Did A Woman Accidentally Kill Her Husband Because Of A Bugs Bunny Cartoon, Or Was It Murder?
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Linda Duffey Gwozdz Claimed She Accidentally Shot Her Husband While Quoting Elmer Fudd
Linda Duffey Gwozdz told police that she and her husband, Pat Duffey, were playing a game when a terrible accident occurred. Linda had picked up one of Pat's revolvers and jokingly said, "No more bullets?" in an Elmer Fudd voice, which was not uncommon for the couple, who often "morphed" into cartoon characters. So when Pat allegedly replied, "No more bullets," in his own Elmer Fudd impression, Linda fired what she thought was an empty gun in a "fan-fire" motion, similar to what's depicted in old Westerns.
It was at that moment that Linda shot Pat in the head, killing him. A frantic Linda called 911 and admitted that she had accidentally shot Pat, and a years-long investigation into what really happened between Linda and Pat on the fateful April day ensued.
Linda Also Claimed She'd Never Fired A Gun In Her Life
In addition to being a radio engineer and private pilot, Pat Duffey was also an avid gun enthusiast. In fact, Linda told authorities that Pat had planned to go to the shooting range the day he died. However, Linda did not have the same interest in guns. During her interview with police, she stated, "I'm not really familiar with guns. I'm not afraid of 'em, but I've never shot a gun in my life."
While it's not unreasonable to believe Linda wouldn't share Pat's hobby, this statement would come back to haunt her as police continued their investigation. In fact, her familiarity with guns would come into question following Pat's autopsy, where the medical examiner determined that Pat had been shot in the head not once but twice.
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One Lead Detective Believed The Story, While His Partner Did Not
Detectives Shannon Laren and Shaun McCarthy were assigned to investigate Pat Duffey's death, which involved an initial search of the crime scene as well as interviewing Linda. Laren says he didn't believe Linda's story about accidentally shooting her husband, but McCarthy struggled to find a motive for Linda to commit murder.
McCarthy told 48 Hours that he thought Linda was "odd at best, eccentric at worst." As far as McCarthy was concerned, Linda didn't fit the profile of a killer, and he wasn't about to assume her guilt. However, as the investigation advanced, McCarthy would find it increasingly difficult to believe Linda's story.
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The Manner In Which Linda Said She Fired The Gun Proved To Be Nearly Impossible For An Amateur
During her first interview with detectives Laren and McCarthy, Linda explained she had shot Pat's revolver in a "fan-fire" style that involved holding down the trigger while rapidly depressing the hammer in order to quickly fire multiple shots. Linda blamed the rapid firing on how she accidentally shot Pat, but experts weren't so sure. The shot Linda described is typically done using a single-action revolver, and Pat Duffey did own two such guns. However, Linda had used his double-action revolver in the fatal shooting.
Firearms expert Tracy Peck conducted an exhaustive study where she used the same gun and ammunition that Linda did to recreate the shooting sequence she described and found it to be nearly impossible, especially for someone who claimed to know little about guns. Peck noted that the sound and recoil of the gun would have also stopped Linda from firing a second shot. Detective McCarthy said that when this information was presented to Linda, she had a "light bulb" moment and changed her story.
Linda Then Said She'd Been Practicing Fan Firing For Years
After being presented with the information from Tracy Peck about fan fire, Linda changed her story. Instead of saying she never fired a gun in her life, she now told authorities she had been practicing fan shooting with Pat for years using an unloaded gun and was trying to show off her skills when she accidentally shot him.
According to Linda, Pat leaned forward as the first shot rang out, and she couldn't stop shooting in time to miss his head. In an interview, Linda explained, "[The gun] was pointed down, and the next thing I know, he-his head was right there." Linda estimated during a 2009 interview with detectives that she had probably practiced the shot with Duffey 15 to 20 times with an empty revolver.
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Pat Duffey's Siblings Said Linda Told Them An Entirely Different Story
When Linda initially informed Pat's siblings about his death, she told them that Pat had accidentally shot himself while cleaning one of his guns. Pat's siblings couldn't understand how their brother could have shot himself since they had grown up with guns in their home. Pat and his siblings had apparently been taught to empty their guns before entering their home, so the idea that Pat was cleaning a loaded gun seemed off.
Pat's sister, Kathy Hunt, met with Linda at the funeral home the following day and asked Linda where Pat had shot himself. Hunt says that when Linda tapped the top of her head to indicate where Pat had been shot, she knew something was wrong. Hunt then asked Linda what really happened, and Linda told her the Elmer Fudd story. "I couldn't quite understand why she had lied," Hunt stated on 48 Hours, though Linda said it was because she thought Pat's family would hate her for shooting him.
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Linda Soon Remarried And Put Her House Up For Sale
After Linda's initial interview in April 2007, she wasn't interviewed again until early 2009 when McCarthy and Laren drove by her home and noticed a for sale sign. The detectives soon discovered that Linda was set to marry a famous saxophone player named Lawrence Gwozdz, whom she had met online. Linda had already moved to Mississippi, where Lawrence was a music professor, and the two were planning a honeymoon in Italy following their wedding. Those close to Linda noticed she had dyed her hair blond and started dressing differently once she began seeing Lawrence, not long after Pat's death.
