Woman convicted of killing her husband after parrot repeated 'last words’

A woman has been convicted of killing her husband after the couple's pet parrot appeared to repeat his chilling last words.

Martin Duram was murdered in May 2015 with a .22 calibre handgun and was discovered alongside his wife Glenna, who had suffered a single bullet wound, in their Michigan home.

While Martin passed away after suffering five gunshot wounds, Glenna survived what prosecutors dubbed a failed suicide attempt.

She was subsequently put on trial and later charged with murder.

However, in a 2015 interview, she insisted that she would never kill her husband.

"I wouldn't shoot my husband," she said. "I'd be better off divorcing him and leaving him."

The alarm was raised about the couple, who otherwise appeared to be happily married, after a neighbour failed to see them for some time.

She testified that she had otherwise spoken to the Durams, who were married for 11 years, daily, which is what made their absence so unusual.

The neighbour said that she entered their home to find them on the ground and initially assumed they had both died.

Sgt. Gary Wilson, an officer who subsequently attended the scene, said he touched Glenna's otherwise lifeless body, and she jerked awake and said: "What are you doing?"

Michigan Department of Corrections

However, it took two years to convict her of first-degree murder.

Shortly after the crime itself, a big sign of her guilt came from an unlikely witness - the couple's parrot, Bud, who appeared to be repeating his owner's last words.

Martin's ex-wife Christina Keller was the first to hear the bird say: 'Don't f**king shoot' in his voice.

"I think it's a piece of the puzzle," she said at the time.

"I think it's possible last words.

"I truly believe, with all my heart, most of that comes from that night."

After the parrot continued to repeat what sounded like his last words, his ex-wife decided to record them.

"It terrified me," she said.

"I hear screaming, yelling and fear."

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While prosecution did consider using the parrot in their case against Glenna, Bud was ultimately not brought to the court.

"I looked through the police report. About four neighbours said, 'You need to talk to that bird," Christina said.

"I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's how intelligent Bud is and how much people believed that he witnessed this."

However, even without Bud's help prosecutors were still able to find Glenna guilty, and she is now serving a life sentence at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Pittsfield Charter Township, Michigan.