Cold and Missing: Jim Duckett

0:00 The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski. And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone. Welcome to Cold and Missing. I'm Ali. And I am Eli. Thank you all so much for hanging in there.

0:42 I know there was no episode last week. I don't know how the weather has been in your neck of the woods, but here it was up and down and all around, so I ended up getting a pretty bad migraine. So I appreciate you hanging in there and hanging with us. But I think we should get into it. All right, let's dive in. Today we are covering a cold case, and it's the case of Jim Duckett. It happens in Shelbyville, Kentucky in November of 2008. But first a little bit about Jim. Jim was 43 years old in 2008. He had recently moved back to the Shelbyville, Kentucky area and had joined a church that conveniently sat across the street from his house, making it easy for him to quickly become a familiar face in both Sunday services and volunteer activities.

1:34 Jim was a seven-year veteran of the Army, where he served as a military police and even served as part of Ronald Reagan's Secret Service after he was honorably discharged. Jim was a really handy guy. He had worked as a carpenter, electrician, and even repaired computers. His sister, Katherine, says, quote, he lived with us for a few years, and he loved to go to Lowe's, and so did I. We'd go and he'd say, this would look good, and that would look good. There wasn't anything he couldn't do with his hands. Electric, plumbing, anything, end quote. And now a timeline of events. In the weeks leading up to Jim's murder, his house was robbed on Halloween.

2:16 His jewelry was taken from the home. Jim began to feel antsy in his home and started to talk about moving. He bought a home security system after the robbery. On Sunday, November 9th, 2008, Katherine, that's Jim's sister, had been trying to get a hold of him and he wasn't picking up the phone. She called a couple of friends from his church and they mentioned that he hadn't shown up for Sunday service. This was also strange for Jim. Katherine decided to drive by Jim's house to see what was up. When she drove past the home, she noticed that her brother's new truck wasn't in the driveway. Years later, she'll recall, quote, I knew then in my gut that something was wrong.

2:58 So we went out to the house that night and walked around the house. I had the key to his house, but I didn't go in because I didn't want my brother to think I didn't trust him, end quote. So Katherine left that night, deciding to wait and see if her brother would finally return her phone call. The next day, Monday, November 10th, Katherine decided to head over and unlock Jim's door to see why he wasn't responding to her phone calls. Katherine was on the phone with her sister, Rebecca. When she entered his home, she saw something that would affect her for the rest of her life. She found her brother, Jim, dead in the bathroom. He had been tied to a kitchen chair by using neckties and rope.

3:38 Bernie Napier with the Kentucky State Police says, quote, it's obvious that James was tortured. To what end? I don't know if we can say at this point, but it was a very gruesome crime scene, end quote. We do know that he died from multiple stab wounds and his death is described as execution style. Years later, police will say that Jim's throat was slit. What Katherine remembers from this moment is, quote, from what I remember, his bathroom was all white, but it wasn't white. It was, it was his bathroom was just blood everywhere, end quote. As Katherine attempted to process what she was seeing out loud, her sister, Rebecca, was still on the phone with her.

4:21 She thought that perhaps Jim had died by suicide, but then she noticed that his hands were tied behind his back and bound. She says, quote, I remember screaming they murdered him. I took off running down the hall and it's literally a movie. The hall just kept getting longer, end quote. The police are immediately called at 1126 AM and they begin to process the scene. There were no signs of forced entry at the home. Police believe that Jim had been dead for some time when Katherine found him. Police are able to collect DNA from the crime scene and are hopeful that this will lead to a quick arrest. Police also notice that Jim's newly purchased 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck was missing from his home.

5:06 Pretty quickly, the county sheriff requests that the state police take the case over. As state police take the case over, they're able to locate his truck just before midnight. It was abandoned near Taylorsville Road. The vehicle was tucked behind some office buildings and it was about five miles from his house. Over the next few days, during the course of the investigation, police also discovered that Jim's credit card had been used the night of his murder at a fifth and third bank that was near his home. Police will release a really fuzzy picture from the surveillance footage that night. Police mentioned that at some point earlier during routine maintenance of the ATM, the camera lens had been placed back wrong on the machine, so it really is a difficult image to make out.

5:53 You are able to see that a person is sitting in a truck and the police say that this is Jim's truck. Investigators also found it odd in the ATM choice, quote, his house is way out in the country and instead of going to any ATM, they drove from his house all the way across town to his ATM. I mean, you can go to any ATM and withdraw money, but they went to his, end quote. Investigators do not believe that this was a random act of violence. Detective Napier says, quote, we think that the person or persons sought him out specifically. We don't think that this was a random act of violence that could have been anybody.

6:36 We think that they specifically sought after James Duckett, end quote. On Friday, November 4th, just four days after he was found murdered, Jim is laid to rest. Over the next several weeks, the family will hold several press conferences to help keep Jim's case in the media. However, the case will slowly fall out of circulation, but the next update that I could find comes in November of 2010. And this is when the family holds a candlelight vigil at Jim's home church to help raise awareness about his case and to get it back into the news. The service was packed with family, friends, and veterans that wanted to honor Jim's memory and keep the spotlight on his case.

