New Year's Evil

Skamania is a very small town in Skamania County, Washington, set in the Columbia River Gorge about 45 minutes from Portland and across the water from it. It is so small that the episode's statistics come from the neighbouring town of Stevenson, which has a population of 1,627; the county has about 12,000 people. At the end of 1986 the Butler family lived in a rural two-level house in Skamania. James Butler, 48, was out of work, depressed, drinking heavily and growing a few marijuana plants in the garage. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Margaret's father lived with them too. A stroke had left him mute, confused and often unable to say where he was. this part of the story is covered for now

On New Year's Eve, 31 December 1986, there were parties in the neighbourhood. details of the account remain covered until revealed Shortly after midnight the three heard a shot. They argued about whether it was a gunshot or a firecracker. Two more loud bangs came within eight minutes, and then a fourth shot that sounded different from the others; the fourth was the .22. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He did not come back.

Instead he drove 110 miles to Long Beach, Washington, where his father, Michael Stevenson, and his grandmother, Mildred Stevenson, lived. Early that morning, at about six or seven o'clock, he used a payphone beside the Long Beach police station. Officer Steve Graves approached him. this part of the story is covered for now At the station he said, 'I think you're gonna want to talk to me after the terrible thing I did,' and stretched out his arms to be handcuffed. He also telephoned his 15-year-old girlfriend, Twila Gibson, and asked her to go with him to Mexico. He told her, 'I think I just shot my family.' She thought he was joking.

The Skamania County sheriff's office was notified at 6.45 a.m. It was Sheriff Ray Blazdell's first day in the job. Officer Tom Converse was sent to the house. He looked through a window and saw Margaret Butler in bed, shot, much of her head missing. He called for backup, and he and Officer Chris Ford went in. In the bedroom they found James Butler on the floor with Margaret. Both had been shot once in the head at close range with a high-powered rifle. In the basement they found Amy. She had been shot twice in the head with two different rifles, a .30 calibre and a .22, and the .22 was lying nearby. She was naked from the waist down and there was semen on and around her pubic area. The house was covered in blood, tissue, skull fragments and brain matter.

Margaret's father was not in the house. He had wandered to the Skamania General Store, about a hundred yards away. He was mute and could not explain what he had seen. The prosecutor said his evidence would not be necessary. details of the account remain covered until revealed The police were never sure he understood the question.

The investigation was conducted by the county's criminal investigation unit, which consisted of the prosecuting attorney, who was also the coroner, and one deputy, with help from an investigator borrowed from Cowlitz County. They took more than 200 photographs and collected blood, semen and clothing. A bullet that had passed through Margaret's head, the pillow and the mattress was dug out of a wooden bedpost. Then the house was handed back to the family. Relatives cleaned it, burned the blood-soaked mattresses, bedding and the chair in which James had been shot, and disposed of the bedpost. Evidence was lost, and the prosecutor later blamed the sheriff, who asked in the newspaper, 'What was I to do?'

About a dozen guns were found in the house. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The blood in the truck turned out to be deer blood. Ballistics suggested that only one of the truck guns, a scoped .30 calibre Marlin, could have fired the bullet, and that the .22 bullet in Amy's head matched the rifle found beside her. No usable fingerprints were recovered from either rifle or from a bloodstained $100 bill. this part of the story is covered for now Amy was six to eight weeks pregnant and knew it; her mother knew, but nobody else had been told. The father was never identified. James Butler had had a vasectomy, which undercut the defence suggestion that the semen was his.

details of the account remain covered until revealed The prosecutor, Robert Leek, announced that he would seek the death penalty. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Psychiatrists described psychogenic amnesia and said he was highly suggestible. He later recanted. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now Two child protective services reports, which mentioned money problems, drinking, abuse, accusations of incest and James's suicide threats, were read by the judge and not admitted.

The defence argued that the investigation had been botched: bloodstained walls and sheets, a trail of blood from the chair where James was shot to the bedroom, fingerprints and footprints had all gone. It claimed that the Butlers ran a commercial marijuana operation, but state criminalists found only six plants, three to six inches tall and mostly dead. details of the account remain covered until revealed A pathologist, Dr Larry D. Loumen, said, 'I can't conceive of a scenario where any of these wounds were self inflicted.' A Washington State Patrol criminologist, Roger Eli, agreed. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now The prosecutor said the parents' killings were probably rage; the aggravated count reflected what had happened to Amy. details of the account remain covered until revealed James's mother, Lorena Butler, said justice was being done but it would not bring her son back, and she too favoured death. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it They lagged behind a group of prisoners at about 8 p.m., climbed an interior fence, used the buildings for cover and reached a blind spot by the perimeter fence. A truck 50 yards away drove off without seeing them. They climbed the razor wire, cut themselves badly and headed for the Dayton Airport road, where a getaway car was supposed to be waiting. It never came. About 11 p.m. they reached a hill overlooking Highway 101 near California Road, broke into a long shed or trailer and stayed there for four days, eating potato chips, peanut butter and crackers, drinking soda and beer and watching television news. this part of the story is covered for now When the food ran out, the three broke into the home of Lori Bloom and Michael Cook, tied up Cook, took money and a vehicle and forgot to cut the telephone line. They then stole several cars at gunpoint in Mason County and were caught at a roadblock outside Shelton. details of the account remain covered until revealed He said he did not regret the escape: 'They told me I was never gonna get out. I did.'

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed It was at that hearing that the rape of Amy was first described as having happened after she was killed. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now