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Jeffery Duchane Sentenced
On August 3, 2009, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced that 35 year-old Jeffery Duchane was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; and also to an additional seven years after pleading guilty to First Degree Murder and Child Abuse for the beating death of his 12-year-old daughter, Trenay Duchane, and the abuse of Trenay’s nine-year-old sister.
Jeffery Duchane was contacted by the stepmother, 26 year-old Reiko Troupe on November 6, 2007. He came home to find Trenay non-responsive but alive on the bedroom floor of the apartment. He did not call for medical help; instead, he had dinner and went to bed. Duchane told police he knew his daughter had later died. Instead of immediately calling police he went to work, leaving the body in the apartment. Also in the apartment was Trenay’s terrified nine-year-old sister.
On November 10, 2007, after a call from Jefferey, Phoenix Police officers found the body of Trenay Duchane on a bedroom floor in an apartment in west Phoenix. She had been dead for several days. Officers also found the victim’s sister cowering in a shower with burns, bruises and a broken arm. The surviving nine year-old child told investigators she saw her stepmother scald and beat Trenay to death.
On April 14, 2009, Duchane pleaded guilty to First degree Murder and Child Abuse. On July 31, a judge sentenced him to natural life plus seven years which means Duchane will never be released. Troupe is also serving a natural life sentence. Family Violence Bureau Chief Suzanne Cohen prosecuted the case. We thank the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for a job well done in a horrible case of cruelty.