HomeMy WebLinkAboutNational Police Officer of the Month Robert Butler-1983 DETECTIVE ROBERT BUTLER
Winter Springs Police Department
Winter Springs, Florida
1111111611111 ,
POLICE OFFICER
OF THE MIRTH
by BARBARA GEEHR ler, without realizing it, was giving vent pair of informants he hadn't talked to in a
to the frustrations that the last couple of long time. i
IN WINTER Springs, Florida, on a days had brought him. Nothing,not even Butler kept a list of informants unlike
sweltering July morning in 1981, a parking violation, had happened in the any other.The people on it were not paid
Detective Robert Butler was ham- little town of Winter Springs—popula- tattlers, plea-bargaining criminals moti-
nering the last nail of a display of confis- tion, 13,000—where he was the police vated by self-interest or community-
cated marijuana pipes into the wall of his department's lone detective. Though minded tipsters. They were people who
office. He was delivering the blows with only 40 at the time, Butler at that point had walked lightly on the edges of the
such force that anyone watching might was feeling like an old fire horse eag- law and whose charges Butler had taken
well have thought he was trying to smash erly awaiting the ring of the fire bell. care of by slipping them under the blotter
the board on which the display was "Hell!" he said, throwing down the on his desk. He always punctuated this
mounted through the wall rather than to hammer. "Something has to have hap- action with a smile and the words, "Re-
secure it there. pened somewhere! I just haven't heard member,now,that's one you owe me."
The truth of the matter was that But- about it."Those words brought to mind a He dialed the number of a Daytona
Beach couple—Julie Scott, a prostitute,
vow aa.a and Harry Giles, the pimp she lived
with. Julie, who answered the phone,
• ` .F: told Butler it was odd that he should call
because she and Harry had been thinking
';:s about going down to see him. "We don't
`f `� I have a car,"she said, "but we can prob-
/ ably get the guy who's staying with us to
4,., run us down. We'll be there in about an
s - . .. hour."
One hour later, Julie Scott—with
! Harry Giles in tow—was sitting in But-
' - - •-°' ler's office saying, "We've got some-
, ,
- .,„,... "',. thing to tell you, but we're afraid we
C � "`° might not have a ride back to Daytona
Beach if we do."
. Butler assure her of return transporta-
-. -
YW �,. lion.
"4= . 6.` Julie then explained that the young ,
;;17.. man who'd driven them to Winter
On desk in front of Det. Butler Is badge he wears with pride and distinction Springs was someone they'd met on the
s
22 Master,a Detective /4973/le
beach the day before. we told him we'd be only a few minutes. to Florida. "Nonetheless,"the detective
"Yeah," Harry said. "He seemed The car's a white-and-yellow Buick Re- explained,"I've got a report that this car
like a pretty nice guy—not the beach- gal—about a nineteen-seventy-seven, I was stolen out of
t you frd,poonnectcut.
bum type, if you know what I mean. He think." y patrol property."
. had a pretty good-looking car, and he Butler immediately had a atrol officer stolen ro
mentioned he'd just recently got out of' drive past the parked Buick Regal and He booked the 22-year-old into the
the Marines, where he spent four years. take down the tag number. He checked it Seminole County Correctional Facility,
He said he only got into Daytona the on the computer and got a report back that pending further investigation. Wit: ee
night before and was looking for a place the car had been stolen in Hartford,Con- arrest taken care of, Butler arranged
to stay. We told him he could bunk in necticut,and was involved in a homicide ride back to Daytona Beach for Julie
with us for a couple days until he found that police had no leads on. Scott and Harry Giles. Then he con-
something." "This guy did mention something ab- tacted the Hartford police.
Julie picked up with,"At first,he told out someone being killed," Harry said, Officers'there advised him that they
he he'd borrowed the car he was driving "but we passed.it off as so much hog- were seeking a warrant against DeMello
from a friend. Then, after we all got to wash. He seems too gentle-mannered to for first-degree larceny and were "con-
know each other better, he said he'd be connected with anything like that. Of ducting an investigation that could lead
stolen it to make the trip here." course, he has acted kind of suspicious, to other charges."
