Duncan McKenzie (murderer)

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For other people with the same name, see Duncan McKenzie (disambiguation).
Duncan McKenzie
McKenzie in 1990
Born
Duncan Peder McKenzie Jr.

(1951-10-05)October 5, 1951
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedMay 10, 1995(1995-05-10) (aged 43)
Montana State Prison, Deer Lodge, Montana, U.S.
Cause of deathExecution by lethal injection
Criminal statusExecuted
Conviction(s)Deliberate homicide
Aggravated kidnapping
Sexual intercourse without consent
Criminal penaltyDeath (March 3, 1975)
Details
VictimsLana Harding, 23
DateJanuary 21, 1974
CountryUnited States
State(s)Montana

Duncan Peder McKenzie Jr. (October 5, 1951 – May 10, 1995)[1] was convicted of the murder of a Conrad, Montana schoolteacher named Lana Harding on January 21, 1974. After his conviction in March 1975, he was on death row for twenty years, receiving eight stays of execution. His ninth stay of execution was denied by the United States courts of appeals.[2]

McKenzie was executed on May 10, 1995. He was the first person executed in Montana since 1943, and also the first ever U.S. death row inmate to spend twenty years or more on death row and still eventually be executed.[3] He is one of only three people to have been executed in Montana since the reinstatement of the death penalty. He was the only person of the three to be executed involuntarily.

Background[edit]

McKenzie was born on October 5, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois.[4] He married Shirley Marlene McKenzie (born July 1943). They had three children together, Richard, Michelle, and Jon and lived in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho at the time of his incarceration. Shirley passed May 2017 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.[1][5]

Crime overview[edit]

He was convicted of the murder, rape, and death by asphyxia of Lana Harding. He was sentenced to death for aggravated kidnapping.[6] The crime was committed on January 21, 1974, in the early morning. Harding was a schoolteacher in a small one-classroom schoolhouse and members of the community raised concerns of her well-being when she did not arrive at the school and her shoes were left in the driveway.[7]

Suspicions[edit]

He was also suspected to have murdered Debra Prety, a teenager from Coeur d'Alene. However, at the date of his execution, McKenzie had never confessed to the murder of Prety or Harding. At the time of Prety's death he lived relatively close to the family home and was on parole for attacking another woman. Three months after the death of Prety, McKenzie committed the murder of Harding.[8]

Debra’s brother, Paul Jr., then 26, found the teen’s body in the backyard of the home across the street at 9:15 the next morning. An autopsy revealed she’d been raped and died by asphyxiation. The method used by the killer matched that of the brute who murdered the Montana teacher Jan. 21, 1974. The Coeur d’Alene Press described Coeur d'Alenes community reaction to Debra’s murder as “quiet rage.”[2][9]

November 2021, Coeur d’Alene Officer Jacob Rodgers confirmed that McKenzie killed Debra Prety (pronounced Pret-TEE). A DNA sample showed that the odds of the killer being someone other than McKenzie were 7.08 sextillion to one (or 7.08 times 10 with 21 more zeroes).[3][10]

Find a 19-minute documentary about Lana Hardy and Debra Prety on youtube.[11]

Death row[edit]

He waited on death row for twenty years from 1975 to 1995. He was one of the first three inmates to be sentenced with the reinstated death penalty in Montana. The other two sentenced were Bernard Fitzpatrick and Dewey Coleman, however, their appeals to the execution were successful and they avoided death.[12]

Execution[edit]

McKenzie was executed on May 10, 1995, at Montana State Prison, becoming the first person to be executed in Montana since 1943.[13] His last meal was tenderloin steak, french fries, a tossed salad, orange sherbet and whole milk.[14] Upon his request, he was allowed to listen to country music as he was put to death.[15] McKenzie remains the first of only three people to be executed in Montana since the resumption of capital punishment. The others were Terry Allen Langford in 1998 and David Thomas Dawson in 2006. McKenzie was the only one of the three to be executed involuntarily.[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Death Penalty Stats" (XLS). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  2. ^ Henry Weinstein, "Denial of Stay Puts Montana Killer One Step Closer to Death", Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1995.
  3. ^ "Montana Executes Killer of a Teacher", The New York Times, May 11, 1995.
  4. ^ Anez, Bob (May 8, 1995). "'Older, quieter and much easier going'". The Missoulian. pp. 15. Retrieved August 11, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Shirley McKenzie Obituary". English Funeral Chapel. 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "State v. McKenzie, 171 Mont. 278 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  7. ^ Mark Downey, "Parents, students recall the day Harding didn't come to school", "Great Falls Tribune", May 10, 1995.
  8. ^ Winda Benedetti, "Killer Took His Secrets To The Grave Family Of Murdered Coeur D’Alene Girl Doesn’t Get Hoped-For Confession", "The Spokesman-Review", May 11, 1995.
  9. ^ Oliveria, Dave (October 23, 2023). "Huckleberries: 'Quiet Rage'". Coeur d'Alene Press. Retrieved May 29, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ Oliveria, Dave (November 12, 2023). "Huckleberries: Cold Case Closure". Coeur d'Alene Press. Retrieved May 29, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ Crimeatorium (2022). "The Sad and Senseless Murders of Lana Harding and Debra Prety". Youtube. Retrieved May 29, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ Chase Doak, "Inside Montana's death row, 1985", "Billings Gazette", February 15, 2016.
  13. ^ "Montana puts 1st man to death since '43". Deseret News. May 10, 1995. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  14. ^ "McKenzie's last meal steak, fries". Great Falls Tribune. May 10, 1995.
  15. ^ "Music Accompanies End of Killer's Life". Associated Press. May 10, 1995.
  16. ^ "Searchable Execution Database". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
Preceded by
Phillip J. Coleman Jr. 		Executions carried out in Montana Succeeded by
Terry Allen Langford
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