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Gloucester Township youth gets 30 years in foster father's death

A Gloucester Township youth was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for fatally stabbing his former foster father last year, authorities said.

A Gloucester Township youth was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for fatally stabbing his former foster father last year, authorities said.

Demetrius Minor, 16, must serve 85 percent of his sentence for the aggravated manslaughter of Theotis Butts before he will be eligible for parole. He received an additional 10 years, to be served concurrently, for an unrelated carjacking.

Minor stabbed Butts on July 11. He had carjacked a couple at gunpoint and driven away with their car May 29.

At Minor's sentencing in New Jersey Superior Court, Wanda Broach-Butts spoke to him about what she and her husband had tried to do as his foster parents.

"Ted and I went above and beyond to bring out the best in you," Broach-Butts said. "Despite our efforts, you built up a resistance that eventually destroyed our relationship by taking my husband from me in a manner that is too brutal to mention."

In the May carjacking, Minor approached a couple as they were getting into their Pontiac Grand Prix shortly before 5 p.m. near their home in Gloucester Township. He pointed a Glock .45 in the woman's face.

The couple retrieved their infant child from the car before Minor sped away, authorities said. The woman's husband tried to chase Minor in another vehicle but lost track of him.

The car was spotted about two hours later in Bridgeton, where local police pursued Minor. He jumped from the car and ran away.

Police were seeking Minor on an arrest warrant in the carjacking when he broke into the Buttses' home in the first block of Hemlock Drive in Gloucester Township.

Theotis Butts, 69, a former railroad worker, had taken Minor in from the foster-care system, but the teenager no longer lived there. Minor burglarized the house numerous times after moving out, township police records show.

Minor stabbed Butts 24 times and fled to New York City, where he was arrested in the Bronx on July 12.

"Ted embraced all that came into his circle, including family, friends, people that he would meet on the streets, and his church parishioners," Broach-Butts said. "Ted had a tremendous gift to teach and mentor children and young men that have experienced unfortunate child rearing and environmental influences."