"Where'd he come from?" 'Butler but we figured that's on account of steal- "Like what?" Butler asked.
asked, the idea of an arrest brightening ing the car."
"We'd like to question DeMello ab-
his interest in the story. Under questioning,22-year-old Glenn out the death of a twenty-two-year-old
"He never said.But the car's got Ohio DeMello told Butler that he'd borrowed Ohio man named Paul Klein."
plates," Harry replied. "The guy's out- the Buick Regal from a person.who pick- Background information revealed
side in the car waiting for us right now— ed him up as he was hitchhiking his way Klein as the son of a wealthy clothing
MOM
h} ve known Robert Butler as a p- -
onal friend and professional law en-2{
,a lorcement officer for nearly fifteen
years. If I had to single out the one
thing that makes me know I can count
on him under any circumstance, it
would be his way of taking everything
about life as a personal challenge.
Give him adversity, and he will con
quer it; give him obstacles and he will
overcome them. Wherever he's sup-
posed to be and whatever he's sup-
posed to be doing, I know he's there
:conscientiously carrying out the
cask.'!
y =� �- John Govoruh
Chief of Police
'• inter Springs, Florida
•
Master Detective 23
9g3
J
company executive,living in an affluent
suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. An honor
student at Kent State University, the
youth was taking double majors in bus-
.
. iness management and theater arts. As
a homosexual,he participated actively in
the campus gay organization and had
recently been elected president of the
group.This led to the young man's hay-
1 ing to disclose his homosexuality to his
• father. The break in the father-son rela-
tionship that followed was gradually
mending when Klein decided to spend
the summer in Connecticut.
At the time of his death,he was taking
*, «. _ two summer accounting courses at the
.1x ; i University of Connecticut in Storrs and
t . .F.. , att* . was involved in a summer theater pro-
duction of West Side Story, being staged
by the American Theater Ensemble in
"'i Torrington. His mother had loaned him
her white and yellow Buick Regal for the
• *,� <. '' j i� `' summer,and he was living with a room iv• '`-'1,,P w _ , mate in a West Willington townhouse
�'. ", i' ',' complex.
whenever
=. ,� � The two got on well, and
' ` '�� Klein planned to be out late on an even-
- . * V p. ing, he left a note of explanation. There
t �
k } was no such note,however,on the night
x
of June 29th when the roommate—who
' s ` himself had been out for the evening—
1 ,� returned to the townhouse a little after 11
- o'clock.
s. • Late the following afternoon, two
boys fishing in the Connecticut River,
... . rs',' north of the Charter Oak Bridge, snag-
- ...".40 ged their hooks in something that turned
• out to be Klein's body. Autopsy deter-
• Det.Butler's loyal fan club:Wife Jonnie,daughters Gina,15,and Tonya,12 mined that the victim had been beaten
into unconsciousness and suffered a cut
! on the back of the head. The medical
examiner reported the actual cause of
t' death as drowning.
Hartford investigators learned that
` ° Klein had gone into a Hartford bar
around nine o'clock on the previous
j °° +7-- evening(June 29th)and there had struck '
. . , up an acquaintance with Glenn DeMel-
lo, a customer known to the bartender
INTER and other patrons. Klein and DeMello
:±----
- left together around 11 o'clock. When
., it _ ' -�P u-' wq., neither Klein's white-and-yellow Buick
,..,.,,n„ Regal nor his companion o€the evening
I' �`�`"!' --�- could be found, police put out a BOLO
(Be On The Lookout For)on both. De-
Mello was the last person seen with
Klein, and police wanted to .question
him.
Butler also wanted to ask DeMello a
few questions. .
Thought Butler gives the impression
of being an easygoing,hail-fellow-well-
, met kind of person,he is actually a very •
tough cop. He is aware of the contradi
Butler's headquarters Is this building shared by police and fire departments tion between his outer and inner selves
24 Master Detective "3 /a
and also knows the latter often leads even
the most hardened criminals to drop their •..
guard with him.
