AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: This story includes graphic descriptions that could be disturbing for some readers.
Back in 1975, Austin was known as a relatively small, safe college town with a population that was roughly one-tenth of what it is today.
That close-knit community of the mid-'70s was rocked by the news of a young woman who was stabbed to death in her apartment.
Now, nearly 50 years later, her murder remains unsolved.
Feb. 10, 1975, was a typical Monday morning for Phyllis Butto and Juan Butto, Jr. The couple lived in Unit 109 of an apartment complex located at 906 Banister Lane in South Austin.
Phyllis Butto was the apartment manager, and her husband worked as an airman at Bergstrom Air Force Base.
“Phyllis’ husband left for work at 7:30 in the morning. And then he said that Phyllis usually gets up with him late for work. They have coffee, and then she goes back to sleep and usually wakes up around nine,” Austin Police Department (APD) Det. Travis Beathard said.
What happened over the next few hours that February day has puzzled police for decades.
“Someone has to know about this. But since 1975, no one has come forward with any information,” Beathard said.
Investigators say at 12:30 pm, Juan Butto Jr. came home to have lunch with his wife. He pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building and happened to run into his brother, Mike, who lived in the same complex. Together, they walked into the apartment and discovered Phyllis Butto's body.
“She's just laying on the floor next to the bed, wearing only her socks,” Beathard said.
She had been stabbed multiple times in the neck, chest and back. Police believe she had also been sexually assaulted.
“I saw some of the pictures, and those pictures have haunted me ever since. Just knowing the pain that you have to be in, and we weren't there to take care of her,” said Cynthia Wansley, Phyllis Butto's older sister, who was still living in their hometown of Tyler, Texas.
Wansley immediately rushed over to check on her parents.
“I went into the house, and the preacher was there and some neighbors across the street. Mother and Daddy, they were just in shock. They just sat there and stared at people,” she said.
While family was grieving in Tyler, investigators in Austin were busy looking for suspects. They say the apartment didn’t seem to be ransacked, which indicated there was no burglary. No weapon was found, but investigators believe the murder was committed with a knife with a small blade.
Investigators also believe Phyllis Butto knew her attacker. Her neighbors also didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
“They didn't hear any screams. They didn’t hear a disturbance happening,” Beathard said.
A tenant told police that around 9 or 9:30 a.m., she knocked on Phyllis Butto's door to ask about an issue in her unit.
“She said that the door was slightly cracked. It wouldn't close all the way. She could hear a stereo playing in the apartment. But she said she knocked several times [and] that no one answered,” Beathard said.
The tenant returned every 30 minutes another three times – still no answer.
Without answers all these years later, Phyllis Butto's family still has yet to find closure.
“She was learning how to sew. She had made a dress that she was really proud of, and so that's what we buried her in,” her sister said.
Detectives say they are in the process of retesting evidence using state-of-the-art DNA testing.
Coincidentally, a year after Phyllis Butto was murdered, in June 1976, a very similar crime happened in Austin. Martha Read, 25, was fatally stabbed. Both she and Phyllis Butto died the same way, both had airmen for spouses and both were managers of South Austin apartment complexes. Neither case has been solved because police say they just didn't have the forensic evidence.
If you have any information about Phyllis Butto's murder, you are encouraged to call Capital Area Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.
KVUE Daybreak's Yvonne Nava is shining a spotlight on several Central Texas cold cases as part of a monthly series called KVUE Crime Files.