The 20-year-old sex worker who was arrested in November for a murder that took place in the Crissy Field parking lot was allegedly heard confessing in a jailhouse call to her mother, and she sounded remorseless about the crime.
Leion Butler, who identifies as a trans woman, was arrested November 20 and charged in the November 12 second-degree murder of 32-year-old Hamza Walupupu. The pair were in Walupupu's car after agreeing to a price for sex acts, and Walupupu drove 20 minutes to Crissy Field, even though Butler told investigators she wanted to stay closer to where she was picked up and felt "out of her element."
The pair then engaged in oral sex, and after Walupupu asked for "more," Butler allegedly told him she was trans, which led Walupupu to demand his money back. They then apparently argued about the matter and Butler wanted to be driven back across town, and when she refused to get out of the car, Walupupu tried to get out of his own car. That is allegedly when Butler pulled out her gun and shot him.
Walupupu's body was found in the parking lot by dog walkers that morning, reportedly "still warm." Butler allegedly drove the car to Hunters Point, dumping it on Kiska Road, and prosecutors say called her mother for help and wiped down the car, and her mother helped dispose of her purse. She also allegedly gave the gun to a friend, saying it "had a body on it," and disposed of the victim's backpack as well as her own bloody clothing.
Prosecutors say they have cellphone data that places Butler at Crissy Field the morning of the murder, and on Kiska Road shortly thereafter.
Butler has pleaded not guilty and is claiming self-defense in the case, but prosecutors say that she shot Walupupu because he "disrespected" her, and because she was cold and he refused to drive her back to where to she had been.
As the Chronicle now reports, via prosectors' filing concerning a bail hearing — prosecutors successfully argued earlier this month to keep Butler in jail pending trial — Butler spoke to her mother and at least one other individual from the jail about the crime.
Whether or not Butler was aware she was being recorded is unclear, but she allegedly told her mother, "I don’t feel like I’m in the wrong. I just feel like, girl, he got what he deserved."
In a separate conversation with someone else, Butler was allegedly being coached about showing some contrition about the crime. Butler allegedly replied, "Say that I apologize to anyone I hurt, but my life was in danger, and I felt like I had to defend myself in that moment or it would have been me. I don’t think I should say sorry to nobody because … I don’t feel sorry for smoking him."
These statements don't bode well for the self-defense case, but we'll see.
Prosecutors say that Butler purchased the gun, apparently for protection, about a month before the murder occurred.
It's been reported before that Butler had a "violent criminal record," however the details of that are not known — and possibly come from when she was a juvenile.
Butler will be tried in federal court, because the murder occurred on national parkland, and she is being represented by Federal Public Defender David Rizk. Rizk argued for her last month to be moved out of the men's unit at the SF County Jail to the jail's transgender unit — something that the federal prison does not have.
The victim was a part of the local Congolese community, and there was an outpouring of grief there about his death afer it occurred. The victim's brother, a DJ named Daddy Walupupu, spoke to the Chronicle last month saying, "Everybody was shocked. Everybody wants to know the truth. The community is awaiting justice."
Previously: Sex Worker Suspected of Homicide at Crissy Field Claims Self-Defense in Fatal Encounter
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