and doubtless say thanks for not giving up.”