Chilling confession: Heidi Dutton, 17, said she wanted parents dead, court records reveal

Andy Dossett, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
·2 min read

Court documents reveal the chilling details of a double murder case that shocked the small community of Dewey last year.

"We kill them," investigators recall 17-year-old Heidi Dutton saying she told her boyfriend during an interview with police. Her reasoning — "because she wanted them dead," according to police affidavits and preliminary hearing testimony.

Larry and Deborah Dutton, of Dewey, were murdered in December 2022.
Larry and Deborah Dutton, of Dewey, were murdered in December 2022.

Early last year, Dutton and Lucas Anthony Walker, 20, were each charged with two counts of first-degree murder of Dutton's biological grandparents, who adopted Dutton as their daughter.

On Jan 19, 2023, while investigating a report the Duttons were missing, Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Derrin Jorgensen could not locate them but reported the smell of human flesh on their property, records show. Neighbors told him that the Duttons had been missing for some time.

The next day, the sheriff's department executed a search warrant of the Duttons' property, where investigators found jewelry with blood stains, walls with blood splatter, and clothing with blood on them.

One of the victim's phones was recovered, which held Ring camera footage showing Walker and Dutton carrying one of the victims out the back of the house covered in a sheet on Dec 22, 2022, court records said.

The home north of Dewey where Larry and Deborah Dutton were murdered in late December 2022.
The home north of Dewey where Larry and Deborah Dutton were murdered in late December 2022.

Originally, Dutton told investigators that she shot her mother in the head and then used a knife to slit her throat. When her father entered the room, she stabbed him twice in the head and then once in the abdomen.

As she and Walker cleaned the house and disposed of the bodies, Dutton told investigators that her father was still alive and crawling toward his deceased wife, court documents say.

At first, Dutton said Walker just watched as she murdered her parents and only helped dispose of the bodies. But she later recanted that story, claiming that all the details were accurate but that Walker committed the murders, not her. She said she told the initial story to cover for Walker.

Dutton said she asked Walker to murder her parents "because she wanted them dead," investigators said. He reportedly told Dutton, "I'll do it." Dutton says she only helped with cleaning the scene and disposing of the bodies.

The bodies of Larry and Deborah Dutton were found buried behind their home near an above ground pool that has since been removed.
The bodies of Larry and Deborah Dutton were found buried behind their home near an above ground pool that has since been removed.

The bodies of the Duttons were found buried in the backyard near a pool.

Dutton is charged with two counts of first-degree murder with deliberate intent, two counts of desecration of a human corpse and one count of conspiracy.

Dutton's trial is set to commence later this year in Washington County District Court in Bartlesville. She entered a plea of not guilty and the defense scheduled her to be evaluated by a neuropsychologist. Her next court date is March 6.

Walker also confessed to the murders and is being tried in U.S. District Court in Tulsa since he is a member of the Cherokee Nation. As a Native American, Walker falls under federal jurisdiction by the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Dewey teen spells out chilling details of parents' murder