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Disorganized Member of TRIGO : Three Rivers Informal
Geocaching Organization : Check Us Out!
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This one was muggled, so it had now been replaced and moved to
more secure site. (1/13/06) You may re-log it if you care to find
it again - it has only moved 400', but is now much more difficult
to find and there is a view of a lake far below. Please rehide as
found. It is an ammo box.
You will pass the memorials placed near the murder site by their
families. Here is the story:
By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Nineteen-year-old Todd Butler had a new 12-gauge shotgun, and
one Tuesday night (May 25, 1999) he wanted to go drinking and
target-shooting. But he and his buddy, Nathan Criss, 23, didn't
have a car to take them to one of their favorite spots -- the
secluded Pennsylvania State Game Lands in Beaver County, across the
border from their homes in Columbiana County, Ohio.
So they persuaded two Ohio friends -- Clairenda Collins, 21, of
Rogers, and Loretta Haines, 18, of East Palestine -- to drive them
to a popular party spot about two miles into the dense woods off
Cannelton Road in South Beaver. A 16-year-old boy, also from Ohio,
came along for the ride, and the party of five picked up a 30-pack
of discount beer.
They arrived about 6 p.m. and for several hours partied among the
maples and pines along Watts Mill Road while Butler and Criss fired
the shotgun at beer cans and rocks.
But as the evening progressed, the mood changed. State police
said Butler began talking about turning the shotgun on Collins and
Haines, best friends who had attended an Ohio vocational school
together. Then, police said, sometime between 8 and 9:30 p.m.,
Butler suddenly opened fire on the women. Ohio and Pennsylvania
authorities said Butler, for reasons they don't yet understand,
first shot Haines from close range as she sat on the ground near a
bush, hitting her in the upper chest. Then Butler aimed the gun at
Collins, who was a few feet away, and fired twice, also striking
her in the upper chest.
"As far as I know, there is no motive. It appears to be a
kill-for-thrill kind of thing," said state police Trooper Don
Neill. "They shot at some cans and drank some beer, and eventually
Mr. Butler apparently decided to shoot the two women."
BEAVER, Pa. — An Ohio man who pleaded guilty to killing
two women with a shotgun was sentenced Wednesday to two consecutive
life prison terms without any chance of parole. Todd Butler, 20, of
Columbiana, was sentenced by Beaver County Common Pleas Judge
George James. Under Pennsylvania law, a person convicted of
first-degree murder can be punished only by the death penalty or
life in prison without chance of parole.
This being a State Game Lands, remember: During hunting season
there is no hunting on Sundays, otherwise wear orange!