Melvin Boothe was convicted of murdering a woman and burying her body in MLK Park in 2020. He wil spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jessica Orozco | The Lima News
LIMA — After about two hours and thirty minutes of deliberation, a jury found a man guilty of murdering a woman and burying her body at Martin Luther King Park. The man will spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Melvin Boothe, 31, is convicted of aggravated murder, tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse and possessing criminal tools in the death of McKenzie Butler, 25. Butler’s body was found buried in the woods on the south side of the park in Lima a day after police learned she was missing on June 13, 2020.
Boothe and Butler reportedly lived together on Eighth Street, a short distance from the park.
Police obtained a warrant and searched the Eighth Street residence. Butler was not located, but her belongings were.
Other items found inside the residence included muddy boots and shoes, receipts for shovels and a pick, and cleaning supplies.
Boothe is ordered to pay court costs.
Butler’s twin brother expressed his gratitude to the jury for finding Boothe guilty.
“You’re a crazy, sick monster,” the man told Boothe.
Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser said Boothe has not shown remorse “in the slightest bit.”
Kohlrieser said Boothe is a “higjly dangerous individual” and he “plotted and planned” the murder after Butler had called the police for assaulting her. She said Boothe shows a “diabolical nature.”
The prosecution on Thursday resumed Boothe’s police interview footage that they began playing on Wednesday. Throughout the video, Boothe continued to deny any involvement in Butler’s disappearance.
The man said that his wife, who had reported him to the police, was lying and was “not all the way there.” He said he hadn’t seen her since May 26, 2020, when he said she left at his request and that he would try to get in touch with her through her family.
“I didn’t do anything with McKenzie,” Boothe told Lima Police Detective Brian Snyder. “She left willingly.”
After being accused multiple times of killing Butler or causing her disappearance, Boothe said that he wanted to go to sleep and felt like he was being interrogated.
Snyder testified that he noticed Boothe burping several times throughout the interview even before he was given a soda, and this is common in stressful situations.
Snyder said he noticed scratch marks on Boothe’s neck when he interviewed him. The prosecution showed the jury booking photos, in which these marks can be seen. DNA likely to be Boothe’s was found on Butler’s fingernail scrapings.
Both Boothe and Butler worked at Bob Evans factory, and according to their timesheets, neither worked on May 26, 2020.
On that day, Butler took paid time off, but did not call off or show up for her shift on May 29, 2020.
According to her cell phone records, this call to her work was the last she ever made.
Boothe also did not work on June 3, 2020 and June 4, 2020 — dates in which he purchased ammonia, bleach, cleaning supplies and shovels at Walmart on Harding Highway according to receipts and security footage. On trail camera photos, he was seen going in and out of an island of trees at MLK Park later the same days.
Boothe’s lawyer, Zach Maisch, said the man will appeal his conviction and his sentence.
