A Time to Kill on ID: What happened to Alexandra Ducsay?

Alexandra Ducsay, a rising star and Law & Order actress, was found beaten and stabbed to death in the basement of her Milford, Connecticut, home in May 2006. The 26-year-old was bludgeoned using one of her many dance trophies and stabbed using a kitchen knife. The cause of death was eventually determined to be blunt force trauma injuries to the head.

A piece of rare black vinyl tape stuck to the victim's cheek, along with other evidence and witness statements, led authorities to Ducsay's ex-boyfriend Matthew Pugh, who was arrested and charged six years later for the crime. The former couple used to date until Pugh was sent to prison on drug-related charges, after which they broke up and he started harassing the actress.

This week's episode of ID's A Time to Kill revisits the vicious killing of Alexandra Ducsay. The synopsis for the upcoming episode says:

"An enraged killer strikes down 26-year-old Alexandra Ducsay, an aspiring entertainer with a big heart and a blossoming career; slain inside her family's Connecticut home, her attacker uses her own dance trophy to bludgeon her to death."

The episode, titled Curtain Call, will air on the channel on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at 9.00 pm ET.

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Aspiring actress-dancer Alexandra Ducsay was found bound, beaten, and stabbed to death in her basement

Alexandra Ducsay was a Milford, Connecticut, resident and an aspiring actress and dancer who also worked as a systems bank analyst. She graduated from Albertus Magnus, ran her own charity that brought holiday gifts to schoolchildren in need, and once made an appearance on an episode of the critically acclaimed television series Law & Order.

In May 2006, the 26-year-old rising star was found dead in the basement of her Milford home by her mother, who then made a frantic 911 call. Authorities who arrived at the crime scene found the house neatly organized and everything in its place except for one of her dance trophies, which was the only item reported missing and was later declared to be the murder weapon.

Ducsay's badly beaten and stabbed body was discovered on the basement floor, in a grisly crime scene with large amounts of bloot splatter and stains on the walls and the carpet. An inch-and-a-half wide piece of black vinyl tape was found stuck to her left cheek, while a tiny piece of plastic along with a knife blade were located next to the victim's body.

The crime scene also had visible signs of a struggle, with a chair knocked over and Ducsay's mouth duct tapped. A subsequent autopsy confirmed that she died of "sharp and blunt force injuries to her upper extremities."

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A piece of rare tape stuck to Alexandra Ducsay's dead body was used to link her ex-boyfriend to the killing

While investigating Alexandra Ducsay's killing, investigators learned from witnesses that a few different cars were spotted outside her house on the day of the murder. Her whereabouts prior to the murder included going to the gym with a close friend before returning home to plan a date with a co-worker, Jason Malone, from the local bank. The two had been dating for a few weeks after first meeting at work.

Malone then informed detectives that he was on a call with Ducsay sometime after noon when the latter abruptly got off the call, and he heard her say, "What are you doing here?" The 26-year-old then told him that her ex-boyfriend was there. The victim's mother made some shocking revelations about Ducsay's ex-boyfriend in question, Matthew Pugh, who had an extensive criminal record.

According to sources, the actress dated Pugh when she was only 16 years old, but they broke up after the latter was sent to prison on some drug-related charges. The two sent letters to each other while he was in prison until they took an abusive turn, and he started threatening and harassing her. The harassment continued even after he was released from prison.

Alexandra Ducsay's case, however, went cold until January 2012, when a witness came forward, alleging that Matthew Pugh had informed him about his intentions to murder the 26-year-old. Moreover, the black vinyl tape found on the victim's body was of a rare kind, and Pugh's company was one of the three to have purchased the product. The same tape was discovered in his house.

The same informant claimed that Pugh used to be obsessed with Ducsay and wanted to kill her as payback for getting him in trouble for the threatening letters he used to send her from prison.

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A Time to Kill on ID will shed further light on Alexandra Ducsay's shocking murder this Thursday.