Do you know who murdered Darrell Lunn Buford? In an east Louisville home, the life of 62-year-old Darrell Lynn Buford came to a violent end in January 2020. Police discovered the male resident deceased inside his Symington Circle residence on a Sunday morning, and it was immediately clear that his death was not from natural causes. Investigators from the Louisville Metro Police Department's Homicide Unit began looking into the case as a homicide, with foul play suspected from the outset.
The coroner would later confirm that Buford had been shot. In the initial days of the investigation, authorities released few details to the public and had not identified any suspects or made any arrests, leaving the community to wonder who was responsible for the killing.
As the investigation progressed, a complex and troubling history began to surface, painting a dark picture of the victim's past. Darrell Buford was a convicted sex offender with a criminal history stretching back decades. He had a 1993 conviction for sexual crimes involving family members and another in 2011 for the sodomy and sexual abuse of a teenager. This history added a disturbing layer to the investigation into his death, suggesting that the motive could be rooted in his past actions. The community was left to grapple with the unsettling reality that the man found murdered in his home had a history of preying on the vulnerable.
The mystery of who killed Darrell Buford was eventually solved, and the perpetrator was revealed to be someone from within his own fractured family. His adopted son, Randall Buford, came forward as the person responsible for his father's death. Randall's confession was accompanied by harrowing allegations of prolonged sexual abuse at the hands of Darrell, starting from a young age after he and his brother were adopted. He claimed the killing was a culmination of years of trauma and abuse. In court, Randall Buford pleaded guilty but mentally ill to manslaughter. He recounted a childhood destroyed by the man who was supposed to be his protector, stating that the abuse continued for years. In February 2024, a judge sentenced him to seven and a half years in prison, bringing a tragic and complicated case to a close.
