In February 2002, two men arrived at his home in Phenix City, Alabama, posing as narcotics agents. Michael David Carruth and Jimmy Lee Brooks Jr. had fake documents and a macabre plan: they entered, overpowered Butch and his son Brett, who was only 12 years old, and demanded money.
They took them to a vacant lot. There, they slit Butch’s throat and shot Brett. They placed them together in a shallow grave and covered them with dirt. Brett did not survive. But Butch, badly wounded, was still alive beneath the earth.
When the attackers left, Butch dug with his bare hands until he escaped the grave. Crawling, he made it to a nearby road, called for help, and gave investigators the information that led to the conviction of both perpetrators. 😢
