Affidavit: Wife of suspect in Pam Butler's disappearance vanished in 1989, has never been found

WASHINGTON - Court documents reveal new information about the man arrested Friday in connection to the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend eight years ago. Jose Angel Rodriguez-Cruz was charged with killing his former girlfriend, 47-year-old Pam Butler, who disappeared from her northwest DC home in 2009. A court affidavit reveals his first wife vanished in 1989, and has never been found.

According to the affidavit obtained by FOX 5 DC on Monday, police found new witnesses in connection to Butler's murder, including one witness that had known Rodriguez-Cruz for 22 years. On the weekend Butler disappeared, the affidavit says Rodriguez-Cruz gave that witness a gun to hold for him. The witness told authorities they were afraid of Rodriguez-Cruz, but that it's now time for the truth to come out.

REWIND TO THE CRIME: What happened to Pam Butler?

The affidavit also says detectives learned that Rodriguez-Cruz's first wife disappeared nearly 28 years ago, after she had accused him of beating her, and after an officer apparently witnessed him attempting to abduct her outside her home. She has never been found.

In the last two months, a new detective, Michael Fulton, assigned to the case discovered that the sister of Rodriguez-Cruz's second wife took on the identity of his missing first wife, and it had gone undetected ever since. That's when things started to unfurl.

According to Arlington County police, an officer witnessed a struggle between Jose Angel Rodriguez-Cruz and his estranged wife, Marta Haydee Rodriguez, outside of her home on March 29, 1989. Police said he was waiting outside and tried to abduct her before police intervened. Rodriguez-Cruz, who was then 23 years old, was arrested and charged with abduction, and placed on $25,000 bond.

Less than two months later on May 26, 1989, a missing person report was filed for Haydee Rodriguez. In 2000, detectives got a report that she was living in Florida, and Miami-Dade police were sent out to the woman's current address speak to her. At that time, her missing person case was closed.

It's unclear when, but Arlington County police say sometime after that they learned that the woman located in 2000 was not Marta Haydee Rodriguez, and her missing person case was reopened. It has remained active ever since. Arlington County police are now investigating her case as homicide.

On Saturday, DC police announced they had made an arrest in Butler's disappearance. Rodriguez-Cruz is charged with first-degree murder. Butler's body has never been found, but a judge declared her dead in July 2016.

Police have been gathering evidence against Rodriguez-Cruz since the day Butler was reported missing. The affidavit in the case reveals a cadaver dog alerted on the inside of Rodriguez-Cruz's car as well as the inside of Butler's Jaguar and near the washer-dryer area of her house. Butler's missing cell phone was pinging off of towers near where Rodriguez-Cruz was living in Virginia, and near Seneca Valley Park in Montgomery County-- where police once searched, after the Rodriguez-Cruz told them he had a dream she was there.

The affidavit also revealed Rodriguez-Cruz was given a general discharge from the Army because he was unstable and in recent years, he twice threatened to harm his boss, who is a woman.

Rodriguez-Cruz made a first appearance in court on Monday, and was ordered held without bond.

Authorities questioned Rodriguez-Cruz, a former military police officer, after Butler's disappearance, but he had previously denied any involvement. They say she met him online. The case was reopened in February. FOX 5's Paul Wagner also revisited the case recently in his Rewind to the Crime series.