A few friends of Jessica Butts did gather last Wednesday to remember their slain classmate. This year marked the first time that an organized public candlelight vigil and memory walk was not held for the three members of the Butts family murdered in Atlanta
on Jan. 27, 1992. (PHOTO BY LARRY SUMMERS)



BY SONNY LONG

For the last six years, I always knew what I was doing on the night of January 27.

I was at the gazebo in downtown Atlanta with friends and the family of Gerri Faye Butts, one of three people murdered in Atlanta on this date in 1992. The gathering was to remember Gerri Faye, and her daughters, Jessica and MacKenzie, who were also discovered dead that Monday morning seven years ago.

It was always an emotional time. Friends talked about missing the slain trio, poems were read, candles were lit. We prayed. The group then walked, candles lit, to the scene of the murders, and again held a brief ceremony. To my knowledge there is no organized vigil this year. The candles have burnt out. The flame of outrage, like the trio themselves, has died.

But can we, as a community, afford to forget?

Can we forget that three of our citizens were brutally murdered in a quiet neighborhood, just blocks from downtown?

Can we forget that no one has been convicted of these heinous homicides? That whoever did them, could be your next door neighbor, your co-worker, or your daughter's boyfriend?

Can we afford to forget that this case and subsequent courtroom drama strained relationships between the Atlanta Police Dept. and the Cass County District Attorney's Office ? Thankfully, they have been mended now that two of the two principal players -- the former DA and the former Police Chief -- have retired?

It is still an open triple homicide investigation, but to say it's an active investigation would be pushing it. Seven years make for cold trails. If clues to the killer or killers weren't found in the first seven hours, seven days, or seven weeks, they won't likely be found after seven years.

I'll never confess to know all the answers -- or even any of the answers for that matter -- but, as you can tell, I do have a lot of questions, and I ask them every year. The biggest question is who? That question, it seems, may never be answered. According to current Cass County DA Randal Lee, the $5,000 reward offered for the arrest and conviction of the murderer still stands. I am now adding
$5,000 to that.

That's a total of $10,000. Maybe we can buy the truth before Gerri Faye, Jessica and MacKenzie are forgotten altogether.

That's something we can never afford to let happen.