On August 20, 2025, Michelle Butler, a 36-year-old employee of the Little Rock School District and mother, was killed outside the Rockefeller Early Childhood Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, at about 2:54 p.m. According to authorities, Butler was run over multiple times with a vehicle and then shot several times with a gun taken from her own car. Medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene; friends remembered her as fun-loving, supportive and always smiling.

Law enforcement described the incident as an isolated domestic matter and quickly identified a suspect. Officers located the described vehicle and took 29-year-old Duane Nooner into custody. Court documents and police statements say Nooner admitted to running Butler over and then shooting her, and video footage from the scene is reported to corroborate that sequence. Nooner was charged with capital murder and held without bond; he pleaded not guilty at a subsequent court appearance and the case was set to proceed through the legal system.

If anyone knew Michelle Butler or has information about what happened that afternoon, please share what you know with investigators.