With his slim frame-5 feet 11 inches,
145 pounds—his shock of blond hair,his 4
bright green eyes and his ready smile,he ° '�,-
gains confidences quickly. It's been said
of him, "Bob Butler can get anyone to
tell him anything he wants to know.' , \ „.::.:,
Butler wanted to know a few things now,
so he went to the Seminole County Cor- i
rectional Facility to talk with Glenn De-
Mello again. ''
The talk ended with DeMello signing a
confession to the killing of Paul Klein.In , „ ;•
the confession, DeMello said that he'd 3- _ ..met up with Klein at a Hartford bar,that ' a '
the two had left together and stopped ' ,
topped ,
briefly at another bar. After that, they
drove to a secluded area near the conflu-
ences of the Connecticut and Park Riv- / —
ers, where the two men got into an argu-
ment over sexual relations.The argument __ '
led to a violent physical struggle,during ad
which DeMello said Klein grabbed his
neck.DeMello,a martial arts expert,said I
he managed to break free and land two
karate chops on Klein's collarbone.
Klein fell to the ground,and DeMello did
ill
not know whether Klein was unconscious '
or dead. Panic-stricken, he carried the r
body to the river and dropped it in.Then, I
he said,he ran back to the car,found the j
keys still in the ignition and took off for ,
1 Florida; he wanted to get as far away On Butler's office wall is this display of confiscated marijuana smoking gear
from the scene as he could.
DeMello was later extradited to Hart-
r y ' ford, where he was charged with, and
. �+ _ convicted of, the death of Paul Klein.
I + • "3 Butler still smiles over the fact that a
�,°. , ^ jam simple phone call to a prostitute and her
".- At 1.� ,+- pimp changed a day that had started with
m ;. + -.0 44, frustration and boredom into one that en-
.-- ded with the recovery of a stolen car,the
,.11,'"4114,14,v ' ;<." a: ;.' capture of a murder suspect and a signed
-r_a ,,' confession.
fit.", "That's the way it goes in this busi-
ness,"he said.Then with a characteristic
-- :�• .: shrug of his shoulders, he added, You
' _1_' . never know what cards you're going to
, _., y',, %,•0.- • fr I/ f�. ,. draw—either in this business or in life."
-ter. ti s ,'.
01.1.'1- f' ''' . .7.74,:,,,.c.,.► 14 For Robert Butler, this statement is far
' , + i .4 :, y t more than a passing remark.
` ' " `'Y._., ,, '. Y= Born of German-Cherokee Indian
�". . �1 parentage in French Lick, Indiana-
t.r 3' '``R y n March 16, 1941,
:° ,. f z. .;�, : yes . - .population, 8,000--0
"� ��' `` �'. ' ".''" Butler grew up in a broken home,pretty
• 40 '� "� '�,. ... well shifting for himself. Upon gradua-
a..a ..,,f.�r,..0 - a i v.. _1 _4 :- lion from high school in 1959,he entered
f�'ir' ''t 'v" ,tr '; *'' the Navy,where he was assigned to radar
• •' • .-%f'�.'., .�' ,.: and air intercept control.He saw action in
�. .,: :, ' 'ti'" - s.'► five war zones—the Cuban Blockade,
'' . ti''t''`''' Beirut-Lebanon, Viet-
- ���•
�,..:�4'•�'r�• ,:: ...� .���.-, Santo Domingo,
nam and Cypress.
"Lobo," Butler's canine working partner,is family pet during off-duty hours (Continued on page 54)
1 26 Master Detective p3 / o
nole County Sheriff's Department prom- eight, I became the first full-time detec-
oted him from reserve deputy to full- tive the Winter Springs Police Depart-
time deputy. With only a year to live, ment ever had."
