Arlee teen carries out deadly stabbing spree

POLSON — A  bond and detention hearing was held Nov. 13 in District Court for 16-year-old Nathan Butler of Arlee. Butler was arrested Monday morning for the alleged stabbings of three people, resulting in the death of one man.

Butler was apprehended by Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Police approximately an hour and a half after the stabbings occurred at 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 12  at a home located on Laughing Louis Adams Lane.

A press release from Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin stated that once law enforcement arrived at the scene they discovered that 51-year-old John Edward Fisher, of Arlee, had been stabbed to death inside his residence. Also inside the residence were two other stabbing victims, an adult male and an adult female.

While Lake County sheriff’s deputies secured the crime scene, tribal police located Butler hiding in the garage of another Arlee residence.

According to the statement provided by Yonkin, a man and woman, both adults, were taken to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, where the man was treated and released the same day. According to Yonkin, the woman remains hospitalized, recovering from severe injuries, but is in stable condition.

Relatives present at the hearing stated that Butler was, “an unstable kid who was out drinking the night before.” Family member Amber Fisher-Porter also stated that, “he stabbed his step-father, mother, and my uncle’s son-in-law.”

Butler is  facing charges of  deliberate homicide and assault with a weapon. He is currently being held at a juvenile detention center in Missoula. An arraignment hearing  is scheduled  for Nov. 21 at 9 a.m. in Lake County District Court.