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Pamela Butler's murder is connected to Marta Rodriguez's case through their killer, Jose Angel Rodriguez-Cruz. Dateline NBC episode covers the connection between both cases in detail. As per the information uncovered in the episode, Marta was Jose's first wife who was found murdered in 1991 after going missing in 1989. While Pamela met Jose through an online dating site, she went missing in 2009, and despite years of searching, her body was never found. In 2017, police linked her case to Marta’s disappearance and arrested Jose.
Let's dive deeper into the details and understand how the prosecutors were finally able to link the two with years of gaps.
How is Pamela Butler's murder connected to Marta Rodriguez's murder, Dateline NBC?
Marta reported domestic abuse before she went missing and even accused Jose of kidnapping her. Her remains were found in 1991 alongside Interstate 95. Though the condition of the body was such that it was not identified until 2018 when another detective reopened her case. In 2021, Jose pleaded guilty to murdering Marta Rodriguez.
On the other hand, Pamela, a Washington, D.C. federal worker went missing in 2009 and despite years of investigation, her body was never found. Finally, in 2017 police linked her case to Marta's disappearance and found a mutual connection between the two cases — dating their husband and boyfriend Jose. It would be too much of a coincidence if a single man is connected with two disappearances,
Where is Jose Rodriguez now as per Dateline: Secrets Uncovered?
Jose is serving imprisonment for both of his crimes after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Jose is also bearing charges of kidnapping and assaulting his wife Marta. The prosecutors later found out that Jose buried his girlfriend's body in Interstate 95 which is a few miles away from that of his wife.
Marta was killed when she was 26, while Pamela was 47 when she was brutally murdered. Jose was about to spend Valentine with his girlfriend Pamela with a romantic dinner but the dinner never happened. When Pamela's family members visited her out of concern the next day, they found the house to be in a complete mess.
According to The Washington Post, "He [Rodriguez-Cruz] eventually admitted he had strangled her [Pamela Butler]."
In the CCTV footage Jose came and went several times, however during the investigation as per Dateline, Jose covered it by saying that he was trying to break up with Pamela.
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The prosecutors arrested Jose in 2017 but never made it public due to a lack of evidence. Jose was already serving imprisonment of 12 years for murdering Pamela that's when it was revealed that he also murdered his wife in 1989 which granted him an additional imprisonment of 40 years as explored in the Dateline episode.
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