Case of missing New Madrid County woman frustrating for family, police

RISCO, Mo., -- A little more than six months ago, Teresa Butler cooked meals for her family here, played with her kids in the yard, enjoyed her photography hobby and worked at her job at Dexter's Wal-Mart Supercenter.

But the 35-year-old daughter, wife and mother of two young boys vanished without a trace from her rural New Madrid County home in the evening hours of Jan. 24 or the early morning hours of Jan. 25, police said.

Since then, her story has become one of frustration -- for her family and police -- and a tale of mysterious letters, search and rescue operations and aid from a well-known psychic.

Don Buchanan and his wife, Linda, Friday at their Risco home. The Buchanans hope to hear from their daughter, Teresa Butler, who vanished nearly six months ago.

Teresa has been listed as a missing person for nearly six months, and investigators suspect foul play in the matter, police said.

Although law enforcement agents fielded calls from people who claimed to have spotted Teresa in the area during the half year, those tips proved unfounded, officers said.

It's a case that's left seasoned police veterans baffled.

Teresa Butler

New Madrid County Sheriff Terry M. Stevens, with nearly 30 years' law enforcement experience under his belt, said investigators "are no closer to finding out what happened to Teresa now than we were" six months ago.

"We run down every lead that comes in," Stevens said. "We've had people turn up bones several times since she disappeared.

"But they all were animal bones," the sheriff continued. "We had a report just last week that somebody saw her in Malden. We checked that out, too. But it led nowhere."

A Kennett convenience store surveillance video that was reported to have captured on tape a stunned young woman that matched Teresa's description was submitted to Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators, police said.

That was a wash, too, officers reported.

Butler's husband, Gary Dale Butler, 31, of Risco, worked the night-shift at Maverick Tube of Blytheville, Ark.

"I tried to call Teresa from work that night at about 11 p.m.," Dale Butler said. "But I couldn't reach her.

"Sometimes it's hard to dial out of Maverick because of all the metal in the building," Butler added. "I tried over and over, but she never answered the phone."

Butler said that on the morning of his wife's disappearance, he completed his duties at work, ran a couple of errands and had breakfast with his mother before he returned to his and Teresa's home at 1469 New Madrid County Road 241. He said the couple's home, which faces the county's No. 8 ditch, was locked.

Dale Butler unlocked the door and stepped inside, where he found two of his sons out of their beds, he said.

Teresa and Dale's eldest son, Gavin, 4, huddled under the covers of his parents' bed, Butler said. The couple's younger boy, Garrett, 2, was awake and laying on a loveseat at the foot of the bed, Dale Butler said.

The toddler sucked on an empty bottle, Butler noted.

Teresa was nowhere to be found, he added.

"The first thing I did was panic," a distraught Butler told The Daily Dunklin Democrat at the time. "I started dialing the phone."

Sources close to the investigation said officers first were summoned to the Butler home by Teresa's sister-in-law, Sarah Buchanan. Investigators found no indication of forced entry into the home and no blood inside or out, Dale Butler said.

Sarah Buchanan, who is married to Teresa's younger brother, Donald Eugene Buchanan, 32, of Risco, said she was the last person to speak to Teresa Butler prior to her disappearance.

"We talked about a lot of different things that night," she said. "The last thing we spoke about was some gel she wanted to borrow because her face was broken out.

"I told her I could bring it over then, but she said not to worry about it and that she'd get it from me the next morning before she went to work."

Butler said a review of his wife's cell phone account indicated at least one outgoing call being placed after her disappearance, and many incoming calls, most of them placed by anxious family and friends. Sarah Buchanan said family members reviewed the statement, and said a call was placed from Teresa's phone to a Gideon number at 3:16 a.m. on Jan. 25.

"We called the number," Sarah Buchanan said. "The man who answered said his telephone didn't ring, but he saw later that the call had come in.

"He doesn't know Teresa," she added. "Or any of the family. And we don't know him."

Stevens said a call was received from the missing woman's phone by elderly Clarkton residents -- two widows who took care of each other -- the sheriff explained.

"The lady said she answered the phone and said 'Hello' a couple times," Stevens explained. "There was nothing on the other end that she could ever hear, so she hung up.

"She has no idea who the Butler or Buchanan families are," the sheriff continued. "So we don't know what to make of that."

Although Dale and investigators found the Butler's Jeep still parked in the front yard, the vehicle's radio was missing, Butler said.

