Jean Thomas Butchart, a 26-year-old white transgender man, was killed on August 4, 2023 in Belleville, Michigan. He had just started a new job as a maintenance worker at the Van Buren Estates mobile home park and was reportedly pulling weeds when a man approached and shot him in the head at point-blank range. First responders found him unresponsive and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooting was part of a series of violent incidents at the same mobile home park. Authorities say the suspected attacker had earlier threatened a 45-year-old man with a handgun during an argument, and during the investigation into Butchart’s death a 47-year-old man was later shot and wounded. The suspect barricaded himself inside a nearby residence and was taken into custody after a standoff with the Western Wayne SWAT team. Prosecutors charged the suspect with second-degree murder in connection with Butchart’s death alongside other related offenses.

Butchart, known to friends and family as Nature Boy, held a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and planned to return to school to become a science teacher. Family described him as a kind, well-loved unofficial leader in the local trans community and sought proper identification of his gender after initial confusion. Did anyone in the Belleville area know Jean, his plans, or his time at Van Buren Estates?