Butler determined to use police work as a Because Butler worked alone,it didn't
tool for making his community a better take him long to get together a list of
and safer place. "If I was going to die," informants. "They're almost like work-
he said,"I wanted to be sure I left behind ing partners," he said. "They pick up
a community that would be proud.that I information or see something suspicious
had lived there. I thought that would be going on that often can lead to a direct
better than a tombstone." arrest—as in the DeMello case," he
In 1972, diagnosis showed Butler's pointed out. "I'm sure the Hartford
disease had reached Stage 4,the terminal police would have eventually caught up
stage,and that the best he could hope for with DeMello,but the information given
was "a few niore months." With time me by the informants enabled me to make
running out,the now-31-year-old deputy an immediate arrest and get a signed con-
worked with a frenzy to beat the clock. fession. That saved a lot of investigative
He wanted to get everything done that he work, time and money."
could possibly do in the limited time left. As another example of how his infor-
"That was ten years ago," he says mats have helped him bring lawbreakers
with his broadest grin. "Sure I knew the to justice, the detective cited a case in-
grim reaper would be coming any day to volving the theft of a truck and welder
knock at my door, but I sure as hell from the Florida Iron Works in Winter
wasn't going to spend my time sitting Springs. He said the owner of tlie corn-
around the house waiting for that pany phoned early one morning to report
knock." that someone had broken into the com-
In the decade since that ominous di- pound and stolen a pickup truck that had a
agnosis, Butler has hardly sat around big welding machine on its bed. The
waiting for anything.And,like everyone owner gave detailed descriptions of both
else, he's had his share of disappoint- the vehicle and the piece of equipment,
ments. In 1971, John Govoruhk, his including tag and serial numbers and
closest friend in the Seminole County scratches and dents. Butler put out a
Sheriff's Department, left to become BOLO and began questioning company
Police Officer chief of police in Winter Springs. employes.
Of the Month Though their personal friendship con- Two days later, deputies in adjacent
tinued, Butler missed the daily working Volusia County recovered a truck fitting
(Continued from page 26) camaraderie they'd enjoyed. the description—except that there was no
From that point, "Butler's days dar- welding machine on it.Butler went to the
In February, 1969 (when he was 27 kened.Worry about his disease,the fran- towing company where the truck was
years old), Navy doctors discovered he tic pace he set for himself and a marriage being held,verified that it was the stolen
had Hodgkins Disease, a tumorous con- that was falling apart took their toll, He one and notified the owner of the Florida
dition characterized by progressive en- quit the Seminole County Sheriff's De- Iron Works, who promptly reclaimed it.
largement of the lymph glands, spleen partment in 1974. "All I could think of "I didn't know where the hell to begin
and liver. The progression is marked by was that I ws,going to die before I'd even looking for the welder," Butler said,
four stages,with Stage 4 being terminal. lived," he says now in trying to explain "but I was convinced the theft was an
The Navy transferred the seaman to the reasoning behind this decision. "I'd inside job. I got a list of every employe
the air force base (now the U.S. Naval worked all my life from the time I was a of the company,along with their addres-
Training Center)in Orlando,Florida,to kid. I was exhausted. I wanted a change ses, and continued with my questioning
await medical discharge. During the of pace. I wanted to find out what else of everyone who worked there."
year it took for that to come through, there was before it got too late for me to _ The detective said that absolutely no
Butler worked with the base security find out." one admitted knowing anything,and af-
police and got to know several deputies He went through a divorce in 1975 but ter several days of the intensive ques-
from the Seminole County Sheriff's De- remarried later in the same year. He tioning, he ended up with nothing but a
partment. They talked him into joining earned two associate degrees at Seminole •suspicion that the plant supervisor knew
the county's reserve training program. Community College—one in science and more than he was telling.Then from out
When he completed that course, he be- one in art.He worked briefly at a series of of the blue, Butler got a telephone call.
came a Seminole County reserve deputy. jobs but found nothing to satisfy him. "It, "You looking for a welder, by any
In 1970,he finally received his medic- took me three years to find out that when chance?" the voice on the other end of
al discharge from the Navy and was told I walked away from police work, I left the wire asked.
by doctors that he had "one year to my heart behind. I made up my mind to Butler said he couldn't place the voice
live." "There wasn't anything I could go pack and reclaim it. That was nine- but felt sure he'd heard it before. When
do but accept it and make the best of it," teen-seventy-seven, and I went to talk the caller explained who he was, the
he said, recalling that particular low business with my old friend who was now detective remembered he'd been one of
point in his life. the Winter Springs chief. He gave me a the cases he'd slipped under his desk
He and his wife of eight years moved job as a patrolman on the road. I did that blotter. "I knew I was about to get paid
into a house in Sanford, and the Semi- for a year; then in nineteen-seventy- back for that favor," he said.
