In 2009, while Butz was in Seattle performing in the out-of-town previews of the musical "Catch Me If You Can," his sister Teresa (who lived in Seattle with her fiancée, Jennifer Hopper) was raped and then stabbed to death. Hopper was also raped and severely wounded, but a detective on the case told reporters that Teresa had sacrificed herself to save Jennifer. Teresa and Jennifer had planned to get married that September. The Seattle opening of "Catch Me If You Can" was briefly delayed out of respect for the Butz family. When Norbert Leo Butz won the Tony for his lead performance in the musical, he dedicated it to his father and his sister, saying "this is for my father, I based this character on, and for my sister. I love you Teresa. We remember you every night." In 2011, Teresa's murderer, Isaiah Kalebu, was convicted of "aggravated murder" and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. In 2012, Seattle journalist Eli Sanders of "The Stranger" newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his article about Hopper and Butz.
