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Sugar Cookie

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Michael Christopher Butler was arraigned on multiple charges in front of Judge Christopher Odette in Genesee County District Court Tuesday morning.

39-year-old Butler is charged in connection with the death of his 16-month-old son.

According to Montrose Township Police, the child's body was found last Thursday around 1:30 p.m.
He was arraigned on:

  • Felony murder
  • 1st-degree child abuse
  • Concealing the death of an individual
  • 3rd offense domestic violence
Police say the child's body was found in a ditch along North Morrish Road just south of Dodge Road in Montrose Township.
 
“This is an extraordinarily tragic situation,” said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton while talking about the death of Chaos Demilo.
The boy’s body was found in a ditch on Thursday in Montrose Township. Investigators say his body was wrapped in a blanket.

“We believe that while in the care and custody of the biological father, the child sustained a skull fracture,” Leyton said.
Leyton believes it’s an instance of two people who were unfit to be parents.

“You had a mother who had four children, one of whom was this toddler Chaos,” Leyton said. “And she was overwhelmed, homeless, unable to care for her children. There was a Child Protective Services (CPS) history going on. This child ended up with the father.”
A move that was challenged in court by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).

“The department of health and human services actually filed a petition with the court indicating that it was contrary to the welfare of the child to be placed with the father,” Leyton said. “So DHHS did not want the child placed with the father.”
A judge in the Genesee County Circuit Court family division denied the petition.

“Well, you know, the mother was challenged,” Leyton said. “She was homeless and she had her own issues. And it was determined she was unable to care for the child. Courts like to keep families with biological parents if they can. There was nobody else who was able to step forward and take this particular child at that time.
Crimes against child victims are difficult for prosecutors and law enforcement alike. This case is no different, Leyton says.

“You have a toddler who never had any chance whatsoever to live, and he ends up in a field abandoned by his own biological father,” Leyton said. “I can’t think of anything that’s sadder.”
 
Data from an autopsy of Chaos Demilo, whose lifeless body was found Aug. 25 in a ditch had methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death, according to officials.
Further examination is needed to determine how the substance got into the boy’s system.

Chaos’ body was found by someone living in the North Morris Road area who then called the police. Officers responded to the scene and found the boy’s remains.

The child had a skull fracture, and his initial cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma, officials said.
The boy’s father, 40-year-old Michael Christopher Butler, was arrested the day after his son’s body was found.

He is lodged at the Genesee County Jail without bond on single counts of felony murder, first-degree child abuse, concealing the death of an individual, and aggravated domestic violence.
Butler’s attorney, Dave Clark, said Friday that a more specific form of toxicology is being done to investigate the substance found in Chaos’ body.

Butler is also charged in a separate case with possession of methamphetamine.
Prior to his death, Demilo was living in deplorable conditions, Leyton said previously. Dating back to June, the family was essentially homeless, living in abandoned homes in the area and occasionally staying in shelters.

The circumstances leading up to the child’s death remain unclear, but Leyton said the child was placed in his father’s custody despite a petition from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which asked that the child not be placed in Butler’s custody.
 
A 16-month-old boy found deceased in a rural Genesee County ditch had several antemortem traumas, meaning he had sustained bone fractures anywhere from “weeks to months” prior to his death, according to a forensic anthropologist.
Dr. Joseph Hefner of Michigan State University testified for Genesee County prosecutors on Friday, Feb. 2, that a review of Chaos Demilo’s bones showed blunt force trauma on the front of his skull, as well as a three rib fractures that had begun healing of other fractures.
“I am able to say with certainty these are blunt force injuries,” the witness said. “Blunt force injuries from a minimum of one impact.”
Chaos’ father, 41-year-old Michael Christopher Butler, 41, is charged with felony murder, first-degree child abuse, concealing the death of an individual and domestic violence in the boy’s death.

