Suspect denied bail in slaying
By KEVIN CLAFFEY
SPRINGFIELD A man charged with killing his girlfriend and storing her body in an ice cream vending truck for two weeks is being held without bail and police say more people may be charged in connection with the crime.
Yesterday William Butler, 29, pleaded innocent in Hampden County Superior Court to murdering Robin Jackson, 39, and breaking into the truck.
Butler, who was taken into custody shortly after the body was found, is to return to court today for a determination about whether he is competent to stand trial.
Jackson, of 851 Union St., West Springfield, had been reported missing 12 days before police found her dead in the basement of her house Thursday night. Court documents set the date of the murder at May 27, 1993. When medical examiners performed the autopsy Friday, Jackson's body was partially frozen, according to District Attorney William Bennett. He theorized that the body had been in the freezer of an ice cream truck for several days and was returned to the cellar shortly before it was discovered. Jackson's landlord, Robert Lunt, operated an ice cream vending business out of the home Jackson was renting and often parked trucks next to the house.
Jackson lived in the house with her 8-year-old son and Butler until her disappearance. She was reported missing by her brother, West Springfield Police Sergeant Paul Finnie said.
Stolen car found
Thursday police decided to search Jackson's home after they discovered lights on and saw a woman who vaguely fit Jackson's description get out of a car and walk into the house, Finnie said.
Suspicions were further aroused when police spotted a stolen car parked in front of the house, he said.
“There were not supposed to be lights on. They did not realize a business was also being operated out of the house,” Finnie said.
The two officers called for additional help and spoke with people in the house who gave permission to conduct the search, according to Bennett. A man was found hiding in the basement and crack cocaine was discovered in the washing machine before Detective Robert Porter saw the missing woman's leg beneath the heap of rugs and mats.
Death ruled asphyxiation
Bennett said Butler told investigators the woman died of a drug overdose but that medical examiners established that Jackson died of asphyxiation and that a wad of paper was lodged in her throat.
“He (Butler) was the person last with her, we believe,” Bennett said.
Butler is believed to have lived in the house until June 2, when the owners kicked him out. He stayed in an abandoned building for about a week and then lived with a friend in Harvey's Depot, a boarding house on Union Street, Finnie said.
“He had no permanent employment. He worked odd jobs here and there,” he said.
Finnie would not say if Butler had been arrested in the past but did say “He was known to us (the police).”
Neighbors and police said Butler and Jackson had occasionally driven ice cream trucks. Jackson was also collecting welfare, Finnie said.
On June 6, owners of the house accused Butler of breaking into one of the ice cream trucks, he said.
Courtesy of Springfield Union-News 6/93
