Juvenile Murder Suspect in Court Today

A Family Court judge could rule as soon as today on a Camden County Prosecutor's Office request to try as an adult a teenager charged with killing his foster father inside the victim's Blackwood home this summer.

An adult waiver hearing in the murder case is scheduled for today's 9 a.m. session in Judge Anthony Pugliese's courtroom at the Camden County Hall of Justice, in Camden.

Theotis Butts, 69, was found stabbed to death just inside the front door to his Hemlock Drive home, in the sleepy Timber Crove development, on July 11. It was Butts' brother-in-law who made the grisly discovery after Butts had failed to pick up his wife from work.

Authorities allege the teen, who was 16 years old at the time of the murder and his arrest, stabbed Butts to death before fleeing with items he stole from the home.

The teen, whom authorities have not publicly identified, citing his status as a juvenile, was arrested in Bronx, NY, on July 12. He was extradited and returned to Camden County in late July.

Gloucester Township Police have also charged the teen in connection with a carjacking at Blackwood's Lakeview Apartments on May 29. The teen is accused of pointing a gun at a family who was cleaning its 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix, and stealing the car.

The prosecutor's office filed to have the teen tried as an adult in August. Two previously scheduled hearings have been postponed.