Pamela J. Butler was 47 years old when she was last seen in Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Police Department’s public bulletin said she was last seen at approximately 9:48 p.m. on February 12, 2009, in the 5800 block of 4th Street NW, and described her as a Black woman, about 5 feet 3 inches tall and 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. NamUs lists the case as MP7964, investigated by the DC Metropolitan Police Department, with the same last-contact date and location details.
Early public information treated Pamela’s disappearance as a missing person case, and the circumstances were deeply troubling to her family. The Charley Project reports that she was last seen at her home with her boyfriend, Jose Angel Rodriguez-Cruz, and that two emails were sent the following day, one to her employer and one to a relative, before she was never heard from again. Pamela was known to be very safety-conscious; her home had a security system, surveillance cameras, motion-activated lights, and alarms. After she vanished, relatives found details that seemed out of character, including missing bed sheets, files on the floor, raised blinds, an unlocked window, and a door alarm that had been turned off. Her vehicles were left behind, while personal items including her purse, credit card, driver’s license, and keys were gone.
The case was later resolved as a homicide. In October 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced that Jose Rodriguez-Cruz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Pamela’s death. According to the plea proffer, Rodriguez-Cruz entered Pamela’s home on February 13, 2009, turned off the home security alarm system, argued with her in the basement, punched her, and strangled her. Prosecutors said he then turned off the outside motion-sensor lights, moved her body through a first-floor window, carried her to his car, removed items from the home, and disposed of her body. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.
Pamela’s remains have not been recovered. As part of the plea agreement, Rodriguez-Cruz was required to help law enforcement locate her body, and the Department of Justice stated at the time that her body had never been found. Later reporting said he told investigators he buried Pamela along Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia; however, because of later highway construction, authorities determined the remains were not recoverable.
Pamela was remembered by loved ones as a caring and generous person whose disappearance left a painful void. Online reporting has identified her as a federal employee and computer analyst with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and her family’s concern grew after she failed to appear for planned family time and then missed work. Although the case began as a desperate search for a missing woman, the later guilty plea confirmed that Pamela had been killed, and the inability to recover her remains has left her family without the full measure of closure they deserved.Last Seen: Feb 12, 2009
