The Suspicious Death of Megan Parra | Full Episode

[Music] Megan who was one of the most charitable people I knew she was always so giving of herself she was a kindergarten teacher she was the most amazing mother she was my little sister but I really looked up to [Music] her she was very loving caring and the last of my three a bit of a daddy's girl yep you know we were close it was a Saturday morning we walked in and when we got to the dining room we saw her laying on the floor I thought she had slipped and fell then we saw the blood and I saw the gun kind of tucked against her leg I'm hollering screaming yelling at Steve to call 911 she was barely breathing I thought she had shot herself I mean I didn't see anybody else around the next morning I 755 they pronounced a dead pretty quickly the police declared it a suicide then the medical examiner declared it is suicide what was your reaction no way something's not right I knew something was wrong with this case from the start well I knew she hadn't kill herself had blood Splat on top of it very important we were on the computer researching and learning about ballistics about blood spatter blood splatter the gun I would expect if the barrel of a gun is up against someone's Temple that there would be blood and hair on that barrel and there is not completely clean not even on the end of the barrel no hair no blood the state shut you down oh yeah Sheriff shut you down right corner shut you down right thereby launches a Year's long investigation spearheaded by your husband absolutely he was our leader and he kept us going people thought we were just a grieving family people thought he was just not able to move forward and he just led us for 9 years still leading [Music] us [Music] [Music] on a steamy Summer Morning in 2014 in the tiny southern town of Cottonport Louisiana Steve and Missy dakot faced the unthinkable I wouldn't know how to tell you I've never felt like that before or since the couple found their youngest daughter Megan lying on the floor of her living room I had no idea what was to become of all this the 29-year-old mother of two appeared to have been shot in the head it was a 357 Magnum gun with a 38 caliber bullet just one day earlier Megan's parents and her husband then 30-year-old Dustin Pera had been dealing with the aftermath of a car crash Dustin called and said that Megan had been in an accident Megan was alone driving down this stretch of road not far from home when she somehow kened off the road and hit a tree Dustin grabbed their two young sons and rushed to the scene so did Steven Missy cop said she was going about 45 mes hour wasn't on a phone had a seat Bel on Megan had only minor injuries but a State Trooper was troubled by the the fact that there were no skid marks he said that she had not applied the brakes cop came and he asked me would your daughter want to try to hurt herself well I said no I don't I don't think so but it was not clear whether Megan actually tried to stop the car Missy says Megan told her she was distracted she said she had lost Focus but Steve says Megan told him the brakes didn't work and that she hit that tree to avoid the Bayou I over the brakes were never tested at the avo's Parish Hospital where Dustin worked as a nurse Megan was treated for a cut to her right hand once released Dustin took his wife home while Missy and Steve kept their boys overnight the next morning around 7:00 a.m. Megan sent her mother a text hi Mom are the boys okay are y'all okay I called her and I told her that um when the kids would get up and I had fixed breakfast we would bring her breakfast and go check on her anything sound unusual not at all about an hour later Missy says Dustin called her to say that Megan was going to take a bath while he went out to fill a prescription for her at the local Walmart he said he would pick up the kids on the way back the well an hour has passed by and he's still not here and then I said let's go we we need to go it was close to 10 m. when Steve and Missy arrived at their daughter's house with their grandchildren in tow and there they discovered Megan laying on the floor with blood pooling around her head she was still in the paper shirt from the hospital and underwear I grabbed the oldest boy and when I leaned over to pick him up I saw the gun kind of tucked against her leg Missy called her parent parents to pick up the kids Steve called 911 Missy a nurse practitioner knelt beside her daughter and realized she still had a pulse she was breathing just barely though Steve called Dustin I can't remember exactly if I told him Megan killed herself or Megan shot herself and I said why are you he said I'm in maner I just came through the four-way stop sign Dave Blanchard was the first officer on the scene I entered the house saw the victim on the floor Mrs dakot was administering first aid to the Head area Dustin arrived about 10 minutes later he comes running in and he slides and he just catches the end of the blood after he slid he got up he pushed the gun away Missy says Dustin then reached into a pocket in Megan's paper shirt and