54 Master Detective
The caller,a Lake Mary resident,then had to go get the money. He drove to number had to have been tampered with
asked, "Know anyone missing a wel- where Butler was parked and reported and examined the metal plate bearing the
der? There's a guy here who's got one that he believed the welder was the number more closely. He asked the su-
for sale." stolen one,despite having been recently pervisor,who had now joined him in the
"Is that-so?" Butler said. "Well, I painted in a different color. He also back yard, for a screw driver. When he
might be interested in looking at it. noted the serial number as differing from got the tool in hand, he was able to pry
What's this fellow's name and address? the one he'd been given to check. "But off the thin plate covering the real serial
The informant did not know the name everything else matches the descrip- number underneath.
but gave Butler a Lake Mary address. tion,"he said, "right down to the tinest At that point,the road sergeant and the
Following the phone call, Butler dent." Florida Iron Works owner arrived at the
checked the address on his list of Florida Next, it was Butler's turn to examine scene,and the latter identified the welder
Iron Works employes;and just as he had the welder. He drove to the house,leav- as belonging to his company. Butler
suspected,the address where the welder ing the Florida Iron Works owner with arrested the supervisor on the spot and
was for sale was the plant supervisor's. the sergeant in the latter's car and with then called a wrecker to haul the welder
Butler set up a buy, deputizing a Semi- instructions for both to follow in ten mi- back to the iron works' compound.
nole County Sheriffs Department road nutes. "I was glad I told the road sergeant
sergeant to act as purchaser. When the plant supervisor opened the and the company owner to follow me to
Two unmarked cars proceeded to door in response to Butler's knock, the that house," Butler commented as he
Lake Mary. The road sergeant, dressed detective said, "I understand you have a finished recounting the case. "When I
in ordinary clothes, drove the first one welder for sale." arrested the supervisor and frisked him,I
directly to the supervisor's house to ex- The supervisor,recognizing Butler in- pulled a twenty-two out of one of his
press interest in the welder.In the second stantly,said, "Yeah,but it's not the one pockets."
one,Butler and the owner of Florida Iron from the plant." Butler doesn't always play according
Works parked at a distance to await hap- "I'd like to look at it," Butler said. to Hoyle,but he'll stay in the game with
penings. "Well, go around to the back yard. whatever hands he's dealt until he finally
At the house,the sergeant was invited I'll meet you there in a couple minutes." gets a winning one—however long that
to follow the plant supervisor to the back Examination of the welder convinced may take. In an affluent section of Win-
' yard. There he examined the welder in Butler that it was the one stolen from the ter Springs, for example, he followed a
minute detail. Seemingly satisfied, he iron works, despite having a different series of 28 burglaries for four years be-
told the supervisor he would buy it but serial number. He figured the serial fore finally apprehending the suspect.
iMaster Detective 55
ei/0
Lack of pattern in the method of op- "Still," he added, "we sometimes get
eration kept Butler from focusing on a lucky and it does happen."He recalled a
single suspect in the beginning of his particular night in October of 1980 when
investigation. He believed,erroneously, he received a call to go to a small shop-
that several different people were corn- ping mall where a patrol officer had in-
mitting the crimes.Then he realized that advertently interrupted a robbery in prog-
the closed nature of the community went ress. As the officer was parking his car,
against that. The possibility of even one his headlights picked up two black men
unknown person escaping detection in rushing out the front door of one of the
the hallowed domain of lavish homes stores and hotfooting it around to the
and country roads would be extremely back of the buildings.
remote. He theorized finally that the "By the time I got there, ten patrol
thief had to be someone living in the deputies from the Seminole County
compound, someone who could easily Sheriff's Department had already re-
tell when occupants of a given house sponded to the scene,"he said. "You'd
were away of an evening or absent for an have thought there'd been a mass murder
extended period. the way everyone was running around
He then focused attention on a young trying to find the two men."
