*While no human may have been in the vicinity when this woman did her dirty deed, apparently she didn’t check for the bird. Police and family members believe the words repeated by, Bud, a 19-year-old African Grey Parrot, may have been the last words spoken by Martin Durham, the husband of a Michigan woman named Glenna Durham, who has been sentenced to life in prison for his murder.
Glenna Durham was found guilty of shooting her husband five times in May of 2015 after the couples’ pet parrot spoke words that may have helped seal the deal.
The bird was heard saying, “Don’t [expletive] shoot!” and the authorities believe these were the last words the husband said before the fatal shots were fired by his wife.
The victim’s former wife, Christina Keller, with whom Bud is now living, also agrees the words the bird repeated were those of her former husband, Martin.
In a statement obtained by LTV2, Keller says the bird has always been able to pick up everything and repeats words in the voices of the people speaking…
I believe with all my heart that those are the last words of Marty. I recognize two different voices screaming and yelling and it always ends with “Don’t fucking shoot’…He’s using Marty’s voice. It’s imprinted in his brain and he can’t let it go.”
Authors side bar: OK, I am sensitive to the fact that this is a murder. I swear I am, and there is NOTHING funny about that. Someone has been killed! Yet the images dancing around in my head of a bird doing what amounts to a one-man play; where he is repeating the lines of a couple who is arguing, makes it hard to remain solemn.
Glenna Durham, who was recently sentenced to life in prison, did attempt suicide after shooting her husband, but she ended up surviving her gunshot wound to the head.
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***At this point I feel somewhat obliged to warn: Think long and hard before getting a parrot as your next pet.
The 5-minute video below has three LVTV2 hosts discussing the possibilities in this story:
