Husband Arrested on Murder Charges for 2015 Castler/Butler Homicide Case

The Denali Highway crosses the Susitna River at mile 79.5, the vicinity where two campers were shot and killed during the Fourth of July holiday. Image-Beeblebrox (Wikipedia-Creative Commons)
The Denali Highway crosses the Susitna River at mile 79.5, the vicinity where two campers were shot and killed during the 2015 Fourth of July holiday. Image-Beeblebrox (Wikipedia-Creative Commons)

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation announced that the ABI has made an arrest in the nearly 2-year-old Casler/Butler homicide case at noon on Tuesday following consultation with the Palmer District Attorney’s office.

42-year-old Bruce Floyd Butler, the husband of Lynn Butler, was arrested on two counts of Murder I.

It was on July 3rd, 2015, that Alaska State Troopers were informed that two people. Richard Casler, age 61, and Lynn M. Butler, age 42, were missing from their campsite near mile 79 of the Denali Highway.

Troopers responded to the location and conducted an on-scene investigation of the area that the two were camping in and found evidence of “an altercation involving gunfire associated with their vehicle and camper trailer.”[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]

ABI took over the investigation, and an extensive search was carried out with the assistance of AST aircraft and Wilderness Search and Rescue volunteers. Two days later, on July 5th, troopers, while searching the area, heard noises in an old run-down trailer in the area, and found evidence outside of the trailer that was associated with the two missing persons.

A perimeter was set up around the trailer, and attempts at communicating with anyone in the trailer went unanswered. The Northern Special Emergency Reaction Team and Southcentral SERT was brought in. Continued attempts at communicating had the same results. Officers made entry into the trailer and found both missing persons inside, deceased.

The investigation into the double homicide is continuing.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]