Arrest warrants reveal timeline of events in 2013 Franklin County double murder

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — Arrest warrants obtained by ABC13 shed light on the timeline of events surrounding a double homicide that occurred in Franklin County in 2013.

On October 4, 2024, 43-year-old Daniel Duncan was arrested and charged with the murders of Vicky Purdy and Ricky Dodson. The arrest came more than a decade after the murders.

In October 2103, Purdy’s remains were found in a burned vehicle on Philpott Road in Franklin County, three days after she was reported missing. Arrest warrants indicate she was shot in the head before the car was set on fire, and her death was ruled a homicide.

Just two months later, Ricky Dodson was found dead on Johnson Hill Road, about a mile from where Purdy was found. Dodson’s death was also ruled a homicide.

Although investigators at the time believed the deaths were murders, it took eleven years before the suspect was arrested. In October 2024, Duncan was transported from North Carolina to Virginia, where he had been taken into custody. On Dec. 3, as the case was being heard in court, ABC13 obtained detailed arrest warrants for the case.

The arrest warrants list several witness statements, including one from Vicky Purdy’s husband Robert. Robert said he last saw Vicky when she left home on October 3 and told him she would leave her phone behind and come back.

According to Robert’s report in the warrants, Vicky had a relationship with Ricky Dodson and also worked as a drug informant for the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and always carried a silver recording device.

According to arrest warrants, Dodson was last seen on Oct. 3.

In 2013, federal and local authorities were in the midst of a drug investigation and prosecution in the area, but in August of that year, warrants said a discovery from the investigation had been leaked. This leaked information identified Vicky and Dodson as informants or witnesses in the drug operation.

The warrants then go to an account owned by Duncan, who was questioned by investigators. Duncan claimed that Vicky and Ricky showed up at his apartment in their Toyota around 1 a.m. on October 4 and wanted to borrow a tool.

“Daniel Duncan stated that Vicky was a snitch and that no one liked her,” the warrants say. “When Daniel Duncan was asked if he wanted to kill someone, he replied, ‘Under the right circumstances, anyone can kill them.'”

According to the warrants, investigators also interviewed Duncan’s then-wife, who told them that he had taken her car on October 3 and 4 and that she did not know where he was during that time. The warrants say she also reported that Duncan told her, “He thought Ricky was dead too because he got caught in the middle of Vicky’s mess.”

RELATED: Suspect charged in 2013 double murder after extradition from North Carolina

The bodies of Vicky and Ricky were found with bullets from a .25 caliber gun. Investigators spoke with a witness who said she sold a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol to Duncan in exchange for pills. The warrants say the witness learned of the murder and tried to get the gun back from Duncan, but he told her the gun was destroyed.

Another witness in the warrants said she went with Duncan to the location of the burned car.

“Daniel Duncan picked up a burned Toyota emblem from the ground, took it and called it his souvenir,” the warrants state. “The burned Toyota emblem was later photographed during a search warrant hanging on the wall in the shed behind Daniel Duncan’s residence.”

Another witness told investigators he saw the burned Toyota emblem on the wall of Duncan’s shed and Duncan told him “it was his trophy from Vicky.” Duncan’s then-wife took the emblem to the sheriff’s office because she considered important.

According to the warrants, another witness (referred to as W5 in the warrants) reported that Duncan called her on the morning of Oct. 4 and asked her to meet him on the road behind Philpott Dam. When the witness met him, she said he was driving Vicky’s Toyota. She followed him to a nearby driveway and threw something into the car, setting it on fire.

“Daniel Duncan told W5 that Vicky was in the car and that he shot her,” the warrants state.

W5 said she took Duncan to her home and gave him a change of clothes and some Clorox; Duncan burned his old clothes in their backyard and made statements suggesting Ricky was also dead, the warrants say.

A final witness listed in the warrants said he witnessed a “curse fight” between Ricky and Duncan about two weeks before Vicky’s body was found.

“During this altercation, Daniel Duncan said to Ricky Dodson, ‘I’m going to get you or ‘I’m going to kill you,'” the witness statement in the arrest warrants states.

Investigators said they also later conducted a search of Duncan’s home in October 2013 and recovered a silver record that Vicky’s husband said was similar to his wife’s. It was found in Duncan’s jacket pocket.

When Duncan was arrested on October 4, 2024, he was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of using or displaying a firearm in the commission of a felony.

ABC13 faces trial for Duncan’s appearance on December 3, 2024. We will update this story with any new information from the court appearance.