Did Sheriff Wade Kill Carter’s Friend, Dwight, In 'Dutton Ranch' Episode 5?

[Spoiler Alert] Dwight White’s murder in Dutton Ranch episode 5 has suddenly become the most discussed conversation of the show, mostly because Sheriff Handy Wade didn’t give the viewers a rational explanation for his decision to pull the trigger on the alleged conman. And in addition to that, he lied through his teeth about the nature of Dwight’s death, which makes things more suspicious. Wade told his deputy and Carter, the only witnesses to the shootout, that Dwight came at him with his knife. However, the truth is, the knife never left its sheath, and Wade shot him in the back, which means Dwight was running away from him, not towards him. This only makes me wonder: Why? Why did Wade lie about Dwight’s death? However, before coming to that, I want to discuss another important detail that most of us are missing.

Before Carter walked into Dwight’s world, the old rancher was living a pretty peaceful and secluded life, with his caged leopard on his isolated ranch. You see, no one in town was looking for him, and I don’t suppose there were any wanted posters of him inside the Sheriff’s station or anywhere else in Rio Paloma, because Dwight was roaming pretty freely around town. So, what changed? Well, it could all be a mere coincidence, that is, Wade might have had Dwight on his watchlist for a long time, and he chose to pay him a visit only after Carter started working for him. And Wade eventually let Carter walk away because he knew that he was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Or maybe there is a deeper mystery to Dwight’s murder, and the whole thing centers around his full-blooded African leopard, which Dwight told Carter he had bought on the internet from a man in Arkansas (obviously a lie). In episode 5, Carter invited Oreana to Dwight’s ranch, but unfortunately, it wasn’t just Oreana who arrived at the ranch; she brought with her her new bodyguard, Miguel, whom her grandmother, Beulah Jackson, had ordered to follow Oreana like a shadow, wherever she goes. And I think it was Miguel who likely tipped off Sheriff Wade, as the moment Miguel saw that exotic animal on Dwight’s ranch, he figured out that Dwight was a shady individual who might get Carter or Oreana into trouble. And if you remember, in episode 4, Beulah grounded Oreana for the same reason, as Oreana had been out stirring up trouble, putting Beulah in a difficult position and tainting the family name. In addition to that, even Sheriff Wade had told Beulah (in episode 3, at Ellis Logan’s funeral) that he wouldn’t keep ignoring the Jacksons’ mess just because they have money. So I guess, when Miguel saw that illegal animal in the cage, and noticed Carter and Oreana mingling with a wildlife smuggler, he took Oreana away from that ranch and later tipped Wade off about Dwight White so he would do what was necessary. Because I suppose, other than Carter, Oreana, and her new bodyguard, no one else knew that Dwight had an illegal animal on his ranch, and Wade’s unexpected arrival on Dwight’s ranch doesn’t make any sense unless someone deliberately handed him that information.

Now let’s talk about the tricky part: why did Wade shoot Dwight instead of arresting him? I think there’s more to this story than meets the eye. At the station, Wade told Carter that Dwight was a drunkard, a thief, and an insurance fraudster, but that’s not reason enough to pull the trigger on an unarmed man. One possibility is that Wade shot Dwight because of some personal vendetta against him, or maybe because Dwight was going to release the leopard, and if he did so, Wade wouldn’t have had enough evidence to bring him, so in the heat of the moment, he fired a shot and ended up killing him. A second possibility is that Beulah might have ordered the hit, and Wade had to execute her orders, because Beulah funded Wade’s election. This actually was the whole reason why Wade was so frustrated with the Jacksons, because an honest lawman like him no longer wants to do dirty work for the Jacksons and cover for them.

So, the reason why I think Beulah may be involved in Dwight’s murder is because Dwight had an exotic animal on his land, and Dutton Ranch, starting from episode 3, has been dropping hints that Beulah and her family may be running a trafficking ring under the guise of a ranching business. It’s possible that Beulah, with the help of Mariano Reyes (who still hasn’t been formally introduced in the show), might be smuggling exotic animals from across the Mexican border, and that single leopard on Dwight’s ranch could have blown the lid on their entire operation (if someone else had found out about it and informed the authorities). Beulah herself pointed out that Rio Paloma loved to gossip which was why she wanted to keep her secrets “buried.” I guess you may have also noticed those taxidermized trophy animal heads inside Beulah’s mansion, so they must have come from somewhere, right? Even Beth Dutton, while doing her research on 10 Petal ranch, came across an article, which pointed out that in 2007, the Jacksons had turned their ranch into a game lodge for trophy hunters, which, I guess, was later shut down due to legal and ethical issues. Probably it was during this time that Beulah came across Mariano Reyes, and since then, the two have been smuggling goods across the border, giving Beulah a steady income to preserve her 190-year-old legacy with. We still don’t know the exact nature of the commodity that Beulah and Mariano are dealing with (which is definitely not cattle), but I think Dwight (especially his leopard) had become a blind spot, and it could soon have turned fatal and jeopardized their whole arrangement, if not stopped. So it’s possible that Miguel didn’t report Dwight to Wade (and Beulah) just to keep Oreana out of trouble, but also to save their illegal operation. And I think this would further explain why Wade let Carter go so easily, because he knew that the lad wasn’t at fault here, but he didn’t want to land him in any kind of trouble, which was why he asked him to keep his mouth shut and pretend he was never actually present on Dwight’s ranch.