LAS VEGAS investigators are going back in time in a bid to find evidence about murder suspect Keefe D being central to Tupac Shakur’s 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing, The U.S Sun can reveal.
The Clark County District Attorney has despatched staff to retrace Keefe’s steps on the fateful night he and Southside Crip gangsters hunted down Tupac around Sin City.
Tupac (pictured) was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996Credit: Getty
Police are traveling through time to find evidence against Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis (pictured above)Credit: AFP
Cops have released footage of Tupac’s final moments in a hotel (above) before he was gunned down in VegasCredit: KLAS-TV
Special teams are “forensically putting together all evidence, potential witness statements, and even potential surveillance footage” from the night of September 7, 1996.
An insider claims the “probes have led to some fresh leads and opportunities to speak with potential new witnesses.”
The investigation is seen to be bigger than the original homicide case investigation by the Las Vegas Metro Police in the weeks after Tupac’s assassination.
Detectives have been liaising with differing hotels’ security and front office departments to establish as many confirmations as possible that Keefe, 60, was in Sin City.
They are taking the steps because Keefe and his lawyer contend – despite many of the self-confessed gangster’s confessions – he was never actually in Vegas on the night Tupac was 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed in a drive-by shooting close to the Strip.
“One central factor for the prosecution’s case is locating evidence to debunk Keefe’s claims,” a legal source based in Las Vegas, revealed.
“His central defense is that he was not in town on the night and there is no evidence to confirm his presence.
“But for the past few months, a secret team of investigators have been piecing together as much information as they can relating to Keefe being in Vegas.
“They have effectively gone back in time, treating the murder like it happened in 2024 – not 28 years ago. So it is like a fresh evidence hunt searching for any paperwork, footage, or witness links that place Keefe in town.
“They have visited the Monte Carlo Hotel, where Keefe has stated many times, that he stayed in before the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing and even returned to afterwards. They are liaising with staff to search through guest booking records to establish whether there is evidence that Keefe or any of his Crip associates were booked in.
“They even looked at receipts at bars and restaurants on-site to see whether his name is anywhere in sight.
“These were the days before many places operated digital systems, so there is so many hours involved in looking at old paperwork.
“It has been challenging to locate surveillance footage from the 1990s. Cameras from the Monte Carlo, MGM, and other spots were never properly logged or examined, so that process is laborious.
“But the DA knows that a couple of seconds is enough to be a home run for the prosecution.”
The source added, “The original homicide files have been re-examined in depth with every person named being contacted for fresh interviews.
“Those probes have led to some fresh leads and opportunities to speak with potential new witnesses, who have never come forward to police.
“Conversations are ongoing with several people, who have connections to Keefe and his gang. What emerges from that remains secret at the moment.”
PROSECUTORS COURT WITNESSES
Last week The U.S Sun revealed that ’90s rapper Foxy Brown is being wooed by prosecutors to be a witness in the Shakur murder trial.
Foxy’s evidence could be crucial to derailing one central defense of defendant Duane “Keefe D” Davis, who insists he is innocent of playing a key role in Tupac’s 1996 death.
Foxy was in Sin City hanging out with Davis’ friends on September 7, shortly before Tupac was hunted and gunned down by a Southside Crip gang.
Davis’ legal strategy is that there is no proof he was actually in the gambling mecca on the night and he lied about being a “shot caller” for fame and fortune.
Keefe insists that any comment he made on Tupac was a lie, and boasted about meeting Foxy in his memoir Compton Street Legend.
Lead prosecutors have reached out to Foxy, famous for hits like Get Me Home with Blackstreet, to take the stand in November’s trial.
KEEFE D’S DENIABILITY
Keefe denies that he is responsible for Tupac’s murder. The trial will take place in November.
His lawyer Carl Arnold maintains that Keefe has lied about his entire involvement in Tupac’s death to gain fame and earn money.
Arnold says prosecutors cannot convict his client based on his confessions alone and need “corroborating evidence.”
Arnold has stated, “There is no evidence Keefe was even in Vegas that night.”
In 2020 the original investigation files, obtained by The U.S Sun, noted detectives never solved the Shakur’s case because his closest aides hid key information about his 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ers.
Metro Police wrote key witnesses, including Suge Knight and Tupac’s cousin, held back information about shooter Orlando Anderson and his gang. Suge Knight, who was driving with pal Shakur, spoke to police but is understood to have never given any details about the crime.
In the opening 15 pages of the 243 pages that have been released, the homicide team revealed how every witness to the murder claimed they knew, saw, and remembered nothing from the night.
Many pages of the files remain heavily redacted but the frustration of lead detectives is spelled out in the opening pages.
Tupac pictured days before he was shot dead in VegasCredit: Tupac Shakur/Century
The crime scene from Tupac’s deathCredit: Getty – Contributor