2 Charged With Fatally Beating, Burning Gay Man
Two men who claimed to be angry over a sexual advance plotted a gay acquaintance’s murder for two weeks, then beat him to death with an ax handle and burned his body on old tires, police said Thursday.
Steven Eric Mullins, 25, and Charles Monroe Butler Jr., 21, were arrested earlier this week and charged Thursday with murder in the slaying of Billy Jack Gaither, 39. They were held on $500,000 bail.
The charges brought by police carry a maximum of life in prison. But a grand jury could indict the men on capital charges.
The Feb. 19 slaying outraged Gaither’s friends, along with civic leaders and gay-rights organizations that kept the motive for the slaying quiet for days to help police apprehend the killers.
Butler confessed Monday after saying he couldn’t sleep, and Mullins admitted his involvement two days later while in jail on an unrelated charge, Sheriff’s Deputy Al Bradley said.
Friends, most of whom knew Gaither was gay, said they did not believe that he would make a sexual advance on the men.
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