Dana Tutor, 42, entered an Alford Plea to charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree murder. Prosecutors said Tutor approached truck drivers at the rest area on I-29 near Camden Point, trying to convince them to come into the rest stop building, where a co-defendant laid in wait.
On September 8, 2008, Tutor lured truck driver Valentin Kirilchuk into the building. Tutor had told him she needed money for diapers and food for a baby. Once there, Co-defendant John Hughes robbed him and shot him through the head. Hughes was previously convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life prison term without the possibility of parole.
The robbery and murder were the culmination of a cross-country crime spree by Tutor and her boyfriend Hughes. During the spree, the two talked about getting “Bonnie and Clyde” tattoos as a tribute to the notorious outlaws.
“We are pleased to finally deliver justice for the family of Valentin Kirilchuk,” said Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd after the plea in May. “There is no doubt he would be alive today if the defendant had not lured him to his death.”
After the robbery and murder, Tutor, who by her own admission was highly intoxicated, drove the getaway car away from the murder scene. A witness in the car described Tutor laughing about the fact that Hughes had killed a man. Hours later, Hughes was arrested in York, Nebraska, by a Nebraska State Trooper for a traffic violation and driving under the influence. Inside the vehicle, troopers found the murder weapon, ammunition, and property belonging to another murder victim from Ohio.
Tutor’s fingerprints were found on the window of Kirilchuk’s truck. She was also a potential contributor to DNA that was recovered from the passenger side mirror of Kirilchuk’s truck and the murder weapon.
On Thursday, Platte County Circuit Judge Thomas Fincham ordered Tutor to serve 18-years for the robbery charge, and 20 years for the murder. The sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time.