Michigan: In a bizarre case, a foul-mouthed parrot may provide key evidence in the murder trial of a woman accused of killing her husband in the US.
Glenna Duram, 48, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Martin Duram, who was found shot five times in May last year at their home in Sand Lake, Michigan.
Glenna was found lying next to Martin with a gunshot wound to her head. Martin's family claims the couple's pet parrot, Bud, likely witnessed the murder after the bird was heard saying "Don't (expletive) shoot" in a video taken shortly after Duram's death, WOOD-TV reported.
A few weeks after Martin's death, the couple's parrot started repeating a loud, profane argument between a male and a female.
The man told her to, "Get out". "Where will I go," she replied. Then, in what family believes are his last words, the man said, "Don't...shoot".
Newago County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Springstead was quoted as saying that they are studying the parrot's words,trying to determine if they are admissible evidence.
"It's an interesting novelty and it's been a great opportunity for me to learn about African parrots. It is something we are going to be looking at to determine if it's reliable to use or if its information we need to prosecute this case," he told Detroit Free Press.
"That bird picks up everything and anything, and it's got the filthiest mouth around," Duram's mom, Lillian Duram said.
According to police, Glenna maintains her innocence saying, "I know for a fact I didn't kill my husband".
But investigators suspect a murder-suicide plot gone awry. Glenna allegedly wrote three suicide notes and the couple had financial problems, according to police records.
One of the alleged suicide notes, left for one of her children, apologised for being "a disappointment to you these last 12 years or so."
The note asks the reader to "Please forgive me".
"No matter what happens I lose, I lost a son and I'm gonna lose a daughter-in-law," Martin's father Charles Duram told Fox 17.
"But when I wake up in the morning my wife ain't crying and asking for justice, I can live with that," he said.
