Pamela Butler’s family felt her boyfriend had something to do with her disappearance before Valentine’s Day in 2009. However, it took nearly eight years for the case to be successfully concluded.
The NBC News documentary ‘Dateline: A Haunting Stretch of Road‘ examines the circumstances surrounding Pamela’s death and how it was linked to a cold case from 1989. Derrick, Pamela’s brother, never gave up hope in his quest for justice for his sister.
So, how about we find out where he might be today?
Must Read:Â Pamela Butler Murder Case
Who is Derrick Butler, and Where Did he come from?
Pamela’s family suspected something was wrong when they arrived to her two-story home in Washington, DC, on February 17, 2009. The 47-year-old has been missing since February 13, when he was last seen.
Inside, the family discovered one of Pamela’s windows was unlocked, which was unusual for her. Pamela had been seeing Jose Rodriguez-Cruz for around five months at the time, and security footage from the night she was last seen showed him at home.
Jose killed Pamela because she wanted to stop their relationship, according to Derrick and the rest of the family. Jose may have taken the body out through the window late at night, away from the cameras, he speculated.
Jose was let alone because there was no body and no other clear evidence linking him to the murder. Derrick continued to battle for justice throughout the years, and he was vital in bringing out that Jose’s wife had also vanished suddenly in 1989.
“All we could do was wake up in the morning and wonder, is this going to be the day?” says the caring brother, who spent many years searching for answers. Is today going to be it? It’s been a never-ending roller-coaster ride. You’d never want to see a family go through something like this.”
When the authorities looked into Pamela’s case more closely in early 2017, his persistence paid off. Jose was eventually found guilty of both Pamela and Marta’s murders based on witness accounts and other circumstantial evidence. He eventually admitted to both charges.
Must Read: Where is Jose Rodriguez-Cruz Now?
What Happened to Derrick Butler?
Furthermore, when Jose acknowledged to strangling Pamela and then moving her body through the window, Derrick’s idea regarding how her body was transferred proved to be correct.
Jose was required to assist the authorities in the search for Pamela’s remains as part of his plea agreement. Derrick announced in December 2017 that her partial remains had been discovered, but that most of them had been lost over the years due to building in the region.
“I want to see him spend life for the atrocities that he committed,” Derrick stated after Jose pled guilty to killing Marta. He’ll always be a violent criminal, no matter how old he gets – if he lives to be 80 years old, he’ll still be a violent criminal.”
Derrick appears to still reside in Temple Hills, Maryland, and is a retired automotive instructor from Southeast Washington DC’s Frank W. Ballou Senior High School. Derrick has subsequently found peace, claiming that he did everything he could for his sister.
