EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine announced Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, that a former Pontoon Beach man convicted of first-degree murder in the cold-case killing of a woman who disappeared in 2013 has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. Roger Dale Sutton, 57, received the sentence Thursday in Circuit Court in Madison County. Sutton would be 92 before he’s eligible for release from prison.
A jury in October found Sutton guilty of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death. The jury found that he fatally beat and strangled Patrenia “Trina” Butler-Turner, who was 40 and had been a resident of East St. Louis. She was reported missing by her family in January 2013, after she failed to return from a trip to the store. The murder came to light in December 2022, when a nephew of Sutton entered the Pontoon Beach Police Department and made a report.
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He told police he had witnessed his uncle kill a woman nearly 10 years earlier, and helped dispose of the body. The nephew led investigators to a wooded location in Pontoon Beach, behind Sutton’s former apartment.
At that location, amid weeds and debris, investigators found a skull and skeletal remains. “No prison term can bring Trina back to her family, but at least with this de facto life sentence, this violent criminal will never threaten others again,” Haine said. “Trina’s family and loved ones remain in our prayers, and our hope is that this sentence allows them to begin to heal.”
The charges against Sutton were filed in February 2023, just as he was completing a prison term for an unrelated drug offense. The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Maricle, who is Chief of the Violent Crimes Unit at the State’s Attorney’s Office, and Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Stewart.
At the sentencing hearing, Maricle noted that the disappearance of Butler-Turner caused a long period of anguish for the victim’s family. “For 10 years, nobody knew where she was,” Maricle argued. Circuit Judge Tim Berkley imposed a sentence of 30 years in prison for first-degree murder and 5 years for concealment of a homicidal death, with the terms to be served back-to-back.
The nephew testified at trial about how he began feeling guilt after seeing television commercials featuring family gatherings during the holidays. He said he drove to the Police Department, parked nearby, prayed for 20 minutes, then went inside. He told police he saw Sutton punch the woman for no apparent reason, then strangle her as she cried for help.
Haine commended prosecutors Maricle and Stewart for their work on the case, along with Pontoon Beach Police and other agencies that assisted in the investigation, including the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Madison County Coroner’s Office and Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Services.
“This world-class investigation allowed our prosecution team to paint a clear picture of what happened 10 years earlier and put this murderer behind bars,” Haine said. “This case shows that there is no statute of limitations on finding, arresting and prosecuting those who hurt and kill others, and our team is ready to pursue justice in every case possible, no matter how old.”
The trial jury rejected a defense argument that the defendant panicked and hid the victim’s body after she died of an overdose at his apartment. Maricle argued at trial that Sutton hid the victim’s body in an attempt to conceal the manner of her death. “He discarded her like a piece of trash,” Maricle argued. Charges of concealment of a homicidal death are pending against the nephew.
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