Man released early from prison kidnaps and rapes teens, officials say. He’s sentenced
A man released from prison early without a required ankle monitor kidnapped and sexually tortured two teen girls in Alabama, prosecutors said.
Michael Jerome Butler, 37, has now received eight consecutive life sentences, the 19th Circuit District Attorney CJ Robinson said in a June 13 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to Butler’s attorney June 13 and did not immediately receive a response.
In November 2022, Butler drove to a Walgreens in Prattville and kidnapped two girls who were 17 at the time from the parking lot at gunpoint, Robinson’s office said in the news release.
He raped and tortured them before they escaped, officials said. The teens used their wits to make it out alive, according to the Prattville Police Department.
Butler then embarked on a string of crimes in the Atlanta metro area, including a home invasion, robbery and shooting, Robinson said.
Then, he traveled to St. Clair County in Alabama and fatally shot 54-year-old Victoria Malet, according to the county sheriff’s office.
On Nov. 6, 2022, Malet was found dead in the woods from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.
A multiagency manhunt eventually brought Butler into custody, and he faces a murder charge in connection with Malet’s death as well.
In April, he pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping, two counts of rape, two counts of sodomy, robbery and sexual torture in Autauga County.
The two women delivered impact statements to Butler at the sentencing hearing, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
“You told us you wanted to be known as an infamous criminal, to have movies made about you,” one said, according to the news outlet. “You will only be forever known as the man who was outsmarted by two teenage girls.”
The second woman affirmed that she was strong despite his actions.
“You took nothing from me,” she told him, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. “I am free, and you are in shackles.”
The Prattville Police Department said the women had “stalwart courage” to face Butler in court.
Prattville is the seat of Autauga County and is part of the Montgomery metropolitan area.
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Man released early from prison kidnaps and rapes teens, officials say. He’s sentenced."