NEW HAMPSHIRE COUPLE KILLED IN TX

[HairOfTheDog]

48-year-old James Butler and his 46-year-old wife Michelle of New Hampshire had been traveling across the country in their 2018 Silver Chevrolet  2500 truck and a Cedar Creek RV for a few months after Butler returned from the Navy.

They were finally living their dream and had been checking in with family and friends daily.

[HairOfTheDog]

The Butlers also posted about their travels on Facebook.


^ one of their last posts

They were last known to have set up their truck and RV trailer in the area of Beach Marker 263 on Padre Island in Kleberg County, Texas (near Corpus Christi)  around Tuesday, October 15^th.

On October 16^th all contact stopped, and on October 23^rd they were reported missing by family members.

[HairOfTheDog]

On Sunday, October 27^th, a Kleberg County deputy found what appeared to be human remains around 6:45 p.m. in a shallow grave on Padre Island.

Given nightfall, law enforcement began investigating the site on Monday, at which point they recovered the decomposed bodies of a male and a female.

Yesterday, the Nueces Medical Examiner positively confirmed their identities and ruled their deaths to be homicides.  Rest in peace.

James Butler's sister says that LE told her they have footage of the vehicles being driven across the Mexican border, but that hasn't been confirmed by LE and no video has been released.

Officials are working to identify persons of interest and are attempting to find the victims’ truck and RV trailer.

The sheriff’s office says it cannot release all details of the active investigation at this time but will do so at an appropriate time.

[HairOfTheDog]

It seems likely to me that the Butlers were killed for their vehicles (but that's not an established fact).

I don't know about the RV, but I think the new Chevy 2500s go for upwards of $35,000.

Anyway, hoping hard that LE is able to figure out and track down who murdered this couple.



Refs:
https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Bo...56331.html
https://heavy.com/news/2019/10/james-mic...r-missing/
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-deputie...-rv-stolen

[Duchess]

Is that a dog in the backseat? Where's the dog?!

I'm sorry you couldn't live your best life, people. Goddamn I'm sick of this shit. Everyday there is some new horror involving people doing nothing more than trying to live their life.

[HairOfTheDog]

To the best of my knowledge, the Butlers weren't traveling with a dog.

But, they were traveling with their three cats, according to the Finding Michelle and James Butler Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pg/Finding-Mich...966/posts/

[Duchess]

:(

[Maggot]

I wish they did have a dog and a .357 the world is a jungle not filled with ice cream trucks and lollipops. He should have known that. Maybe he did.

[HairOfTheDog]

I wish they did have a dog and a .357 the world is a jungle not filled with ice cream trucks and lollipops. He should have known that. Maybe he did.

There are no details in the news reports as to whether the couple had a gun or not.

But, if armed robbers ambush you when you're sleeping or otherwise unaware, a gun isn't much gonna help you anyway. 

A gun is just one more item for criminals to steal and pawn in such a scenario.

[HairOfTheDog]

I found a news article which appears to confirm that LE has surveillance video of the couple's truck and RV being driven across the border by a man other than James Butler on October 21^st.  That's five days after James and Michelle last made contact with anyone. 

I wonder if they were alive and held captive during that period or if they were killed straight off and the killer waited to bail (or sold the vehicles to someone who then crossed the border with them).

The linked article also states that the Butlers left New Hampshire a year and a half ago (not a few months ago, as I mistakenly believed). 

They'd been working odd jobs during their cross-country travels and had planned to be in Florida by November for a gig selling Christmas trees.

Ref:
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/11/01/m...e-christi/

[HairOfTheDog]

A vigil was held last night in the hometown of a New Hampshire couple whose bodies were found buried in at a South Texas beach.   They were from Rumney.


Crosses have been erected where the couple's bodies were found in a shallow grave on Padre Island, Texas.

Relatives said the pair had been traveling the country in a recreational vehicle since June of 2018 and was last heard from on October 16^th when they were visiting Padre Island.

Investigators say both vehicles were last seen on surveillance video between October 20^th and 21^st crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The driver was not James or Michelle Butler.

"It's not very often we have a mobile crime scene if the crime was committed say in the trailer," said John Matthews of Community Safety Initiative.

(continued)

[HairOfTheDog]

The Butlers had most recently worked as gate guards for oil rigs in Texas, checking vehicles in and out, said Butler's sister, Deborah van Loon, of Rumney, New Hampshire on Saturday.

They were in frequent contact with family and shared photographs of their trip on Facebook, she said.  "We all loved what they were doing and they loved sharing it with us," said van Loon who described her brother as "an all-around really wonderful man."

He had retired from the Navy in 2010 and "loved to joke around about everything," she said. He came back to Rumney after he retired when his mother was dying of cancer, van Loon said. 

He met Michelle then and they married in 2015, she said.

Story: https://www.wmur.com/article/loved-ones-...r/29679554

[Maggot]

I wish they did have a dog and a .357 the world is a jungle not filled with ice cream trucks and lollipops. He should have known that. Maybe he did.

There are no details in the news reports as to whether the couple had a gun or not.

But, if armed robbers ambush you when you're sleeping or otherwise unaware, a gun isn't much gonna help you anyway. 

A gun is just one more item for criminals to steal and pawn in such a scenario.

A dog would have started barking.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah, that's probably true Mags.  

If the Butlers had been traveling with both a dog and a gun, they might have been safer.  

Impossible to so say how it would have played out there on the sand in the dark if they were sneaked up on at night.

[MirahM]

This is a sad story.

I worry when people are posting their travels and specific locations and it sucks that we have to think like that.

[Maggot]

Yeah, that's probably true Mags.  

If the Butlers had been traveling with both a dog and a gun, they might have been safer.  

Impossible to so say how it would have played out there on the sand in the dark if they were sneaked up on at night.

I only pursue this line of thinking because I sure as hell would have thought about it a bit more out in the middle of nowhere.

[MirahM]

It makes me think of my love of small houses-but I just feel like in a trailer and a tiny house that the walls are so thin, I think someone could just slice through them. It would be too uncomfortable for me.
I would have to have some sort of noise barrier outside-almost the same thing you would do for camping-which that is another topic-camping and being in a tent. Ugh.
Dogs and guns are good. (I don't like to blame the victim though for not having these things-like HotD said-who knows the circumstances or how it happened)

[Maggot]

Yeah I don't know how it went down. I bring my .38 when I go camping.

[HairOfTheDog]

As a relatively young retired Navy veteran, it won't surprise me at all if we learn that that James Butler did carry a gun during the couple's travels.

And, for all we know, James and Michelle were approached by someone(s) who seemed nice enough and let their guards down over time.....only to learn too late that he/they weren't nice enough at all.

There are 4 or 5 days that remain a complete mystery in the timeline and I haven't seen an approximate time of death released by LE yet.  

James and Michelle's contact with their loved ones stopped abruptly on October 16^th.

However, their vehicles were not driven over the U.S./Mexico border until October 20^th or October 21^st.  

We still have no idea whether the couple was murdered just after they last made contact with loved ones, or if they were alive for days after that.

Anyway, I wonder if police used phone tower pings to help narrow the search area once the couple was reported missing on October 23^rd.  We know the Butlers had at least one cell phone because they posted to Facebook and visited with their grandchildren via Facetime during their travels.

[HairOfTheDog]

Person(s) of Interest -- Image Released

I'm so glad there's a clear surveillance photo of the man who drove James and Michelle's vehicles across the U.S./Mexico border.



Hopefully someone will recognize the guy and call LE soon.

The photo was released at a press conference this afternoon.

(continued)