Pamela Butler mysteriously vanished from her Washington, DC home just before Valentine’s Day in 2009. While her lover was suspected by the authorities and her family at the time, he was not charged with murder until nearly a decade later.
NBC News’ ‘Dateline: A Haunting Stretch of Road‘ focuses on how authorities solved not one, but two murders after taking a fresh look at Pamela’s case. So, shall we investigate what transpired?
What Caused Pamela Butler’s Death?
Pamela, a 47-year-old woman from Washington, DC, resided in a two-story house. She was a computer analyst for the Environmental Protection Agency at the time.
Pamela was considered by many who knew her as a well-organised person in both her professional and personal lives. She was very vigilant about the security of her property, having installed several surveillance cameras on the exterior.
Pamela’s relatives arrived at her home on February 17, 2009, to find her missing. They were immediately concerned since something didn’t appear right around the house. The blinds were open and a window leading to a side yard was left unlocked.
Soon after, she was reported missing, but after an exhaustive search, officials were no closer to finding her than they were before. Despite new information years later about a possible site for Pamela’s body, her remains have yet to be discovered.
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Who Was Pamela Butler’s killer?
Pamela was dating Jose Angel Rodriguez-Cruz at the time. They had met approximately five months before on an online dating service, he claimed. Jose was swiftly identified as the main suspect, thanks to surveillance footage.
On February 13, 2009, Pamela was seen arriving at her home while Jose awaited her. The analyst was last seen about 9:48 p.m. when she picked up the mail, but she was not seen again after that.
Jose was also seen entering and exiting the property multiple times, carrying large bags and a pail with what seemed to be cleaning goods. The case became cold since there wasn’t enough concrete evidence to arrest Jose at the time.
When a detective discovered a witness who indicated Jose’s violent behaviour in February 2017, the inquiry took off. In addition, Jose’s then-wife, Marta Rodriguez, vanished in 1989 under strange circumstances.
Jose was allegedly observed holding a gun to the head of a lady Jose used to be married to, according to the witness. He also mentioned seeing a letter written by Jose in which he admitted his role in Marta’s disappearance.
Another lady told authorities that Jose had chained her and sexually raped her at gunpoint in 2004. He also threatened to rape her three-year-old daughter, she claims. Jose was detained in 2017 due to mounting circumstantial evidence against him.
He eventually admitted to killing Pamela, claiming that they had a fight about him being unemployed on February 13, 2009. Jose claimed he struck and choked her before returning the next morning to turn off the motion sensor lights.
Jose then said that he threw the body out the first-floor window and into his car. He guided the investigators to a spot near a highway in Stafford County, Virginia, and stated he buried Pamela there as part of a plea agreement.
The area had been ground up for development, so the authorities were unable to locate Pamela’s bones. At the same time, they learned that in 1991, unidentified remains had been discovered along the same road.
Marta’s body was discovered, and DNA tests proved her identity. Jose eventually pled guilty to the murders of Pamela and Marta and was sentenced to life in prison.
Where is Jose Rodriguez-Cruz Now?
“Eventually, he [Rodriguez-Cruz] admitted to strangling her [Pamela Butler].” He brought police to the spot where he buried Pamela’s body near Interstate 95 at this point, but they couldn’t find it since it had been ground up for construction.
In 1991, authorities discovered remains in the same spot that were eventually identified by DNA in 2018 as those of Marta Rodriguez, his first wife.
When it was determined that Rodriguez-Cruz was also responsible for Marta Rodriguez’s death, he was already serving a 12-year sentence for the murder of Pamela Butler.
He was sentenced to 40 years in jail for the murder of Marta in April 2021, but had to return to West Virginia to finish his term for the murder of Pamela, according to Fox 5 DC. This storey will certainly be revisited by Dateline, which will undoubtedly expose more facts.
A Haunting Stretch of Road, a Dateline special, premieres on NBC on Friday, March 18 at 9:00 p.m. EST.