The Murder of Karen Duenas

I watched the latest episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered for this case, it’s titled ‘A Killing in Cottonwood.’ You can find the episode on Oxygen. A loving mother of five kids was murdered in her own home, and although it was reported to be a random attack, the police think it was a crime of passion. This episode was narrated by Keith Morrison, my all time favorite Dateline narrator. He was full of wit and comebacks in this episode.

Background

Mark and Karen Duenas were high school sweethearts, and married as teenagers. They had five sons together, the youngest was a senior in high school when Karen was killed. The Duenas family lived in a nice house in Cottonwood, California, a suburb of Redding, California.

On May 4, 2012, a Friday afternoon, they all attended Casey Duenas’s baseball game together, not expecting what was going to happen that evening.

Murder

Around 1am in the early morning hours of May 5, 2012, a 911 call came in to the Shasta County sheriffs department. Mark Duenas called to say that he found his wife covered in blood.

Mark had also told his youngest son, Casey to run next door to their oldest son’s house. Jason Duenas was woken up by his brother shouting that something happened to their mom.

Karen was dead on the scene, and the autopsy stated that she was killed by multiple stab wounds, including a gash in her chest.

Investigation

The police looked around the Duenas home for evidence and found that the screen in the kitchen window was cut out and one of the other detectives noticed a car speeding away when they were arriving to the scene. Some of the neighbors also reported seeing two strangers outside of the home that night.

Despite some of the evidence possibly leaning towards a random home invasion, the police suspected that Mark had killed his wife. They brought in Mark for questioning.

Mark said he woke up to a strange noise, he described thinking that it was a cat or an animal outside. He went down to the kitchen and opened the back door but didn’t see an animal. He then went to check on his wife, and that’s when he found her.

Mark also told the police some other interesting information. He said that he had just recently gotten a Facebook and looked up a woman he used to go to high school with. He said he hadn’t seen her in 3o years, and that she lived in Idaho now. They had texted for a few months, sent some pictures back and fourth (“all innocent,” he said,) and even wanted to meet up, but didn’t. Karen had found out about it through his phone bill, but then he decided to get a secret phone so he could carry on his “relationship.” Mark had even texted her that he loved her.

It’s reported that Mark wanted something much more than this woman, and that the woman sent a letter to Karen and apologized and asked for her forgiveness. The woman broke off all contact with Mark.

Arrest and Trial

Four months after Karen’s murder, Mark was arrested at home while he was watching TV with his son, Casey. He was charged with first degree murder.

At Mark’s trial, the prosecutor stated that Mark killed his wife so that he could carry on his relationship with the woman from Idaho and that Karen had threatened to divorce him.

One of the pieces of evidence that was heard was Mark’s 911 call. There was a piece of audio that the prosecutor played and it sounds like Mark said “I killed my wife,” and honestly it does sound like that. Mark’s defense attorney, Ron Powell said he didn’t hear that at all and what he heard was “I found my wife,” but to me it sounded more like I killed my wife.

The very opening of this clip is the clip that reportedly either says “I killed my wife,” or “I found my wife.” It still sounds like I killed my wife to me.

The jurors were actually 10-2 for acquittal, but the trial was declared as a mistrial. Ron Powell didn’t believe it, he thought he would have gotten Mark out of prison.

Mark’s Second Trial

Mark’s second trial started in November of 2013, and the court room was packed with Mark and Karen’s family. The whole Duenas family believed Mark was innocent, even Karen’s family.

A new prosecutor was brought in, along with new evidence. The new evidence included a knife that was reportedly the murder weapon and Mark’s clothing with blood on it.

Mark’s defense stayed the same, and unfortunately it wouldn’t work for Mark. Mark was found guilty to first degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life.

The Duenas family sold their childhood home, and their oldest son moved away from the house next door. Mark’s family claims to this day that Mark is innocent and loved Karen very much.

Other

Mark and Karen’s son, Jacob, was convicted for raping a child. He was fired from his job as a CHP officer and went to trial for raping two underage girls. He pleaded no contest in 2008, and was required to register as a sex offender.

He was also accused of raping a 10 year old boy, but pleaded not guilty. He was only sentenced to 180 days in jail and 5 years of probation.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Honestly, I have mixed thoughts about this case. I don’t believe Karen was killed by drug dealers or a home invasion, but I think there was no clear evidence that Mark killed her either. The only evidence that truly makes him look bad is the relationship he had with this woman. I think it crossed a line when he had to lie to his wife about it, and he even said I love you to her. His kids also didn’t think it was a big deal that he was texting her, which I thought was odd. They just kept saying “we know my dad loved her, it wasn’t a big deal,” like it would be a big deal to me.

I also have a problem with Mark’s son, Jacob. Whether or not he actually raped these children, he should be in jail. Why are THREE children accusing the same person of molestation? Why is he not in jail? Ugh. I have a problem with a lot of things in this case to be honest.