Rondal Brent Butler Jr., a 36-year-old man, died from a gunshot wound to the head in his Diberville, Mississippi apartment on or around September 14, 2016. The circumstances surrounding his death were initially reported as a suicide but quickly became the subject of a criminal investigation.
On the night of September 14, 2016, Michael Allen Pittman, who was 33 years old at the time, placed a 911 call reporting that Butler had attempted suicide.
When police and emergency services arrived at the Timber Grove apartment complex, they found Butler with a gunshot wound to his head. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
As investigators began to process the scene and interview Pittman, inconsistencies in his account of the events began to emerge. The physical evidence collected at the apartment did not align with the initial report of a self-inflicted wound. This led the D'Iberville Police Department to shift their focus from a suicide to a potential homicide investigation.
Based on the conflicting evidence and interviews, detectives arrested Michael Allen Pittman on a charge of manslaughter. He was taken into custody and booked at the Harrison County jail. Following his arrest, a judge set his bond at $500,000. The case against Pittman was handed over to the Harrison County prosecutor's office for further legal action. Despite the initial arrest and charge, public online sources do not contain information regarding the final outcome of the manslaughter charge against Michael Allen Pittman, including whether the case went to trial, if there was a conviction, or if the charges were dismissed. The case, which began as a reported suicide, remains without a publicly documented legal conclusion.
