Solved TX - Gerri-Faye Butts & 2 daughters murdered in Linden, 1992

[jrc]

Suspect indicted in 1992 East Texas triple slaying

LINDEN, Texas — A convicted criminal who was arrested 15 years ago but not indicted for the 1992 slaying of a woman and her two daughters has now been indicted in the case, authorities said.

A Cass County grand jury indicted Michael Kevin Hailey on Thursday on one count of capital murder for the deaths of Gerri-Faye Butts and her daughters Jessica Butts, 11, and Mackenzie Sullivan Butts, 3.

District Attorney Clint Allen said the state will seek the death penalty. He said he pursued only one count of capital murder because of 1992 laws, which allow the state to seek the death penalty when there are multiple deaths in one crime.

"The indictment is based on a review of the evidence with technology that was not available in 1992," Allen said. He declined to elaborate further on the investigation.

http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.co...Indictment.html

[MsRusty]

Is the case where his parents were divorced and his father was somehow connected to law enforcement or a judge? And sometime later his mom ended up killing either his father or step father? If I recall this case had lots of ins and outs.
I'm glad he was finally indicted.

[jrc]

Originally Posted by MsRusty

Is the case where his parents were divorced and his father was somehow connected to law enforcement or a judge? And sometime later his mom ended up killing either his father or step father? If I recall this case had lots of ins and outs.
I'm glad he was finally indicted.

Hi, MsRusty, yes it is. Hailey's father was a deputy sheriff at the time, divorced from his mother. Hailey's mother remarried several times and is in prison now for murdering her last husband.

[MsRusty]

timeline of the case:

http://butts_info.tripod.com/buttsfamily/id3.html
http://butts_info.tripod.com/buttsfamily/id24.html

[MistyGirl]

I am so glad an arrest has been made. I can't wait to hear what lead them to FINALLY make the arrest and I pray they are able to convict him.

[jrc]

Hi, MistyGirl. "Arrest" was really the wrong word; I should have said "indictment."

I don't think that timeline has been updated since it was put up, MsRusty, but there is some good information there.

An old Dallas Morning News article I had never seen was posted here last week: http://rightthinker.wordpress.com/

[jrc]

I, too, will be glad to hear what lead them to indict him.

Originally Posted by MistyGirl

I am so glad an arrest has been made. I can't wait to hear what lead them to FINALLY make the arrest and I pray they are able to convict him.

[jrc]

Originally Posted by jrc

I, too, will be glad to hear what lead them to indict him.

Please forgive my spelling and mistakes! Also I'm not sure why some of this is coming out blue and bold.


Hailey is extradited
Suspect arrives from Angola prison, will stand trial in Texas for a 1992 triple-homicide; Man has been serving 87-year sentence in Louisiana for an attempted murder
Texarkana Gazette
Tuesday, October/09/2007

A man accused of committing three killings in 1992 in Atlanta, Texas, has been extradited from Louisiana to stand trial. Kevin Hailey, 24 at the time of the killings, left his cell in Louisiana’s Angola prison with police escorts and boarded a Texarkana-bound plane Monday. After landing, Hailey was driven by car to the Cass County Jail in Linden, Texas. Hailey has been serving a sentence of 87 years without parole for an attempted murder in 2004 in Louisiana. Hailey stabbed a man who was trying to break up a fight.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/


Television video is here (today, anyway): http://www.ksla.com/

[jrc]

Oct 23, 2009 4:08 PM

LINDEN, Texas -- Michael Kevin Hailey, the man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and her two daughters in Cass County, Texas, 17 years ago, pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to life in prison in a plea agreement with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid a possible death sentence.

Hailey's capital murder trial, which was moved to Nacogdoches because of pre-trial publicity in Cass County, was in the jury selection process. That was expected to be completed on Monday.

Hailey, 41, admitted killing Gerri Butts at her Atlanta, Texas, home in 1992.

He also is suspected of murdering Butts' two daughters, 11-year-old Jessica and 3-year-old Mackenzie, although he was not required to admit to those slayings as part of the plea agreement.

Gerri and Jessica were strangled and Mackenzie was drowned in the bathtub, investigators said.

The case had gone unsolved for 15 years when Cass District Attorney Clint Allen reactivated it shortly after he took office. Using forensic technology not available at the time of the murders, Allen got indictments.

Hailey is currently serving an 87-year prison sentence for attempted murder for stabbing a man at a north Caddo Parish bar in 2004.

http://www.ktbs.com/news/guilty-plea...e-murder-case/

[jrc]

Sonny Long's book, Among Madness and Murders, about the Butts triple homicide is scheduled be released later this week. Read about it here:


http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news...012212_164685/

[w1df10wr]

Originally Posted by jrc

Sonny Long's book, Among Madness and Murders, about the Butts triple homicide is scheduled be released later this week. Read about it here:


http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news...012212_164685/

Mr. Long was on WebSleuths radio, a few minutes ago. Thank you to WebSleuths Radio for having him as a guest and bringing attention to this case.

[dodie20]

A few days ago, I bought this book for my daughter's kindle. I was breezing right along, but the kindle started giving me fits, so I'll have to finish it after I get the thing figured out. I read a good portion, and let me tell you, it's a good one... Very well written. My only complaint is there seems to be a little too much background on the ins and outs of the newspaper business and a little too much on the town's 2 papers competing for 1st dibs on information. I know how this story ends, but I still want to know why, and maybe this book will shed a little light on motivation. I live in east Texas and this case has always haunted me. I never forgot those little girls.