| For Immediate Release
Case # 08CF3116
April 14, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
FATHER BROUGHT BACK TO ORANGE COUNTY FROM LAS VEGAS ON CHARGES OF TORTURING AND MURDERING DAUGHTER AND KEEPING BODY INSIDE RV FREEZER
SANTA ANA – A father arrested in Las Vegas on charges of murdering his daughter and keeping her body in a freezer in his recreational vehicle (RV) was brought back to Orange County today. Clarence Butterfield, 55, formerly of San Clemente, is scheduled to be arraigned on one felony count of special circumstances murder with torture and two felony counts of assault with a firearm. If convicted on all counts, Butterfield faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. These charges make him eligible for the death penalty. Butterfield is expected to be arraigned Thursday, April 16, 2009, at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. The time and Department are to be determined.
In December 2006, Butterfield is accused of torturing, suffocating and murdering his daughter, 21-year-old Rebekah Butterfield, and hiding her body in the freezer of his RV. He is accused of shooting his daughter several times and murdering the victim by suffocating her. In September 2008, Butterfield was arrested on an unrelated case in Orange County for obstructing a police officer, and was sent to Nevada on an unrelated criminal warrant from that state. His RV, which was left in the alley of an acquaintance’s business, was towed.
On Oct. 28, 2008, Employees from AC Towing Inc. in San Clemente, discovered a corpse stuffed into the 5-foot horizontal freezer of Butterfield’s RV, which was being stored on their lot, while cleaning the RV. The towing company contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Responding deputies found Butterfield’s daughter inside the freezer. The body was badly decomposed and wrapped in several layers of plastic.
Butterfield, who was still in custody in Las Vegas when his daughter’s body was discovered, was charged Oct. 30, 2008, for the murder of Rebekah Butterfield. The defendant was brought back to Orange County today to face charges.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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