How a Parrot Helped Convict a Woman Who Murdered Her Husband

Martin and Glenna Duram lived in their home in Ensley Township, Michigan. The Durams had five children from previous marriages.

They had been married for 11 years. In 1995, Martin was in a car accident that affected the left side of his body and his brain. Because of this, he couldn't remember much about his life with his first wife and kids. So, Glenna was the only one in the family who made money, since Martin only got disability benefits.

Glenna was hooked on gambling, and she lost a lot of money in casinos and on lottery tickets. The Durams' addiction cost them a lot of money and caused their house to be taken away. Martin, on the other hand, was always trying to save money, which led to many fights in the Duram family.

In 2010, his health got worse, and Glenna started getting paid $3,153 a month to take care of him while he got $1,100 a month in disability benefit.

Financial Difficulty

According to interviews and police records, the couple began incurring debts several years ago. They owed the IRS money. A collection agency even attempted to reclaim one of their vehicles.

According to interviews, court testimony, and hundreds of pages of police reports, Glenna's gambling made the couple's money problems even worse. She visited casinos once or twice per week. Family members told police that she kept her debts, including the fact that they were about to lose their house, from her husband.

Martin's mom, Lillian, called him in April 2015 to tell him that a legal notice in the local newspaper said that his house was about to be taken away.

When Martin asked Glenna about it, she said it was a mistake and she would call the bank. Martin told his mother that they had their mortgage paid automatically, but his Glenna was not paying.

The Shooting in The Family

Two weeks before the shooting, on April 28, papers for the Durams' foreclosure were put on their front door.

According to interviews and police reports, the impending foreclosure was not the only thing on Glenna's mind days prior to the shooting.

Lora Horan, her daughter, told police that her mother was battling bronchitis and was having problems with her insurance company over refusing to pay for X-rays of her ailing back. Debt collectors were also calling her regarding her medical bills.

On May 13, 2015, a call came in from the Ensley Township home. A neighbor was the first person to find the Durams after the accident and made the call. When they looked inside, they saw that the house was in a terrible state, with broken things all over the living room.

Martin was found dead in his bedroom. He had been shot five times. The police found his wife nearby. She had been shot near her head. At first, the police thought Glenna was dead, but after she woke up and got herself together, she was taken to the hospital.

As the police searched the room where the murder happened, they found a lot of bullets on the bed and in the living room. A Ruger Single-Six pistol was also found under a chair in the living room. When it was tested, it was found to be the murder weapon.

Investigations and Bud the Parrot

When the police found Martin and Glenna on the floor of their bedroom, they thought that a third party had attacked them and that Glenna was also a victim.

However, when they found a stack of suicide letters, they started to question their assumptions. When the adult Duram children were cleaning the house the day after the murder, they found an envelope that the police had missed. Inside were a bunch of letters that Glenna Duram had written to her kids before she killed herself.

When asked about the letters, Glenna said she didn't remember writing them. This made the police wonder what Glenna was trying to do.

Detectives dug deeper and found that Glenna's phone was used to look up information about the Ruger Single-Six on the day of the murder. Neighbors and friends of the Durams also said that they fought and argued a lot and that Glenna Duram joked a lot about waiting for her husband to die.

People said that the couple kept their lives private and that their door was always locked. However, police reports said that there were no signs of a possible break-in on the day of the murder.

Based on the evidence, the police started to think that Glenna had something to do with the murder of her husband, but they still couldn't get a warrant for her arrest.

Then, an African Grey parrot named Bud, who lived with the Durams, gave the most damning evidence. Bud, who had lived with Christina Keller, Martin’s ex-wife, since the murder, is believed to have witnessed the entire exchange before Glenna fatally shot her husband and turned the gun on herself.

Keller gave a local news station a video of Bud imitating two people having a fight by switching his voice back and forth.

She said that Martin and Glenna had said those things. She also said only two weeks after she took Bud into her home, the parrot started squawking: "Don’t f****** shoot!" which is believed to be Martin’s last words before Glenna shot her.

During the two-minute video, the parrot's voice changes as he clings to the outside of his cage.

“Shut up” and “Get your (expletive) over here,” he squawked. And then: “Don’t (expletive) shoot.”

Arrest, Trial and Sentencing

When the police had enough proof, they arrested Glenna Duram and charged her with killing her husband.

The police say that Glenna killed Martin and then tried to kill herself, but she didn't succeed. Even though Bud the parrot was a key witness in the case, he was not called to the witness stand.

The case against Glenna was made stronger by the testimony of many of her family and friends. After a day of thinking, a Newaygo County jury decided that Glenna Duram was guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced her to life in prison without the chance of parole.