An Oklahoma man was sentenced last week for murdering his girlfriend’s grandparents and burying them in their backyard.
Lucas Anthony Walker, 22, will serve 35 years in prison for the 2022 killing of Deborah and Larry Dutton, the grandparents of his girlfriend Heidi Dutton. Walker had confessed to the crime and pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.
Per a criminal complaint filed in Oklahoma federal court, on Dec. 19, 2022, Walker grabbed a .22 caliber handgun from a gun safe in the Duttons’ garage at their home in Dewey, about 45 miles north of Tulsa. He then waited outside the couple’s bedroom.
When Deborah opened the door, Walker shot her and then slit her throat when she fell to the ground. Larry then jumped out of bed and rushed at Walker, whose pistol had jammed. Walker then stabbed Larry in the face, chest and stomach.
When police later searched the house, they unlocked Larry’s cell phone and discovered footage from a Ring security camera, allegedly showing Walker and Heidi dragging a body wrapped in a sheet out of the home.
A month later, when police later searched the residence to conduct a welfare check following the Duttons’ disappearance, they were greeted by a “heavy odor of cleaning supplies and bleach,” per the complaint against Walker.
They also found blood in the Duttons’ bedroom, which Walker had attempted to clean up but had seeped through the baseboards.
Meanwhile, an anthropologist from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation called to the scene recommended that a patch of “disturbed” dirt be exhumed to search for the Duttons’ bodies; they were later discovered in the backyard.
Both Walker and Heidi were arrested, and they each confessed to the crime, the complaint alleges.
According to an affidavit, Heidi allegedly told investigators the killings were her idea, claiming she’d told Walker she “wanted them dead,” according to the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise.
“I think they both kind of wanted to run off together,” Washington County District Attorney Will Drake tells PEOPLE, noting that the couple nonetheless ended up staying in the Dewey home “playing house.”
Larry Dutton, 73, was a retired Master Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and former manager of Lt. William M. Milliken Airport in Eureka, Kan, per an obituary for the couple. He “had a big heart and would give anyone the shirt off his back,” one friend of his remembered in a funeral guestbook entry.
His wife Deborah was a retired Staff Sergeant in the Air Force and had also worked as a chef.
Heidi, who was 17 at the time of the killings, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of conspiracy, and two counts of desecrating a corpse, per state court records.
Court records state that Heidi waived a jury trial, and that a plea and sentencing hearing is scheduled for her for March 5. Drake, the Washington County DA, confirmed that Heidi has not yet entered a plea pending a hearing on allegations of physical abuse she has made against her grandparents, which could potentially lead to a significant reduction in her sentence.
Whats wrong with these states? 35yrs for killing 2 people. Should have been the DEATH PENALTY! Why feed and cloth these killers on tax payer expense!
She claims they abused her. Please! That’s what they all say to get out of the crime! They both need to just be gone! They don’t need prison where they’ll have a bed, food, clothes, a gym, etc. They need to be dealt with just like what they did to her grandparents And to even imagine “setting up housekeeping “ in the house where they murdered her grandparents! Disgusting and sick.
And remember the granddaughter was only 17. Talk about ruining your life! Nevertheless, the boyfriend did not receive a just sentence. For two murders, life without parole should be the minimum sentence; death penalty preferred.
Only 35 years.He killed two people