Bio

Jennie Bain Ducker was born in 1974. She left school at age 16 after she found out she was pregnant.

She married the father of that baby. They had a miscarriage and later divorced. At 18 she married James Ducker. She had two sons, Devin (born July 2, 1993) and Dustin (born May 10, 1994). The couple later divorced, and James had limited contact with the children in the year before 1995.

Some people who knew her described her as a caring parent. Babysitters said she often left the children in their care for long periods, sometimes as long as 25 hours, and would tell them she had been drinking and needed to sober up before taking the children home.

Ducker told others she had experienced hallucinations since childhood and that she had tried to take her own life on several occasions. At trial her lawyers presented evidence that she suffered from bipolar disorder (manic depression) and from a sleep disorder. Her mother testified that Jennie could stay awake for two or three days and then sleep so deeply she could not be awakened.

Murder Story

On June 6, 1995, Jennie Bain Ducker drove to the Holiday Inn in McMinnville, Tennessee. She strapped her two sons, Devin, age two, and Dustin, age one, into their car seats. She rolled up the windows, locked the doors, and left them in the parked car. She went to a hotel room where her boyfriend and three other men were. Witnesses said she drank some wine and later fell asleep in the room.

The children remained in the car from about 3:45 a.m. until mid-day. The car windows were closed and the children stayed buckled in their seats for at least eight hours. When Ducker returned between noon and 1:00 p.m., she found both children unresponsive. She drove them to River Park Hospital. Both boys were pronounced dead on arrival at about 1:20 p.m.

The medical examiner ruled the cause of death systemic hyperthermia. Temperatures taken on the children were over 108 degrees. The temperature inside the car was estimated to have reached about 120 degrees. Police searched the car and found a half-empty bottle of whiskey. A blood alcohol test taken later that day showed a level of .06, with expert testimony at trial estimating a higher level earlier that morning.

Ducker was arrested the same day and was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors tried the case under the statute that treats death by child abuse as murder. On October 3, 1995, a jury acquitted her of murder but convicted her of aggravated child abuse. On November 10, 1995, she was sentenced to an 18-year prison term. She became eligible for parole after serving the required portion of her sentence.

After serving more than eleven years in prison, Ducker was granted parole on her third application. She was released on April 9, 2007. She was placed under the supervision of the Tennessee parole office and remained a convicted felon.