The Oregon Board of Parole is considering whether to move forward with possible release for a man convicted in the 1980 kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Sherwood girl Charmel Ulrich, whose body was found east of Waldport in Lincoln County. Lincoln County District Attorney Jenna Wallace attended the hearing in Salem last week, representing both the county where the killing occurred and Ulrich’s family.

Ulrich was abducted from the Sherwood area in Washington County in 1980. She was later found dead off a forest road about 20 miles east of Waldport. Three men were convicted of her aggravated murder: Michael Butler, who's parole hearing D.A. Wallace attended, along with co-defendants Gary Allen Smith and William Perry Jackson. All three remain incarcerated.

Ten days before Ulrich was killed, the same group was involved in killing an elderly man in Washington State. Butler was convicted in that case as well. According to the district attorney, Washington ran its sentence concurrent with the Oregon case and has already paroled him on the Washington conviction. He is now held solely on the Oregon life sentence for Ulrich’s murder and is housed at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.

Under Oregon’s murder review process, people serving life sentences can petition the parole board after a set period of time if they believe they can show a likelihood of rehabilitation. This was Butler’s third attempt. In an earlier hearing he withdrew his request; another was denied. The hearing was held on May 20th 2026, the board reviewed his criminal history, conduct in prison, participation in treatment, and other factors outlined in Oregon Administrative Rules.

D. A Wallace said Butler tried to present himself as rehabilitated and repeatedly used the language of accountability, but his explanations often shifted responsibility to his past drug and alcohol use, mental health history, and childhood trauma. She noted that he served about a month in a state hospital roughly a year before the crimes, but has had no similar documented mental health crises or medication while in prison over the past 46 years.

DA Wallace raised concerns that Butler’s descriptions of his mental state and his role in the crimes were inconsistent. She said he alternated between portraying himself as an active participant in a plan to abduct a girl, get her hooked on drugs, and take her to California to sell her into a trafficking operation, and then describing himself as trying to befriend and protect Ulrich or acting only out of self-preservation. Wallace said those versions could not be reconciled.

The hearing also revisited the impact on Ulrich’s family. Her parents, siblings, and other relatives attended, along with community members from the Sherwood area who knew her as a child. At the parole hearing the victim's brother told the board that each new parole review forces the family to relive the 1980 crime and sit in the same room with the man convicted of abducting, sexually assaulting, and killing their loved family member. Many in the broader community also continue to feel the loss decades later, as shown by the volume of letters submitted to the board.

Wallace said her role was to represent Lincoln County’s interests, and support the family. She focused on contradictions in Butler’s statements and argued that public safety and the interests of justice were better served by keeping him in custody. The parole board did not issue a decision at the hearing. Under its rules, the board has 30 days to decide whether Butler has shown a reasonable likelihood of rehabilitation within a reasonable period of time.