Men sentenced for kidnapping, murder plot

SMITH COUNTY — Two men who planned to kidnap, rape and murder a Texas woman have now both been sentenced to decades-long prison sentences. According to our news partner KETK, Brad McKinney, 53 of Kilgore, was sentenced to 25 years in state prison on Thursday after he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit capital murder on June 23. Dustin Adlai Yates, 52, was sentenced to 30 years in state prison for conspiracy to commit murder on July 15.

According to an arrest affidavit, Yates contacted McKinney to gather information on Yates’s ex-girlfriend and would pay him for his services. The Smith County Sheriff’s Office arrested Yates on Dec. 27, 2024 for stalking, after his ex-girlfriend informed them that Yates was contacting her by email on Oct. 31, 2024.

Yates was attempting to contact her despite warnings from the Houston Police Department not to contact her following a family violence case. The woman sent screenshots of the following messages from Yates on Dec. 1, 2024, to detectives:

“I’d be vigilant if I were you”
“You were a busy girl in 22”
“I wonder what your expiration date is,” and “I think it’s soon”
“You have a very predictable schedule and daily driving routes”

Yates was interviewed after being arrested. According to his arrest affidavit, he admitted to running several background checks on his ex-girlfriend through multiple websites and that he learned where she was working in Tyler.

“Dustin stated he wanted [the victim] to be scared and looking over her shoulder,” the affidavit stated. “Dustin stated, without being asked or the topic being brought up, that he had no intention to kill [the victim], and if he wanted to, he would have killed her months ago.”

Later, the sheriff’s office got a search warrant for Yates’ phone. According to an arrest affidavit, messages revealed that McKinney was paid around $1,300 for gathering the information and that they discussed a payment of $15,000 to film the planned kidnapping, rape and murder of Yates’s ex-girlfriend.

Arrest affidavits for the two men revealed that they would talk about McKinney’s experience as a sniper, what kind of bullets would hurt the most, where to shoot Yates’ ex-girlfriend and potentially posing as a UPS delivery guy or a pizza delivery guy and then going to addresses associated with Yates’ ex-girlfriend.

At one point, Yates told McKinney he wanted to take his own life and McKinney reportedly told him to “take out some filthy people in our country and go down swinging buddy,” according to an arrest document.

McKinney was contacted by the Smith County Sheriff’s Office detective at his home in Kilgore, where his arrest affidavit said he admitted to taking money from Yates to collect information on Yates’ ex-girlfriend

McKinney was then arrested for conspiracy to commit murder, stalking and two warrants from Harrison and Gregg counties on Jan. 11. His 25-year sentence in state prison started on July 31. Yates’s 30-year sentence in state prison started on July 15.