How Could You? Hall of Shame-Demetrius Minor UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From New Jersey, a 16-year-old foster child, Demetrius Minor was “charged with stabbing his foster father [Theotis Butts, 69] to death inside the man’s Blackwood home last month is back in New Jersey following his arrest in Bronx, NY, on July 12.”

“The teen did not make an appearance at his detention hearing inside Judge Charles W. Dortch’s courtroom at Camden County Hall of Justice this afternoon. He will remain held in Camden County’s juvenile detention facility.”

“Several sources have told Patch prosecutors will seek to try the teen as an adult.”

Juvenile Charged in Foster Dad’s Slaying Back in Camco
[Gloucester Township Patch 8/1/11 by Sean McMullen]

On July 11 , 2011 “Butts’s wife, Wanda, became concerned when he didn’t pick her up from work. So she sent her brother-in-law to the house to check on him.

Butts had been stabbed multiple times. Police believe the intruder entered through a basement window. The house was ransacked and items taken.”

“”A car that was at a location that normally is not,” he said. “Something that caught their attention that doesn’t normally occur, a person in the area. Or even a vehicle that is even located in front of their home right now that normally does not belong. That is the information that we would like to have from our residents.”

Police said Wanda and Theotis Butts did take in foster children in recent years.”

NJ man stabbed to death in his home
[ABC 4 7/12/11 by Sarah Bloomquist]

“Gloucester Township Chief Harry Earle said the teen — who had not lived with the family for about nine months — is believed to have broken into the Hemlock Drive home Monday night to steal cash, then was confronted by Butts. During a scuffle, the teen allegedly stabbed Butts and left him lying near the front door.

Butts, a retired railroad worker, was found dead in the home later that night after he never arrived to pick his wife up from the River Line station in Camden, authorities said. Concerned her husband never showed up, Butts’s wife called her brother and asked him to go to their home.

There, Butts was found dead in the home’s foyer. Several rooms in the home had been ransacked and some items were missing.

Earle said police soon began to focus the investigation on the teen, who was also suspected of burglarizing the home in late May. No charges have been filed in that incident but the teen was charged with carjacking a vehicle in the township on the same day as the May burglary.

Investigators believe the 16-year-old illegally drove himself to the Butts’ home Monday night and then fled to the Bronx, where several relatives live, Earle said.

The Buttses have taken in several foster children over the years. Earle said the 16-year-old lived with the couple for about nine months. It was not clear Wednesday where the teen had been staying since leaving the home.”

Ex-foster child charged in Camco man’s death
[Courier Post 7/14/11 by George Mast]

Update: “A Gloucester Township teenager has admitted to killing his foster father in July.

Demetrius Minor, 16, pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated manslaughter in the July 11 death of Theotis Butts. Minor also pleaded guilty to carjacking in connection with a May 29 incident in which he ordered a couple out of their Pontiac Grand Prix at gunpoint and drove away with their vehicle, a spokesman for Camden County Prosecutor Warren W. Faulk said.

The plea calls for Minor to serve a 30 year prison term on the aggravated manslaughter count, 85 percent of which must be served before he is eligible for parole. The plea also calls for a 10-year sentence on the carjacking count, to be served concurrently to the aggravated manslaughter count.

Sentencing is scheduled before Superior Court Judge Samuel Natal on Feb. 17.

Minor agreed to a voluntary waiver from Juvenile Court to adult court Friday.

The May carjacking incident began shortly before 5 p.m. when Minor approached a couple as they entered their vehicle near their Gloucester Township home. Minor approached the couple and pointed a Glock .45 in the face of the woman. The couple’s infant child was in the car at the time of the incident, and they were able to get the baby out of the car before Minor sped away in their car. The woman’s husband tried to chase Minor in another vehicle but lost track of him. About two hours later in Bridgeton, local police officers who had been alerted to the car theft spotted the Grand Prix and pursued. That pursuit ended when Minor jumped out of the vehicle and escaped.

A warrant had been issued for Minor’s arrest in connection with the carjacking when he broke into Butts’ home on the first block of Hemlock Drive in Gloucester Township on July 11. Butts, a 67-year-old retiree, had taken Minor in from the foster system, though Minor was no longer living there. According to township police records, Minor had burglarized the home numerous times after moving out. Minor stabbed Butts several times and fled to New York City. He was arrested in the Bronx on July 12.

Minor was committed to the Camden County Jail here following the hearing.”

Teen, 16, admits to killing his foster father inside his Gloucester Township home
[Gloucester County Times 12/2/11 by John Barna]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update 2/June 25, 2013

“A Camden County Superior Court judge on Thursday handed down a lengthy prison sentence to a teen who admitted in December to killing his former foster father inside the man’s Blackwood home in July.

Demetrius Minor, 16, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter on Dec. 2 in admitting he had stabbed his former foster father, 69-year-old Theotis Butts, to death while burglarizing the victim’s Timber Cove subdivision home on July 11.

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Samuel Natal sentenced Minor to 30 years in state prison in connection with the retired railroad worker’s slaying. The 30-year prison sentence followed the plea deal negotiated by Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Chatten in December.

Minor stabbed Butts 24 times after breaking into his former foster father’s Hemlock Drive home to steal cash, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office. It would be the last of several burglaries authorities believe Minor committed against his former foster parents after he ran away about nine months earlier.

As was the case at the Dec. 2 plea hearing, Butts’ family and friends filled the galley. Chatten estimated 40 to 50 people were present to support Butts’ widow, Wanda Broach-Butts.

Broach-Butts, who was married to “Ted” for 16 years, was among a handful of people to speak during Thursday’s sentencing. She not only condemned Minor for “taking my husband from me in a manner that is too brutal to mention,” but praised her husband for the life he had lived.

“Ted embraced all that came into his circle, including family, friends, people that he would meet on the streets, and his church parishioners,” Broach-Butts said. “Ted had a tremendous gift to teach and mentor children and young men that have experienced unfortunate child-rearing and environmental influences.”

The Buttses had adopted six other children through the foster care system over the years, Broach-Butts told Gloucester Township Patch in December.

Natal denied Minor’s last-minute request to have the plea deal pulled.

Minor must serve at least 85 percent of the 30-year sentence, or 25 years and six months, before becoming eligible for parole.

The teen entered the guilty plea about an hour after he had waived his right to challenge the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office motion to try him as an adult on Dec. 2.

Natal initially scheduled sentencing for Feb. 17, but the hearing was postponed until Thursday morning.

Minor, who was already wanted in connection with a May 29 carjacking in Blackwood’s Lakeview Apartments when he broke into the Hemlock Drive home and stabbed Butts to death, was arrested in Bronx, NY, on July 12.

Natal on Thursday sentenced Minor to 10 years in state prison on the carjacking charge. Those 10 years will run concurrent to the 30-year sentence under the plea deal.

Minor was represented by public defenders Dee Stroupe at the juvenile level and Brad Wertheimer in criminal court.”

Teen Gets 30 Years for Killing Foster Father

[Gloucester Township Patch 3/16/12 by Sean McCullen]