FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A wanted Virginia man was arrested in Central Florida this week after his wife suspiciously died over four years ago, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
In a release, deputies said they were contacted on Tuesday regarding the fugitive — identified as Ross Butler, 56 — who was wanted by police in Virginia, though he was known to be living in Flagler County.
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Per investigators, a warrant was out for Butler’s arrest on charges of first-degree murder, abduction, homicide, and strangulation.
It turns out that police had been investigating Butler for over four years after the “suspicious” death of his wife in December 2021, the sheriff’s office noted.
“Although the death was reported as a suicide, detectives determined the evidence at the scene and the victim’s injuries were inconsistent with suicide, believing the scene had been staged after she was strangled to death,” the release reads.
Detectives said police had previously determined that Butler was living at a Flagler Beach motel, but he’d recently been admitted to a hospital in Palm Coast, where he was ultimately apprehended.
Now, he is being held without bond as he awaits extradition to Virginia.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly commented on the case, claiming that it serves as a warning to fugitives that they can’t avoid “the long arm of the law.”
“This guy thought he could get away with murder and live the rest of his life at the beach,” Staly said. “Thanks to cooperation between our Criminal Intelligence Unit, Fugitive Apprehension Unit, the Chesterfield County Police Department, and the Flagler Beach Police Department, he’s hiding out no longer and will soon be headed back to Virginia to face justice.”