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West Jordan double homicide: Utah couple fatally gunned down as they slept, manhunt underway for killer

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Katherine and Tony Butterfield
Pictured wanted man, Albert Johnson and West Jordan, Utah couple, Katherine and Tony Butterfield.
Katherine and Tony Butterfield
Pictured wanted man, Albert Johnson and West Jordan, Utah couple, Katherine and Tony Butterfield.

Albert Enoch Johnson wanted after shooting dead Katherine and Tony Butterfield, West Jordan, Utah couple as they slept. Their three children were un-harmed.

Police in West Jordan, Utah, are searching for a 31-year-old man suspected of shooting dead a young couple in a targeted attack early Saturday morning.

Albert Enoch Johnson was named by police Monday as the suspect in the deaths of Katherine Butterfield, 30, and Tony Butterfield, 31, who were murdered in their home as their three young children, all under the age of four, slept.

A Monday press conference described the shootings as ‘a targeted and isolated act’ and ‘not random’.

West Jordan Police Sergeant J.C. Holt to date has declined to reveal a motive in the ‘targeted’ shooting. 

Holt said the suspect in this ‘very difficult case’ was ‘still on the run’ as of Tuesday morning, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Adding, ‘Obviously we’ve been actively looking for him for a few days and he is avoiding contact with us. So that should lend some insight into what we feel like is going on with him.’

Johnson’s wife, Sina Anne Johnson was arrested Monday and is being held for withholding information and interfering in the investigation. She is reported to have disposed of evidence.  

The Butterfields are believed to have tried to fend of their attacker, with police saying that Johnson may have injuries to either his arms or legs consistent with a knife.

‘Our detectives are working to find where he may be. We believe that the Butterfield’s were absolute true victims in this senseless act,’ said Sergeant Holt during Monday’s press brief. 

Previous charging documents reveal Johnson going by the nickname ‘Psycho-Al’.

Police found the Butterfields dead in their home near 3200 West and 6900 South from gunshot wounds at around 1.15am on Saturday morning after a home invasion.

A neighbor called the police after they heard gunshots and a woman screaming.

Katherine was found inside the house while Tony’s body was found in the yard. It appears he fought the suspect outside before he died.

The gun has not yet been recovered.

Holt said that the home showed signs of forced entry and the suspect had looked through the couple’s belongings, although police do not know what was taken.

The couple’s three children – aged four, two, and six months old – were in the home at the time of the murder but are unharmed.

They are staying with family members and a GoFundMe has been established to support them. Breast milk donations were also made for the couple’s youngest baby baby girl.

Police describe Johnson as 5-foot-10 and about 270 pounds and say he was an acquaintance of the murdered couple.

They are also searching for 2008 Toyota Corolla, license plate V464MW.

It remained unclear how Katherine and Tony Butterfield knew their attacker.

Sergeant Holt said Johnson had a criminal history and also lives in West Jordan but not in the same neighborhood as the Butterfield family.

They are not looking for any other suspects.

A search of court documents revealed Johnson previously beng charged, having pled no contest to assault with a deadly weapon in 2010 and aggravated battery in 2011. Both of those crimes occurred in California FOX13 reports.

Documents reveal Johnson going by the nickname ‘Psycho-Al’.

Katherine & Tony Butterfield 2
West Jordan double homicide: Pictured, Utah couple, Katherine & Tony Butterfield.

Katherine & Tony Butterfield West Jordan, Utah couple remembered: 

Police arrested Johnson’s wife Sina Anne Johnson, 29, on Monday, accused of withholding ‘the whereabouts of the homicide suspect’ and ‘falsifying her [statements] of what occurred and her involvement’.

Sina Johnson had been in contact with her husband ‘on multiple occasions prior to and after the homicide’ and ‘admitted … to disposing of the evidence’, police say.

She is being held without bail for obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence and is working with police as they continue the investigation, Sergeant Holt said. 

A vigil was held for the Butterfields on Sunday night as friends and family gathered to pay tribute to a couple described as ‘incredible, Christ-like, kind, happy, and loving parents’.

‘It was the least we could do. We all love them so much, and it was an unfathomable thing that happened,’ Molly McKeon, a family friend, told KSL.com.

‘It was our only way to really show support.’

The couple’s family issued a statement through police Saturday night, in which they thanked the community for its outpouring of love and support.

‘Tony and Katherine were incredible Christ-like, kind, happy, and loving parents, children, siblings and friends,’ the statement said. 

‘We mourn their loss, but are grateful for the sure knowledge we have that we will be with them again.’

The family said it holds ‘no ill-will towards the perpetrator(s) and pray for them and their families.

‘We ask for prayers for Tony and Katherine’s three sweet children, as well as for the many, many people who love Tony and Katherine,’ the statement continued.

‘We are appreciative and overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support we have received. Thank you.’

Anyone with information is asked to call West Jordan police at 801-840-4000. 

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