Deborah Dutton and Larry Dutton adopted their biological granddaughter, Heidi Dutton, and raised her as their own. At age 17 in 2022, Heidi Dutton conspired with her boyfriend, Lucas Anthony Walker, to murder them. Walker hid in the couple’s home on December 19, 2022. He shot and killed Deborah Dutton and stabbed Larry Dutton several times. The teen and her boyfriend then hid the couple’s bodies, and it took investigators nearly a month to find them. Now, Heidi Dutton will spend the rest of her life in prison.
Following the couple’s deaths, Washington County Undersheriff Jon Copeland told News On 6 investigators they had found footage from the scene that showed Heidi Dutton dragging a body into the backyard. She and Walker then buried her grandparents on their property.
“We still have a lot of things to go through. There’s still quite a bit of investigation to do. We have electronic devices we will have to forensically analyze and go through that data, as well as financials,” Copeland said at the time, per News On 6. “We are very fortunate that they were there because it does make it a little bit easier. And the video surveillance did play a huge part in this case being able to move forward as quickly as it did.”
Heidi Dutton and Walker reportedly stayed at the home and attempted to clean up the scene but left plenty of evidence behind, People reported.
“I think they both kind of wanted to run off together,” Washington County District Attorney Will Drake told the magazine. He said the pair appeared to be “playing house.”
Heidi Dutton told investigators she let Walker know that she wanted her grandparents dead, and the two planned the murders. Per People, she pleaded guilty in May to two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and two counts of desecration of a human corpse. A judge sentenced her to life in prison on June 6.
Walker, a member of the Cherokee Nation, was tried in federal court. A judge sentenced him earlier this year to 35 years in prison.
Following Deborah and Larry Dutton’s deaths, Livingston Funeral Home posted a shared obituary for the couple. Larry Dutton served as a master staff sergeant in the US Air Force, and Deborah Dutton was a retired US Air Force staff sergeant and chef. Loved ones shared condolences with the family.
“I will truly miss both of you. You were such good friends and true patriots. I am so glad that you were such an important part of my life,” one friend wrote.
“Larry and Debbie, may God hold you in his arms and grant you eternal rest,” another person prayed. “You will be greatly missed by your military brothers and sisters.”
