‘How I Caught My Killer’ Episode 9: Recap & Ending, Explained: Who Killed Sarah Butler, Joanne And Robin?

In the penultimate episode of “How I Caught My Killer,” we witnessed the murder of Ben Renick, a snake breeder by profession. His wife’s greed drove her to murder the love of her life. In the finale episode of “How I Caught My Killer,” we come acoss not just one murder but multiple murders of black women. There was a pattern seen in this case. All of these women were killed by a young man who could not control his sexual desires. For a long time, he was on the loose. How did he get caught? Let’s dive into the story.

This is a story from New Jersey. A 19-year-old woman, Sarah Butler, disappeared on 22nd November 2016. Sarah came from a family that worked hard to live in Montclair. Even though she was not rich like many of her neighbors, she was stable enough to go to college. In fact, Sarah was the first person in her family to go to college. Studies were important to her. Her family believed in her, and she was a punctual person who would come home on time. Growing up, Sarah Butler loved dancing. She had joined a dance class near her house and would often be seen in dance competitions. Sarah did not have a lot of friends in college, so she downloaded an application called Tapped. She started meeting people online. One day, she planned a date with a guy she met on the application. However, when Sarah did not return home on time, her mother started getting anxious. People connected on this application for many purposes, but the guy she was meeting asked her for sex in exchange for money. Although she was skeptical at first, she went along with the plan. Unfortunately, she was going to meet her killer. The guy she met online was called Khalil Wheeler-Weaver. Khalil offered her $500, and since Sarah needed money, she took the deal. Sarah was strangled to death, and her body was hidden in Eagle Rock Reservation.

Sarah was, however, not the only victim. A woman called Joanne Brown met with the same killer. She was a sex worker who agreed to sit in Khalil’s car near a restaurant. When she sat in his silver BMW, another lady approached the car and asked for Joanne’s phone to make a call. While she was making the call, Khalil drove off. Joanne then asked for Khalil’s phone and called a friend to inform her she was safe. After she went missing, her friend informed the police and even gave them Khalil’s number. The sad reality is the police brushed the case off since Joanne was a sex worker. Often, we see that crimes against sex workers are not taken seriously because the police believe that they bring problems upon themselves. They blame their occupation. It is unjust, but it is how their mentality works. Joanne’s friends kept pestering the police to find her, but all their efforts went in vain. The police recovered her dead body from an abandoned house. Joanne, too, had been strangled to death.

Another victim was a lady called Robin West. Robin West went to Nye Avenue in Newark to celebrate her birthday with her childhood friend Breneisha. They started working as prostitutes together and looked out for each other. Robin met up with Khalil in his BMW, and for safety, Breneisha took a photo of his car’s number plate. When she couldn’t reach Robin West, she went to the police, but even her case wasn’t taken seriously. In a nearby area, a house was on fire, and that is where the fire brigade found a body. It was Robin West’s body. She had been strangled to death, just like the other two girls. However, the police did not connect the dots.

In the meantime, Sarah Butler’s friends made a fake account on Tapped to lure Khalil into meeting them. He used to ask women to meet him under the pretense of giving them money. Her friends knew the password to all her accounts and found out that she was supposed to meet Khalil, and he was the last person who had seen her alive. With this information, her friends went to the police. The police then went to the place where Khalil had called the fake account. He was brought in for questioning, but according to the police, he did not seem suspicious. So, they let him walk away. It is surprising how he was walking on the streets targeting young black women. 

There is a woman, however, who survived his attack. Tiffany Taylor shared her story in this episode. One of her friends told her that Khalil would give her gas money if she drove him to where he wanted to go. Tiffany was pregnant at the time and had been thrown out of her apartment. She was living in a motel and needed money to keep a roof over her head. Tiffany agreed to drive Khalil and met up with him. Khalil seemed quiet at first but soon asked her to stop the car since he wanted to use the washroom. The next thing she remembered was him handcuffing her and raping her. She put up a fight against him and said she had evidence against him on her phone. He was going to strangle her to death, but upon hearing that she had evidence against him, he panicked and drove her car to the motel. She rushed into her room, barely in her senses, and locked herself in the room. Tiffany managed to get one hand out of the handcuffs and showed him that she was now free. Scared, he ran off. After Tiffany survived the attack, she called the police and gave them Khalil’s number and name. However, the police did not take Tiffany’s case seriously and accused her of prostitution. According to her, if the police had listened to her, Sarah Butler would have been alive.

Anyway, soon, Khalil’s DNA was found under Sarah Butler’s fingernails. He was then arrested, and Tiffany Taylor came out to tell her story during his trial, which took place three years later, in 2019. The police soon connected the dots since there was a distinct manner in which Khalil killed his victims. He was then charged with three murders, and the jury took 2 hours to make a decision, and he was found guilty on 11 counts. He was sentenced to 160 years in prison. Khalil’s phone was also used to track his location, and it was shown he had been present at all three locations where the bodies of the victims were found. According to Sarah Butler’s father, Khalil showed no remorse in the trial. He is a monster who went on a killing spree. Without Sarah Butler’s friends’ intervention, he would have been walking free, which is tormenting to even think about.


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Tarushi Patali
Tarushi Patali
Tarushi is an English Literature graduate, who is currently doing master's in mass communication from Mumbai. She loves making lists and is an avid reader. Also, she likes judging people by their movie taste. In her leisure time you would find her digging random conspiracy pages on Reddit!

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