I want to preface this story by saying that, although the murderer was subjected to a horrible childhood, it is no excuse for her actions. She may be a victim of her raising and I do feel sorry for the child, I do not in any way feel sorry for the teenager/adult that committed this heinous crime. The system may have failed her as a child and that is a sad situation. According to reports though, she was the driving force behind the sexual assault and murder of Demetra Faye Parker.
The summer of 1980 should have been one of love and happiness. At least, that is what one young woman had in mind. Demetra Faye Parker was 19 years old when she moved from Dyersburg, Tennessee to Dalton, Georgia in order to be with her boyfriend, Henry Wallace around August of 1980. As with most young love, there were issues and Demetra found herself staying at The Country Boy Inn on Carbondale Road. She was staying there until she could find a place of her own to live with Henry. After losing her job in a carpet mill, she made the decision to return home. Unfortunately, Demetra wouldn’t get to make that trip due to the heinous actions of Danny and Janice Buttrum.
Demetra Faye Parker was born July 31,1961 to Barbara Faye Parker. Not a lot of information could be found regarding her childhood. She had multiple siblings. According to reports, Demetra was a very loving and trusting young woman. She was the epitome of a small-town girl looking forward to a bright future. Her life was ended heinously by a couple that she had shown compassion and hospitality.
Janice Buttrum was born January 7,1963. According to multiple sources, she was sold by her mother to another couple. The price was the cost of the hospital bill and the couple, Ralph and Elizabeth Adcock, were alcoholics who had suffered a previous loss. Janice was raised in a chaotic home with her “father” being her closest friend. Mr. Adcock passed away while Janice was in elementary school and her living conditions became much worse.
Janice was teased in school by her peers due to her lack of hygiene. Her clothes were obtained from the local dump and usually did not fit. Her hair was always a matted mess, and she was usually dirty. She kept to herself most of the time and took the teasing and bullying without much of a fight. Her teachers described her as a very odd child who did not have any friends and found herself the topic of many jokes.
After her husband passed, Elizabeth Adcock, moved a man in by the name of Harold Peace. According to Janice, he attempted to sexually assault her. After this incident, Janice ran away and shortly after, found herself being shipped from foster home to foster home. After multiple homes and facilities, the state returned Janice to her “mother”, Elizabeth Adcock.
Janice lived with her “mother” and Harold in a pull camper they parked. It had a single bed, so Janice decided to call the broken-down van in the yard her bedroom. At this point, Janice started coming and going as she pleased and doing what she wanted. In 7th grade, she quit school and decided she was going to follow in the footsteps of her biological mother and become a prostitute. She called a friend, Billy, and asked for him to help arrange a ride to Atlanta for her. She offered to pay him with sex and more importantly, her virginity. He made the arrangements to get her to Atlanta with a friend and they stopped at Allatoona Dam so that she could “pay” Billy. After “paying” Billy, she was then assaulted by Billy’s friend. Instead of taking Janice to Atlanta, they rode around and ended up at Billy’s mother’s house. After an argument, Janice left walking and then was picked up by the police. She was taken to Rome Youth Detention Center and eventually ended up at the Macon facility.
At 15 years old, Janice met 26-year-old Danny Buttrum. Danny had previously been married and was already a father. She was immediately infatuated with Danny. Janice described him as the prettiest and most polite boy she’d ever met. On the first night of meeting Danny, Janice agreed to marry him. They had to wait to get married since Danny did not have a birth certificate. They were caught by Janice’s probation officer and given an ultimatum which included either getting married or separating from each other. The obvious choice for them was to get married. This was fueled by the fact that Janice was already pregnant.
On their wedding night, Danny beat Janice for the first time. This would be the first of many times. By the time the couple were married for 2 years, Danny had beat Janice somewhere around 15 to 20 times. His previous marriage ended due to similar issues.
About a year after getting married, Danny checked himself in to a psychiatric hospital in Rome, Georgia. He told the facility doctors that he was having unnatural sexual urges and was afraid that he would rape a woman if not treated. This was just one of many psychiatric admissions Danny had experienced in his life. He suffered from some mental health problems along with alcohol and drug dependency.
Janice and Danny found themselves living in Dalton, Georgia along with their 19-month-old daughter. They were living at a motel off Carbondale Road called the Country Boy Inn. Danny worked at a local truck stop as a mechanic. They met and befriended their neighbor at the motel, Demetra. She was very fond of their baby and often babysat for them.
September 2, 1980, started as any other day. Demetra took Janice and the baby with her to the laundromat. The girls spent the day washing clothes and enjoying some girl talk. Demetra was planning on returning to her hometown and was working on getting all her things packed up for her impending departure.
After returning to the motel, Demetra called some friends to come over and hang out for her last night in town. The group drank beer and watched television. She had left the door to the room open to enjoy the summer air. After Danny paced in front of the open-door numerous times, Janice asked one of the friends to close the door. She told her friends that Danny gave her the creeps.
Danny and Janice spent the evening riding around with a friend. According to the friend, Danny wanted to pick up another girl for them to have sex with. When the friend asked if his wife would care, Danny made the comment that she would not if she got to go first. Janice has denied this statement. After being denied by four different women, the friend brought Janice and Danny back to the motel.
Around 4:00am on September 3rd, Demetra was woken up by knocking on her room door. She answered the door and found Janice. Janice claimed she needed a cigarette because the vending machine was broken. Demetra closed the door and went to retrieve her cigarettes. When she returned to the door, Janice was pushed out of the way by Danny, and he forced his way into the room. Danny immediately began attacking Demetra.
Janice returned to her room to get the baby and bring her back in to Demetra’s room. She placed the baby on the floor and handed her the phone to play with. Danny and Janice beat and raped Demetra ruthlessly. After Danny could not “finish” his assault, Janice grabbed a pocketknife from Danny’s pants pocket and began stabbing Demetra. She stabbed her over 90 times before taking the knife and delivering a gaping wound to Demetra’s lower abdomen. It has been reported that Demetra was alive for most of the attack with the gaping wound being the cause of death. Janice then stole a ring and other items from Demetra before they fled to their room.
After returning to their room, the couple cleaned themselves up and hastily grabbed their belongings. In the chaos, they left behind bloody items and even the baby’s birth certificate. They then stole Demetra’s car and headed south. They disposed of their bloody clothing in a dumpster along the way and threw the knife out the window while driving down the interstate.
The owner of the motel found the Buttrum’s room key on the desk the next morning. Which he found odd since they were paid up for the rest of the week. He then went to check on Demetra since she was supposed to check out that morning, but he had not seen her yet. He walked into her room and discovered the chaotic crime scene. He immediately called the police and the search for the Buttrum’s began shortly after.
The couple arrived in Pensacola, Florida and contacted Danny’s mother for money. This would be the beginning of their downfall. They requested his mother send them money to Western Union and they waited for her to call them back at the pay phone. Danny’s mother contacted police and gave them the information regarding the couple’s whereabouts. FBI agents arrived and arrested the couple.
Janice and Danny were both found guilty and sentenced to death in the rape and murder of Demetra Faye Parker. A week after sentencing, Danny Buttrum hung himself in his prison cell. Janice’s sentence was commuted to a life sentence after an appeal and due to her age at the time of her crime and conviction. She is still in prison serving her sentence.
The story regarding the arrests and trials is extensive. I could write an entire book just on the proceedings. I suggest you read the book Jan: The Youngest Woman Sentenced to Georgia’s Death Row by Jodi McDaniel Lowery. It takes a much deeper dive into the entire story. The author interviewed Janice Buttrum in prison.
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