Sean C. Morgan
Oregon State Police on Sunday arrested the suspect in the shooting death of a Sweet Home man early Friday morning, May 24.
Page Lee Butterfield, 25, was arrested Sunday, May 26, in Sisters after a state trooper spotted him.
Monday, Butterfield was lodged at Linn County Jail and charged with murder, attempted murder, felon in possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
“The trooper who spotted him was really on his game and did a fantastic job finding him and identifying him,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn.
Police were looking for a red 2008 Ford Edge that had been reported stolen from an acquaintance of Butterfield in Albany, and Butterfield was a suspect in the the theft of the vehicle.
When the trooper spotted the vehicle, it was not moving, Lynn said. “It appears he attempted to flee. I was told they deployed a canine (unit) to find him.”
Butterfield was arrested at about 5:45 p.m., Lynn said.
The Nugget Newspaper in Sisters reported that the manhunt ensued in the area of Ray’s Food Place and McDonald’s, on the east end of Sisters.
The sequence of events began about 2:32 a.m. Friday, May 24, when the Sweet Home Police Department received a report that two subjects had been shot in the 500 block of Surrey Lane, off Ames Creek Drive in Sweet Home.
Sweet Home police officers and Linn County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and located the two male victims on the property.
Corey A. Burdick, 43, of Sweet Home was pronounced dead at the scene. Ervin Larry Smith, 65, of Sweet Home had a gunshot wound and was transported to the hospital.
The incident occurred in and around a travel trailer occupied by Smith on the property of 541 Surrey Lane, according to police.
“They had all showed up at the residence at about the same time,” Lynn said. “An altercation occurred between Burdick and Butterfield.”
That’s when Butterfield is suspected of shooting Burdick and Smith, he said. “Our information is that Butterfield did bring (the gun) to the residence.”
Lynn said there were witnesses at the scene.
The Linn County Major Crimes team which consists of members of the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, the Sweet Home Police Department, the Oregon State Police, the Linn County District Attorney’s Office, the Lebanon Police Department and the Albany Police Department, worked at the scene Friday afternoon to assist with the investigation, which continued through the weekend.
“Detectives are still working on it as we speak,” Lynn said. The arrest of the suspect “is just one step.”
He acknowledged that the Police Department has been slow to release information about the investigation and arrest.
“We realize the importance of keeping the public informed, but in the end, we have to maintain the integrity of the investigation,” Lynn said.
“The level of physical disturbance is what has slowed us down.”
The detectives have taken their time going over the physical evidence and with witnesses, he said. He praised the efforts of the multi-department investigation.
“Really, it was just a fantastic use of the Major Crimes Team. It’s one of the first times we’ve utilized it to this extent.”
Additional information was uncovered on Monday that required investigators to execute another search warrant at the residence, and the detectives are continuing to process physical evidence, he said.
Lynn said police do not believe any other members of the public are in danger.
Butterfield has an open case filed April 4 in Linn County Circuit Court originating in Albany for possession of methamphetamines, possession of a stolen vehicle, unauthorized use of a vehicle, resisting arrest and giving false information to a peace officer. He is scheduled for trial in the case on May 6.
According to court records, Butterfield has prior convictions for criminal driving while suspended, giving false information to a peace officer and possession, fourth-degree assault, strangulation, resisting arrest, second-degree burglary, driving under the influence, failure to perform the duties of a driver and delivery of meth and heroin in Linn, Benton, Marion, Lincoln and Deschutes counties. His most recent conviction was in an Albany case in 2017.
Burdick, according to court records, had been convicted in multiple cases for burglary, robbery, possession of meth, felon in possession of a restricted weapon, first-degree theft, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, fourth-degree assault, giving false information, unauthorized use of a vehicle, attempting to elude a police officer and manufacture or delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance.
Most recently, he was convicted in 2015 of delivery of meth and heroin in Marion County and sentenced to 65 months in prison.
In 1999, Burdick was indicted for murder and first-degree robbery in the shooting of Dean Pruitt and John Pruitt after accompanying Marc Mealey Holcomb to the Pruitt house on Willow Street. Dean Pruitt died from a gunshot.
The charges against Burdick were dismissed “on the grounds that the interest of justice would be best served thereby based on sufficiency of evidence presently available to the state,” according to the prosecutor’s motion to dismiss, while Holcomb was convicted and is serving a life sentence.
Smith was convicted on a possession of a controlled substance charge in Linn County in 1999 and for supplying contraband in Marion County in 1990.
Linn County Sheriff Jim Yon said detectives are continuing an investigation into a May 11 Wiley Creek Drive shooting that left Dean Paul Jurica, 50, of Sweet Home dead, but he was unable to provide an update on the case Monday.
“We have no information that these are connected,” Lynn said. Police believe they are isolated incidents.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sweet Home Police Department at (541) 367-5181.
Anyone with information regarding the Wiley Creek shooting should contact Det. Colin Pyle at (541) 967-3950.