‘Monster’ gets 8 life sentences for kidnapping two Alabama teen girls, sexually torturing them

An Alabama man described as a “monster” for a violent, deadly crime spree across two states was sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences Thursday.

Michael Jerome Butler, 37, of Greenville, was charged with kidnapping, rape, sexual torture and sodomy in the 2022 abduction of two 17-year-old girls from a Prattville Walgreens store. The girls were later released and helped identify Butler.

Butler pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced Thursday by Autauga County Circuit Judge Joy Booth.

He faces an additional murder charge for allegedly killing Victoria Malet, of St. Clair County, also in 2022.

Butler’s crime spree started after he was released from the Alabama Department of Corrections as part of a mandatory release program for several prior felonies, 19th Judicial Circuit District Attorney C.J. Robinson said in a written news release.

“The bottom line is simple,” Robinson wrote. “A monster like Michael Butler was in prison on his fourth felony by a court out of south Alabama, but was he released early without an ankle monitor (which was required) then failed to show up for supervision. Butler drove to our circuit and began his reign of terror.

“There is no excuse, no justification, and no dollar amount that can soften the nauseating reality that these unspeakable acts of violence could have been avoided,” Robinson said said.

Butler carjacked the girls in November 2022. Prosecutors said Butler seemingly picked the girls at random. They were not acquainted.

He kidnapped them at gunpoint, went to a remote location and sexually assaulted them before eventually releasing them.

He’s also believed to have driven to Georgia and committed an armed home invasion and shooting and then back to Alabama, where he’s accused of murdering Malet.