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Pamela Butler, an IT specialist at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., went missing from her home before Valentine's Day in 2009. The last person to have seen Pamela was her boyfriend of a few months, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, who was captured entering and leaving her house on surveillance. Following this, Jose was considered a suspect.
The disappearance went cold for a couple of years due to a lack of evidence until a witness informed detectives of Jose's violent past and the 1989 disappearance of his wife, Marta Rodriguez-Cruz. He was arrested in 2017, admitted to killing Pamela during an argument, and accepted a plea deal as he agreed to lead them to her remains, which were never found at the location.
Jose was linked to Marta's murder when detectives learned that her remains were located in the same area in 1991. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to his wife's murder as well.
An all-new mystery on NBC Dateline is slated to chronicle Pamela Butler's disappearance, which was then linked to a decades-old case. The episode, titled A Haunting Stretch of Road, will air this Friday, July 21, at 9 pm ET.
Here's an official synopsis of the episode:
"While investigating the disappearance of Pamela Butler in Washington D.C., detectives discover a puzzling connection to a Virginia woman who vanished two decades earlier. Dennis Murphy reports."
Pamela Butler's case went cold until 2017 when her boyfriend Jose Rodriguez-Cruz confessed
Ahead of Valentine's Day in 2009, Pamela Butler went missing after telling her mother that she had plans to go on a romantic dinner with her then-boyfriend, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz. Reportedly, the two met on an online dating website a few months back.
According to Distractify, after failing to hear from the 47-year-old, her concerned family members arrived at her house and found the place in complete disarray. They knew something was amiss because Pamela had a reputation for organizational skills, but the house was a mess. She was then reported missing.
The Cinemaholic reported that surveillance footage from the security cameras outside Pamela's house captured collecting mail sometime around 9:48 pm on February 13. That was the last time she was seen. After that, her boyfriend Jose was seen entering and leaving the house a couple of times.
Pamela Butler's case went cold, and police officially declared her dead in July of that same year, as per The US Sun. In February 2017, the case was picked up again after a witness informed detectives about Jose Rodriguez-Cruz's abusive behavior and the similar disappearance of his ex-wife in 1989.
The Cinemaholic reported that the witness disclosed information about one particular instance in which Jose was seen holding a gun against his ex-wife. Moreover, the person talked about a letter in which the suspect claimed responsibility for Marta's disappearance. Another woman claimed he s*xually assaulted her at gunpoint and threatened to r*ped her three-year-old daughter.
Jose Rodriguez-Cruz was behind the murders of Pamela Butler in 2009 and Marta Rodriguez-Cruz in 1989
In April 2017, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz was arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder in Pamela Butler's case. That year in early October, he admitted to killing her during an argument and pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge.
As part of the deal, Jose was sentenced to 12 years in prison and agreed to lead detectives to Pamela's remains, which were never found. He then claimed to have buried he buried her body on Interstate 95, as reported by People Magazine. However, the area had already been dug up for construction.
But remains found in 1991 in an area a few miles from there, on Interstate 95 in Stafford County, were determined to be those of Jose's wife, Marta Rodriguez, who disappeared from Arlington, Virginia, in 1989. This was positively confirmed in 2018 once the case was re-opened and an Arlington detective tracked her son to collect DNA.
According to NBC Washington, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 26-year-old Marta's death in November 2020. The following April, Jose was sentenced to 40 years in prison. At the time, he was already serving the 12-year term for Pamela's murder.
Learn more about Pamela Butler's disappearance and murder on NBC Dateline's upcoming episode this Friday.