7:19 In February of 2011, so it's been about two and a half years since the murder, police create a deck of cards of cold cases to have for sale in the prison system. We've talked about this before in other cases, but this is typically used as a tool in investigations where they'll create a card deck of cold cases or missing people and then put them for sale within the prison system in hopes that a jailhouse informant will come forward. Included in this deck of cards is Jim's case. According to his sister, Katherine, the case is anything but cold. Katherine still talks to the police once a week about her brother's case. She says, quote, I've been told that my relationship with the police isn't typical, but I told them they're underpaid, overworked and understaffed.

8:07 So anything I can do to push his case politically because of the budget cuts in the media or whatever, I'll do it to help because if I don't, they still have rapes, murders and other cases coming in and his case will get pushed back. They can't help it. End quote. Katerine also reveals in the media that in order for the case to be considered for the deck, police told her that the cases had to have DNA evidence and at least one possible suspect. Since Jim's case was included in the deck, I reason that those items are present in his case as well. State police say that they're still working on the case. Detective Harris says, quote, we're still processing evidence and the case is ongoing, but we feel like this could potentially get us information from people who have heard about the case or know more about it and it can be solved, end quote.

8:58 In November of 2011, to mark the three year anniversary of his murder, Jim's family announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. The next year in November of 2012, so now it's been four years, the Kentucky State Police announced that they're assigning two new detectives to the case and both police and family are hopeful that they'll be able to drum up some new leads. One of the new detectives, Detectives Wolcott, urges the public to come forward saying, quote, we really need the public's help. Somebody out there knows something and we need them to come forward. They can call us directly or they can call the post and leave a message, end quote.

9:40 Police are desperate to catch the killer. Jim was killed, quote, in such an extremely violent manner, end quote, that the police believe the suspect could pose a risk to the public. It does seem like these two detectives work on the case throughout the next year because in November of 2013, the new investigators say, quote, we still have, well, they're not officially suspects, but we do have some persons of interest. They have been interviewed, but they have not been cleared. We just don't have enough evidence to make an arrest. Time will tell, end quote. During this time, the family has grown the reward for information from 10,000 to 25,000 trying to tempt the public to tell police what they know.

10:26 Due to the level of violence in the case, detectives are convinced that the killers would probably kill again. However, as of 2013, police acknowledged that they don't have any other cases that are similar enough in Jim's murder to be linked. In November of 2023, so it's been 15 years since Jim was murdered. His case is in the media, not only because of the significant anniversary, but also because a podcast comes out centering Jim's case. The podcast is called Next of Kin, the untold story of Jim Duckett. And just as a quick aside, I personally have not listened to this.

11:08 I wanted to do my own research before I listened to another podcast, so I can't recommend it one way or the other. But if you want to learn more about Jim's case, that does sound like a really good resource. The local newspaper interviews Katherine, Jim's sister, and she believes that there is more than one killer involved. She says, quote, I do know it is more than one person. Logic says that. So if it's more than one person, someone has talked. They had friends in this county. Everyone in this county knows, end quote. When the local paper talked with the podcasters, they believe that the case was pointing towards retribution. However, Katherine doesn't believe that Jim would have been involved in anything that involved retribution.

11:51 She says, quote, my brother was not involved in anything. And I know this for a fact, because police told me he was not involved in anything. So it's not just a sister defending her brother. The police said he was not doing anything. He did not deserve to be murdered, end quote. And that is the last major update that I could find about Jim Duckett's case. So with that, if you know anything about the murder of Jim Duckett in November of 2008, please call the Kentucky State Police at 502-227-2221. And the sources for the timeline today come from the Paducah Sun, the Centennial News, and the WHAS 11, Lexington Herald Leader.

12:39 So that is the case of Jim Duckett. My first reaction to Jim's case was that people are really capable of anything. I know we cover a myriad of cases on our podcasts, but it seems more rare where you find a case where a man is murdered in such a vicious way. And I don't mean for that to sound gendered in any specific way. Yeah, I just had the awareness of people are capable of anything.

13:21 Because I know you didn't physically describe him, but just going off of like a general sense, it would take a lot for someone to be able to subdue a grown man and do what they did to him. And I don't know, it really scared me of just being aware of living in a community, a small community, and that anyone is capable of anything. I don't know. I think that a loss like this and a murder like this, especially in a more rural place, is very, very shocking for the people that live there. And I don't know, those were my initial reactions.

14:03 Another reaction or thought I had was I kept having to remind myself that this had happened in more recent years in 2008. And immediately I just thought about how there had to have been some sort of evidence or DNA or that my mind just thought this is solvable because of the timeframe that it happened in. And I guess I just had more, maybe more questions about that. Or if you could just speak on that further. Didn't know what the information was about that, about the crime scene, if there was DNA, if there was any sort of evidence.