teenage boy who lived in the section and Butler's first responsibility was to
whom he'd talked to on'k few occasions check the inside of the store. There he
about petty thefts. It took several more found the crowbar used to pry the front
months, however, to get the evidence door open, the sledge hammer used to
needed for an arrest. open the safe and a satchel loaded with
In investigating what turned out to be coins, which the scared robbers had
the last break-in in the exclusive develop- apparently dropped when they took
ment, Butler established the point of en- flight. He sealed off the area.
try as a broken window at the back of the The rear of the shopping center, to-
house. He found muddy tracks on the ward which the two men had run,was,as
carpeting beneath the window inside the Butler described it, "heavy woods and a
house and footprints in the ground be- field where the weeds had grown taller
neath the window outside. The outside than a six-foot man."
tracks led down an embankment to a "Finding your way through the weeds
lake. There the detective discovered a was going to be a tough enough job by
pair of tennis shoes. itself,"he said, "let alone trying to find
He'd no sooner picked them up than two guys who might be armed and find
the suspect's 12-year-old sister walked us first."
into the scene. She said, "Those are my The law enforcement officers sear-
'brother's tennis shoes. He sent me to get ched through the weeds until three
them." o'clock in the morning and came up with
"Just tell your brother he can't have nothing. "We took a breather out back
them,"Butler said."Tell him I'm taking of the buildings and some of the guys
them down to the police station." were talking about calling it quits when I
Casts of the footprints from inside and happened to notice a dumpster out there.
outside the house matched those of the I asked if anyone had looked in the
tennis shoes and finally gave Butler the dumpster.I hadn't meant it as a joke,but
evidence he needed to make an arrest. everyone laughed so I decided to carry it
Subsequently,the youth confessed to all off as a joke. With my gun in one hand
28 burglaries. He pointed out to Butler and my flashlight in the other, I walked
each of the homes he'd hit, explained over to the dumpster, shined my flash-
how he'd broken into them and even re- light into it and yelled, `Come out of
membered individual items he'd stolen there,you S.O.B.'s,before I blow your
from many of them. He was sentenced to brains out."
the Juvenile Detention Center. To Butler's everlasting surprise, the
"Finding a suspect for those burglar- two men leaped out of the dumpster and
ies was one thing." Butler said, "but ran into the weed-filled field for cover.
getting the necessary evidence was The hunt began anew, but the darkness
another. It may have taken four years to and giant weeds proved insurmountable
get it all together, but it wiped twenty- obstacles. By daylight, all but three of
eight breaking-entering-robbery crimes the deputies and Butler had left.
off the books." "There's got to be a way to flush those
A person who breaks and enters with two guys out," Butler said to the de-
intent to rob usually works under the pro- puties who had remained.
tective cover of night when the chances "I don't know how," one of them
of being apprehended at the crime scene responded. "The damned weeds are too
are relatively slim, Butler pointed out. high."
Butler mulled that over for a while and
then, he said, the brightest thought he'd
ever had flashed into his mind. "You're
one hundred percent right," he agreed.
"The damned weeds are too high. So
we'll cut them down."
"How are you going to do that?" the
same deputy asked.
"I'm going to the horse stable that's In 1981,the Winter Spring City Coun-
around the corner and borrow a tractor-. cil budgeted enough money for the
mower. I'll flush those two guys out of police department to add another officer
there if I have to mow down the whole to its detective division. In 1982, Butler
became bureau commander of that divi-
damned field!" sion. At budget time this year, Police
And that's exactly what Butler did.He Chief John Govoruhk will be seeking
got the tractor-mower and mowed—he approval to add still another detective.
kept on mowing until he finally came to Butler hopes to make his department
place where the two men jumped up the best of its size anywhere in the coup
from the ditch they'd been hiding in and . With that goal in mind, he began
surrendered. They were later convicted letting it be known that he'd like to set up
of breaking and entering and attempted a K-9 unit and that he'd appreciate some-
robbery. one donating a dog that could be used for
Whenever Butler recounts that case to that purpose.
