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17-year-old Heidi Dutton had her preliminary hearing in Washington County Court on Thursday afternoon. Dutton is charged with five felony counts, two of them being murder in the first degree. Dutton and her boyfriend,  Lucas Walker,  are being charged with killing Dutton’s grandparents. However, Walker is a tribal member, which means he will be prosecuted in federal court due to the McGirt decision.

Dutton is accused of murdering her two grandparents just three days before Christmas 2022. In the preliminary hearing on Thursday, five witnesses were called to the stand to testify and be cross-examined. Most notably of those five was the investigator that interviewed Dutton after she was arrested. Brett Miquelon, the District Attorney’s Investigator, testified on the stand that Dutton admitted to him that she had murdered both of her grandparents herself and that Walker helped her  clean up the scene afterwards.

Dutton later recanted that statement in the interview and said that the roles were reversed with Walker actually committing the crimes, and that she helped clean up afterwards. One major piece of evidence was a Ring doorbell camera video. This video showed Dutton and Walker carrying a body wrapped in a blanket off the back porch in the middle of the night. Further testimony from the stand explained that  the victims were found in a shallow grave where the above ground pool used to be in the backyard.

Judge Jared Sigler found probable cause to bind Dutton over for a possible trial. Her formal arraignment date is Nov. 8.