Crime dramas have been fans’ favorite genre for decades. “Final Moments” is one such true crime series that dwells on the stories of missing people. The first episode is about a businessman named Charles Butler. He was a very dedicated businessman and a loving dad. He had three children and was their best friend. In the episode, we see real-life footage of him before he disappeared in 2012. What was his story? Let’s find out.
As mentioned before, Charles Butler was a businessman, but he had a pizza place in Florida before he started his own insurance company. He grew up in Queens and had come to visit Florida to meet a friend. However, on his trip to Florida, he met a lovely girl and ended up marrying her after dating her for three years. He then had three children: Molly, Maxwell, and Margie. Among the three of them, Molly was the eldest child. Molly described his father as a hardworking man who was an amazing businessman. Charles Butler got divorced from his wife Kim, and his children got to see him less often. However, according to Molly, their father always tried to give them the best time of their lives whenever they were together. The audience also gets to see videos of Charles singing and dancing in subways to make his children laugh. According to Maxwell, he was embarrassed by his dad when he started singing in public but looking back; those are now happy memories. In the episode, you feel a sort of connection with Charles Butler, as he seems like a happy person who loves his family.
Charles Butler was someone who believed in his children’s dreams and always persuaded them to succeed in something they liked doing. His favorite city was New York City. Even though he lived in Florida, his heart was always in New York City. His eldest daughter, Molly, wanted to become a hairstylist in the famous city, and Charles Butler was very supportive of the idea. He also decided to get an apartment with Molly in New York City, and he visited her often.
Charles Butler wanted to find his queen (love), so he decided to join some dating websites. He soon met a girl named Anna and fell in love with her. His children also found her cute and supported their relationship. She lived in Brooklyn, and on his trip to New York, Charles decided to visit Anna first and then spend the rest of his days with Molly. Molly wanted to book a flight, but her credit card was not working for some reason, so she texted Charles Butler to book her a ticket. He informed her through texts that he was with Anna and that she had cooked him dinner. Charles was very happy to have a home-cooked meal since he had not had one in a long time. He sounded very happy to be with Anna, and according to his children, he was already looking for rings.
The next day, when Molly tried to ask Charles about the ticket he was supposed to book, his texting style sounded off. However, Molly didn’t think much about it during that time. Soon, Charles’ phone was out of reach, and he didn’t reach New York City. His daughter got concerned since this was not how he behaved. He was a man who was always there for his family. Two days went by, and nobody heard from Charles. Also, Molly started getting calls from his employees asking about his whereabouts. Molly managed to break into Charles’ iPad and find out Anna’s email address. She didn’t have her phone number, so she emailed Anna, asking about her dad. Molly soon got a reply in which Anna mentioned that Charles had left her apartment and also broken up with her. When Molly heard this, she grew suspicious because Charles was head over heels for Anna. She went to the police, who sometimes said people take off like this to get their minds off their mundane lives, but Molly said he would never ignore his children. One of the inspectors assured her that he would help her out; however, the police couldn’t find anything. The children then decided to hire a private investigator, who questioned Anna. He also found a man’s watch at Anna’s place that did not seem to belong to Charles. Anna informed the private investigator that the watch belonged to her ex-husband, Mikhail Chernyaev.
Months went by with no leads, and all the police had was video footage of Charles Butler entering Anna’s house, but there was no footage of him getting out of the apartment. The police grew suspicious of Mikhail Chernyaev because he had access to Anna’s parking space, and the police found footage of Mikhail Chernyaev’s van outside Anna’s apartment. Mikhail Chernyaev was a jealous man who had called Charles Butler, threatening him to stay away from Anna. When police were seeking a search warrant to investigate Mikhail Chernyaev’s van further, a severe storm hit New York City, and Mikhail Chernyaev’s van was also damaged in it. However, one day, a fisherman found a body in the upstate area of New York. The DNA matched Charles’ DNA, and the news devastated his family.
The police soon called Mikhail Chernyaev in for questioning, and when he was informed that the police had found his body, he started confessing. He informed the police that he had gotten into a fight with Charles Butler and stabbed him with a knife. His excuse was that he was possessed by a demon. Four years after Charles’ death, Mikhail Chernyaev was put on trial, and the jury found him guilty of murdering Charles Butler. The sole reason for Mikhail Chernyaev killing Charles Butler was that he was jealous of him dating his ex-wife. The jury sentenced Mikhail Chernyaev to 25 years to life in prison. Molly and her siblings got closure on their father’s disappearance, but they lost someone they dearly loved.