JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office solved a two-year-old murder when the gun that was used was located in a separate case and linked through a nationwide database, according to a police report.
Police said Troy Butler, 29, murdered Sabrina Blackshear, 45, in 2015 in the Springfield neighborhood. Her body was found near railroad tracks on May 20, 2015. A .40-caliber shell casing and a condom were found near her body, but no gun was found.
Earlier this week, police arrested Butler and charged him in connection with Blackshear’s murder. A national bullet-tracing database called NIBIN helped link the gun to the bullet that killed Blackshear, according to a police report. The gun was found in Blackshear’s car after someone stole it to commit a separate crime.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said NIBIN linking the shell casing to the gun was crucial in solving the case.
“They have the shell casing from the Blackshear homicide a couple of years ago and someone had input the information from the gun from a totally unrelated crime in St. Johns County,” Smith said. “Those two images matched up, so they say, ‘Wait a minute. Those shell casings came from this gun,’ and then they were able to match that with the suspect who was in possession of that same firearm at the time of the Blackshear homicide.”
Police questioned Butler six months after the shooting, when a condom matched Blackshear’s and Butler’s DNA but didn’t arrest him because there wasn’t enough evidence at the time. However, having the condom, bullet and gun as evidence helped police arrest and charge Butler with murder.
Butler admitted to police he had the gun and that he had sex with Blackshear, but insists he did not shoot her.
The murder has since left the neighborhood in unrest.
News4Jax reporter Jenese Harris spoke with Brad Huber who said he knew of Blackshear and remembers her murder vividly.
“I remember the whole neighborhood being in a crazy, crazy tizzy because of what happened. It was quite shocking because, for the most part, this is a very, very quiet neighborhood or street,” Huber said. “It’s a quiet street in a sometimes sketchy neighborhood. So for this to happen on 16th Street was mind blowing.”
Huber said Blackshear was a known prostitute who lived in the area. For two years he and others wondered who killed her.
According to Smith, NIBIN could help solve dozens of cases in the future that have gone unsolved for years.