he pulled out a picture it was a picture of their boys Dustin and Missy both medically trained worked to save Megan minutes later paramedics arrived that's when officer Blanchard began documenting the scene I didn't want to interfere him giving it first aid Megan was airlifted to a Trauma Center in Lafayette the mayor of Cottonport drove Steve Missy and Dustin in his car back at the parah home officer Blanchard continued to document the scene and collect evidence including that gun which belonged to Dustin Dustin's shorts which were bloodied from that slide and this note which was discovered on the kitchen counter it says tell the boys I love them I'm sorry that was [Music] it the morning after the shooting as her parents struggled with how Megan could have taken her own life doctors told the family they had done all they could that is when the decision was made to take her off life [Music] support the next morning Megan's organs were donated her body was transported to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy that's when Dustin and the does headed for the Cottonport Police Department to meet with lead detective Christopher night when Dustin went in first he came back out and he raised his hand said I'm not a suspect it was kind of shocking then miss and I go in and you know Chris didn't didn't ask us a whole lot wasn't much of an interview Steve and Missy say it was that day when they began to question everything about the investigation into their daughter's death especially when Detective Knight handed Dustin that note presumably left behind by Megan and Dustin debated what to do with it he said I don't know what I'm going to do with it I think I'm just going to throw it away I said no don't throw it away we might need it later on the very next day Steve says detective Knight showed up at his home he had some news for him he says Mr Steve Megan's fingerprint were all over the gun Dustin's were too but it's his gun Steve's brother-in-law Luke Welsh was there Steve repeated to him so the only fingerprints on the gun were for Megan and Dustin and he said that's it that's the only ones in the story I said well she must have shot herself then but Steve would soon learn that what he says Detective Chris Knight told him was not true the gun that that killed Megan had not been tested at all that was a major turn in the story yes that's one of the major turns this thing goes 360° a [Music] lot 3 weeks after Megan peris's death an autopsy report declared her cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the Head the manner of death was suicide the report said Megan tested negative for sedatives and that the gun was in direct contact with her Temple when it went off so much life to live and love to give Megan's Uncle Luke Welch says the medical examiner confirmed Detective Chris Knight's theory that Megan had shot herself s because remember according to Knight Megan's fingerprints were found all over that gun with that information coming from Chris I think there's no doubt it's a suicide detective Knight denies ever saying he tested that gun and just 4 days after the shooting he closed his investigation and summarized it in this onepage report according to the evidence collected statements from family and the doctor's report this investigation shows Megan Parra did in fact commit suicide the only doctor's report we had were Lafayette General yeah but Lafayette General was not doing any kind of forensic exam on her no no Betsy who was pregnant with her first child at the time Says Megan had been planning her baby shower two days before she died she asked me what color balloons I wanted Megan was also just months away from getting a master M's degree she had her eye on becoming a school principal Steve says the more he thought about his daughter's death the less it made sense never shot a gun never fool with a gun would have known how to hold a gun he says there's also no way that Megan would have shot herself knowing that he Missy and her boys would discover her that way she'd never do something like that but Megan was found behind locked doors there was no evidence of forced entry so if she didn't kill herself who pulled the trigger did you start to believe that Dustin shot her yes and tried to cover it up yes there were questions about Dustin's Alibi Betsy says he told three different stories to three different people about where he was when Steve called him but according to Megan's family detective Knight never resolved those conflicting stories there were so many things that were not not done Knight also never followed up on reports that Dustin may have been having an affair did Megan ever talk to you about trouble they were having in the marriage she didn't did you ever ask her I didn't and I feel like that's one of my biggest regrets Steve fears that in the days leading up to Megan's death the couple may have been fighting and something in the autopsy report haunted him indicated sh had some bruises in the abdomen and chest area what do you think happened that morning she was shot I think she was leaving him Steve says