Romonia Butler-Foster let deep-seated feelings of anger and acrimony simmer insider her for more than a year.
All of them were directed at Demetreon T. Caston-Townsend, the Milwaukee man who police said gunned down her brother in front of four of his children and sped away.
She felt the same way Monday as she strode into a Milwaukee County courtroom for what was the latest hearing for the accused killer.
Then, it happened: Caston-Townsend, sitting at a defendant’s table, just a few feet away from her, uttered the words she had long awaited.
And just like that, her heart felt differently. Lighter.
“To hear him tell the judge ‘I’m guilty …’ That ‘I’m the one guilty of this crime’ … it was just a release,” said Butler-Foster, 53. “I needed to hear that.”
‘I can breathe again’
On Monday, Caston-Townsend pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide in Ronald “Hollywood” Butler’s July 19, 2022, death.
Police said someone opened fire on his van at Mill Avenue and 89th Street, on the city’s northwest side. Four of Butler’s children — ages 2, 9, and 10-year-old twins at the time — were riding with him when the shooting occurred.