In a tragic turn of events at a small family gathering in Alexandria, Virginia, a young man lost his life. Raphael Tahj Pierce, a 23-year-old male, was fatally shot on the evening of August 7, 2021. The incident occurred in an apartment in the Hybla Valley area of Fairfax County, where an argument escalated into deadly violence.
The preliminary investigation pointed to a dispute between Pierce and his 40-year-old stepfather, Terence Butler, also of Alexandria. Following the altercation, Butler allegedly shot Pierce and fled the scene. Authorities quickly identified Butler as the suspect and obtained warrants for his arrest on charges of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
A manhunt for Butler ensued, spanning more than a month and involving numerous search warrants and interviews. The search came to an end on September 17, 2021, when detectives from the Fugitive Track and Apprehension Unit, with the assistance of federal partners, located and arrested Butler in Washington, D.C. He was taken into custody without incident and held at the Central Detention Facility in Washington, D.C., awaiting extradition back to Fairfax County to face the charges against him. While the arrest brought a sense of resolution to the search for the suspect, the motive behind the fatal argument between a stepfather and his stepson remains a somber mystery. No information regarding the trial or conviction of Terence Butler is publicly available at this time.