around the time he was becoming increasingly concerned about Detective Chris Knight's investigation an investigator for the District Attorney's office told him there was no way detective Knight had fingerprinted that gun in just two days uh-uh Steve it takes a me with a rush on it about 14 days then I knew knew what oh I knew she hadn't killed herself then but by then the gun was no longer in evidence with Detective Knight's permission it had been returned to Dustin they gave him the gun back before the cor ever rued Steve says he begged local authorities to just hear him out but no one would listen until 4 months later when a local judge agreed to help Steve D Cody convinced the judge that there was something to look at Dan sha was commander of the criminal investigations unit at the avo's Paris Sheriff's Office that judge asked sha himself to review the case first thing I did was uh you know talk to uh Steve see what his concerns were we started working on things boy he was working unfortunately says sha there wasn't much to work with here there was not even basic detective 101 that was done by Chris Knight shop says his hands were also somewhat Tied by Steve doot who prevented him from accessing certain evidence like Megan's cell phone at that point Dustin had the cell phone and he did not want to ask Dustin for her cell phone according to Steve Dustin and the boys were living in Steven Miss's house at the time and he didn't want his son-in-law knowing they were inves instigating him so Steve says he asked sha not to talk to Dustin until they had more evidence I wanted to be sure why not at least call the husband not to go after him but to say Hey listen just want to ask some questions so I can button some things up it's real easy I I did it out of respect for for the dakot family rather than go against Steve D cot sha steered clear of Dustin perah instead he revealed viewed Chris Knight's one-page report examined 115 photos taken by Officer Dave Blanchard and he talked with two witnesses who had not been interviewed neighbors who each thought they heard what sounded like a gunshot that morning but at two different times the neighbor on the right told shab she heard a very loud boom a little after 7 a.m. but the neighbor on the left told sha he was certain he heard a gunshot about 2 hours later he was still in bed and he wasn't sure of the time he supposed around 9:15 shop says the neighbor to the right wasn't sure if what she heard at 7: a.m. was actually a gunshot so he created a timeline based on what the other neighbor reported hearing then the question became could Dustin have even been home at 9:15 a.m. Dustin arrives at Walmart at 8:53 a.m. a State Trooper told Commander sha that he saw Dustin at an intersection not far from that Walmart just before 9:00 a.m. Chris Knight never had Walmart surveillance footage subpoena to verify Dustin's Alibi but sha found the next best evidence a timestamped receipt Dustin signs for scripts at Walmart at 9:43 a.m. okay yeah so based on this timeline from you there's no way Dustin could have been at the house when the shot was fired that's a a a a reasonable conclusion yes on January 15th 2015 Dan sha released his eight-page report also concluding that Megan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Steve did not buy Dan Sha's timeline which he had based on the neighbor who reported hearing a gunshot around 9:15 a.m. but shab's report ended up being a gift Steve dcot now had those 115 photos taken in the morning of Megan shooting and his investigation was about to ramp up this you know caught everybody's attention Commander Dan Sha's conclusion that Megan perah likely shot herself was yet another blow to the dakot family's theory that she may have been murdered by her husband Dustin but Sha's report did provide some valuable Clues says Steve D Cody that report came with some blurred pictures so Steve Tracked Down the officer who took the photos Dave Blanchard and it turns out he still had the originals he never deleted them from his camera why did you save them cuz it was evidence I don't know it stuck out suspicious he thought that there were some things that weren't resolved in the investigation Blanchard gave the digital images to the avo's parish District Attorney Charles Riddle and riddle shared them with an insistent Steve I said I'm not leaving without those pictures did you go through all the photos yes Steve and his daughter Betsy began studying those 100 15 photos from the day Megan was shot and I've had a lot of people ask me how could you look at those crime scene photos of your sister yeah and I'd say she'd have done it for [Music] me Betsy says she also spent hours on the internet studying blood spatter patterns because something about the blood around Megan just didn't look right to her you can see the blood spatter where it should have been on the exit wound side it's actually on the entrance wound side and there's no spatter on the exit wound there's always more exit wound blood than entry wound blood Steve was beginning to believe that his daughter had been rolled over