Friends hail woman, 86, killed trying to stop attack as hero

Unfortunately, monsters like Neven Glen Butler exist!
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NORTH HIGHLANDS, Calif. (AP) — A young man was identified Friday as the suspect in the sexual assault and beating death of an 86-year-old California woman remembered as a hero by investigators and neighbors after she used a walking stick to try to stop an attack on her friend.

Neven Glen Butler, 18, was arrested the same day he was detained in an unrelated assault of a 92-year-old woman a few miles (kilometers) away, Sacramento sheriff's Sgt. Tony Turnbull said. She was treated at a hospital for facial injuries.

Homicide detectives tied Butler to the sexual assaults of Fusako Petrus, 86, and her 61-year-old friend earlier Wednesday while both were out for a walk, Turnbull said. Petrus died after she was badly beaten. Her friend was treated for injuries.

"I think she's a hero. She gave her life to save her friend," said Dolores Hines, who lives down the block from Petrus and her walking companion, whom authorities have not identified.

The friend was the initial target of the early morning sexual assault on the running track of Highlands High School in the North Highlands suburb of Sacramento, Turnbull said.