WEST JORDAN, Utah — A big break in a West Jordan double murder investigation Wednesday with the arrest of the prime suspect several hundred miles away in California.
Johnson is the prime suspect in the Saturday morning murders of Tony and Katherine Butterfield.
Albert Enoch Johnson was taken into custody early Wednesday morning in Stockton.
West Jordan police worked with the US marshals in Stockton to arrest Johnson.
A booking photo indicated Johnson did not give up without a fight.
“l just know there was a resistant effort on his part to not go into custody and that is what happened," Sgt. J.C. Holt with the West Jordan police said.
Police say Johnson knew the victims, but still won’t say exactly what the relationship was.
Detectives have said Johnson was in the process of committing a home invasion robbery when he allegedly shot the Butterfields to death.
Their three children were home at the time and are now staying with family members.
On Monday, Johnson‘s wife Sina, was arrested for allegedly lying to police regarding what she knew about the murder and for allegedly destroying evidence in the case.
Despite those obstacles, detectives gathered enough information to lead them to northern California.
“We did get leads, we got credible leads that he was there, that led us to that area," Sgt. Holt said. "It was not just a random thing where someone saw him and said, ‘Oh, that’s someone Utah is looking for.' We did develop information where we knew where he was.”
Sgt. Holt said this took a lot of coordination with the US marshals to get Johnson into custody.
West Jordan detectives have left for California with an arrest warrant in hand on two counts of aggravated murder and hope to have Johnson back in custody in Utah soon.
The department also hopes the arrest begins the process of bringing some small amount of closure to the Butterfield family and their friends.