after she was shot also troubling to him was that seemingly clean gun Dustin's gun people all said blood should have been all the way way up here to Steve it appeared that the gun had been wiped clean then there was that picture of Megan's boys that Dustin discovered in her pocket Steve believes it was Dustin who put it there in the first place if you going to make it look like suicide you're going to do things like that Steve also thinks Dustin planted the alleged suicide note and firmly believes it was not even written by his daughter she never wrote in solid print she write mix print script printt in the same word some of the photos revealed clues of a struggle says Steve like this wine rack found behind a chair and this guitar lying on the floor I think they were fighting several months later Steve D Cody circled back to district attorney riddle and showed him some of the photos that concerned him and as I looked at it I kept saying this can't be what was found to be a suicide riddle says he tried to get the sheriff's department to take another look at the case but they refused the local police department really didn't have the capacity so we tried to get State Police to look into it and they didn't seem to be interested so riddle went to then a voils parish coroner Dr LJ Mayu who had issued Megan's death certificate based on the medical examiner's report Mayu had classified Megan's death a suicide riddle tried to get him to change it to undetermined why did you want that so that we could open up an investigation and we started showing him some of the photos and uh he said hey I'm convinced that we it ought to be reopened Dr Mayu reviewed Detective Chris Knight's one-page report what do you know about Chris Knight's investigation of this death sloppy and very questionable my says he found out that Chris Knight had not even attended Megan's autopsy but the former coroner admits that his office also didn't conduct much of an investigation did you ever interview the husband no sir why not uh we couldn't find him did you try calling him yes no answer in 2017 District Attorney Charles Riddle sent this letter written by Dr Mayu to the the Louisiana State Police requesting a review of the case in the letter Mayu wrote I was informed that there were photographs which I had not seen and many questions are unanswered the state police did agree to look at the case what came of that the state police found no evidence to overturn the initial finings by now Dustin had moved on he married his second wife and they were raising Megan's Sons right there that little but Steve dakot could not move on right and he called an old high school buddy for help David Le Mo a highly respected FBI agent who was now retired and living in Nebraska what' you tell him I said I need some help I need to find out who did it in 2018 more than 4 years after Megan was shot David Le Mo flew to Cottonport to spend time with his brother Peter Le Moine and to take a meeting with Steve doot Steve asked his old friend to review a binder filled with photographs and documents says Peter Le Mo he came to my house that night spent hours and hours just sifting through the evidence and by the next morning he went to Steve's house and said your daughter was murdered what do you make of the 's determination to get answers see more evidence from the case at 48 [Music] hours.com but I'd always tell Steve as long as my brother is in this case you're going to be okay Peter Le Mo remembers the day in 2019 when his brother former FBI agent David Le Mo came out of retirement determined to help Steve D Cody get to the bottom of his daughter Megan's death once David Le Mo knew that that girl was killed nothing was going to stop him he was fired up when he called me Zack Shelton got a call from his friend and fellow retired FBI agent asking for help and when I reviewed the file there was something there there was no doubt in my mind that we were headed in the right direction I had no help very little help then I had the best could ever get but to dig into the case the former FBI agents needed new badges so they turned to one of the only local law enforcement officials willing to help it's great to see you at the time Ernest Anderson was cotton port's police chief he agreed to reopen the case and to deputize David Le Mo and Zack Shulton and he SW Us in as cport police officers and that gave us the authority to to look into it then assistant police chief Justin Shen asked to be assigned to the case he strapped on his body Cam and helped two season investigators interview Witnesses go ahead state your name Christopher on January 15th 2019 the original detective on the case agreed to talk by then a police officer in a neighboring Town Chris Knight said that on the day of the shooting he felt overwhelmed and called for backup among others Chad Jaa a well-known detective and blood spatter expert showed up and Knight says Jaa told him it was clear Megan had shot herself the way the body was positioned and the blood splatter and the gun that it actually but on a recorded interview okay we're on the record jeanan