Fred Butner: Dead on the Rooftop

It was a balmy and humid morning in Key West, Florida on Thursday October 7^th 1992 when police got a call from the La Concha hotel. A body had been found lying on the two-story garage next to the hotel. When police arrived they found the body of a man. It was obvious that he’d either jumped or been pushed from the roof of the hotel. In his pockets they found a large amount of cash, a tape recorder and photocopied note signed by a Susan Hanna. The note directed the recipient, a man named Fred Butner, to meet her on the hotel’s rooftop bar first thing Thursday morning. The note went on to threaten to report Butner to the Florida Bar Association and the IRS unless the author was given money.

When police inspected the tape recorder, they realized that it had survived the fall. When police listened back to the recording they were shocked at what they heard. It sounded like Fred had managed to record his own murder.

The Miami Herald reported the following transcript of the recording:

“Butner narrates his morning: He’s at the hotel to meet Hanna; he greets Hanna and assures her he’ll hand over what she wanted.

Then he gasps an objection.

The whoosh of descent.

Thud.”

Police knew immediately that they needed to track down Susan Hanna. Who was she? And for that matter, who was Fred Butner?

Fred Butner – A Promising Start

Fred Butner was born in 1951 to parents Fred W. Butner, Jr. and Martha H. Butner of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He graduated from Duke University Law School. Following graduation from Duke, Butner moved to Key West, Florida where he served as an assistant state attorney, and later moved into private practice where he focused on personal injury and trial work.

He was a prominent gay rights activist in the area, hosted a local radio show and was a leader in his church. He served as president of the Monroe County Bar Association, was a member of the Florida Bar Board of Governors and acted as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1988. Butner was incredibly successful and well-liked in Key West. His career was very promising and on an upward climb. His office in Key West was in a restored wood-slatted Conch House and he called himself “The Southernmost Attorney in the Nation.”

A Fall from Grace

Susan Hanna began working for Butner as his secretary in September 1991. She abruptly quit less than a year later in March of 1992. After quitting she sent an explosive letter to the Florida Bar, detailing crimes committed by Butner in his capacity as a lawyer.

The Miami Herald reported that Susan’s letter said in part: “I am quitting the office of Fred Butner today because of his persistence in doing unethical and illegal acts. I have participated in these acts until today, and can no longer in good conscience continue to do so. He has falsified records, falsified documents, coerced clients and fraudulently taken trust funds.” Hanna went on to lay out specifics about several cases in her letter.

When police spoke with Susan she said that she hadn’t heard from Fred since she left her job. “I had not seen him or talked to him since last March and had no idea what he was up to.” ¹Miami Herald 10/18/1992 by Dan Keating

“Fred’s friends thought they knew Fred Butner, but they didn’t know Fred Butner.”

Key West Police Detective Duke Yannacone to News-Press

A Diabolical Motive Uncovered

La Concha Hotel staff stated that while they saw Butner enter the hotel, no one saw Hanna. Luckily for Susan, she had a receipt showing a gas purchase the morning of Butner’s death. Her voice was also not heard on the recording from that morning. She was soon eliminated as a suspect. Police stated that extortion notes are rarely signed and that Hanna had already reported Butner to the proper authorities. It didn’t make sense for her to threaten to do something that had already been done.

Before Fred’s death, The Florida Bar had already subpoenaed financial and legal records from his practice, along with the records of trusts that he managed. There were five active investigations into Butner going on the fall of 1992. In addition, the extortion note had been photocopied. It would have been easy for Butner to attain Hanna’s signature from the many documents she had signed during her employment at his firm. He could have crafted the extortion note in minutes within the privacy of his own office.

Friends Left Bewildered

After his death, several of Fred’s friends came forward stating that they couldn’t believe that he had killed himself. He was active, involved and busy, not a man to end it all stated the Miami Herald. They even met with police regarding an alleged cover-up. Some of Fred’s friends believed that the police may have been covering Butner’s murder up to silence members of the gay community. However, after meeting with police and seeing the evidence, Al Roberge, a friend of Fred’s said he was satisfied with the investigation.

“If it is a suicide, one of the saddest things about this is that Fred was one of the most loved people in the community. I wonder if he knew that. People are in shock.”

Al Roberge, friend of Butner to the Miami Herald

Police theorized that Fred jumped from a table top on the seventh story bar and landed on the carport roof. His glasses and one of his shoes were found on the table. They speculated that if Butner were struggling with someone, he would not have climbed up onto the table. The chest high railing was too tall to fall over without using the table.

Fallout Continues

After Butner’s death Susan Hanna filed a lawsuit against his estate. She asked for $2.5 million dollars in damages, alleging intentional inflection of emotional distress, libel and slander. Court records show that this lawsuit was dismissed.

Fred’s father, Fred Butner Jr. told the Miami Herald, “I’ll live a long time and I’ll never believe it was suicide. To me, it could be an accident, could have fallen or been pushed or jumped, may never know. Everybody’s got a different opinion. Who knows?” ²Keating