Duncan pleads guilty to wife's murder, will serve 55 years in prison
Plus: Sheriff's race officially grows, while Road Superintendent's race shrinks, and students named to dean's list at ETSU
Good Thursday evening! This is The Weekender, a final look at this week’s news from the Independent Herald. The Daybreaker (Monday) and The Weekender (Thursday evening) are our two news-first newsletters. We publish several other newsletters throughout the week, as well as our regular E-Edition on Thursday and our Varsity E-Edition on Sunday (during sports season). If you’d like to adjust your subscription to include (or exclude) any of these newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t subscribed, please consider doing so!
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Buckeye Home Medical Equipment. Serving Scott County and several other communities in the Upper Cumberland region, Buckeye is a full-line DME providing home health equipment to its patients.
Tommy Duncan pleads guilty to wife’s murder, will serve 55 years
HUNTSVILLE | A former sheriff’s department employee will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of his wife and raping a child.
Tommy Ray Duncan, 41, pleaded guilty last week to second degree murder of his wife, April Duncan, in January 2022. Duncan, who had already been sentenced to 40 years in prison last year after pleading guilty to rape charges, was sentenced to 15 additional years last week by Judge Zachary R. Walden. The sentence stipulates that the two prison terms must be served consecutively for a total sentence of 55 years, with no early release.
Additionally, Duncan entered a guilty plea on another rape charge last week, and was sentenced to another 12 years, which runs concurrently to the other sentences.
The end result is that Duncan will be well into his 90s before being eligible for release from prison.
April Duncan was a school resource officer at Scott High School, employed by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department. She died on Jan. 31, 2022 at her home in Oneida.
Initially, the case was investigated as a suicide. When the first law enforcement officer arrived at the home in response to a 911 call that afternoon, Tommy Duncan reportedly said, “I tried to stop her.” He had told dispatchers that she shot herself amid an argument between the two of them.
However, the first arriving law enforcement officers from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office were immediately suspicious, due to Duncan’s calm demeanor and a lack of blood on his body.
Later, an investigator with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation noted that the scene appeared to be staged, with evidence indicating that April Duncan’s body was moved after she was shot and her service weapons — a .40-caliber Glock handgun and taser — placed near here after the fact.
Additionally, Duncan reportedly gave conflicting statements to investigators — at one point saying he was not close to his wife when she shot herself, and later saying that they were struggling over the handgun when she shot herself.
It was more than a year later, in April 2023, that the investigation took a turn after a minor girl reported at the office of 8th Judicial District Attorney Jared Effler that she had been raped by Duncan on multiple occasions — and that he had been raping her for years.
One of those incidents, the girl told prosecutors, was on the day April Duncan was killed, but she was afraid to report it at the time due to what had happened.
Investigators would then begin building a case that April Duncan had learned of the rapes and had confronted her husband about it on Jan. 31, 2022. She ordered him to gather his belongings and leave the home on that day, shortly before 911 dispatchers received the call from Tommy Duncan saying that his wife had shot herself.
The motive, prosecutors said, was not only so that Tommy Duncan could cover up the rape, but so that he could continue raping the girl.
After the girl came forward, prosecutors immediately began preparing for an indictment against Duncan. In May 2023, a Scott County grand jury indicted him on five counts of rape and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child. Jurors were told that Duncan had raped the child the first time when she was just seven years old and had continued to rape her since that time.
That same day, the grand jury indicted Duncan on additional charges of rape and murder.
In March 2025, Duncan pleaded guilty to four of the five charges of rape and the charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child, and was sentenced by Judge Walden to 40 years in prison. He was transferred from the custody of the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office to the TN Dept. of Corrections at that time.
Duncan was scheduled to go to trial on the additional charges of murder and rape last week. According to an order of proof prepared by the D.A.’s office, a medical examiner from the Regional Forensic Center was prepared to testify that April Duncan had been “pistol whipped” with her service weapon prior to it being used to murder her.
However, an 11th hour plea deal was entered, through which Duncan pleaded guilty to the additional charge of rape and entered an “Alford plea” to the second degree murder charge. An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty while maintaining their innocence, acknowledging that a jury would return a guilty verdict based on the evidence.
“I firmly believe that the disposition entered in the Tommy Duncan case last Wednesday in Scott County Criminal Court was responsible given the defendant’s age, the length of sentence he was ordered to serve, along with the facts and circumstances of the case and applicable law,” D.A. Effler said in a statement to the Independent Herald. “The victim’s family, victim and law enforcement were all consulted prior to the entry of this disposition and all parties agreed with the outcome.”
The conclusion of last week’s court proceeding was closure for the family of April Duncan, who was 34 years old when she was murdered in January 2022. The daughter of Bill Reynolds and Nora Slaven, she was a 2005 graduate of Oneida High School and had three children. She began her career in criminal justice with the TN Dept. of Corrections before accepting a position at the Scott County Jail and later moving into a law enforcement role as SRO at Scott High School. She had graduated from the Law Enforcement Training Academy at Walters State Community College just weeks before her death. There, she received the Charles E. Baskette Memorial Award for Courage and Determination.
Mountain People’s Health Councils offers general practice dentistry for all ages, using the latest technology for dental imagery and digital scanning. Sliding scale fees apply! Learn more. (Sponsored.)
Election ‘25: Sheriff’s race grows; Road Superintendent’s race shrinks
HUNTSVILLE | The race for Scott County Sheriff has officially expanded after a fourth candidate — former Sheriff Ronnie Phillips — submitted a qualifying petition on Wednesday, and the race for Scott County Road Superintendent is back to a single candidate.
