From Donald Dubray’s appeal:
On the night of October 6, 1986, Suzette Pritchard was working at a Town Pump convenience store located on 10th Avenue South in Great Falls. Friends of Suzette’s, including Becky Hill, Vicki Kuhn, and Suzette’s sister, Annette Pritchard, visited Suzette at work periodically throughout her shift that night. At about 12:55 a.m., Annette, Becky, and Vicki left to get Suzette french fries from a nearby Burger King. When they returned about five minutes later, they noticed a maroon-colored car parked behind the Town Pump that they had not seen before. The three generally described the car as older, beat-up, and dirty.
Vicki took the french fries into the Town Pump while Annette and Becky waited in the car. Vicki noticed a man she did not recognize at the microwave. The man walked toward her and stopped about three feet in front of her. Vicki observed that he may have been intoxicated. She reported that the man made her feel uneasy, and that she attempted to make conversation with him. Becky and Annette also saw the man, and all three were able to give similar, though not identical, descriptions of him.
When Vicki returned to the car, she told Annette and Becky that the man gave her the creeps. Becky had the feeling he was just waiting for them to leave. Annette decided she would call her sister intermittently through the rest of her shift that night. As they drove away from the Town Pump, Annette noticed it was 1:08 a.m.
At about 1:20 a.m., Larry Blanchard, the owner of a private security business, drove in front of the Town Pump. He observed a dirty, red, mid-sized car with some body damage leaving from the rear of the store.
After Vicki dropped her friends off, she and her boyfriend returned to the Town Pump to visit with Suzette. Vicki found Suzette’s body lying on the floor behind the counter. At 1:22 a.m., Officer Porter from the Great Falls Police Department was dispatched to the Town Pump. Suzette was dead when he arrived. She had been stabbed multiple times in the chest. During his investigation of the crime scene, Officer Porter noticed a wrapped-up sandwich lying on the counter. Later that night, a detective processed the crime scene and lifted fingerprints throughout the store. Unfortunately, the prints on the sandwich wrapper were not usable.
The owner of the Town Pump found that approximately $300 was missing from the store. About a week after the homicide, he realized that a knife with a five-inch steel blade, which was always kept in the store, was missing. He was also able to determine by looking at cash register receipts, that the last transaction before the homicide was for ninety nine cents, the price of the sandwich on the counter.
In the weeks and months following the homicide, Vicki and Becky helped develop composite drawings of the suspect. All three of the primary witnesses, Annette, Becky, and Vicki, participated in approximately fifty photo lineups. The detectives followed up on information provided by the public, but to little avail. At one point they investigated Joseph Grosbusch, another Town Pump employee, but concluded he was not a suspect.
Between 1989 and 1997, there were no significant developments in the investigation. In 1997, however, Detective Cameron received information from a confidential informant that Donald DuBray committed the homicide. DuBray was in prison for a rape conviction at the time the tip was provided. The confidential informant also told Detective Cameron that DuBray owned 1969 and 1974 red Pontiacs. Based on this information, Detective Cameron reopened the investigation. Detective Cameron learned that DuBray had been driving a 1967 red or maroon Pontiac with damage to the rear end at the time of the homicide.
At the time of Suzette’s murder, DuBray lived with his girlfriend, Rose Valenzuela. Rose testified that on the night of October 6, 1986, the night of the homicide, DuBray left the apartment and did not return until early the morning of October 7, 1986. That day Rose flew to Seattle. She testified that a month or two later when DuBray found her in Seattle, he told her he had robbed the Town Pump.
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INMATE INFORMATION
Federal information
DONALD FRANCIS DUBRAY
Register Number: 01919-046
Age: 52
Race: American Indian
Sex: Male
Released On: 07/25/2014
Montana information
DOC ID# 44635
NAME: DONALD FRANCIS DUBRAY
CURRENT STATUS: INMATE
LAST STATUS CHANGE: Thursday, September 04, 2014
GENDER: Male
INFORMATION CURRENT AS OF: Tuesday, December 23, 2014
PRISON:
MONTANA STATE PRISON
700 Conley Lake Drive
Deer Lodge, MT 59722
(406) 846-1320
PHYSICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
HAIR COLOR: Brown
EYE COLOR: Green
HEIGHT: 5 FT 10 IN
WEIGHT: 180 lbs
BUILD: MEDIUM RACE: NATIVE AMERICAN
SKIN TONE: LIGHT
L/R HANDED: L YEAR OF BIRTH: 1962
BIRTH PLACE: Montana
CITIZENSHIP: United States
MT RESIDENT: Y
AKAs
DONNY DUBRAY,
DONNIE DUBRAY,
DON DUBRAY,
DON DUBUEY,
DONALD F DUBRAY,
DONALD FRANCES DUBRAY,
ROBERT D DUBRAY,
JOHN ADOLF MARTINEZ
LEGAL RECORD
DOCKET: CDC-98-019
COUNTY: CASCADE COUNTY
JUDGE: NEILL
COUNTS: 1
LEGAL TYPE: Original Sentence
SENTENCE TYPE: PRISON OFFENSE: Theft
CODE: 456301
OFFENSE DATE: 10/7/1986
SENTENCE PRONOUNCED: 4/15/1999
NET SENTENCE (MONTHS): 120
DOCKET: CDC-98-019
COUNTY: CASCADE COUNTY
JUDGE: NEILL
COUNTS: 1
LEGAL TYPE: Original Sentence
SENTENCE TYPE: LIFE OFFENSE: Deliberate Homicide
CODE: 455102
OFFENSE DATE: 10/7/1986
SENTENCE PRONOUNCED: 4/15/1999
NET SENTENCE (MONTHS): 1800
DOCKET: CDC-98-019
COUNTY: CASCADE COUNTY
JUDGE: NEILL
COUNTS: 1
LEGAL TYPE: Original Sentence
SENTENCE TYPE: PRISON OFFENSE: Robbery
CODE: 455401
OFFENSE DATE: 10/7/1986
SENTENCE PRONOUNCED: 4/15/1999
NET SENTENCE (MONTHS): 480
Filed under: crime, Monsters Among Us, murder, murder in the 20th Century | Tagged: 1986, cold case, convicted sex offender, Great Falls, homicide, Montana, robbery, stabbing, Suzette Pritchard | Leave a comment »
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