Crime

A Winged Witness? Pet Parrot May Be Repeating Slain Owner's Last Words

June 06, 2016, 12:02 AM by  Annabel Ames
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Bud the parrot belonged to Martin Dumas, who was killed in May 2015.

When police began investigating the fatal shooting of Martin Duram, 45, of Ensley Township, about 45 minutes northeast of Muskegon, they found help from someone unexpected: Duram's African gray parrot named Bud. 

Since Duram's death in May 2015, Bud has adopted a chilling new phrase, imitating his late owner's voice and screaming "Don’t fucking shoot!” 

According to Duram's relatives, the bird has also begun imitating a heated argument between a man and a woman, whose voices they believe to be Martin and his wife Glenna's.

“I personally think he was there, and he remembers it and he was saying it,” Duram’s father, Charles Duram said, according to a report by Ken Kolker of WOOD-TV.

Duram's body was found next to Glenna, who also sustained a gunshot wound, according to the station. She was recently named a suspect in the case, although she says she doesn't remember what happened that day and denies killing him.  

Police records indicate that the couple was going through financial trouble due to gambling, the station reports. They believe that Glenna killed her husband and attempted to kill herself, but survived the gunshot wound. She denied writing a suicide note to her ex-husband and two children, but a handwriting analysis proved otherwise, the station reports.

Duram's ex-wife Christina Keller took custody of the bird and said she clearly recognizes Martin's voice when the bird yells "Don’t fucking shoot!" 

“It’s intense,” she added. “When it happens, my house turns cold.”

Doreen Plotkowski, the owner of Casa La Parrot in Grand Rapids, was shown video evidence of Bud's outbursts by WOOD-TV. She agreed that the bird said “Don’t fucking shoot" and that she “definitely” heard the bird imitating a fight between a man and a woman.

“In my mind, it’s something that he’s heard, definitely heard before,” Plotkowski said. “And if it’s fresh in his mind, he might even say it more now.”

Although police investigators were asked about whether the bird could be used as evidence in court, police records do not show how investigators replied, according to the Washington Post.

Despite the family's certainty, many doubt that a parrot's word is substantial enough to be considered evidence, including Muskegon attorney Michael Walsh.  

“If there’s no reliable way of making that determination, you can’t rule out that the bird witnessed a homicide or that the bird witnessed something on TV,” Walsh toells WOOD. 


Read more:  WOOD


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