Affidavit details 27-year-old alleged murder

Stamford man, 44, to be prosecuted as a juvenile

BRIDGEPORT — It took them about 10 days to plan the robbery of the Duchess Diner on Boston Avenue, court documents say.

The two Shepard brothers, Leon and Jermain, and Eric “Breeze” Brown had previously worked at the popular restaurant and knew there could be as much as $8,000 behind the locked door of the diner’s office, according to documents released Monday.

But to do the job right, they would need some muscle. They settled on 17-yearold Danarius Dukes because “he wasn’t wrapped too tight,” the documents state.

On Monday, 27 years after the Duchess robbery and the fatal shooting of the night custodian, 77-year-old Theodore “Teddy” Edwards, Brown and Dukes appeared before state Superior Court Judge Alex Hernandez. Dukes, now 44, of Stamford, was charged with felony murder and murder and Brown, now 46, was charged with felony murder.

The Shepards had previously been granted immunity for their cooperation which helped police finally break the case after more than two decades, the court documents state.

Police said Edwards’ body was discovered in the early morning hours of Dec. 6, 1993, lying on his back near the door of the restaurant’s office, covered in blood. According to the autopsy report, he had been shot in the face and the chest.

Police said the office door had been pried open and about $2,000 was missing.

Brown had been one of the last customers in the restaurant that night and over the years he was interviewed several times by police, but it wasn’t until March 2019 that he finally admitted his culpability in the murder and robbery, his arrest warrant affidavit states.

He told detectives that Dukes had hidden in the restaurant bathroom just before closing time, the affidavit states. Dukes was armed with a pistol and a tire iron and he had warned the three others, “don’t bitch out,” the affidavit states.

The other three, after driving around the block several times, parked in the restaurant parking lot. The affidavit states Brown went to the closed restaurant door and convinced Edwards to let him in. Brown and Edwards then sat in a booth talking until Brown saw Dukes sneak out of the bathroom and head for the office, the affidavit states.

Then they heard a loud noise coming from the office and Edwards went to investigate, the affidavit said. Brown said he heard two gunshots and he ran out of the restaurant to the car. A few minutes later he was followed by Dukes, who was carrying a bag filed with metal boxes and rolls of coins.

“Dukes said he had shot Teddy because Teddy had seen his face,” Brown told detectives, according to the affidavit.

Police said the Shepard brothers corroborated Brown’s statement.

Dukes had another story, the affidavit states. He claimed he had gone to rob the Duchess with two gang members but when they got to the restaurant, they found Edwards was already dead, the victim of another robbery attempt.

Because of a law passed by the General Assembly last year, Dukes’ arraignment was held in a closed courtroom. He was 17 at the time of the alleged crime and, although he is now 44, he will be treated as a juvenile under a law that went into effect in October which closed Connecticut courtrooms and sealed records of juveniles being prosecuted as adults for felony crimes.

Passed unanimously in both bodies of the state legislature as part of a larger bill dealing with juvenile justice issues, the law — which retroactively sealed 116 pending cases, including that of Kennedy-cousin Michael Skakel, whose 2002 conviction for the 1975 murder of Greenwich neighbor Martha Moxley was vacated by the state Supreme Court in 2018 — created cause for concern among public information and open-government advocates.

“The idea that an adult criminal trial is taking place behind closed doors is just crazy and it’s unconstitutional in my mind,” William S. Fish Jr., a prominent media law attorney and president of the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government, said when the law took effect.

“You can’t constitutionally have a carte blanche rule that makes every youthful offender tried as an adult in secret as though it’s not happening,” Fish said. “I can’t imagine the federal courts would think that’s acceptable.”

Dukes’ lawyer, John R. Gulash, declined comment Monday. His client is being held but details of his bond are sealed. Brown, who was 19 in 1993, will be prosecuted as an adult. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.