Inmate charged with murder in death of former East St. Louis woman missing for 10 years
Madison County authorities have identified the remains of a former East St. Louis woman missing for 10 years and filed murder charges against a man now in prison on a drug conviction.
The accused, Roger D. Sutton Jr., 55, who has lived in Pontoon Beach and Alton, was due to be released from Centralia Correctional Center on Feb. 14, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections database.
Pontoon Beach Police Chief Chris Modrusic told reporters at a news conference Thursday that police responded to a report in early December of skeletal remains in a wooded area along Illinois 111.
They later determined that the victim was Patrenia “Trina” Butler-Turner, who was 40 when she disappeared from East St. Louis in 2013.
Modrusic and Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine declined to give details on how Sutton became a suspect, what may have been his motive or whether he knew Butler-Turner.
“It’s still too early in this investigation,” Modrusic said. “Like I said, the investigation started Dec. 5, and we moved pretty quickly on this, knowing that he was getting ready to get out of prison, because we wanted to keep him incarcerated.
“So we’ve still got a lot of legwork ahead of us. We’re still waiting on evidence to come back from the crime lab.”
Modrusic confirmed that investigators used DNA testing to identify Butler-Turner’s remains and received the results this week, but he declined to say if DNA evidence linked Sutton to the crime.
Haine’s office charged Sutton with first-degree murder for allegedly strangling and fatally beating Butler-Turner, as well as concealment of a homicidal death. Prosecutors charged Sutton’s nephew, Nathan J. Beyer, 32, of Alton, with concealment for allegedly assisting him.
“(Sutton’s) parole date was less than two weeks from today, but due to these charges, he now has a $3 million bond, and he will be transferred to the Madison County jail,” Haine said.
Beyer is being held on a $500,000 bond.
Butler-Turner was living in Orlando, Florida, and working as a housekeeper in 2013, when she returned to East St. Louis to help with her first grandchild, according to her daughter, Candace Burnett, who attended the news conference with other family members.
Burnett said Butler-Turner left her house early on Jan. 17, 2013, to go to the store and get milk, but she never returned. She missed her other daughter’s high-school graduation and her flight back to Florida.
The family reported her disappearance to police, distributed flyers and searched the area.
Burnett described her mother as “a good person, happy, sweet and smart” and someone who would “give anybody anything.” Butler-Turner had three children, and today she would have had four grandchildren.
“(Authorities) had the body for a month and a half before they knocked on our door,” said Burnett, 30, of East St. Louis, an Amazon delivery person. “They didn’t know whose body it was.
“Just think about it ... Somebody’s bones laying out in the woods for 10 years with snow, rain, dirt, animals. It’s horrible.”
During the news conference, Haine emphasized the importance of the public’s help in providing information to police and other law-enforcement officials on both cold cases and recent crimes.
Haine also spoke directly to Butler-Turner’s family.
“We are so sorry for your loss,” he said. “Ten years is an incredibly long time. We do not forget Trina. You did not forget Trina, and we will fight for justice for Trina.”
Sutton was arrested and charged with possession of less than 5 grams of methamphetamine on Feb. 6, 2021, in Calhoun County, according to the circuit clerk’s office. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 25, 2022, and was sentenced to two years in prison on April 19, 2022.
Sutton has no other Calhoun County police record beyond traffic tickets.
In Madison County, Sutton pleaded guilty to a 1994 residential burglary in Madison. He served a concurrent sentence in Tennessee, where he had faced aggravated burglary, theft and robbery charges.
Also in Madison County, Sutton pleaded guilty to a 1999 unlawful-restraint charge in Granite City as part of a plea deal that dismissed a domestic-battery charge, and he was released to Tennessee authorities for parole violation.
Sutton pleaded guilty to a 2000 possession of cannabis charge in South Roxana and a 2007 burglary charge and 2015 battery charge in Pontoon Beach.
Court documents related to the 2007 case included a motion for bond modification so Sutton could continue his employment with Ingram Barge in Paducah, Kentucky, and St. Louis at the time. He was later sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Anyone with information on the Butler-Turner murder or suspects Sutton and Beyer are encouraged to call the Pontoon Beach Police Department’s detective division at 618-931-5100.
This story was originally published February 2, 2023 at 5:14 PM.