disputed Knight's account what detective Knight basically wanted to know was could I determine if this was a suicide or not I said no it's not that simple jaau says he told detective Knight that the scene was badly contaminated and he advised Knight to investigate closely until he could rule out homicide but Knight admits he never sent the gun out for testing why off and said he had never fully examined the evidence I looked at it as a suicide and not a homicide I box this you know then I mean I'll take it but my fault you know was but was it done on purpose absolutely not Chris Knight repeatedly refused our request for an interview but did send this written statement which reads in part I was a young inexperienced investigator and would I do some things differently today with the training and experience I now have absolutely Zach and David were now working hard to do better and did something Knight never had go ahead and state your name Dustin they questioned Dustin perah extensively for more than an hour was there anying going on any fighting going on not not anything that a normal married devil would go through Dustin said that in the weeks leading up to her death his wife had seemed depressed and obsessed with the question of where young children go when they die in the middle of the night she'd come wake me up I can't stop thinking that my kids wouldn't go to heaven if something happened to them that's his only one said that she never mentioned it to anybody what never made sense to me is if he thought she was going to commit suicide there was no way he would have left his wife alone to go to Walmart and what about those rumors of infidelity did you have affairs yes did she know about it to my knowledge know cuz she question me also troubling to David and Zach was the way Steve D cot described Dustin sliding into Megan's blood he came running in from the garage door he gets in a baseball slide position and he slides I slipped in a pool of blood at her at around her head Dustin said it was an accident but Zack Shelton did not buy that but what better thing to sled in right ahead in the blood and disrupt the crime scene Dustin was also asked about the alleged suicide note which David and Zach were now convinced had been planted by Dustin himself somebody planted this note after she died who could that have been I really don't know Dustin repeatedly denied having anything to do with Megan's death or any sort of cover up I feel like don't trying to incriminate me you need to come clean and you need to say we got in a fight and maybe she grabbed the gun first maybe she shot herself in front of I don't know but you were there when she was shot I was not there David Le Mo pushed so hard that Dustin abruptly ended the interview I'm done guys in that moment I'm thinking he's definitely involved see this is early on Zack and David also interviewed Anne Giller the neighbor who thought she may have heard a gunshot early that morning a little after 7 a.m. I heard a boom a live boom and you clearly heard it oh yes it was very loud so I said to myself oh my gosh that was a loud noise we also heard have a guy on the left side that said he had heard a gunshot around 920 but he wasn't sure if it was a gunshot Zack Shelton and David Le Mo were convinced that an gillery the neighbor to the right heard the shot that killed Megan a little after 7 a.m. leaving Dustin plenty of time to shoot his wife and cover up his crime then drive to Walmart but their case was purely circumstantial until a forensic expert hired by Steve doot discovered what he believes to be the physical evidence connecting Dustin to the shooting puts in there puts in there when my daughter was [Music] shot it was now 2020 and Zack Shelton and David Le Mo were feeling confident about the case they were building against Dustin Pera then says Peter Le Moine as Co hit the US the deadly virus killed Peter's Brother David on December 28th 2020 I made up my mind at that very time that I was going to finish what he started Mr Peter just literally picked up where Mr David left off just like that okay Zack Shelton and Steve doody now had a new partner a highly respected local attorney went to work on it as hard as any human could have worked on it you know Peter says his main job was to keep their case in front of District Attorney Charles Riddle in an effort to make sure that he was aggressively prosecuted what he told me was we need more so Steve D Cody asked the Jeffers and Parish crime lab to examine the evidence and check for suspicious blood spatter on Dustin's clothing the lab found no evidence of murder or any evidence Dustin was there when the gun went off but Steve was still convinced that Dustin had shot Megan and had purposely slid into her blood to cover up any incriminating spatter so in April of 2021 Steve hired an independent crime scene analyst named Eric Richardson can you show me the blood spatter yeah okay so when you look close you see these very very small misting pattern right here all that Richardson examined photos of the shorts worn by Dustin perah and he honed in on a