Suvechha Sarkar
On a quiet day in April 2007, Patrick Albert Duffey’s beautiful life came to an abrupt halt when he was shot dead in his home in East Whittier, California. What initially seemed like a tragic accident quickly unraveled into something far more disturbing as the years-long investigation continued. CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Bugs Bunny Defense’ delves deeper into the details of the crime and the unsettling claims by the killer referencing a reenactment inspired by the cartoon character, Bugs Bunny’s antics. The episode also features interviews with his loved ones, officials, and some jury members alongside expert analysis.
Patrick Duffey Was Found Dead in His Home in California
Patrick Albert Duffey was born on July 9, 1956, in Washington and arrived as a beacon of light in the lives of his parents, John Richard and Ann Agnes Duffey. Growing up, he was surrounded by the immeasurable love and support of his parents, brother John, and sister Katherine. His sister had described how the siblings grew up being gun enthusiasts. As time passed, Patrick stepped into his professional life and became a radio engineer. Furthermore, he had attained his pilot’s license and was a private pilot. Eventually, he crossed paths with Linda Doreen, and they soon grew closer.
Four years after their first meeting, Patrick and Linda tied the knot. Shortly after, they welcomed their two sons, Sean and Thomas, into the world. The family lived at the 15800 block of Sharon Hill Drive in East Whittier, California. Patrick was living happily until everything turned upside down on April 26, 2007. Around 2:50 pm, Linda contacted authorities in a seemingly state of panic, reporting that Patrick had been shot. When the officials arrived at the location, they found him deceased on the sofa in the living room with what they believed was a single gunshot wound to his head.
Officials found Patrick in a relaxed position and reportedly deduced that he was possibly sleeping when the shooting occurred. They discovered a pool of blood on the floor and spatter on the wall. Upon further inspection, detectives found a .38 revolver nearby the scene. Neither of their teenage sons was present at home during the time of the shooting. After the autopsy, the medical examiner determined the cause of death to be not one but two fatal gunshot wounds to his head. The report also revealed the trajectory of the shots to be consistent with close-range firing. It turned out that coagulated blood had reportedly prevented the officials from spotting the second shot.
Forensic Evidence Dispelled the Killer’s Cartoon-Inspired Story
In the 911 call, Linda frantically claimed that Patrick was supposed to go shooting, but she accidentally shot him. When she was brought in for questioning, she claimed that they had just returned from a doctor’s appointment since he had chronic circulation problems. She continued that he had planned to visit the shooting range, and one of his three revolvers, a .38 revolver, was lying nearby. Linda alleged that they always joked around, and that day, they were imitating a scene from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. She claimed that she had said, ‘No more buwwets?’ in the character Elmer Fudd’s voice, to which Patrick had allegedly replied, “No more buwwets.” Linda claimed that she presumed the revolver was empty upon hearing his response. She then claimed to have decided to impress him by shooting in cowboy style, known as fan firing.
Fan firing is described as the shooter holding the trigger down and keeping pulling back the hammer so the gun fires quickly. Linda claimed that she usually never used a gun, but she did on that day when she was joking. She continued that once she started firing, Patrick came into the line of fire, and she allegedly couldn’t stop in time. After questioning, Linda was reportedly allowed to go home. However, when the autopsy results revealed two gunshot wounds instead of one, it raised suspicions since it might not have been an accident. Despite that, investigators found no motive since Patrick’s life insurance dated back around a decade ago, and there was no evidence of cheating. Furthermore, they couldn’t deny the accidental claim based on accounts that Linda and Patrick always joked around with one another.
A firearm expert analyzed the shooting and reportedly noted Linda’s claim of a fan firing was possible only with single-action guns. However, the gun she used was a double-action revolver, which needed a lot of action to shoot the second time. The expert concluded that if Linda’s claims of being an amateur were true, she would’ve been shocked after the first shot and couldn’t have fired the second time. Since the expert analysis did not match Linda’s accounts, she was again brought in for questioning in January 2009. When they told her about the analysis, she changed her account. She alleged that she had practiced fan firing with Patrick for several years with an empty revolver.
Patrick Duffey’s Killer Was Brought to Justice 8 Years After His Death
After questioning, detectives made an offer to Linda to meet them at the shooting range to prove that she had practiced fan firing earlier. After she was let go again, they didn’t hear back from her. Two years after Patrick’s death, she married again and moved to Mississippi. As months went by, investigators sought the assistance of a blood spatter expert. The latter explained that Linda ought to have moved from her position before the second shot, which did not match her version of events. Furthermore, the expert elaborated that if she shot the gun from where she claimed, it would leave spatter on her. However, when Linda was first brought in for questioning after the shooting, officials had observed that she had very few specks of blood on her. When investigators again spoke to her coworkers, they claimed that Linda was a “compulsive liar.”
Moreover, Patrick’s sister, Katherine, had informed them that after the shooting, Linda had lied to her that Patrick’s gun had accidentally gone off while cleaning it. Katherine had reportedly recalled that she and her siblings grew up around guns and were always taught to keep their firearms empty in the household. Based on evidence and expert analyses, Linda was arrested on May 22, 2012, at her home in Mississippi. She was extradited to Los Angeles County, California, and charged with the second-degree murder of Patrick. The first trial of Linda began in 2014, but the jury deadlocked, unable to reach a verdict on the charge. Her second trial commenced on January 23, 2015, and she was finally convicted of second-degree murder. The verdict also reflected the special allegation that she personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, causing great bodily injury and death. On April 24, 2015, Linda was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.
