September 6, 1952
Sharonville, Ohio
Betty Butler strangles and drowns her lover, Evelyn Clark
Butler, Clark, and a friend named Dezzie Ivory had been fishing at the lake in Sharon Woods. Butler and Clark got into an argument while on the water which continued after the three returned to shore.
Once ashore, in front of several witnesses, Butler wrapped her handkerchief around Clark’s neck to strangle her. Clark went limp and Butler assumed she had been killed until Butler noticed she was unconscious but breathing. Butler took Clark’s unconscious body to the lake and drowned her. Shortly after she was heard to have said “my work is done.”
Butler did not contest the murder but claimed she killed Clark in self-defense because of “unwanted advances” and that Clark stated an intention to keep Butler as a “sex slave.” Other testimony during trial suggested that Butler, who was a married mother of 2, was jealous of Clark’s attentions towards other women.
Butler was executed in the electric chair on June 11, 1954.
