In 2003, Katie Autry returned home after a frat party and was horrifically attacked and sexually assaulted in her dorm room by Stephen Soules and, allegedly, Lucas Goodrum. However, despite being implicated in the crime Goodrum was later acquitted of all charges. Katie died from her injuries three days later, and the case is explored with frank detail in Episode 6 of Death in the Dorms Season 1.
Katie Autry Murder Explained
On May 3rd, 2003, Katie returned to her dorm after a frat party, but later that night a smoke alarm at the residence would send police and fire wardens to the scene, where they would find Katie injured. Katie was taken to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Still, sadly it would be too late, and despite treatment, the promising young freshman would die of her injuries three days later.
An investigation into the fire would reveal some terrible details. Authorities would start to piece together the events that happened, beginning at the party where suspicion would fall on two men, Stephen Soules and Lucas Goodrum. It was alleged that the two men would follow Katie home where they attacked, robbed, and sexually assaulted the innocent girl. It appears to try and cover up the attack, the dorm was set alight, and Katie was left to die in the inferno.
Stephen Soules | Image via Kentucky Dept. of Corrections
What happened to Lucas Goodrum?
Both men would initially plead not guilty to the charges. Eventually, Soules would plead guilty to seven of the nine charges he was accused of, as prosecutors told him that if he pled guilty, and testified against Goodrum, he could avoid the death penalty. The charges he admitted to were:
- Murder
- Arson by complicity
- First-degree rape with serious physical injury
- First-degree robbery
- First-degree sodomy with serious physical injury
- First-degree complicity sodomy
- First-degree complicity rape.
Soules was sentenced to six life sentences and no possibility of parole.
However, it was revealed that Lucas Goodrum had an alibi, and his parents would explain that their son was with them at the time the murder had been committed. With no eyewitnesses, or evidence to connect him to the crimes, Goodrum was released after spending twenty-two months in jail and acquitted of the charges against him.
Why was Lucas Goodrum acquitted?
There was simply not enough evidence to convict Lucas Goodrum, and the prosecution had to rely on Soules’s testimony to gain a conviction. Another inmate would also testify against Goodrum, saying that while in prison he admitted to the awful crimes against Katie, but the jury was not convinced, Goodrum’s alibi held up, and there was no way to link him to the crimes, leading to his acquittal.
Soules would also change his story many times, and his inconsistent testimony led to the jury not believing his account of the events.
Lucas Goodrum, center, wipes tears from his face in Daviess Circuit Court as he sits with his attorneys, Kevin Hackworth and David Broderick, right, after Goodrum was found not guilty of the murder of Katie Autry | Image via LJWorld
Nearly 15 years after Goodrum was acquitted, he would find himself accused of a much lesser crime. According to The Sun U.S., while working in Texas, he would be accused of stealing a woman’s cell phone and keys. A warrant for his arrest was granted, but he would not show up for a hearing on the case in October 2016. By August 2020, the case would be dismissed as it had been over four years since the charge was made, and the warrant remained unserved.
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