“Dustin is a person, and he has a family that loves him and misses him dearly,” a family member wrote to AFP last week, in an email asking if we could help the family get information from the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office on the status of investigation into the Dec. 5, 2022, disappearance of Dustin Cody Butler, 38.
Unfortunately, we haven’t been successful in getting Rockbridge County authorities to respond on the status of the case, either.
Multiple messages for comment left with the sheriff’s office by AFP beginning late last week have not been returned.
So, the bulk of what we know on this is just what we were informed of when the sheriff’s office put out a news release on Butler’s disappearance nearly two weeks after he was last seen at a Glasgow Mountain residence.
Butler, according to the news release, which we wrote about on Dec. 18, 2022, reportedly got into an argument with someone at the residence and left on foot, and has not been seen or heard from since.
The family member who reached out to us last week for help in getting information on the case isn’t buying the story that is being sold by the sheriff’s office on her brother’s disappearance.
“He has mental illness and had no medication when he left, supposedly. I really don’t believe the story,” the family member said. “I know someone knows something out there and isn’t coming forward, because my brother would have reached out to me or our mother.”
With the sheriff’s office not commenting on the case, the latest tidbit of information here comes from an update to the RCSO’s Facebook page on March 17 that updated the status of Butler from “missing person” to “missing person/wanted person.”
According to the update, the sheriff’s office reported that at the time of Butler’s disappearance, the RCSO had obtained multiple arrest warrants against Butler regarding allegations of sex offenses involving children.
According to the family member, that was overstating the allegations – which she said doesn’t involve “children,” but rather a single 17-year-old.
“I know that’s bad, but it’s beside the point,” the family member said.
Butler’s most recent Facebook post, dated Nov. 23, 2022, noted as his status “feeling done,” and the message was “I’m so without you f–k this life. Goodbye is all that’s left.”
Another post from Nov. 23, 2022, had Butler sharing this message: “Not sorry for the feelings I have. Situation got blown way out so idc what anyone thinks of me.”
The missing person notice from the sheriff’s office in December offered that Butler battles depression and bipolar disorder.
If anyone has any information regarding his whereabouts or his disappearance, contact the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office at (540)-463-7329.
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Chris Graham
