Todd Dorn, an 18-year-old Black male from Middletown, Delaware, was fatally shot on the evening of February 18, 2018. At approximately 8:30 p.m., Middletown police were called to the 500 block of New Street after receiving a report that someone had been shot. Officers found Dorn suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper torso. Emergency personnel transported him to Christiana Hospital, but hospital staff pronounced him dead.
Investigators determined that the shooting grew out of a confrontation between Dorn and a juvenile in the roadway near the juvenile’s home. The two teenagers became involved in a fight, and the juvenile went inside his residence during the dispute. He then returned outside carrying a firearm and shot Dorn once in the torso. After firing the shot, the teenager walked back to his house, where police apprehended him a short time later.
The suspect was Derrick Caudle, who had recently turned 16 when the killing occurred. Police initially arrested him on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was arraigned in New Castle County Family Court and held on $160,000 cash bail. A New Castle County grand jury later indicted him on first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited.
Because of Caudle’s youth, the case included proceedings over whether the prosecution would remain in the juvenile system. A judge ultimately ruled that he would be tried as an adult. The prosecution later reduced the murder charge as part of a plea agreement. On July 8, 2019, Caudle pleaded guilty in Superior Court to second-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The amended murder charge accused him of recklessly causing Dorn’s death under circumstances demonstrating a cruel, wicked and depraved indifference to human life. The separate person-prohibited firearm charge was not pursued as part of the final plea resolution.
On January 30, 2020, the court imposed an aggregate sentence of 53 years at Level V incarceration, suspended after Caudle served 19 years, followed by progressively less restrictive levels of supervision and probation. The state had agreed to limit its sentencing recommendation to 20 years of imprisonment, and the judge ordered one year less than that cap as the unsuspended prison term. Caudle did not file a direct appeal following his conviction and sentence.
Caudle later sought postconviction relief, arguing that the indictment was defective and that his constitutional rights had been violated. In 2023, a Delaware Superior Court commissioner recommended that those claims be dismissed because they were filed more than two years after the applicable deadline, had been waived by the guilty plea, and lacked merit. In May 2025, the Superior Court also rejected Caudle’s attempt to have his sentence declared illegal, finding that the indictment adequately described the offenses, that the sentence fell within the lawful statutory range, and that the punishment did not violate double-jeopardy protections. His conviction and 19-year unsuspended prison term therefore remained in effect.
