Dateline: 5 harrowing details about Pamela Butler's murder, revisited

Dateline, NBC featured a chilling case of Pamela Butler that happened in February 2009. Despite having several surveillance cameras, the 47-year-old was never seen leaving her home, alive or otherwise. It was as though she had vanished into thin air from her Washington, D. C. home.

Her brother, Derrick Butler, became the driving force behind the investigation. Initially, even Derrick was questioned as a suspect, but he never wavered in his pursuit of the truth. He was determined to seek justice for his sister. As he shared in the Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode titled “A Haunting Stretch of Road,” he was certain Pamela would’ve done the same if the roles were reversed.

Here are the 5 harrowing details of the Pamela Butler disappearance case as shown in Dateline.

Surveillance Showed Her Never Leaving Her Home

What was shocking for the authorities in the Pamela Butler disappearance is that even after checking through CCTV footage from several angles, they never got to see her leaving her home or someone else taking her away. This made the case complicated for them. Her Washington D.C. home was equipped with multiple security cameras, and the cameras showed her entering the home on the day, but never leaving. They found no break-in, no forced entry, but just silence.

Her Boyfriend Was the Last to See Her — and Lied

The investigation then revealed that Pam was dating Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, a former military police officer, at the time. Jose claimed he had broken up with her and had left her home on February 13. But his statements turned out to be inconsistent, and this raised some alarm for the authorities. Phone records, movements, and camera footage didn’t line up, and eventually pointed suspicion toward him.

Her Brother Became Her Advocate

As mentioned, Derrick, Pamela's brother, was also under the radar of the authorities, but he never feared that or gave up finding answers. He kept pressuring the law enforcement to follow the leads. They found out that more women have gone missing and are connected with Jose, the guy Pamela was dating lately. Rodriguez's first wife also suffered a similar fate, and this narrowed down the case to see him as a suspect.

Jose Rodriguez-Cruz had a Chilling History

Years before Pam disappeared, Jose’s first wife, Marta Rodriguez, had also gone missing in 1989. The prosecutors found out that the way Pam disappeared, Marta also vanished in a similar fashion. At the time, Jose was the main suspect, but no charges were filed. In both cases, there were patterns of domestic violence, control, and secrecy that surfaced in the relationship.

The Dateline interviews also explore how Jose met Pamela. They met online in September 2008, just months before she vanished. He comes across as a charming person at first impression, working in a medical clinic in Virginia. Her brother, Derrick Butler, recalled being genuinely impressed:

“He seemed like an extremely nice guy... very attentive to Pam, attentive to us, so he was a pleasure to meet, he really was.”

But behind this charm, the man was hiding a gruesome past.

The Confession

In 2017, nearly a decade after Pam's disappearance, Jose finally confessed in his plea deal that he murdered her nd even Marta, his ex-wife, before. He led authorities to where he had buried her in a shallow grave off I-95 in Stafford County, Virginia. Her skeletal remains were recovered, bringing long-awaited closure to her grieving family — but also confirming their worst fears.

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This is how the authorities learn Pam's murder's connection with another woman's missing case from a long time back. The case exposed a serial predator hiding in plain sight, bringing long-awaited closure to two grieving families, as shown in Dateline.

Catch the Dateline episode only on NBC.

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