Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
1,937
pages
in: Texas, 1966, 1989,
and 10 more

Kenneth McDuff

Edit
Kenneth mcduff1

Kenneth McDuff

Real Name: Kenneth Allen McDuff
Aliases: Mac
Wanted For: Questioning in Murder
Missing Since: March 1992

Case[]

Details: Forty-six-year-old Kenneth McDuff is a suspected serial killer who is wanted for questioning in the disappearances and murders of several young women in Texas. However, this is not the first time he has been in trouble with the law. Growing up, he was rarely disciplined by his parents and became known as a bully to classmates and teachers. In 1964, at age eighteen, he was convicted of burglary and sentenced to four years in prison. In December 1965, he was released on parole.
On the night of Saturday, August 6, 1966, McDuff, then twenty, and a friend, Roy Green, went driving around Fort Worth, Texas. McDuff told Green he was "looking for a girl" and wanted to go on a "sex spree". At around 10pm, while driving through Everman, Texas, they noticed three people parked in a car at a baseball field: sixteen-year-old Edna Louise Sullivan; her seventeen-year-old boyfriend, Robert Brand; and Robert's fifteen-year-old cousin, Mark Dunman, who was visiting from California.
McDuff approached Edna, Robert, and Mark and ordered them at gunpoint into the trunk of Robert's car. McDuff drove Robert's car along a highway, while Green followed in McDuff's car. After stopping in a field, McDuff had Green put Edna in the trunk of McDuff's car. He told Green he had to "knock 'em off". McDuff then fired six shots into the trunk of Robert's car, killing Robert and Mark.
After driving eleven miles to a location south of Fort Worth, McDuff and Green repeatedly raped Edna. McDuff then choked her to death with a broomstick and dumped her body in some bushes. After that, they disposed of the gun and other evidence. Robert and Mark's bodies were found the next day.
Two days after the murders, Green's mother convinced him to turn himself in. After he surrendered, he helped lead the police to Edna's body. McDuff was arrested after a car chase and shootout with police. In November 1966, he was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. Green was given a twenty-five-year sentence and was released in 1979. Meanwhile, in August 1972, McDuff's sentence was commuted to life in prison after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional.
During the late 1970s, McDuff became eligible for parole. With the help of a lawyer, he tried to convince the parole board that Green was the real killer. In 1981, he tried to bribe a parole member but was caught and given a two-year sentence for bribery. Around this time, prison overcrowding became a concern in Texas. As a result, the state's governor pressured the parole board to parole 750 inmates a week.
In 1989, two of the three parole board members felt McDuff could still "contribute to society" since he was taking college courses; they decided to grant him parole. On October 11, he was released after serving twenty-two years in prison. Many in law enforcement opposed the decision, fearing that he would kill again. Many citizens of his hometown armed themselves and even barricaded their homes, fearing that he would come after them.
Following McDuff's release, several young women throughout central Texas (mostly in cities along Interstate 35) either disappeared or were found murdered. The first victim was twenty-nine-year-old prostitute Sarafia Parker. On October 14, her body was found in a field in Temple, Texas. She had been beaten and strangled. Her murder occurred just a few days after McDuff's release. Interestingly, his parole officer was based in Temple.
On January 17, 1990, twenty-eight-year-old prostitute Denise "Jan" Mason was found beaten and strangled to death in Austin, Texas. In July, McDuff was returned to prison on a parole violation after he yelled racial slurs at a group of black teenagers and then chased and threatened one of them with a knife. However, on December 6, McDuff was released after the charges were dropped. In early 1991, he enrolled at Texas State Technical College in Waco and moved into a dormitory on campus.
In July, homemaker Vernia Blunson disappeared from Temple. On September 16, twenty-three-year-old Cynthia Renee Gonzalez disappeared from Arlington, Texas. She owned an adult entertainment business and was last seen leaving to go to a "strippergram" appointment. Five days later, on September 21, her body was found in a creek bed near Alvarado, Texas, one mile west of Interstate 35. She had been shot multiple times.
On October 10, thirty-six-year-old prostitute Brenda Thompson disappeared from Waco. That night, McDuff was stopped at a police roadblock. An officer noticed a woman (believed to be Brenda) screaming and kicking at the windshield. She appeared to be tied up. McDuff then broke through the roadblock and drove off. The police were unable to catch up with him. Five days later, on October 15, seventeen-year-old prostitute Regenia DeAnne Moore also vanished. She was last seen arguing with McDuff in his truck at a Waco motel. For reasons unknown, the Waco police did not pursue him at that time.
On December 29, twenty-eight-year-old Colleen Reed, a certified public accountant, was abducted from a car wash in Austin. Three witnesses happened to encounter her abductors shortly beforehand. The witnesses heard her scream and saw the abductors' car drive away from the car wash. When they went over to the car wash, they found Colleen's abandoned car.
On the night of February 24, 1992, twenty-two-year-old Valencia Kay Joshua, a prostitute from Fort Worth, disappeared. She and McDuff attended the same college. She was last seen knocking on his door. On March 25, her body was found in a shallow grave at a golf course near their college. She had been strangled.
On March 1, just one week after Valencia disappeared, twenty-two-year-old Melissa Ann Northup, a pregnant mother of two, disappeared while working at the Quik-Pak store in Waco. She had previously complained about the lack of security there. That night was supposed to be her last shift there. Her husband discovered the store empty after she failed to answer his phone calls. $250 was missing from the cash register. Her car, a 1977 Buick Regal, was also missing.
McDuff had, at one time, worked at the same store. He became a suspect in Melissa's disappearance after police learned that he had been seen near the store that night. Credit card receipts also placed him in the area that night. His broken-down car was later found at a motel a block away from the store. A friend had also told police that McDuff had asked him to help rob the store.
Melissa's car was found abandoned in Seagoville five days later. McDuff disappeared around the same time as her abduction. The fact that the victims were found in different counties in Texas made it difficult for authorities to investigate initially. However, after it was discovered that McDuff was selling drugs and had an illegal firearm, a federal prosecutor was able to get a warrant issued for his arrest. A large task force, which included the FBI, assembled in Waco.
Authorities questioned several of McDuff's acquaintances, including thirty-four-year-old Alva Hank Worley. After several interviews, on April 20, 1992, Worley was arrested after he confessed that he and McDuff had abducted Colleen Reed. He said they had gone to Austin to buy drugs, but when McDuff spotted her, he decided to abduct her. After the abduction, they took turns raping and torturing her as they drove north toward Belton, Texas.
While on a dirt road north of Belton, McDuff raped Colleen again, knocked her unconscious, and placed her in the trunk of his car. He then told Worley he was going to "use her up". Worley believed this meant McDuff was going to kill her. He said McDuff then dropped him off at his sister’s house in Belton. Before leaving, McDuff asked to borrow a pocketknife and shovel. Worley claimed that he did not see Colleen after that and did not know what McDuff did with her. However, he maintained that she was still alive when he last saw her.
On April 26, Melissa's partially nude body was found floating in a Dallas County gravel pit, a mile from where her car was found and ninety miles north of Waco. She had been strangled with a rope, and her hands were still tied behind her back.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the April 29, 1992 episode, as part of an update to the Colleen Reed case.
  • It was also profiled on America’s Most Wanted while he was on the run. It was later documented on American Justice after his arrest. Gary Lavergne wrote the book "Bad Boy from Rosebud" about it.
  • State laws regarding violent offenders and parole were drastically changed as a result of McDuff. They became known as the "McDuff Laws".
  • Some sources state: Valencia's body was found on March 15; she vanished in 1991; Sarafia was thirty-one; and Regenia was last seen kicking and screaming in McDuff's truck.
  • Trudy Darby's case was initially connected to McDuff; however, two men were later convicted for her murder. Some sources also connect him to the abduction of Angela Hammond and the disappearance of Cheryl Kenney.

