What Happened to Pamela Butler? Inside the 2009 Murder Case That Linked Her Boyfriend to Another Woman’s Death By Christopher Rudolph

Pamela Butler vanished from her Washington, D.C. home and years later, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, whom Pamela was dating at the time, would confess to murdering her.

Pamela’s disappearance was the focus of the 2022 Dateline episode, “A Haunting Stretch of Road,” which NBC re-aired on Aug. 2 at 9 p.m. ET.

On Feb. 12, 2009, Pamela, a federal worker, came home from work, walked into her house and was never heard from again. The investigation would eventually end up being linked to another woman who had also gone missing two decades earlier.

“There was a very big void when Pam went missing,” Pamela’s friend, Rita Moss, told Dateline.

So what happened to Pamela Butler? Here’s everything to know about the 2009 murder and how it was connected to Marta Rodriguez-Cruz’s 1989 death through Jose Rodriguez-Cruz.

Who was Pamela Butler?

Pamela was a 47-year-old federal employee of the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., where she worked as a computer analyst.

On Valentine’s Day in 2009, Pamela had plans to pick up her mother, Thelma, for dinner, but she never showed. Jose was also supposed to join them, and when Thelma’s calls went unanswered, Pamela’s brother, Derrick, reassured her that they must have lost track of time.

After not hearing from Pamela for days, her mom and nephew visited Pamela’s house. Upon their arrival, they found mail piled up on the front porch and a suspicious scene inside, with papers and items thrown about — and Pamela nowhere to be found. At that point, Thelma realized her daughter had also missed work.

Pamela’s house was equipped with security cameras and motion detection lights, so if she had left her house, how would it not have been captured on video? This was just one of the many questions that stumped the police and Pamela’s family.

An investigation was opened, but in 2016, after years of dead ends, Pamela was declared legally dead.

In the Dateline episode, Pamela’s brother said his sister was “Just a lovely person, somebody that would go out of her way to help you.”

Who is Jose Rodriguez-Cruz?

Jose Rodriguez-Cruz was Pamela’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance.

According to Dateline, they had met on a dating website and had been together for five months when she went missing. Pamela and Jose shared similar government work backgrounds; he is a former military police officer who worked at a medical clinic.

When Pamela’s mother searched her home, Thelma noticed Jose had left messages on her answering machine asking where she was. Thelma also discovered that Jose wrote a message to Pamela and left it inside her home.

Thelma later asked Derrick to contact Jose, and after doing so, Jose shared that he and Pamela had broken up and hadn’t heard from her, Derrick recalled to Dateline. They then met in person, and Jose appeared upset over the news of Pamela’s disappearance. But what her family didn’t know was that Jose had a troubled past.

Jose was previously married to Marta Rodriguez-Cruz, a nursing aid in her late 20s who went missing in May 1989 in Arlington, Va. Before she vanished, Marta had told police that Jose had physically and sexually assaulted her. That March, an Arlington County police officer witnessed Jose dragging her on a street, per The Washington Post.

Jose was charged with abducting and assaulting her. As for a motive, he hinted toward jealousy.

“When asked by the investigator why he would commit such acts against his wife, Rodriguez-Cruz responded that ‘if I can’t have her, no one else will. She’s mine,’ ” he said, according to a statement obtained by The Washington Post.

By the time she was due to testify against Jose in court, the mother-of-one never showed up, and the case was thrown out. Marta’s roommate reported her missing one week later, Fox 5 DC reported.

How did Pamela Butler die?

Jose killed Pamela in her house on the night of Feb. 13, 2009.

Per a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she and Jose had an argument in the basement of Pamela’s home. During their discussion, Pamela pointed out Jose’s job and financial status and mentioned that there were no signs he was trying to improve either.

At one point during the fight, Jose punched Pamela in the face. She fell to the floor, and Jose then strangled her to death. He then put Pamela’s body in a trash bag and switched off the house’s motion detector lights.

Jose removed her body through a first-floor window that was not covered by the security cameras. After placing her in his car, he decided on a location to bury her. Over the next two days, he returned to Pamela’s home to remove items, including her phone, which he disposed of.

Were Pamela Butler’s remains ever found?

No, Pamela’s remains have never been recovered.

As part of the plea agreement he took, Jose told investigators where they could find Pamela’s body. According to NBC Washington, Jose said he buried her in the median between the southbound and northbound lanes on I-95 in Stafford County, Va.

Due to the construction on the highway over the years, including the expansion of express lanes, the area with Pamela’s body had been paved over, making her remains “not recoverable,” per WUSA9.

How are Pamela Butler and Marta Rodriguez’s disappearances related?

After Pamela was declared legally dead in 2016, her disappearance was reopened as a cold case by Metropolitan Police Department detective Mike Fulton. He would eventually uncover Jose’s past with Marta, eventually linking it to Pamela’s.

Marta had gone missing in Virginia in 1989, and while her remains were found two years later, her identity wouldn’t be confirmed until 2018 using DNA.

Both women were discovered in the same area of the highway where Jose said he had buried Pamela’s body.

Where is Jose Rodriguez-Cruz now?

In October 2017, Jose pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge for Pamela’s death. He was sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison, followed by five years of probation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s press release.

Three years later, in November 2020, Jose pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing Marta in 1989. He was sentenced to an additional 40 years in prison.

“I want to see him serve life for the crimes that he committed,” Pamela’s brother, Derrick, told reporters at Jose’s hearing, via WTOP.

Derrick added that even if Jose gets out of prison at 80, “he’s still a violent criminal, and it’s not going to change.”