‘It’s right where they were parked’: Family of missing N.H. couple speaks out after bodies found at Texas beach
“If it isn't them, it’s one major coincidence that’s for sure.”
Loved ones of a missing New Hampshire couple say they fear the worst after authorities found the bodies of a man and woman on a Texas beach early this week. James and Michelle Butler, of Rumney, New Hampshire, were last seen on Oct. 16 in Corpus Christi, Texas. The 48-year-old man and 46-year-old woman, along with their truck and RV, were reported missing on Friday — their relatives last had contact with the Butlers on Oct. 14 and believed they were visiting Padre Island. The Kleberg County Sheriff’s Office said a woman’s remains were found in a shallow grave on Padre Island on Sunday and a man’s body was found beneath the first remains on Monday. Foul play is suspected, but authorities have said investigators are still working to identify the bodies. “We don’t want to come out and say for sure, definitively that this is connected to the missing persons case because it’s just too preliminarily early stage to tell,” Kleberg County Sheriff Richard Kirkpatrick said, according to KRIS 6 News.
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James Butler’s sister, Deborah van Loon, told KIII 3 News her family started to get nervous when they didn’t hear from the couple, who had been traveling in their RV, and couldn’t reach them.
“It is pretty devastating because it’s right where their camper was parked,” van Loon told the New Hampshire Union Leader. “Their camper was literally parked right there.”
The couple’s truck and trailer were seen crossing into Mexico, Van Loon wrote on the Facebook page started for the couple. The driver was not her brother, she said.
“If it isn’t them, it’s one major coincidence that’s for sure,” she told KIII 3 News.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Kleberg County Sheriff’s Office.
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Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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