Beth Ann Duncan

Beth Ann Duncan, a 20-year-old White female, was a beloved mother, daughter, and granddaughter from Denham Springs, Louisiana. Born in nearby Brusly, she was remembered by family for her close relationship with her grandfather, Edwin R. Saunders, who had been her "living room dance floor partner." Together with her husband, 23-year-old Dustin Thomas Duncan, she was raising two young children, a son named Thomas and a daughter named Elizabeth.

Their life together was brutally ended on the evening of January 7, 2009, in Baton Rouge. Shortly before 10 p.m., the couple was in their Dodge Caravan on Canonicus Street, in a neighborhood known as Dixie. Multiple gunshots rang out, and the van crashed into a tree in a resident's yard. Witnesses who rushed to the scene found Dustin slumped over in the driver's seat and Beth leaning against the passenger window. Both had been shot in the head at close range. Dustin was pronounced dead at the scene, while Beth was rushed to Baton Rouge General Mid-City hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. She was two days shy of her 21st birthday.

The Baton Rouge Police Department quickly launched a homicide investigation. Detectives soon determined the motive was likely to silence a witness. Dustin Duncan was scheduled to testify against a man named Cedrick Kelly in a pending drug case. Investigators believed that Kelly had hired a man to kill Dustin to prevent his testimony. Within a week of the murders, police made their first arrest. On January 14, 2009, they charged 27-year-old Cedrick Kelly with two counts of principal to first-degree murder, alleging he was the architect of the deadly plot.

Police also identified the suspected gunman as Charles "ET" Young. At the time he was named in the Duncan murders, Young was already in custody on unrelated charges. He was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The investigation moved forward, and the case against both men proceeded through the justice system, though their paths would end in dramatically different ways.

In August 2013, after more than four years in jail awaiting trial for the murders, Charles Young was acquitted on all charges. An East Baton Rouge Parish jury found him not guilty of the execution-style slayings of Beth and Dustin Duncan. Following his acquittal, Young continued to have encounters with the law. On August 23, 2024, at the age of 36, Charles Young was shot inside a home on Sumrall Drive in Baton Rouge and died from his injuries at a local hospital, becoming a victim of the same type of violence he had been accused of committing years earlier.

The legal disposition of the case against Cedrick Kelly, the man accused of ordering the murders, is less clear from public records. Following the acquittal of the alleged triggerman, the status of the principal charges against Kelly is not readily available. The case of who killed Beth and Dustin Duncan remains a painful open wound for their families. A joint memorial service for the young couple was held on January 17, 2009, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Brusly.

As of October 2024, the murders of Beth Ann and Dustin Duncan are officially unsolved. The man accused of carrying out the shooting was acquitted, and later killed, while the resolution of the case against the man accused of ordering the hit remains unclear. No one has been held legally responsible for the deaths of the young parents. The Baton Rouge Police Department urges anyone with information about this case to contact their Homicide Division at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.