14:46 So I'll kick that over to you. So from my understanding, police do have DNA evidence from the crime scene. And initially they thought that it would be kind of a quick arrest because they did have DNA evidence. But here we are in 2024 and the case is still unsolved. I had a lot of the same reactions that you had to this case where the brutality of it really caught me off guard. And looking at pictures of Jim, he's a pretty big guy, tall guy, strong guy. So it was shocking to hear how gruesome this crime scene was.

15:31 That's kind of the word that gets tossed around by police a lot is gruesome. And they don't really get into a lot of detail. But what we do know is horrifying. So I can only imagine what hasn't been revealed is really scary. It's scary to think that people would do that to somebody else, no matter what the situation is. It's scary to think about somebody being tortured. Yeah, it's very specific, sadistic, planned, tactile. I immediately went into solving mode, or at least my brain did.

16:12 And to me, even in the vague description of what we have of the crime scene, I think more than one person would have had to be there. And I'm also interested in if there, I assume there was an autopsy done, I'm interested to know if there was a toxicology report and if he was subdued in any way. But even so, if you subdue someone of that size and you're one person trying to, you know, commit this very vicious, vile crime, you usually need another person there to accomplish it. And again, because of his just size, it seems like it would be more than one person.

16:55 But with that said, again, my mind is saying it's either, you know, a random serial killer or murderers or planned and like this person or quite possibly people knew him, knew his routine, knew how to get into his house, all of those things. Yeah, I just I can't make sense of it. And my in in the confusion of trying to make sense of it, my heart just breaks for the family and his sister. There are certain things in this life that like you don't unsee sometimes and this is absolutely one of them.

17:37 I'm just so sorry to her and that, you know, it's always someone who who finds the person and it just it should never be the family. And yeah, my heart really goes out, goes out to this family. Yeah, it's really heartbreaking to think about the burden that his sister has had to carry all these years being the person who found him and found him in the state that she did. Like, yeah, heartbreaking. Absolutely. His sister, though, does talk pretty openly that she does believe that it is multiple people for a lot of the reasons that you mentioned that it just is logical that it would be more than one person, which again, like she kind of mentioned, it's like that leaves that much more opportunity for somebody to talk or to mention something or to get drunk or to sleep talk like that opens up possibilities for that happening.

18:41 It does feel like there is some knowledge like out in the community that might be known that's being like withheld to protect people for whatever reason. But I'm pretty hopeful that this case can get solved not only because we have DNA. So there's that link, but also that somebody will come forward. It's been over 15 years. There's a chance that people move away, you know, people die. So maybe that lets somebody like talk a little bit more freely because of a change in circumstances. So yeah, I'm really hopeful for this case that the family will get answers that they're looking for.

19:28 One more thing I wanted to add, like you mentioned, you know, the burden that his sister, you know, has to bear in witnessing what she witnessed upon finding her brother. But with that, it really does seem like the family loves their brother, son, uncle, you know, whatever, just so much, even just with the initial amount alone that they had put up for, you know, more information, it was astounding to me. And even now I'm getting, you know, just like kind of chills and goosebumps.

20:12 Like the love that they have for Jim is very clear. I hope that that love really shines through in this case. And that if people know something, just like you said, especially after, you know, maybe someone who was scaring them into staying quiet is gone now or is further away, like, please, please come forward. And I think more often, especially nowadays with as many, you know, true crime podcasts out there, especially podcasts that are focused on what we're trying to do here, which is really just, you know, solve them and bring answers and justice to the families that are fighting for these people.

21:00 People talk, people really do talk as time moves forward. And I think that vocalizing his name and story here, you know, you said there was another podcast next of kin, correct? Yeah. Like the more just general population people are talking about him, it will stir up the community of where this murder took place. And that's exactly what we want it to do. And hopefully it stirs up some someone who's maybe feeling brave and saying something.

21:40 I can't imagine that no one, that there isn't a person alive who doesn't know something with this case unless they're already gone. But besides that, like I have hope for this case and this family for it to be solved. So again, if you know anything about the murder of Jim Duckett in November of 2008, please call the Kentucky State Police at 502-227-2221. We'll be posting pictures of Jim on our Instagram as well as the image from the surveillance footage of the suspect driving Jim's truck.

22:23 Again, it is a very blurry image. You can't really make out much, but maybe to somebody it will mean something. So we'll be posting that on our Instagram as well. You can follow us at Cold and Missing. Thank you so much to those who have rated our podcast and reviewed us these past few weeks. I've seen the written reviews come in in Apple podcasts and it fills me with such joy. It's so exciting to see when we get a new one, especially when they are overwhelmingly kind. So thank you so much for doing that. And we appreciate it so much. If you haven't had the chance to do that and you'd love to support this podcast and help promote stories like the one we cover today as well as others, reviewing us is a great way to do that.

23:10 You can also review us on our website, ColdAndMissing.com. From there, there's transcripts in case you or someone you love is hard of hearing. You can follow along that way. You'll find all our other episodes, videos you can even donate to the podcast if you're interested in supporting financially. That option is there for you too. But just being here is wonderful enough. So thank you for being here. Thank you for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Allie. And I'm your cohost, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y'all. Stay safe, y'all.