Ten years after Patrenia “Trina” Butler-Turner went missing after going to the store for milk, her skeleton has been found, leading police to charge an uncle and nephew with first-degree murder.
Fifty-five-year-old Roger Sutton Jr. and his nephew 32-year-old Nathan Beyer have been identified as the suspects who concealed the body of Butler-Turner, who was last seen alive after she hitched a ride in a red pickup truck in St. Louis in January 2013.
By the time her remains were found, investigators say they were able to identify her through DNA from her skeleton.
Authorities believe before the 40-year-old victim was killed, she was beaten and strangled before the suspects hid her body in the woods near Pontoon Beach, Illinois.
“Sutton Jr. is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, a Class M felony, and one count of concealing the homicidal death of Butler-Turner, which is a Class 3 felony. Alton was charged with concealment of a homicidal death and helping to hide the body, a Class 3 felony,” according to an Atlanta Black Star report.
Authorities are not revealing to the public what the relationship was between Butler-Turner and the uncle-nephew duo. But during a press conference Thursday, Madison County State Attorney Thomas Haine told reporters that Sutton Jr. had a criminal history, including currently serving two years in prison on a methamphetamine felony conviction.
“We moved pretty quickly on this knowing he was about to get out of prison,” Pontoon Beach Police Chief Chris Modrusic.
Sutton Jr. has also been convicted for residential burglary, battery, and unlawful restraint dating back to the 1990s.
“Trina Butler-Turner was a daughter, a mother,” Haine said. “She was last seen 10 years ago when her family reported her missing. But today, we can now say that due to extraordinary police work, we believe we have found Trina’s body. We believe she was murdered and we believe we have found her killer.”
Butler-Turner is survived by three children and four grandchildren.
