Police still search for clues eight years after beating death

That was eight years ago this week, July 15, 2000, and Arlington County Police are still trying to determine exactly what happened that night.

They are hoping someone will come forward with information that can help solve the brutal killing of the 42-year-old man.

At around 1:55 a.m., officers responded to the 1800 block of Wilson Boulevard in the Rosslyn area of Arlington for a report of loud voices. When officers arrived, they discovered Butler’s body in the parking lot of EEE Auto Sales, just two blocks away from his apartment in the Colonial Village neighborhood.

Police believe he left his work, hopped on the Metro and got off the train at Court House station at about 1:30 a.m. and walked a few blocks. That’s where he was brutally beaten. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma.

Detectives theorize he was the victim of a street robbery that went bad. Butler’s wallet was missing but was found months later a few blocks from the crime scene by a member of a Veterans of Foreign Wars group cleaning up Lee Highway. The wallet contained credit cards and identification.

It’s possible that his killers followed him from the Metro station, police said. Butler most likely passed by a convenience store where customers would have been coming and going at that hour.

Numerous detectives and patrol officers canvassed the Rossyln-Courthouse corridor in the weeks after the murder in an attempt to gain additional information, but no substantial leads were developed.

Detectives ask that anyone with information about this crime call the Arlington County Police Tip Line at 703-228-4242, or Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) if they wish to remain anonymous. Crime Solvers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. Callers to Crime Solvers do not have to give their names and do not need to testify in court.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com