In unrelated developments on Wednesday, Phillips returned his qualifying paperwork to seek a return to the Sheriff’s Office as a Republican candidate, while Colby Strunk withdrew his qualifying petition for Road Superintendent. Strunk had been seeking to oppose incumbent Kelvin King as an independent candidate.
Strunk’s withdrawal means that King — who has qualified for re-election — is once again alone on the developing ballot as the Feb. 19 qualifying deadline nears.
Meanwhile, there are now four candidates seeking the office of Sheriff. Incumbent Brian Keeton, who defeated Phillips in the 2022 election, and Phillips, who served as sheriff from 2012 to 2022, are both seeking the Republican nomination. That means they will square off in a primary election in May — so far as the only contested race in that primary. Two other candidates, law enforcement veterans Dennis Chambers and Kris Lewallen, are qualified as independents and will await the outcome of the May primary in the August general election.
There have been few other developments this week as the election qualifying period enters its home stretch. Adam King picked up a petition as a Republican candidate for 2nd District County Commissioner on Wednesday. Earlier in the week, incumbent 1st District County Commissioner David “Blue” Day returned his qualifying petition, as did 7th District County Commissioner challenger Kris Byrd.
Huntsville Post-Acute & Rehabilitation Center offers short-term or long-term care … on your terms. Learn more. (Sponsored content.)
Several from Scott County named to ETSU dean’s list
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. | Several students from Scott County have been named to the fall 2025 dean’s list at East Tennessee State University, the school announced this week.
Among those students:
• Cassandra Carroll of Huntsville.
• Zara Carson of Oneida.
• Emma Hamilton of Oneida.
• Alexea Jones of Winfield.
• Brandy Lewallen of Oneida.
• Isaac Martin of Oneida.
• Elania Pennington of Helenwood.
• Shiloh Shoemaker of Robbins.
• Aliya Smith of Helenwood.
• Zachary Strunk of Helenwood.
• Makenna Terry of Oneida.
• Lauren Thompson of Oneida.
Students must be full-time and have a grade point average of at least 3.5 with no grade below B- in order to be named to the dean’s list.
Additionally, the University of Alabama announced this week that Nick Gilbert of Oneida has been named to its president’s list for the fall 2025 semester. Full-time students who have a GPA of 4.0 are eligible for the president’s list.
Another light skiff of snow creates headaches for motorists
The latest snow may have been the most surprising.
Although there was a 20% chance of snow in the forecast Wednesday afternoon, nothing was really expected when a mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow began across Scott County shortly before 4 p.m. By the time late snow stopped falling Wednesday night, however, nearly an inch of new snow had once again caused road conditions to deteriorate, with several accidents reported.
Traffic was snarled on Alberta Street in Oneida for a period of time shortly after 6 p.m., after a vehicle slid into an embankment and overturned at the “Top of the Four Lane.” No one was seriously injured.
Local schools remained closed Thursday for a ninth consecutive school day, and Roane State Community College and Tennessee College of Applied Technology Oneida/Huntsville both canceled in-person classes on Thursday, as well.
Middle school tournament semifinal games that were being played at Scott High School continued to their conclusion Wednesday evening. The championship games were scheduled for Thursday, featuring Oliver Springs and Midway on the girls’ side, and Oneida and Sunbright on the boys’ side. Scott High basketball is scheduled to play at McCreary Central Thursday evening.
Much warmer temperatures are in the forecast for the days ahead, with the National Weather Service predicting a high of nearly 60° on Monday.
The Weekend!
🥶 Weather: We’ll get into the mid 40s on Friday, but another weak system will drop southeast Friday night, bringing a very slight chance of snow and colder weather. There’s a 30% chance of snow showers Friday night, and we’ll only get to about 32° on Saturday before dropping to 17° Saturday night. Much warmer weather begins Sunday, however, and we’ll push to near 50° to close out the weekend. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page — published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
—
📅 Community Calendar
• Friday: In high school sports, Scott High will host Loudon (6:30 p.m.) while Oneida will travel to Wartburg (6:30 p.m.). Both games will be broadcast on the IH Sports Network.
• Saturday: The U.S.S. Tennessee Battleship Memorial Museum will be open Saturday, February 7, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is located on the campus of Scott High as part of the Museum of Scott County complex. This month’s theme is Post-Pearl Harbor/Iwo Jima.
• Saturday: In high school sports, Scott High will host Gibbs (4 p.m.). The game will be broadcast on the IH Sports Network.
• Sunday: Celebrate Recovery, a 12-step program designed to help with addiction, co-dependency and domestic abuse, will be hosted by Fire & Purpose Ministries from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 27192 Scott Highway in Winfield. There will be food, fellowship, praise and worship. Childcare is provided.
The Community Calendar is presented by Citizens Gas Utility District. Citizens Gas Utility District pipelines are generally safe. They can be damaged by things such as excavation, natural forces, and automobile accidents. These can potentially cause a leak.. Visit citizensgastn.com.
Scenic Sale!
This week’s sale items at Scenic Foods in Huntsville! The sale continues through Tuesday. Sponsored content.
Thank you for reading. Our next newsletter will be Friday Features. If you’d like to update your subscription to add or subtract any of our newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t yet subscribed, it’s as simple as adding your email address!
◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes from the Past (stories of our history)
◼️ Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
◼️ Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
◼️ Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
◼️ Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)
Impressive investigative work here. The detail about staged evidence and the TBI catching inconsistencies in Duncan's story shows how crucial forensic analysis is in these cases. The fact that a brave minor came forward a year later to report the abuse ended up breaking this whole thing wide open, kind of shows how justice sometimesworks in ways we dont expect.