Elizabeth Ann Duncan

Many beliefs and behaviors are learned and passed down from generation to generation. The theory that male children are superior to female children is one of them. Of course until the early 1900's women were still even legally considered to be inferior. Some would argue today that women are still considered that way but it is nothing compared to where we started. This goes back at least as far as ancient times and just carried on down. Many female children babies were abandoned or even murdered in China when there was a one child policy in place for more than thirty years. Male children carry on surnames which make them important to fathers in particular. But mother's doted on their sons, some more than others. Sons were treated better than daughters. Daughters were expected to marry well; sons were expected to do well. Many mothers would not just try to convince their sons that no one would love them like they would, they made sure the women dating their sons knew that also. Elizabeth Duncan, known as Ma Duncan, seemed to take those thoughts to extreme.

Elizabeth Duncan was described in most of my research as a “drifter.” Reports vary on how many children she had throughout the years. Some say two, some say four and I even found one that said six. However, I can say for certain she had two. She had a daughter, Patricia, also known as Patsy Ann, who died in 1948 at the age of fifteen of what was described as “a spontaneous cerebral hemorrhage.” And she had a son, Frank Duncan Jr. Patricia's obituary only listed her parents and the one brother as a survivor. One report stated that the first of Elizabeth's many husbands had left her and took their three children with him but I could not confirm this in any way. As far as how many husbands she had those reports vary also. The numbers ranged anywhere from ten to twenty times, one specifically stated thirteen times. Regardless of how many husbands or children she had no one disputes that Frank Jr. was the most important man in her life. He was described as the “center of her life” and while all mother's like to think of their sons as their “little boys” Elizabeth apparently referred to him as “Mama's Little Boy,” to him and others, right up to the end. It was said that while mothers dote on their sons, Elizabeth's relationship towards Frank Jr. was extreme to the point many wonder if it was incestual.

In November of 1957 Elizabeth moved in with Frank Jr. in Santa Barbara. It is not clear when either Frank Sr died, or the couple divorced but by the time she had moved in with Frank Jr. Elizabeth had been married several times, sometimes not divorcing in between and Frank Jr, who was now an attorney, was attempting to “sort out her marital tangles.” It was said that she refused to cooperate and Frank Jr ordered her to move out. Instead of complying with anything Elizabeth took an overdose of sleeping pills in what was called a suicide attempt. Knowing what we know about Elizabeth it is unclear if this was a ploy to get attention from Frank Jr. or a legitimate suicide attempt. While she was recovering Frank Jr. had hired a nurse named Olga Kupczyk to care for his mother.

Frank Jr. and Olga became close as time went on and they decided to marry in June of 1958. It was said that it was done in secret because when Frank Jr. told his mother about his relationship with Olga she had threatened suicide again. It is unclear if at the time of the marriage if the couple knew that Olga was already pregnant. Nor is it known just when Elizabeth would be informed of this. The marriage was not stable however, much due to Elizabeth, and apparently Frank Jr's inability to cut ties with his mother. It was said that he would visit Olga during the day and evening but every night spent the night at his apartment where his mother lived. Then it was said that each morning after he had gone to work Elizabeth would go to Olga's home or call her and threaten her hoping she would simply leave town. When that was not working she used the suicide threat again, even using a gun but Frank Jr was able to get the gun away from her.

Apparently seeing she was getting no where in her efforts Elizabeth tried a new approach. At some point she hired a man named Ralph Winterstein to pose as Frank Jr., while she posed as Olga so she could illegally obtain an annulment for the couple. It apparently worked and no one became aware of this until much later. At some point to offered a “car hop” (I.e a waitress) $1,500 to throw acid in Olga's face and then push her off a cliff. The waitress not only refused but she also informed Frank Jr. who confronted his mother. Elizabeth denied the allegation and nothing was reported to the police.

Then on November 18^th, Olga, who was seven months pregnant disappeared. Several weeks later two men, Augustine Baldonado and Luis Moya were arrested on an unrelated crime. Elizabeth told her son that she knew the two men and that they had been blackmailing her. It is possible that she may have admitted about the annulment at this time and said this was the reason for the blackmail but that is not completely clear. Well, Frank Jr. went to the police station to inform investigators about the blackmail attempt thinking that he would be getting the men in more legal trouble. This attempt on Elizabeth's part backfired for her. The men in turn not only confessed to being involved in Olga Duncan's murder, but alleged that Elizabeth had paid them to do it. While it does not seem they had enough to charge her initially with murder they apparently have enough to arrest and charge her for her scheme to illegally obtain the annulment.

According to Baldonado, Elizabeth had paid the two men to kill Olga. The amount in which they stated they were paid varied in reports. Some said it was $3,000; some say it was $6,000. The two men lured Olga from her home telling her that Frank Jr. was in their vehicle intoxicated. She left her building still in her robe and slippers and made her way out to the vehicle the men were driving. Once there the men pushed her into the car. In the process one of the men hit her upon the head with the pistol they were carrying, breaking the gun. They drove her out to a remote area where they strangled her and then buried her in a shallow grave they had dug previously. It was never made clear if Olga was dead before she was buried. In his confession Baldonado told investigators where to find Olga's body.

This case is one of those that demonstrates one of the many differences between cases of decades past and those we see in the modern era. Today we still see cases in which prosecutors will offer murderers a plea deal but it is widely believed, and I agree, that the main advantage of such pleas are to eliminate the possibility of the death penalty. In this case both Baldonado and Moya would eventually plead guilty but they were still given the death penalty. Both men would later claim that had they known that Olga pregnant at the time they murdered her they would not have done so. I suppose that it is possible that they could not tell but she was at least seven months along at the time. At some point while being held the men had been able to get a hacksaw blade smuggled into the jail and made an attempt to escape. In the process they beat up and held two guards hostage. Authorities released tear gas into the area to diffuse the situation.

Elizabeth however was not going down without a fight and she had her loyal son there to help her. In fact, Frank Jr. worked to defend her. It is unclear if he was considered the lead attorney on record or if he was there to assist as there was at least one other attorney helping with the defense. She would take the witness stand in her own defense admitting talking to the men but not about Olga's murder, she stuck with the blackmail story. Frank Jr. took the stand too. He claimed that he had not seen his wife in the ten days leading up to her kidnapping and murder but he did also have to admit that his mother had hindered his marriage quite a bit.

In March of 1959, after five hours of deliberations the jury convicted Elizabeth on charges of murder. She too was sentenced to death. After several appeals she would be taken to the gas chamber on August 8, 1962. Her son was not there, although she asked for him. It was alleged that he was still working on attempting to stop the execution by legal means and had not made it back in time. She was pronounced dead eight minutes after the gas was administered. A few hours later Baldonado and Moya were also taken into the gas chamber together and also executed.

It is unclear if Elizabeth was made aware that while she was in jail her son, Frank Jr. had married another woman. This time it was a fellow attorney and while it seems that marriage lasted longer than his first it was said that they divorced several years later. Reports say Frank Jr. continued to be an attorney in the Los Angeles area and “never made headlines again.” I was unable to determine anymore than this about Frank Jr.'s life after his mothers death.