Oklahoma 19-Year-Old and Her Boyfriend Allegedly Murdered Grandparents Who Raised Her

A 19-year-old Oklahoma woman who admitted to the grisly murders of her adoptive parents, who were also her biological grandparents, was sentenced to life in prison on June 6, following a jury’s recommendation.

Heidi Dutton pleaded guilty in May to two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and two counts of desecration of a human corpse in the 2022 killings of Deborah and Larry Dutton. The couple had adopted their granddaughter and raised her as their own in Dewey, a small city about 130 miles southeast of Wichita.

The sentencing follows that of Dutton’s co-defendant and boyfriend, Lucas Walker, who received a 35-year federal prison sentence earlier this year. Walker’s case was tried in federal court due to his status as a member of the Cherokee Nation.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office didn’t open an investigation into the couple’s deaths until nearly a month after the murders.

Deputies initially responded to a welfare check at the Duttons’ home on January 20, 2023. At the time, Dutton, then 17, and Walker were both present in the home. They were taken into custody after investigators discovered blood beneath the baseboards of the couple’s bedroom.

Once in custody, both teens confessed to the premeditated killings. Walker told authorities that on December 19, 2022, he waited in Dutton’s bedroom with a stolen .22 caliber pistol. After the Duttons went to sleep, he approached their bedroom door.

According to the complaint, “when [Deborah] opened the door to the main bedroom, Walker shot her in the face and slit her throat.” When Larry Dutton awoke and charged at Walker, the pistol jammed, and Walker said he stabbed Larry repeatedly in the face with a knife.

Two days after the welfare check, investigators discovered the bodies of Deborah and Larry buried in the backyard.

Larry Dutton, 73, was a retired Master Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and a former airport manager in Kansas. Friends remembered him as generous and kind, someone who “had a big heart and would give anyone the shirt off his back,” according to entries in a funeral guestbook.

Deborah Dutton also served in the U.S. Air Force as a Staff Sergeant and later worked as a chef. She was remembered as warm, hardworking, and devoted to her family. With the sentencing complete, both defendants are now serving lengthy prison terms for the murders that shocked their tight-knit Oklahoma community.