Greenville man charged in Prattville kidnapping, rape now charged in Pell City slaying
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A Greenville man faces a murder charge in connection with the shooting death of a Lincoln woman — a crime that may have been committed while authorities were looking for him in connection with the kidnapping and sexual assault of two 17-year-old girls in Prattville.
Michael Jerome Butler, 35, was arrested Saturday near Moody and charged in connection with the attack on the teens.
The body of Victoria Malet, 54, from Lincoln, was discovered at about 11 a.m. Sunday morning. She'd been shot multiple times, St. Clair County Sheriff Billy J. Murray said during a press conference Thursday. Her body was found in a wooded location off Cook Springs Road in the Pell City area.
The investigation continues, Murray said, and he declined to comment on whether the suspect knew the victim or how investigators were able to link him to the crime.
Butler is being held in the Autauga County Jail. His charges in the Prattville incident are:
Two counts of kidnapping
Two counts of first-degree rape
Two counts of first-degree sodomy
Two counts of first-degree sexual abuse
Sexual torture
First-degree robbery
The teens were victims of what authorities described as a random attack the night of Nov. 3 in the parking lot of Walgreens in Prattville.
Prattville police issued an armed and dangerous warning on the suspect, Chief Mark Thompson told the Montgomery Advertiser, and he was tracked to Georgia. He was spotted Saturday in Oxford, and Leeds officers — among other law enforcement agencies — pursued him.
More:Prattville police search for kidnapping suspect
He was arrested near Moody, and subsequently charged in connection with the kidnapping.
On Monday, Autauga District Judge Joy Pace Booth ruled that he would be held without bond, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. Prosecutors said Butler had five previous felony convictions, including a home invasion and shooting, all in Butler County.
According to Murray and St. Clair County District Attorney Lyle Harmon, Butler had been released recently from prison.
"They are heroes," Autauga County District Attorney C.J. Robinson said on Monday of the 17-year-old victims, who are ready to take the stand against their attacker. "They are devoted to the case."
Murray said the criminal investigations division had worked tirelessly in their investigation of Malet's murder.
He named a long list of agencies that aided in the investigation: the Lincoln, Oxford and Prattville police departments; the Autauga County Sheriff’s Office, the East Metro Area Crime Center, the FBI, Coweta County Sheriff’s Office and Chattahoochee Hills Police Department in Georgia and the St. Clair County District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division.
Butler may have more charges coming out of Georgia as part of his “48 hour spree,” said Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson. After leaving Prattville, police believe he drove to the Atlanta area where he allegedly pulled an armed home invasion and shot the homeowner, Thompson said.
Prattville investigators are assisting Georgia authorities on that case.
“Once we had him in custody, we discovered evidence of the possible homicide in St. Clair County and began working with investigators there,” Thompson said. “We knew from our case what a threat to the public he was, that’s why we put an 'armed and dangerous' lookout on him.
“I just wish we had been able to capture him before the Georgia shooting and the homicide in St. Clair County.”
Butler has an extensive criminal record with at least 15 arrests or indictments and six felony convictions, court records show. All of the convictions include crimes occurring in Butler County. The convictions are property type crimes such as theft and receiving stolen property, but he has an armed burglary of an occupied home conviction on his record.
If police have it right, what set him off that night in Prattville? It seems a big jump to graduate from theft cases to kidnapping, rape and possibly murder.
“We don’t know, we are still working our case,” Thompson said. “We can find no connections between Butler and the victims or Butler and Prattville. By his own statement, he was just riding around looking for victims.
“So far our case appears to be completely random. Again, that’s what made us want to get him off the streets as fast as possible.”
Montgomery Advertiser reporters Alex Gladden and Marty Roney contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Man charged in series of violent crimes, including murder in Pell City
