A man previously convicted of killing his mother and brother is heading to trial in Hardin County, accused of gunning down two men inside a Henon Lane home and then setting the house on fire. Dustin Caudill, now 47, faces charges of murder, arson, robbery, tampering with physical evidence, wanton endangerment and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon in connection with the October 2024 deaths of Blake France, 41, and Anthony Garrett, 43.
According to WHAS11, authorities accuse Caudill of shooting France and Garrett before setting fire to the home where their bodies were found. The fatal fire was reported around 5 a.m. on October 30, 2024, at a wood-frame house in the 500 block of Henon Lane, roughly a quarter mile west of Elizabethtown High School, according to K105. Firefighters found the building fully engulfed before discovering the two bodies inside.
A Fast-Moving Manhunt and a Confession
Elizabethtown police located and detained Caudill at an East Dixie Avenue motel within 90 minutes of finding the bodies, K105 reports. Witnesses reportedly saw a gold pickup truck leave Henon Lane at high speed, while motel surveillance video showed Caudill getting out of a vehicle and discarding a handgun. A search of his motel room reportedly turned up personal belongings tied to the victims. The Elizabethtown Police Department has said Caudill confessed to shooting the two men and setting the fire, and investigators say he told them he stole the victims' wallets and discarded them in a gas station trash can.
Medical examinations and police reports confirmed that France and Garrett, of Greenville and Elizabethtown respectively, died from multiple gunshot wounds before the house was set ablaze, per the same K105 account. Police have also said Caudill fired his handgun at a third person who survived, forming the basis of his first-degree wanton endangerment charge.
A Violent Past Resurfaces in Court
Caudill's criminal history looms large over the case. He was previously convicted of killing his mother and brother, according to K105's reporting.
That history has become a central legal battleground ahead of trial. During pre-trial hearings before Hardin Circuit Judge Larry Ashlock, defense attorney Ty Howorth argued that Caudill's 1994 juvenile murder convictions cannot legally serve as aggravating circumstances to seek capital punishment for an adult offense, while prosecutors maintained that murder remains a capital offense, according to 94.3 The Wolf. Judge Ashlock took the matter under advisement rather than ruling outright.
A Trial Delayed
The trial itself was pushed back to October 2026 because of a two-to-five-month backlog for state forensic evaluations at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, the station's report states.
Caudill's trial is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in Hardin County, per court records cited by WHAS11.
All of the charges against Caudill remain allegations that prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and the Hardin Circuit Court case is now headed toward trial after nearly two years of pre-trial litigation over his mental state, his juvenile record, and how the evidence will be presented to jurors.
