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Cierra Simone Butts was indicted on August 2 in Jones County on one count of hindering the apprehension of a fugitive, with the District Attorney's Office accusing her of helping her brother, murder suspect Jeremy Xavier Butts, flee the state.
Two days later, meanwhile, Cierra Butts was arrested for a second time, this time charged with felony tampering with evidence. The most recent arrest stems from Cierra Butts "changing out the SIM card in her phone during the course of a warrant search," Jones County Sheriff Butch Reese told Baldwin2k. Butts was booked at the Baldwin County jail.
Jeremy Butts stands accused of fatally shooting 20-year-old Milledgeville woman Jada Frances Simmons during a late-night house party near the Jones/Wilkinson county line on May 16. "Complete chaos" is how Reese described the scene. Gunfire erupted after a skirmish between two females. Many party-goers were sent scrambling, some taking cell phone videos of the incident while running away. Those cell phone videos, along with other evidence, pointed to Jeremy Butts, a Baldwin County native who attended Georgia Military College prep up until 2013. Jeremy Butts, who turned 26 earlier this year, had no previous criminal history.
Jeremy Butts then fled to El Paso, Texas, where he'd previously been stationed in the Army. Cierra Butts is accused of driving her brother to the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