someone now, he has to smile and ask, Word of mouth turned out to be effec
"Can you believe I actually enjoyed five as a full-page display ad in the news-
mowing down those damned six-foot paper. A woman who bred German
weeds?" Shepherds for show—and had many
With that question, Butler—without champions—offered to donate a six-
realizing it—probably put his finger on month-old pup to the department. "The
what it is that keeps him going—his en- pup was sired by Champion Boris Vom
joyment of everything he does.Knowing Witzmannsberg," she said. "He's has
that time is slowly slipping away, he beautiful black-and-red coloring and is
cherishes every minute of it, cradles it highly intelligent. But I can't use him for
warmly in his hands.Though the spectre show because he has a lazy ear.'
of death shadows his every footstep, he "What's a lazy ear?". Butler asked
walks steadily forward—always making with some measure of skepticism.
plans for his future, always trying to
advance his career.
,k3/ o
"One that flops over. It should stand Boris Vom Witzmannsberg leaped out tracks showed a car had been parked.
straight up." like a common mutt and into Butler's Investigators knew from this that further
"Well, I don't hink that would affect arms.Afterward,the various members of search of the area would be futile—the
him any in police work," Butler said. Butler's household came out to pass in- robber had driven away in a car.
"We'd be more than happy to have him, spection. First to appear was Butler's "What Lobo did that night gave me
Ma'am." wife Jonnie, then his two daughters— the greatest thrill of my life," Butler i
"Okay,then," the woman said. "I'll Gina, age 15,and Tonya, 12. Last came said. "In less than fifteen minutes, he
have to bring him into the house and 10-year-old Muffin, a shaggy Old En- tracked that.guy's scent for eight-tenths
you'll have to come over every morning glish sheepdog, the ruler of the roost. of a mile! And we were only halfway
for about a week to have coffee with me. The German Shepherd, to the through our schooling. I knew right then
That way,the dog will get used to seeing woman's amazement, responded so that he was going to make a terrific track-
you around and we can tell if he'd going joyously to all of them that when it came ing dog."
time to leave, he refused to get into the Lobo is Butler's newest enthusiasm
to take to you.I hope you understand that station wagon. The woman said, "This and admirably counters the stress and
I couldn't possibly give the dog to anyone has never happened before—I don't frustrations that are an accepted part of
he didn't take to." know what to do." law enforcement work. But Butler has
Butler didn't understand, but he said, "I think you do,Ma'am,"Butler said. other enthusiasms, too—scuba diving,
"Yes, Ma'am, I understand." "The way I see it, the dog's making it horseback riding and hunting. And he
During the week of morning coffees, very clear he wants to remain with this even likes to cook a pot of spaghetti for
the dog progressed from being hostile to family. I hope you understand." the family every once in a while.
Butler, to tolerating his presence, to The woman smiled and drove away. For a man who was told ten years ago
finally allowing the detective to pat him. Butler named his working partner-to- that he had only a few months to live,
"Good!"the woman said when Butler be Loboris "Lobo" Von Butler and en- Robert Butler has shown all who know
had made it to this point in the man-dog tered the dog and himself into K-9 train- him that the way to accept what will one
relationship. "Now the next step is to see ing for tracking and drug detection. One day be the inevitable is to live every day
if he will take to your home and family. night when the two were returning from to the fullest.That's fine philosophy,of
I'll drive him over to your house tomor- K-9 school, Butler heard over his police course,but it takes some kind of hero to
row.You be outside so he knows he's not radio that an armed man had robbed a put it into practice. •••
at a stranger's. It may take a few trips for store and run into the woods. Being near
him to feel comfortable there,but I hope the store named and seeing an opportun-
you understand I couldn't possibly let ity to"test" Lobo,the detective quickly EDITOR'S NOTE: .
him go to a home where he wouldn't be offered to take the German Shepherd to Julie Scott and Harry Giles are not the
happy." the scene. real names of the persons so named in
"I understand, Ma'am," Butler said. There,the eager young pup picked up ;,the foregoing story. Fictitious names
At the appointed time,the woman pul- the robber' •scent from a footprint and 'have been used because there is no
led her station wagon into Butler's drive- followed it through a couple of back reason for public interest in the identities
way. The illustrious son of Champion yards and into an orange grove where tire :of these persons.
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