An Oklahoma man was sentenced after murdering his girlfriend’s grandparents and burying their bodies in their own backyard.
Lucas Anthony Walker, 22, was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for the murders of Deborah and Larry Dutton, the US Attorney’s Office announced in a press release on Friday. Walker pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.
The victims were murdered on December 19, 2022, at their home in Dewey, about 50 miles north of Tulsa.
Their bodies were discovered the following month in their backyard, according to Andy Dossett of the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise.
Local NBC affiliate KSNW reported that Ring doorbell video showed Walker and Heidi Dutton dragging the bodies to the backyard, citing court documents.
Heidi Dutton, Walker’s 17-year-old girlfriend at the time, told police she asked Walker to murder the couple who adopted her as their daughter “because she wanted them dead,” according to police affidavits and preliminary hearing testimony.
“We kill them,” Heidi Dutton said to her boyfriend during a police interview, according to the newspaper.
She initially told investigators that she killed her grandparents and that Walker assisted her in cleaning up, but she later changed her story and Walker’s role.
Walker admitted to shooting and stabbing Deborah Dutton and fatally stabbing Larry Dutton, according to officials.
Prior to their arrest, the two reportedly spent the elder Duttons’ money.
According to his obituary, Larry Dutton was a retired Master Staff Sgt. in the United States Air Force and the former manager of the Lt. William M. Milliken Airport in Eureka, Kansas.
His wife was originally from Tennessee, a retired Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force, and a former chef.
They had previously attended a church in Kansas. Congregants at their previous church, Eureka United Methodist, were shocked.
“They are shaken. “They are visibly shaken,” Rev. Linda Pope told KOKI. “How do we make sense of it all, and how do we hand it over to a higher power? “There are so many unanswered questions.”
Heidi Dutton’s plea and sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 5, according to online court records.
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