PONTOON BEACH - A press conference was held on Thursday afternoon at the Pontoon Beach Police Department and charges were announced against a man currently incarcerated on another offense - Roger Dale Sutton Jr., 55, formerly of Pontoon Beach. Sutton is charged with two counts of first-degree murder of Patrenia Butler-Turner, missing since December 2013.
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Patrenia was 40 years old at the time she disappeared from East St. Louis in 2013.
Also charged is Sutton’s nephew, Nathan J. Beyer, for concealing Trina’s body.
Sutton is presently serving a two-year sentence on felony meth possession. He is incarcerated at the Centralia Correctional Center in Illinois and would have been eligible for parole in two weeks. Sutton is also charged in this case with one count of concealment of a homicidal death. In addition, a nephew, Nathan J. Beyer, 32, of Alton, has been charged with one count of concealment of a homicidal death, for allegedly concealing the woman’s body in a wooded area of Pontoon Beach.
Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas Haine said Patrenia was a beloved daughter and a mother.
“She was last seen 10 years ago when her family reported her missing,” Haine said. “But today, we can now say due to extraordinary police work, we have found Trina’s body and we believe she was murdered and we believe we have found her killer.”
Pontoon Beach Police Chief Chris Modrusic said a break occurred in the case in December of 2022 when authorities had a tip of skeletal remains in a wooded area off Illinois Route 111 in Pontoon Beach. Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas Haine and Pontoon Beach Police Chief Chris Modrusic said DNA from the remains confirmed they were that of Butler-Turner. The authorities also said her cause of death has been determined to be strangulation.
Butler-Turner was last seen getting into a pickup in East St. Louis. That day she was seen wearing a gold headband, leather jacket, and blonde braids. Sutton has multiple convictions for residential burglary, unlawful restraint, and battery. He was taken into custody in Calhoun County on April 30, 2021, for meth possession and entered a guilty plea in January 2022.
Anyone with any information regarding this case is asked to contact the Pontoon Beach Police Department at (618) 931-5100.
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