Detective Says Biggie Smalls murder probe led to Tupac Shakur killing suspect
A former LAPD homicide detective testified that information gathered during the 1997 investigation of Christopher Wallace’s death helped identify Duane “Keffe D” Davis as a suspect in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.
Former LAPD homicide detective Daryn Dupree testified that a joint LAPD-federal task force, originally formed to investigate the 1997 drive-by shooting of rapper Christopher Wallace, obtained a statement from Duane “Keffe D” Davis that redirected investigators to the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur. Dupree said Davis, a former Compton gang member, told the task force in 2008 that he knew about Wallace’s killing and then added, “we did the other one,” referring to Shakur’s slaying. The comment, Dupree testified, prompted the task force to focus on the Las Vegas case.
Prosecutors allege Davis orchestrated Shakur’s September 7, 1996, killing in retaliation for a beating of Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier that night. According to Dupree’s testimony, Davis claimed his nephew fired the fatal shot after a gun was passed to him inside the vehicle that also carried Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight and others. The task force reportedly used the prospect of a life-sentence for a separate PCP-distribution charge to secure Davis’s cooperation, offering a proffer agreement in exchange for information.
Dupree also said Davis mentioned former rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs and East Coast dealer Eric “Von Zip” Martin as potential participants in a plot against Shakur, though no charges have been filed against Combs and he has denied involvement. The Los Angeles Times previously retracted a 2008 story linking Combs to the case after it was found to rely on forged documents.
During the trial, Davis’s defense attorney argued that Davis’s statements were unreliable and that his memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” was fictional. Dupree testified that Davis faced a possible life sentence for the PCP case, which pressured him to cooperate with investigators.
Both the Wallace and Shakur murders remain unsolved, with no convictions to date. Wallace was shot multiple times while exiting a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in March 1997, and Shakur was killed in a Las Vegas parking lot a year earlier.