Murder charge x 3 = suspected serial killer

Crown has approved a third count of murder against Davey Butorac, a man already awaiting trial in connection with deaths of two other area women.

Roxanne Hooper

Langley Advance

Friday, March 05, 2010

CREDIT:

Margaret Redford of Aldergrove was killed in May 2006. Davey Butorac was charged this week with her murder.

A 31-year-old Aldergrove man, has now earned the unique distinction of being a suspected serial killer - three being the key number.

Wednesday morning, the RCMP announced that Davey Mato Butorac has been charged in connection with a third murder, the slaying of 48-year-old Margaret Redford, also of Aldergrove.

Crown counsel approved the charge of second-degree murder on Monday - nearly 45 months after the murdered body of Redford was discovered in the 27300 block of Fraser Highway, confirmed Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

The news comes as a big relief to Redford's family, which has been waiting and hoping that the murder of their daughter, sister, mother, and grandmother would be solved.

Butorac is currently in custody in relation to two other charges of second-degree murder, for which he was arrested a little more than two years ago.

When he was arrested Jan. 7, 2008, he was charged in connection to the murder of 50-year-old Sheryl Lynn Koroll of Langley, and 46-year-old Gwendolyn Jo Lawton of Abbotsford.

In the fall of 2008, Butorac was committed to trial after a preliminary hearing on the facts of the Lawton and Koroll murders. The trial on the first two charges is expected to begin in the first week of May.

In late 2008, however, IHIT was already acknowledging Butorac as a prime suspect in the Redford murder, and Crown counsel was telling the courts a third murder charge was pending against Butorac.

In December of that year, police recommended charges, but it wasn't until this week that it all came together, Carr said, unable to explain the reasons for the delay at the Crown level.

"We've been pushing for it and pushing for it... Long time coming, finally arrived," he told the Langley Advance.

"This [new] charge approval will now put to rest the community's uncertainty as to who committed this horrible crime nearly three and a half years ago," Carr said.

"I live in this community, I am approached and asked about this investigation by a variety of people in the community on a regular basis. I am very pleased to be able to tell the community that a charge has been laid. Perhaps they can have a sense of relief now that they know someone is being held accountable for Margaret's murder."

Redford's murdered body was discovered floating face down in the creek just before 8 a.m. on May 20, 2006, by a local resident walking on the public trail adjacent to the creek.

A few years ago now, prior to Butorac's arrest, her family joined Carr in making a plea for help in solving the local woman's death in a quest to find her killer.

Now, her family has asked for privacy, but her daughter Danielle shared with the Langley Advance that she's glad the investigation has finally wrapped up allowing her family to properly grieve Margaret's death, in attempts to move on.

Danielle was uncertain yet if she is "willing to attend" the court proceedings, describing the 2006 slaying of her mother as still "too painful."

As for the other two murders for which Butorac has been charged, the next occurred March 13, 2007, in Abbotsford. City employees discovered the Lawton's body off the side of a gravel road in the Pemberton Hill area of northwest Abbotsford.

Next, on July 7, 2007, Rempel Bros. employees discovered Koroll's body at the company's industrial site on Mufford Crescent.

Carr confirmed that local Mounties are not investigating Butorac in connection with any other cases.

"We're not looking at him for any more, at this time," he said, noting however that if convicted Butorac's DNA will go into a national data base that allows other law enforcement organizations throughout Canada to search.

"This charge approval demonstrates the continued effort that investigators put into an investigation no matter how old it is," Carr said. "Investigators will scale all obstacles placed in their path in order to advocate for the murder victim, no matter how long it takes."

© Langley Advance 2010

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• B.C. man charged with murdering third woman (canada.com)

Accused killer of two women faces new murder count

Davey Butorac of Langley charged in death of woman found in Aldergrove

By KIM BOLAN, Vancouver Sun

March 3, 2010

A Langley man charged in 2008 with killing two women now faces a third count of second-degree murder. Davey Mato Butorac is depicted here in January, 2008, in court on two charges of murder in connection with the killing of two drug-addicted sex trade workers.

Photograph by: Felicity Don, Special to the Sun

TO VIEW A PHOTO GALLERY, CLICK HERE.

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A Langley man charged in 2008 with killing two women now faces a third count of second-degree murder.

Davey Mato Butorac, 31, has yet to make his first court appearance on the additional charge, which was approved Monday afternoon, in the 2006 slaying of Margaret Redford.

Redford, 47, was found floating in Aldergrove’s Bertrand Creek in the 27300 block of Fraser Highway on May 20, 2006 by a resident out walking on a community trail.

At the time, Butorac was living in a condo a short distance away.

Butorac has been held in pretrial custody since being charged in January 2008 with the murders of 50-year-old Sheryl Lynn Koroll of Langley, and Gwendolyn Jo Lawton, 46, of Abbotsford.

His trial in those two slayings is set for May of this year in New Westminster Supreme Court.

At the time of the other two charges, police confirmed Butorac was a suspect in the Redford murder.

Cpl. Dale Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said the break in the four-year-old case “demonstrates the continued effort that investigators put into an investigation no matter how old it is.”

“Investigators will scale all obstacles placed in their path in order to advocate for the murder victim, no matter how long it takes,” Carr said.

He said Redford’s family was informed Tuesday about the charge and had asked for privacy.

“They appreciate and thank the media for their assistance throughout this investigation and would like to take this opportunity to begin to privately move forward with the healing process.”

Carr said he lives in the same community and has been approached about the Redford investigation “by a variety of people in the community on a regular basis.”

“I am very pleased to be able to tell the community that a charge has been laid. Perhaps they can have a sense of relief now that they know someone is being held accountable for Margaret’s murder,” he said.

All three victims had struggled with drug addiction and worked in the sex trade to support their habits.

Lawton’s body was found March 13, 2007 by City of Abbotsford employees off a gravel road in the Pemberton Hill area.

Four months later, on July 7, 2007, workers in an industrial building off Mufford Crescent in Langley City discovered Koroll’s body.

kbolan@vancouversun.com

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