Robert Earl Buttrey, formerly of Walnut Springs, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder last Friday in 249th District Court in Somervell County.
Buttrey, aka Robbie Buttrey and Robbie Buttery, will serve two five-year sentences concurrently with credit for 1,021 days served in the Somervell County jail, meaning he could be freed on parole today, according to Dick Turner, one of his Cleburne attorneys. Buttrey was previously represented by Cleburne attorneys Ben Hill Turner and Shelly Fowler.
“[Assistant District Attorney] Martin Strahan and I prepared the case. We were ready to go to trial. We spoke to the families of both victims, and they knew what the evidence was,” said Assistant District Attorney Larry Chambless.
Buttrey was charged and indicted in 2006 in connection with the double homicide of Casey Tiner and T.J. Steele, Granbury High students who disappeared in Hood County in August 2000. Law enforcement officials determined they were last seen with Buttrey.
Investigators said Steele’s car was found near Comanche Peak with the keys still inside. That car later caught fire.
Buttrey was in the car with Steele and Tiner the night before the victims’ disappearance, said Somervell County chief deputy Darrell McCravey.
McCravey said in 2007 that the vehicle was found within walking distance of where Buttrey was picked up on Peak Road by his girlfriend the next morning.
Buttrey called his girlfriend, McCravey said, to say that he, Steele and Tiner had argued.
Tiner and Steele were rumored at the time to have eloped to California.
A later report had them living in Stephenville.
Their bones were discovered by a seismograph crew on a ranch in Somervell County in December 2000.
The remains had been in that location since shortly after Steele and Tiner were reported missing, McCravey said.
The bones were identified as the missing boy and girl by forensic anthropologists studying DNA and dental records.
The deaths were ruled homicides by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Buttrey was sought for questioning but had disappeared.
He turned up in Arizona, was arrested and transported to Tarrant County, where he was wanted on a misdemeanor assault charge.
He was later housed at Somervell County jail while he awaited trial.
“There was an indication from Buttrey that he wanted to plead to the minimum,” Chambless said. “We presented that to the families. It was their thought that we should do [a plea agreement to five years]. I’m sure it was a very difficult decision. It was made by all of us together. My heart goes out to both families.”
Chambless declined comment on the quality of the evidence in the case.
“We were prepared to go to trial,” he said. “We would have done our very best. What the jury would have decided, only God knows.”
Matt Smith contributed to this report.
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Buttrey pleads guilty to murder in 249th District Court case
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