LONGVIEW — Brian Butts may have been warned that Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Deputy Justin DeRosier was coming to investigate his motorhome the night of April 13, according to newly released documents that link another person to the deputy’s death.
According to a Clark County Sheriff’s Office search warrant, a witness saw three men working on a motorhome on Fallert Road between 5 and 6 p.m. that evening. Two of the men were determined to be Butts, 33, and Michael Veatch, 33.
At around 10 p.m., DeRosier was dispatched to a report that Butts’ disabled motorhome was blocking Fallert Road, according to the search warrant, which The Daily News obtained through a public records request. On the way, DeRosier pulled Michael Veatch over on Fallert Road and warned him about a broken taillight.
After their traffic stop, Michael Veatch called Butts to warn him the deputy was on his way, according to the search warrant. Several minutes later, DeRosier went to the motorhome and was shot, dying the next morning at a Vancouver hospital.
Butts, who is suspected of shooting the deputy, died in a gunfight on Spencer Creek Road the evening of April 14.
Investigators learned about the alleged tipoff the next day from a passenger who was riding in the car with Michael Veatch on April 13 and heard on a police scanner that the deputy was headed to the motorhome. The passenger told investigators that Veatch called Butts with his cell phone to warn him that DeRosier was on the way.
The document gives no indication about why Veatch believed a warning was necessary. However, a search warrant executed at Butts’ motorhome found a glass pipe with white residue, ammunition, and mail or documents that appeared to have been stolen.
Veatch later told deputies he had been helping Butts work on the motorhome and drove back home to his Fallert Road residence after their traffic stop. As Veatch and the passenger passed the motorhome, they saw a deputy with a gun drawn outside the vehicle, according to the passenger. Veatch denied seeing anyone at the motorhome or the deputy’s car, according to the search warrant.
Veatch is one of two brothers named in court and police documents in the investigation into DeRosier’s death. His brother Matthew Veatch, 24, is charged with criminally aiding Butts in his escape from law enforcement after the shooting.
Michael Veatch so far has not been charged by the Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the events of DeRosier’s death. It’s not clear at this point whether the tipoff would constitute a crime or lead to charges. (Michael Veatch’s live-in girlfriend, Savannah Eastman, told The Daily News earlier this month that he was not involved in the shooting. She could not be reached for comment Friday.)
