NEWTON - Police have a suspect in mind in the brutal stabbing of Kody Butchko, 18, in Newton early Saturday morning.
The apprentice plummer had been at a house party in the 6100-block of 133rd Street when he was attacked.His uncle, Don Pitcairn, said Butchko had been trying to break up a fight and for that, was stabbed nine times. He was stabbed twice in the chest, then another seven times in the back as he ran for his life.Pitcairn said his nephew's attackers - four white men, in their early 20s - chased him into a yard, beat him and robbed him of his wallet and cell phone."He was basically running for his life."Butchko managed to get away and collapsed in a ditch a couple blocks away, where a passerby found him and called 911."I love Surrey but it's like crazy, this whole orgyof violence," said Pitcairn. "When's it going to end?" Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet said Monday at press time that the police investigation is "movingforward quite swiftly."We've identified a few subjects of interest," he said. "We have a main suspect in mind as well. Nobody has been arrested so far."Butchko is in stable condition, recovering from extensive surgery. Pitcairn said stab wounds slightly missed his heart and lung."It's pretty brutal to see him in that state," he said. Butchko is just shy of 19 and had been planning to fly to Mexico for a vacation on Monday.Pitcairn was in the news previously for starting up a line of T-shirts with slogans taking a poke at Surrey crime. Butchko himself has one of the shirts, with "Better Safe Than Surrey" printed on it.He wasn't wearing it the night he was attacked.Meantime, Pitcairn and other family members have been putting up wanted posters in Newton."I want these f--ers in jail," he said.tzytaruk@thenow newspaper.com