ARLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – A man accused of stabbing an elderly woman to death in a bucolic community that was once home to Norman Rockwell has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge.
Timothy Butler was arrested Wednesday and was charged with killing 81-year-old Helen Jones in her Arlington home in early January. He also was charged with burglary in an occupied dwelling with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
Butler, who’s from neighboring Sunderland, was being held without bail Thursday.
Court documents say Butler was interviewed by police days after Jones’ death when police got a tip that he did yard work for Jones for a couple of years. Police received two tips from people who said Butler confessed to killing an elderly woman.
WCAX-TV reported that on Sunday detectives obtained audio recordings of Butler saying that while at Jones’ house he “got scared and one thing led to another.”