Kevin Duck

 

This is a story I heard on the Investigation Discovery show “Evil Lives Here.” I was a bit disappointed in my research that I did not find anything about Kevin Duck's childhood. His brother, John, was interviewed for the television show and spoke of their life growing up. By the sound of things they lived basically on a religious commune and their dad was the leader. I was left to wonder how much that upbringing had molded Kevin Duck. John kept insisting in the interview that Kevin was born evil but I am not sure I subscribe to that theory completely. I think who we are and everything we become are neither solely nurture or nature. I believe it is all a combination.

John Duck told the story of how early on Kevin was showing basically psychopathic signs. It was described that at about ten years old he had “faked” his suicide. I do not think I find that an accurate description of what happened necessarily. He had ran into his room and locked the door while his brother and sister were outside the door attempting to get in. The two siblings heard a gunshot from behind the door and were convinced that Kevin had shot himself. When the siblings were finally able to get into the room they found Kevin standing at an open window. He had shot the gun out the window. Yes, I admit that it was sadistic in nature but I would not necessarily consider it a “fake suicide.” A few years later is parents realized he was out of control and they took him to another nearby, “sister” church of sorts where an exorcism was performed. According to John, Kevin laughed uncontrollably during the session and for several hours later.

Like most families they believed, or at the very least hoped that Kevin would grow up and mature and change his ways but that did not seem to be happening. If nothing else he was getting bigger, stronger and worse. He did eventually married and he and his wife lived in a home on the commune property. The television show did mention that Kevin apparently beat his wife regularly and it mentioned they had a child together. John stated that eventually the wife got away with the child and left Kevin. What it did not mention was that he had been arrested on charges at some point of assaulting his wife and had “even beaten his two year old daughter savagely with a PVC pipe.” By 2011 he had also been arrested for the assault of a former girlfriend. I was unable to determine what Kevin legally faced in those cases.

Then sometime in 2011 Kevin started dating Dawna Natzke, a Hot Springs Village Arkansas dispatcher for the police department. Dawna was forty-six, some eighteen years older than Kevin, with three children. I got the distinct impression that the children were mostly grown by this time. The relationship apparently started out rocky despite Kevin buying her a car and her family believed she was planning to break it off. Dawna's family allege however that basically Dawna came home one day and Kevin had moved into her home without being invited. I cannot say for certain how they knew this but regardless it was then said that Dawna decided to try and make the relationship work.

On the night of December 21, 2011 there was some sort of Christmas party going on. Nothing seemed to be specific as to if this was a company party but I got the impression that this was at some sort of a venue and not in a residence. Dawna's mom, Doris, went with the couple. She would later say that she felt there was tension between the two the second she got in the car to go to the party. Then about 10:30 Doris noticed that both Dawna and Kevin were gone but her purse had been left. A friend would later say that they received a text from Dawna, or at least someone who claimed to be her, saying basically she had drank too much and was “out of it.” No one else ever saw or heard from Dawna again.

On the evening of December 22^nd Kevin attempted to file a missing persons report for Dawna but he was told that due to the fact that he was not related to her they could not take a report from him. Both she and her vehicle were missing. The following morning Dawna should have been to work at 5:30. Her son, Ronnie Moeller sat outside the police station waiting to see if his mother arrived. When she failed to show up for work Ronnie walked in and filed a missing persons report.

On December 24^th Dawna car, the one Kevin had bought her, was found ablaze. Investigators believed that they would find Dawna inside once the flames were put out but that was not the case. Over the next several days there were many searches made by volunteers but Kevin was noticeably absent at all of them. On December 31^st Kevin's father Luther talked to investigators and suggested that he show them where a secluded pond was located and that the area be searched. The 140 acre plot of land that the Duck family and their, basically followers, had lived on was less than a half a mile away. Dawna's body would be found in the pond. A coroner would later say that the cause of death was a combination of blunt force trauma in multiple areas of her body and drowning. This meant that she was still breathing when her body was placed in the pond.

It is unclear at what point Kevin was arrested but his initial arrest was not for murder. He was being held on a probation violation from an aggravated assault charge and eventually given a six year sentence for that. At some point he would tell investigators that Dawna was pregnant and said that when he brought up the issue of abortion “she got mad at him.” This was the only reference I found to this and there seemed to be no other mention of a pregnancy by her family, the coroner, or in the court records.

Kevin's trial was delayed a few times. Once the delay was based on the fact that the defense attorney's asked that some unknown DNA that was found be tested against a man named David Flory. Flory was the Hot Springs Police Chief and Kevin had alleged that he and Dawna were having an affair. The judge in the case granted that testing and despite Flory alleging that it was against his rights to be ordered to produce a sample of DNA without anything more than Kevin Duck's word he also stated he was willing to do so in order to all but squash the allegation. Flory denied he ever had a relationship with Dawna and the results would later come back as not being a match.

There were two issues with DNA in this case. The first revolved around DNA found under Dawna's nails. There were two contributors. One was Dawna herself but it was alleged that the other was “too limited for comparison purposes.” Then there was DNA found on a barbed wire fence with her body. Neither Kevin, nor Dawna's ex-husband Todd Natzke were a match to that DNA. Of course Kevin's defense would have surely harped on this unknown DNA. I am unsure that either of these “unknowns” would have made a difference. One they could not compare to anyone and the other came from an object that was likely in the area for a long period of time. I see the barbed wire fence as being an item of opportunity if it was used to cover her body or simply just an item in the area if it had only been found near the body. That being said I found nothing that indicated that there was any DNA found connected to Kevin found in the case.

Kevin finally went to trial near the end of March of 2017. After a four day trial that included more than four hours of deliberations he was convicted in the murder of Dawna Natzke. He was given a sentence of life without parole. In 2018 his conviction and sentence were affirmed through the appeals court.

By all accounts Kevin Duck is not a good guy by any stretch of the imagination. He definitely had his demons. I know that the last person to see someone alive is always a prime suspect and I agree that things look suspicious with them leaving the party without even speaking to her mother and she was never seen alive again. So, I am not going to sit here and tell you that Kevin Duck did not murder Dawna Natzke. What I am going to say is that unless there was a lot more that I have missed or could not find I am unsure that if I was on the jury I could have convicted him. I will say that one of Dawna's son stated later that the defense attorney's “made things up” about her to make her look bad. They say there are no coincidences when it comes to murder and maybe they are right but I still am unsure I could have convicted him.