Crime & Safety

Police: Homicide Victim's Home Burglarized in May

Authorities announced that Theotis Butts' Blackwood home was burglarized less than two months ago.

Police are seeking the public's help locating the individual, or individuals, who broke into a Blackwood home on Monday and stabbed a senior citizen to death before fleeing with stolen property.

Theotis Butts was found dead inside his home at around 9:40 p.m. Monday, Gloucester Township Police Chief W. Harry Earle said during a press conference held at the municipal building this afternoon.

Police have not released a time frame for the homicide, only stating it was Butts' wife who last saw him alive at around 7:30 a.m. Monday.

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Butts' brother-in-law found the 69-year-old man's body just inside the front door to 66 Hemlock Dr., located in the Timber Cove subdivision, Monday night.

Butts sustained multiple stab wounds in the attack, Earle said.

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Several items were found to have been stolen from Butts' home after his brother-in-law discovered the slaying. Police are not saying at this time what was stolen from the home.

Earle did note the Butts residence was also burglarized in late May.

Investigators believe the point of entry for the burglary on Monday was a basement window, which appeared to have been forced open, Earle said.

Butts' wife, Wanda, called her brother when Butts failed to pick her up after work Monday night, authorities said.

Wanda Butts last saw her husband at around 7:30 a.m. Monday when the 69-year-old man dropped her off at the River Line train station in Camden so she could go to work, according to police.

Earle and Mayor David Mayer attempted to allay residents' fears following the burglary and homicide, while also passing on their condolences to Butts' family.

"We want to reassure our residents that we are diligently pursuing various leads and that this is not in any way believed to be a random crime," Earle said. "They should not be concerned that they will be members of the community who will be targets of violence."

"The whole community shares in the sadness and sorrow of this tragic, isolated incident," Mayer said when contacted by phone. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's family."

Earle noted the Buttses had two foster children live with them over the past four years.

Neighbors on the sleepy Hemlock Drive cul-de-sac where Butts lived declined to comment when approached this afternoon.

Police hope the public may be able to provide some answers to help turn what Earle described as "various leads" into an arrest, or arrests.

Police are seeking "information that may have been something, and I don't even want to say 'suspicious,' but something unusual—a car that was at a location that it normally is not," Earle said. "Something that caught their attention that doesn't normally occur, or a person in the area or a vehicle that is even located in front of their home now that normally does not belong."

Anyone with information about the Butts homicide is asked to call police dispatch at 856-228-4500 or the township's anonymous crime tip line at 856-842-5560.

Gloucester Township Police Det. William Westphal is the lead investigator. Camden County Prosecutor's Office detectives are assisting the investigation.

Butts was a retired railroad worker. He worked outside of New Jersey, Earle said, possibly in the Chicago area.

Mayer noted such brutal violence in the township is an "extremely rare occurrence." It had been almost a year since Gloucester Township's last homicide.

Riley Cuffee, 2, was found dead on July 31, 2010, inside a unit at Lakeview Apartments, a complex located off Lower Landing Road a little more than a mile from the Butts home.

Cuffee had been punched or kicked in his stomach by his mother's live-in boyfriend, David Ward, on July 30, according to police. The young boy died from internal bleeding.


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