Police were not the only ones who thought it strange how quickly Linda had moved on. When Linda asked her longtime friend Julie Prendergast to sing at the wedding, she declined due to the circumstances surrounding Pat's death.
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A Blood Spatter Expert Reexamined The Evidence And Poked More Holes In Linda's Story
As Pat Duffey's death began to be reinvestigated, blood spatter expert Paul Delhauer was brought in to look at the scene, even examining the couch on which Pat Duffey died. While Linda had told authorities that she had fired rapidly from the same spot, Delhauer determined that Linda must have changed positions while firing the revolver. In fact, Delhauer determined that the revolver would have only been 3 inches from Pat's head when the first shot was fired, which created blood spatter on the walls as well as Linda's clothes. The second shot was responsible for the large pool of blood next to Pat, which is where Linda initially told detectives she'd been standing. Delhauer told 48 Hours that "jets of blood" would have been hitting Linda if she had been standing where she said she was, but McCarthy and Laren confirmed that she had very little blood on her.
Delhauer theorized Linda shot Pat once while he was sleeping then fired the second shot when he woke up. After nearly two years, the case had suddenly turned into a murder investigation.
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Friends And Coworkers Revealed A Pattern Of Compulsive Lying
With blood spatter analysis pointing towards murder, investigators began interviewing Linda's friends from Whittier to get a sense of her character. As Shaun McCarthy put it, "Boy, that was very revealing." McCarthy and Laren began noticing a pattern with the stories people had about Linda: She would start out incredibly charming, but would eventually turn out to be a compulsive liar.
Linda's longtime friend Julie Prendergast even said Linda claimed to have had her gal bladder removed on three different occasions, even though the human body only has one gal bladder. Prendergast added that Linda always needed to be the center of attention. As Prendergast put it, "You either really, really liked Linda, or you really thought, 'Wow, she cannot be trusted.'"
Five Years After Pat's Death, Linda Was Arrested For Murder
Following the findings of the second blood spatter analysis and interviews with Linda's friends, Shaun McCarthy decided that Linda needed to be prosecuted. The detective flew to Mississippi, where Linda told McCarthy she thought the investigation was over. It was at that point that Detective McCarthy arrested Linda for the murder of her late husband.
Linda would have to stand trial for Pat's death a full five years after the 2007 shooting. The prosecutor for the case, Deputy District Attorney Robert Villa, said there was a "zero percent chance" Pat's death was an accident. Villa's belief would turn out to be more difficult to prove than he thought.
Linda's First Trial Ended With A Deadlocked Jury, But She Was Found Guilty In The Second Trial
When Linda stood trial for the murder of her husband, experts on both sides laid out extensive arguments for her guilt and innocence. There was apparently even a question as to whether or not Paul Delhauer was a blood spatter expert. Linda's attorney cited the Bugs Bunny cartoon Linda had referenced the day of the murder, and prosecutor Robert Villa said it was the first time in his 27-year career that he had seen a defense rely on a cartoon.
As it turned out, the jury could not reach a verdict. After one day of deliberation, they were hopelessly deadlocked. Linda would be tried again the following year, but she remained in prison while she awaited a new trial.
In the second trial, the prosecution gave the jury the bare facts of the case and left out Linda's initial interview with the police. The defense called in character witnesses, including Detective Shaun McCarthy and Linda's two sons. The second jury deliberated for just one day before finding Linda guilty of second-degree murder.
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Detectives And Prosecutors Later Described Linda As An Actress
When describing Linda Duffey Gwozdz, Detective Shaun McCarthy stated, "That night, I liked her. As the investigation went on, I liked her a lot less." As with friends and family, investigators and the prosecution maintained that Linda couldn't be trusted to tell the truth.
When Linda's guilty verdict was read, she burst into tears. Pat Duffey's sister, Kathy, noted that it was the first time she had ever really seen Linda cry. Linda even collapsed as she was escorted out of the courtroom by police and had to be wheeled out in an office chair. When asked about the incident, Deputy District Attorney Robert Villa said, "I've always thought she was an actress, so that was her moment."
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A State Appeals Court Panel Upheld Linda's Guilty Verdict
In September 2016, Linda appealed her conviction, in which she was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. Linda said that none of her initial statements from 2007 were played in court, which led to an unfair guilty verdict. However, a panel of three appellate court justices upheld the verdict, stating that Linda "failed to take the necessary steps to preserve this issue for appellate review."
Linda's defense team also claimed she received insufficient support from her trial attorney. Linda's second husband, Larry Gwozdz, as well as her two sons, Sean and Thomas, all maintain that Pat's death was an accident and that an innocent woman is behind bars.
Throughout The Entire Case, No Motive For Murder Was Ever Established, Leaving Some Jurors With Questions
One of the issues that left the original jury deadlocked was a lack of motive for Linda to murder Pat Duffey. The couple was known to have a happy marriage, and there were never any reports of domestic disputes. Pat did have a $300,000 life insurance policy, but the policy had been taken out years before he was shot by Linda. However, the insurance claim did eventually list his death as a homicide, and the money went to their two sons.
Even Deputy District Attorney Robert Villa admitted, "She never expressed what the motive was. She said he was her best friend." The only possible motive was Linda's fear that she might have to care for an ailing Pat, who had been dealing with serious medical issues, but the theory remains unfounded.
