A Grays Harbor County man was convicted Dec. 22 on eight counts, including rape of a child and incest.

When he is sentenced Feb. 2, he faces the possibility of life in prison, according to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erin Riley, who prosecuted the case.

Jeffrey L. Butterfield, 58, was charged with abusing his twin daughters for nearly a decade. The girls, now in their 20s, were physically and sexually abused by Butterfield from ages 6 to 16, according to testimony.

“This involved 10-plus-year span of sexual abuse, incest and physical abuse that equated to torture,” said Riley. “It was by far the worst case I have worked on … and it took 10 years to get justice for the two young women involved.”

Butterfield reportedly also abused three male children in the household, but only the girls came forward after they had been removed from the home they all shared in Artic.

“Child Protective Services had been in and out of this family’s life pretty early on, with different accusations,” said Riley. “The family moved often, sometimes several times in a single month, so it was very difficult to track them. Nobody knew about the sexual assault, but there were obvious signs of lack of food, money issues — things like that.”

When the twins were enrolled in school, they would sometimes confide in a teacher about home issues other than the sexual assault. That would lead to a CPS visit — which, according to testimony, would result in an escalation of physical abuse of the twins.

“They testified on the stand what would happen if they didn’t comply,” said Riley. “In one case after a visit, Butterfield smashed one of the girls’ heads through a window. They learned real quick to say ‘daddy didn’t do anything wrong.’ They covered it up in hopes it wouldn’t get any worse.”

The visits were announced in advance, and the twins said in their testimony they would be forced to thoroughly clean the residence and not discuss any of the abuse with investigators. Finally, alert food bank employees put in a tip that led to the girls’ salvation.

“The reason for the surprise visit was the number of times the girls called the food bank. They were told by food bank employees that if they called one more time they would contact the police. They called one more time,” said Riley. “The police and Child Protective Services did a surprise visit and saw the terrible conditions. It is my understanding from testimony at that time one of the girls was 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighed 95 pounds. The other was 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed around 75 pounds.”

The twins then told their stories to investigators. Their story was shocking to even the most hardened among them.

“There was an incident where (Butterfield) made the children dig a hole, because when mommy came home he was going to kill her and bury her,” said Riley. “Fortunately, when the mom came home the kids ran out and warned her and she drove away, and never returned.”

The mother was herself a victim of Butterfield’s cruelty, said Riley, but, like the girls, felt powerless to do anything about it.

Riley said that soon after the investigation began, the girls recanted their statements.

“We put together all the forensic interviews and were ready to proceed in 2006 when they recanted because their dad had somehow gotten a hold of them and told them to take back the accusations,” said Riley. The girls, still fearful of their abusive father, did as he said.

Finally, in February 2017, one of the girls contacted the Children’s Advocacy Center (now called Connections) in Montesano.

“She felt it she was at a point where she could actually stand up to him,” said Riley. “She wasn’t afraid anymore — that was the term she used — and didn’t want anyone else to become a victim (of Butterfield).”

After a three-day trial in which both girls, investigators and one brother all testified, Butterfield was convicted on all eight counts he was charged with: Rape of a Child First, Second and Third Degree; Child Molestation First, Second and Third Degree, and Incest in the First Degree — one count for each girl.

Riley said they were unable to charge him with physical assault because the statute of limitations had run out. Regardless, with the enhancements the jury agreed to — including the length of time the abuse occurred and the twins’ ages at the time of the abuse — Judge Mark McCauley is within his authority to hand down an exceptional sentence.

“He’s looking at at least 40 years to life,” said Riley. She pointed out that due to Butterfield’s age, even 40 years would likely mean he would die behind bars.