fine mist of blood right under this pocket flap it's a pattern he says can only be caused by High Velocity blood spatter from a gunshot wound it told me that Dustin was there when that gun was discharged into Megan's head you sure positive it was concrete concrete evidence we proved he was in the room next to her we know that it was his gun the only explanation is that he killed her Eric Richardson also agreed that the gun looked like it had been wiped clean on October 13th 2021 Charles Riddle took the case to a grand jury 6 minutes after you present it to the Grand Jury they come back with a charge of second degree murder Dustin was arrested pleaded not guilty and was released on bond based on the blood spatter that Richardson found on Dustin shorts and the charges the medical examiner revised Megan's autopsy report and changed the manner of death from suicide to undetermined Charlie riddle prepared for a now nearly 9-year-old case to go to trial we believe she was shot about 7:30 you think he left her there while she was still alive oh I know he did yeah but it was not an open and shut case says riddle he says experts from the state police and the Jefferson Parish crime Labs were going to be called by the defense and told him they would be testifying that the blood spatter on Dustin shorts did not prove he was present when the gun went off and then there was Megan's note to her sons a handwriting expert hired by Steve dakot was going to testify that it was most likely written by Megan but Charlie riddle says he was prepared to argue that it was not a suicide note I thought that she was just leaving him there was also the difficulty of proving what time Megan was shot where Dustin was when it happened and how long Megan could have been lying dying on the floor before Steven Missy discovered her still alive you know the damage it did to her brain right oh God yes I'm surprised she was still alive yes what could you see the defense making hay of successfully they were going to make hay over the accident the night before they were going to say that she tried to commit suicide the night before on Friday March 24th 2023 just 3 days before Dustin peris's murder trial was set to begin Charlie riddle says his phone rang I get a call from the defense attorney he said well I want to offer a plea negligent homicide negligent homicide in the state of Louisiana is not defined as a crime of violence and only carries a sentence of up to 5 years David it was an awful deal if all you're going to get is negligent homicide you're not risking much at all by going to trial I was concerned that he could walk away a free man never clear her name for those boys and they never know the truth the doakes said they would agree to a deal but only if Dustin answered some very specific questions on March 26 2023 Dustin perah pleaded no Lo cont tendry or no contest to negligent homicide and Charlie riddle got to question him on the stand riddle read to us from the record your marriage to her was a struggle for the last couple of months of her life correct answered by par yes sir on the morning of June 28th 2014 you and her were arguing and she threatened to leave correct P yes I'm not contesting as part of the noo content BL you had a pistol in your hand and in the struggle the gun went off firing into her head correct answer yes I'm not contesting as part of the noo conting plea we wanted to make sure that he admitted that he sh her in it was not suicide to us as a family him admitting to that that was huge y'all weren't done what was the last and next thing you wanted to do get those boys Dustin had full custody of his and Megan's sons and he'd had it for nearly 9 years they lived with him and his new wife you want full custody full custody stripping him of his rights full custody and you got it and we got it on April 20th 2023 Missy and Steve doot were granted full custody 7 days later we were there when Dustin and his wife arrived at the sheriff's department so that Dustin could turn himself in Dustin we tried to reach you I wanted to get your side I wanted to hear from you people are going to watch this and they see your silence silence is all you're leaving us with Dustin never said a [Music] word I do wonder what you think Megan would say to you at the conclusion of all of this if she could [Music] she say take care of those boys and probably say thanks for not giving [Music] up God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for they will be satisfied am I satisfied if I know M's okay up there alongside beside Jesus and all the Angels but in my hearts she'll be forever [Music] [Music] 29 need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode with firstand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your podcasts

Channel: 48 Hours

Views: 2,059,763

Keywords: 48 hours, cbs news, true crime, Megan Parra, Dustin Parra, cottonwood louisiana, homicide, no contest plea, nolo contendre, shooting, suspicious death, investigation, evidence photos

Id: k9XRkdP3F1A

Length: 41min 50sec (2510 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 12 2024