"She had to have left with somebody," Dale said. "The Jeep was left here, and I was driving our Impala."

Butler said a number of items were gone from the house, including some camera equipment.

"Teresa loves to take pictures," Butler told The DDD. "Her digital camera is gone. But I think she kept that in her purse.

"It's gone, too," he said of the handbag. "A video camera is gone. A PlayStation and games are gone. A Game Cube and games are gone. A big Mag-Lite flashlight we kept on top of the hutch is gone. Her cell phone is gone. The police took some things with them when they left here, too."

Included among those items were Teresa Butler's wedding rings, which Dale Butler said his wife removed every night before bed, and a few furniture covers. Officers also were furnished with a lock from the home, a family member said. The tip of a key was broken off in the lock, the family member noted.

Since that time, Jim Duck of Outback Riders, a non-profit search and rescue organization of Vanduser, has searched more than a dozen times for Teresa, or signs of the missing woman.

"It really depends on the weather and manpower," he said of the organization's efforts. "We began working with law enforcement.

"But after a couple of times of going out, officers involved with the case felt like the leads we all hoped for weren't turning up," Duck added. "Teresa's parents asked us to keep searching whenever we could. So that's what we've done. As for actually finding evidence, no. No stolen articles. No clothes. No nothing. As for right now, we're shut down."

In addition to law enforcement and Outback Riders, Teresa's parents turned to Carol Pate, a Little Rock, Ark., psychic.

"We gave police a lot of information," Don Buchanan said Friday. "So far, we've got very little response.

"I got pretty mad at some of them and told them just what I thought," he added. "This is very hard on me. On my wife. She's been in and out of the hospital since Teresa disappeared. We were comforted some by what Carol Pate told us. She was professional and believable."

Pate said from Little Rock Friday that she and some of Teresa's family members shared a 30-minute session a few months ago.

"I work with photographs of the victims and personal items," Pate said. "I tell the family not to tell me what's transpired.

"That way when I tell them information, they can confirm it," she added. "The only thing I ask is how long ago something happened."

The psychic said she held a photo of Teresa and closed her eyes.

"I have to literally tune in to the signature energy, like tuning a radio," Pate said. "Then, I get the information I need.

"It runs like a movie in my head," the psychic continued. "I feel what the victim feels. I think what they think."

Once Pate becomes one with the victim, she then touches a photo of alleged perpetrators, or items that belong to them, she said.

"I use that energy to find out what happened to the victim," Pate said. "The victim wouldn't know.

"It's very logical," she added. "I see what they see."

Pate said she offered Teresa's family all the information she could.

"I was very up front with them," the psychic said.

She added that she never heard requests from law enforcement agents regarding the session.

"It's that way about 50 percent of the time," she said. "Feedback after I work a case is minimal.

"I've worked 800 or 900 cases since Teresa's," she added. "A lot of times I never know the outcome."

Dale said his mother received a strange letter, the contents of which he preferred to keep confidential. He added that he'd heard some bizarre stories about the situation.

"Two friends came here to stay with me to help me take care of the boys after Teresa disappeared," he said Friday at the couple's home. "I heard I'd moved in a girlfriend.

"I'm not dating," he added tearfully. "I'm not interested. I'm only interested in providing my kids with a stable environment and home life and finding Teresa. I don't believe she's dead. We love her and miss her. We love her and miss her very, very much. And I don't hear anything from the police. I call them. They don't call me."

However, Butler said investigators did find foreign DNA relative to Teresa's case.

"But I don't know if it's hair, saliva, blood or what," he said. "They swabbed me and Teresa's brother Ricky.

"But she was always cutting people's hair here and that kind of thing," he continued. "It's all very frustrating.

Teresa's lifelong friend Amy Lacey established an Internet website dedicated to bringing Teresa home. Those who wish can access the site at http://find-teresa-butler.tripod.com. Rewards and a multitude of information about Teresa are included in this loving, comprehensive site.

Information about Pate may be accessed at http://www.carolpatepsychiccenter.com.

Outback Riders and Jim Duck may be reached at 5229 Missouri Z, Sikeston, Mo. All tax-deductible contributions toward this non-profit organization are used to purchase equipment and to finance search and rescue operations like Teresa's, Duck said.

Those with information about Teresa's disappearance are asked to call Stevens at (573) 748-2516.