Results: Captured - On May 3, 1992, an "America's Most Wanted" viewer contacted the police in Kansas City, Missouri, after recognizing McDuff as his coworker, "Richard Fowler". The two worked for a garbage collection company. The police learned that "Fowler" had previously been arrested for soliciting prostitutes. His fingerprints were collected during the arrest; when compared to McDuff's prints, they were a match. On May 4, McDuff was arrested as he drove to a landfill in Kansas City.
Shortly after his arrest, McDuff was charged with Valencia and Melissa's murders. In February 1993, he went on trial for Melissa's murder. Prosecutors noted there were many similarities between her and Colleen's cases. They even had Worley testify about his involvement in Colleen's abduction to establish McDuff's "pattern". McDuff was convicted of Melissa's murder and sentenced to death.
In April, McDuff was charged with Colleen's abduction, rape, and murder, although her body had not been found at that time. A witness identified him as one of the abductors; his car matched the one seen by witnesses; and hairs found in the car were similar to Colleen's. On February 23, 1994, he was convicted on all charges. On March 1, he was again sentenced to death. Prosecutors decided not to try him for Valencia's murder because of his other convictions.
In September 1994, Worley pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault in relation to Colleen's case and was sentenced to forty years in prison. Charges of murder and abduction were dropped as a result of the plea deal.
In October 1998, shortly before McDuff's execution, an informant convinced him to give up information that helped police locate the bodies of Brenda Thompson and Regina Moore in McLennan County. A few days later, McDuff was taken off death row and led police to Colleen's remains. They were found about 100 feet from the banks of the Brazos River, just outside of Marlin, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Austin.
On November 17, McDuff was executed by lethal injection. He was fifty-two. Before his execution, he confessed to eight murders (the 1966 murders and the murders of Colleen, Melissa, Brenda, Regina, and one other victim). However, authorities believe he may have been responsible for at least fourteen murders, including: Sarafia Parker, Denise Mason, Vernia Blunson, and Cynthia Gonzalez.
Links:

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Unsolved Mysteries Wiki