The slaying of Arlington journalist David Butler, who was attacked on his way home from work and beaten to death just two blocks from his residence, has frustrated police for nearly nine years.
In the early morning hours of July 15, 2000, Butler was walking from the Court House Metro stop toward his apartment in Colonial Village neighborhood. He had just worked the late shift at his job as an editor of the Stars and Stripes newspaper. At some point along his short walk, Butler was accosted by the suspects.
When police responded to a report of loud voices on the 1800 block of Wilson Boulevard, they found Butler’s body in the parking lot of a car dealership. He had been badly beaten, and the cause of death was later determined to be blunt force trauma.
His killer had fled. Despite the police’s efforts to search the area for potential witnesses, they were unable to produce a description of the suspect or generate any leads.
Butler, 42, was single and lived alone. Police described him as a quiet man who kept to himself. He was not confrontational or aggressive, police said, and had no known enemies.
The discovery of the victim’s wallet, two years later, makes robbery a possible motive.
The area where Butler was found was not a heavily trafficked part of town, said Arlington police Detective Kevin Norwood, who handles the department’s cold case investigations. That leads him to think that the suspects came from the area and took advantage of a lone pedestrian on a dark, quiet street.
That’s why Norwood suspects the answer, if it comes, will come from within the community where the victim lived. “Something must have happened locally, which means someone in the area might still know something,” he said.
“We might just have to wait for that loyalty to shift and make someone think they should come forward with information,” he added.
“It’s important to get the word out that we’re still investigating.”
Anyone with information on this case should call the Crime Solvers hot line at 1-866-411-TIPS.
