Dad Pleads Guilty To Infant Slaying
Sentenced to at least 31 years in prison
By Robert Jordan
Daily Record of Dunn
HARNETT COUNTY – Harnett County Superior Court Judge Winston Gilchrist sentenced Dustin James VanDyke to at least 31 years in prison, Monday, for the slaying of his infant son whose body was found buried in an Erwin backyard in 2022.
VanDyke, who is now 31 and was 28 at the time of his arrest, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and concealing a death in his son’s slaying. His plea came eight months after the infant’s mother and VanDyke’s first cousin, Gracie Kaylene Riddle submitted a prayer for judgment for her involvement in the case. Riddle was found guilty of concealing a death and is set to be sentenced on March 17.
The infant’s remains were unearthed outside the home Riddle shared with VanDyke and the rest of her family at 308 Moulton Springs Road on Aug. 20, 2022. Erwin police executed a search warrant at the home that night after receiving a tip of a baby being killed there sometime around Thanksgiving in 2021.
The baby’s body was badly decomposed, but an autopsy revealed he died of “blunt force trauma to the head.”
Erwin police Investigator Cody Norris charged Riddle, who was then 18, and VanDyke with first-degree murder in the case. On June 27, Riddle was given a $5,000 bond and a prayer for judgment continued on the condition that she take the stand in the case and testify against VanDyke.
That testimony became unnecessary on Monday, when VanDyke pleaded guilty to his charges in Harnett County Superior Court.
Gilchrist sentenced VanDyke to serve 300 to 372 months (25 to 31 years) on the murder charge followed by another 80 to 108 months (six years and eight months to nine years) for concealing the death.
Riddle, now 21, is set to get credit for the time she served awaiting her case’s disposition when she is sentenced later this month. She had served two years, six months and 12 days (927 days) in jail as of Monday
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16 Comments
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31 years !!!! ….. How about beat him, then bury him out back?
Well, the “mother” should get just as much time as the “father” in this one! And first cousins?!!!
No sympathy for this sleaze bag but that is not how our society works unfortunately. Just do a little research and you’ll see that on average men get much stiffer penalties than women for the same types of crimes. You also won’t see any feminists standing against this type of inequality.
But wait, the baby couldn’t survive outside the womb on its own so it’s not murder, it’s choice ….right libs?
Having a child means shifting responsibility from yourself to the child. Until potential parents and new parents understand this, the children will suffer.
need death sentence for them all (just my opinion)
I agree with you.
They need frying and be done with!!!
DEATH PENALTY! Bring back the death penalty please! and I mean please. This State needs it bad.
One word “Simpletons”.
How does “mom” go from 1st degree murder to concealing a death? I know a plea deal, but our justice system fails every day. She deserves all the time in prison, too. Maybe her freedom will teach her something, but spay her before she’s released, no other child deserves a “mother” like this.
She probably turned for the state so they could have enough on the daddy.
The soul of a person(s) who would harm or kill a defenseless child is rotten to the core. There is no rehabilitation for that person. They are evil in flesh. Whether they be a doctor, lawyer or law maker. There is no place in society to someone who would commit these acts. They need to be handed over to God for judgement……and that right soon.
Soulless sons of Satan . Like all who kill and abort children.
And just like that, they went from 1st cousins to 1st degree murderers.
I can’t see how and why that mother didn’t get the same sentence as he did. She was there she watched him do it she is just as guilty. She also concealed the whereabouts of about her baby was buried. She is a scumbag same as him.