1995

Will We Ever Know?

Much of the nation remains transfixed by the trial of O.J. Simpson, accused of killing two people last June.

But let us not forget an unsolved triple homicide that occurred in our fair city three years ago this Friday.

On a damp Monday morning that January, the bodies of Gerri Faye, Jessica, and MacKenzie Butts were found in their mobile home on Walnut St. There was no sign of forced entry.

No one has been punished for the crime.

Two of the principals in the case are no longer on the law enforcement and criminal justice scene -- former Atlanta Police Chief Mike Scott and former Cass County District Attorney Neal Birmingham. Both have retired.

But the family and friends of the Butts can not retire They will always be the family and friends of the young mother, and her 11-year-old and 3-year-old daughters. They will always remember Jan. 27, 1992.

They will always remember what was found inside that trailer -- a scene they either saw firsthand or later on the police video in court. A partially clad Gerri Faye on the couch, Jessica with the telephone cord that took her life still wrapped around her neck, and baby MacKenzie, face down in the bathtub. Unforgettable to any of us who saw the triple murder scene. Who else saw them? Who saw three lives needlessly snatched from this Earth?

Yes, the preceding paragraph is graphic. But so were the murders.

We must never forget that. We must never forget those three lives.

Who killed the Butts? That is a question that deserves an answer. Will we ever know?
Sonny