Butler was arrested on Aug. 26, 2022, the day after his son was found deceased in a Montrose Township ditch. Expert testimony offered on Thursday suggested the child had likely been in the ditch for about 18 or 19 days prior to being found.
The first witness called by Circuit Court Bureau Chief Andrea Legendre of the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office Friday was Hefner, who in addition to noting antemortem injures, said Chaos had and endocranial perimortem trauma. These injuries were caused at or near the time of death, he testified.
Prosecutors allege Butler killed Chaos and then left his body in a ditch sometime around Aug. 5-8, 2022. The child had six definitive skull fractures when his body was autopsied and had methamphetamine and cannabis in his system.
 
Poor little guy. Failed by everyone who was supposed to keep him away from the monsters. That judge who made this disastrous decision ought to lose his judgeship or whatever they do to them. He listened to nobody about what was right for this baby and what he did directly led to his death. Chaos would have been safer with a foster family but NOOOOO he had to give him the death penalty by sending him to his "father".
 
A jury found 41-year-old Michael Butler guilty on all charges, including felony murder, first-degree child abuse, concealing a death and third offense of domestic violence.

Neighbors found Baby Chaos' body in a ditch along North Morrish Road in Montrose Township on Aug. 25, 2022. They noticed a vehicle parked along the roadway and went to investigate debris in the ditch near that spot.
A Genesee County judge awarded Butler temporary custody of Chaos just weeks prior to the boy's death, despite Butler's previous felony conviction. Chaos' other siblings had been removed from their mother's custody at the time.
An autopsy showed the 16-month-old had methamphetamine in his system, but investigators weren't sure whether he ingested the drug or whether he only was exposed to it indirectly.

Chaos' caused of death was ruled as head trauma after the autopsy showed signs of a skull fracture.
 
"A Genesee County judge awarded Butler temporary custody of Chaos just weeks prior to the boy's death, despite Butler's previous felony conviction." - yet they don't mention what those convictions are for. Someone can be a cat burglar or a get a grand theft auto charge and still be a decent parent. Check kiters can be otherwise decent people. I don't like the way that sentence comes across. Instead of merely alluding to crimes that he's been convicted of, how about you tell us what those were so we can decided. Nah, we'll just use his previous convictions as a cudgel to beat him with, instead of being honest and just saying what they were. I don't like this kind of chicanery... :shifty:
 
"A Genesee County judge awarded Butler temporary custody of Chaos just weeks prior to the boy's death, despite Butler's previous felony conviction." - yet they don't mention what those convictions are for. Someone can be a cat burglar or a get a grand theft auto charge and still be a decent parent. Check kiters can be otherwise decent people. I don't like the way that sentence comes across. Instead of merely alluding to crimes that he's been convicted of, how about you tell us what those were so we can decided. Nah, we'll just use his previous convictions as a cudgel to beat him with, instead of being honest and just saying what they were. I don't like this kind of chicanery... :shifty:
I agree a person with a felony conviction can be both a good parent and a good person, but this man was neither. We don’t need to use his previous convictions. He just murdered his own little boy and threw him in a ditch.
 
I agree a person with a felony conviction can be both a good parent and a good person, but this man was neither. We don’t need to use his previous convictions. He just murdered his own little boy and threw him in a ditch.
True. It's just another example of the press limiting what we are allowed to know. Like we should just take their word for it. I don't like that. Because, you know. for example, Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian misinformation and all... :banghead:
 
Michael Christopher Butler, 41, of Mt. Morris Township, was convicted of felony murder, first-degree child abuse, concealing the death of an individual and aggravated domestic violence last month.

On March 18 Butler was sentenced to life in prison without parole on the felony murder charge, according to the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office.
On Aug. 25, 2022, a woman saw a man, who was later identified as Butler, get out of his car on Dodge Road and put something in the ditch across from her house, according to testimony given at Butler's trial.

The woman walked across the ditch to see what Butler had put there, and she found a blue blanket with a skull sticking out. She called 911, and when authorities arrived, they discovered a small body wrapped inside the blanket.
The baby was later identified as Butler's son, Chaos. Officials believe Chaos had been dead for several weeks when his body was discovered.

The autopsy showed that the baby boy had skull fractures that likely happened around the time of his death. In addition, Chaos had fractures to his skull and ribs that had healed, along with methamphetamine and cannabis in his system.
 
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