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Murder of Caitlyn Naffziger

Dustin Duren shot and killed the mother of his kids, 31-year-old Caitlyn Naffziger, on February 29th, 2024.

As she lay dead, he fled the Berlin, New Hampshire apartment with his kids in tow. He called his mother, telling them he killed Naffziger, and he planned to “go dark for a little bit”.

His father called the police, and they went to the home and found Naffziger’s body. They issued an Amber Alert.

A former police dispatcher spotted the car the next morning. She called 911 and followed the vehicle to an Applebee’s parking lot in Keene, New Hampshire.

Police soon arrived. The kids were safe, and Duren was arrested for murder and several other charges.

He waived his Miranda rights and told police during questioning that Naffziger was not threatening him or their kids.

He admitted that he knew he was “screwed.”

Legal Proceedings

When he went to trial in October 2025, he switched gears and claimed self-defense.

He told the court that the day of the incident, he wanted Naffziger to leave his apartment. Instead, she grabbed their 4-year-old daughter, Elowyn, and made financial threats before threatening to report him to the cops for kidnapping one of the kids from Minnesota.

He claimed he tried to grab Elowyn from her, but she wouldn’t let him. He said Elowyn was crying because she was being squeezed and was being hurt.

From there, he grabbed his gun and, after creating space between his daughter and Naffziger, he fired one shot into Naffziger’s head.

He would frame it as a hostage situation and claimed that Naffziger was trying to take the kids out of state to Minnesota.

The prosecution said he was a control freak who killed out of anger. They highlighted the fact that during the interrogation, he never claimed self-defense or mentioned Naffziger trying to kidnap the kids.

When the jury received the case, they deliberated for 2.5 hours. When they returned to the courtroom, Duren smiled at them, thinking he was about to go home, but things didn’t go as he had hoped. He was shocked when the jury read off a guilty verdict for second-degree murder.

Duren is expected to return to court on December 11th. According to WMUR, he was given 45 years to life in prison.