Attempted Murder Suspect Is Behind Bars; Eastland County Residents Can Sleep Peacefully

"About 9:30 or 10:00 is when I started noticing all those cars sitting around. There was a bunch of them," says Skip Ezell.

After 58-year-old, Deborah Partin, was found in a ditch near County Road 375, with a slash to her throat and several stab wounds, law enforcement officers began searching for 35-year-old William Travis Butler.

"I didn't know about him much," says one Rising Star resident.

Some never knew him, but there were many who did. He was certainly the talk around town Thursday.

Although many did not want to go on camera, they tell me about his troubled past. In and out of prison for several crimes, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and assault causing bodily injury to a family member, just to name a couple.

"I just can't think about it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that it's come about and I know the family is grieved," the resident adds.

Skip Ezell says all morning, he heard "hear say", so when he got the official word of what was going on he was shocked.

Ezell says, "Whenever I found out, I said that's our neighbor, you know, over there, Ms. Butler's."

Ezell lives next door to Butler's grandmother's home.
 
Just a short distance away from the house is where William Travis Butler was found. Law enforcement officials apprehended him near Elm Cemetery.

"Well I'm glad they caught him," Ezell adds.

Now that Butler is behind bars, many Rising Star residents can go to sleep with a little more peace than they had earlier Thursday morning.