Man arrested in Alabama after violent multi-state crime spree, investigators say

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. - A man is in custody after a violent multi-jurisdiction crime spree in Georgia and Alabama on Friday. Investigators in the two states say they have linked 35-year-old Michael Butler to a kidnapping in Coweta County, a shooting in Chattahoochee Hills, and the kidnapping of two teenage girls in Alabama.

Michael Butler was arrested in Leeds, Alabama and booked into the Autauga County Jail, just north of Montgomery, Alabama early Sunday morning.

Prattville police say he kidnapped two teenage girls at gunpoint on Friday. He was charged with two counts of kidnapping and robbery, and one count each of rape and sexual torture.

Chattahoochee Hills police say Butler is the suspect in the shooting of a man on Hutcheson Ferry Road in a home invasion and robbery.

In Coweta County on Waterworks Road, deputies say Butler is accused of kidnapping at gunpoint a couple from their driveway and forcing her to tie up him. Investigators say he then stole items from the home before forcing them into a vehicle and to drive onto Interstate 85.

Surveillance image showed Butler alongside the victim’s car.

At a gas station, deputies say the woman convinced Butler to let her pull in and secure some of the items he stole from their house. He agreed. Instead, she escaped and called 911.

Deputies say Butler drove the victims’ car back to their home where he tried three times to shoot the man.

"The weapon malfunctioned for some reason or another, three separate occasions, according to the male victim. The male victim is then pistol-whipped, the offender gets into the vehicle he arrived in, and leaves," said Coweta County Sheriffs’ Sgt. Toby Nix.

Deputies say without the woman’s bravery, the couple might have ended up in greater danger.

"If she doesn’t take the action that she took, they could have both be dead, somewhere along the side of the road, wherever he was planning to have them drive him," said Sgt. Nix. "It was pretty heroic to convince him to stop to secure that television."

Butler will face kidnapping and aggravated assault charges in Coweta County when extradited to Georgia.