Georgia murder suicide: Kimberly Butts confirmed as shooter, killing her son with Down Syndrome, Caleb Butts, her mom Jan Kirkland
According to an update by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to a double murder suicide, Kimberly Gayle Butts was the shooter, the killer of her son, Caleb Logan Butts, and her mother, Jan Elizabeth Kirkland.
A new release to the press state that Caleb, 15, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, Kirkland died of a single gunshot wound and Kimberly Butts died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“While ballistic test and other laboratory examinations are still pending, evidence currently shows that Kimberly Gayle Butts took the lives of Caleb Logan Butts and Jan Elizabeth Kirkland prior to taking her own life,” their statement explained.
Caleb was found dead Tuesday morning in the family’s home on St. Marys River Bluff Road near St. George, just days before his mother’s 40th birthday on Friday. Kimberly Butts was dead next to him. The boy’s 64-year-old grandmother also was dead nearby.
Wednesday’s preliminary autopsy indicates Butts apparently killed them both before turning a pink semi-automatic handgun on herself, then falling dead next to her son.
GBI said Kirkland’s ex-husband, Michael Wilson, made the gruesome discovery. He said to the 911 dispatcher, “I just walked into my daughter’s house, and there’s three people dead.”
“The gas stove is burning and I don’t know why, but I’m leaving everything as it is,” Wilson told the 911 operator. “I just went around and touched everybody,” and they’re all dead, he said.
According to a police report, when deputies arrived at the home, they noticed a strong odor of gas from the stove in the kitchen, and the two back burners were ignited.
The officer turned off the gas stove, he reported finding “a burnt piece of material” on it.
Kimberly and Caleb Butts (left) and Jan Kirkland, right.
