Naman Shrestha
The episode titled ‘The Bugs Bunny Defense’ of CBS’ ’48 Hours’ delves deep into the harrowing killing of Patrick Duffey in his California house in April 2007. As his wife, Linda Duffey, admitted to shooting him, the investigators were not faced with a whodunit but a whydunit. Linda claimed that it was an accident and she didn’t intend to kill her beloved husband, backing it up with a bizarre story. However, over the years, as more details about the shooting emerged, it became clear to the prosecutors that it could not have been an unintentional incident.
Linda Duffey Gwozdz Claimed That She Accidentally Shot Patrick Duffey
Linda Doreen Duffey was married to a radio engineer named Patrick Duffey, with whom she shared two children, Sean and Thomas. Linda and Patrick were soulmates and playmates who used to constantly play and joke around with each other. Their seemingly ideal marriage was abruptly ended with the sudden demise of 50-year-old Patrick on the fateful day of April 26, 2007, in their house on the 15800 block of Sharon Hill Drive in East Whittier, California. According to Linda, she and her husband had returned home from a doctor’s appointment that afternoon, after which the latter had planned to go to the shooting range. She claimed that she picked up his .38 revolver and started mimicking Elmer Fudd’s voice from the Bugs Bunny cartoon, something she said they regularly did as a joke.
She claimed that she said, “No more buwwets?” in Elmer Fudd’s voice, after which he allegedly responded with, “No more buwwets.” As per her account, she took this in the literal sense and assumed that there were no bullets inside the revolver. She claimed that she then proceeded to pull the trigger in the cowboy style to impress him and ended up shooting him to death around 2:50 pm, while their children were at school. After the incident, she dialed 911 and informed the authorities about the same. Although she told the investigators that she had accidentally shot her husband while playing with a gun, they suspected foul play. While the investigation was going on, she met with a Mississippi-based music professor named Lawrence Gwozdz online and moved to Mississippi to be closer to him.
About a couple of years after the shooting, Linda tied the knot with Lawrence, who had by then earned a name for himself as a world-class saxophone player. She had also reportedly landed a job at the university. Meanwhile, Linda Duffey Gwozdz was interviewed by the investigators multiple times. What raised suspicion in their mind was the fact that she told them different versions of what transpired on the fateful day. Initially, she had told them that Patrick was lying on the couch when she shot him. Later, she claimed that he was sitting on the couch before lying down right when she pulled the trigger of the .38 revolver, aiming at the couch. After gathering enough evidence against her, the authorities arrested her at her residence in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in May 2012, after which she was extradited back to Los Angeles County to stand trial.
Linda Duffey Gwozdz is Currently Incarcerated at a California Prison Facility
Around 2014, Linda Duffey Gwozdz’s murder trial commenced. After listening to the arguments of the prosecution and defense, the jury was deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Thus, it resulted in a mistrial. About a year later, she was tried for the second time in front of a different jury. This time, the prosecution claimed that the marriage between Patrick and Linda was strained, with the latter not wanting to take care of her ailing husband. Moreover, the coroner’s officials testified that Patrick had two gunshot wounds to the head, indicating that it could not have been an accident. On the other hand, the defense attorney argued that there was no intent, no motive, and no crime. “Pat was her best friend, and she was his…One of the things they loved to do is to watch cartoons together…They were kinda goofy,” he stated.
After deliberating for less than two days, the jury reached a verdict. On January 23, 2015, Linda was found guilty of second-degree murder. Her sentencing hearing took place three months later, on April 24. The convict took the stand and addressed the court, stating, “I wanted to let all of you know how grieved I feel. Most of all to Patrick and — my beautiful sons, Sean and Thomas, because you lost such a loving wonderful father.” Meanwhile, her sons and her second husband, Larry, requested leniency from the judge. Despite their requests, the judge sentenced Linda to 40 years to life in prison for killing her husband, Patrick Duffey. As of today, the 67-year-old woman is serving her sentence at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California, with her tentative date for consultation scheduled for May 2027, while her minimum parole eligibility date set at May 2032.
Read More: Patrick Duffey Murder Details and Investigation Timeline
