At first, he seemed to dote on her. That didn't last.
Kate was allowed to start dating when she turned 16, and in the beginning, her first boyfriend Jesse Mack Butler gave a good impression to her parents. They didn't imagine the baseball player from a prominent local family – a young man who, they said, frequently brought their daughter flowers and attended church with them – might in secret be harming her.
Certainly, they had no inkling he would soon be convicted of repeated, violent sexual assault, her parents said. And, that Kate – who asked to be identified by her first name only – would not be the only one to come forward with her story, her injuries, and her evidence, they said.
Even more incomprehensible to Kate's family, they said: that two girls' summoning the courage to speak out, and a six-month criminal investigation into their separate but similar accounts of Butler's alleged behavior, would not feel like justice served.
"It was upsetting," Kate's mother Yvonne told ABC Nightline anchor Juju Chang, speaking out with her husband for the first time on camera. "The girls had to be really brave to come forward, and they went through a lot to get to that point. And then, it just kind of felt like it was all for nothing."
Now 18, Butler was arrested in March while he was still underage. The teen from Stillwater, Oklahoma, was charged as an adult with multiple counts of rape, sexual battery and domestic assault and battery by strangulation of two female victims. Though he initially faced what could have been a lengthy prison sentence, he was ultimately granted "youthful offender" status.
In August, he pleaded "no contest," and in October, Butler was sentenced to community service, rehabilitation and out-patient counseling, not time behind bars. The 18 year-old remains under court supervision until he turns 19 next year. Meanwhile, the case has gained steam in the headlines -- and gathered outraged demonstrators outside the Payne County courthouse.
In spring 2024, Kate seemed initially smitten in her new relationship, but that changed a few months in, her mother said. "She was trying to keep herself busy, and not spending as much time with him," Yvonne recalled noticing. By the end of summer, their six-month relationship ended. Trying not to pry, her parents said at first they didn't know the break-up details.
"I asked what it was about and she couldn't tell me, so I still didn't know what had happened to my daughter," Yvonne said. However, Kate did confide in a church leader and in a school friend, her mother said, and then discovered she wasn't the only one.
"The other victim asked to talk to my daughter and because she had heard the rumor that was going around about Kate. And she told her that it had happened to her too," Yvonne said. The pair went to school officials to tell them what happened, she said.
In September 2024, the girls filed a police report with the high school's resource officer, according to Butler's arrest warrant affidavits. Then, they waited, according to Kate's family and court documents -- Kate's forensic interview wasn't scheduled for two weeks. And for those two weeks, Kate had to sit in math class with her alleged abuser, her parents said.
Citing pending litigation, Stillwater Public Schools and Stillwater Police told ABC News in an e-mail that officials are "unable to comment" on the case or Kate's parents' allegations.
"Once I found out what he had been accused of by them, I was upset. Because she was actually in danger being in that same room with him," Yvonne said.
"He should have been pulled out of school – that day of [the girls'] reporting," said Kate's father, Austin. "I don't know how they allowed someone like that to be with their victim."
The first time Kate alleged Butler abused her was about a month after they started seeing each other, according to an arrest warrant affidavit detailing her police interview. The couple was sitting on the bed of his pickup truck at a Sonic drive-in – and he made unwanted advances, the affidavit said.
"She told Butler 'no,' but he continued to grab and slap her buttocks and touch her breasts. Butler became angry, grabbed her arm, spun her around, and threw her on the ground. This action left scratches on her arm, which Butler laughed about," the document said. That showed Kate "that Butler would use physical force on her, if she did not comply with his sexual demands," according to the affidavit.
It got worse from there, Kate told investigators.
Housesitting for a family friend in late July 2024, Butler visited Kate and said he wanted to have sex, according to police records. But Kate said "she did not want to do anything at the house. Butler became angry, came up behind her, put his arm around her neck, and strangled to unconsciousness. She could not breathe, scratched at his arms, and tried to get away, but could not free herself." When she woke up on the living room floor, Kate told police she found "red marks across her neck."
Then “approximately 15 minutes after strangling her, Butler initiated sexual intercourse with her," according to the affidavit. Kate reported to police that she "complied out of fear."
Later in the week, Butler again choked her, according to police records – and he filmed it. Again, Kate told police "she complied with him out of fear of him."
"Butler told her he wanted to strangle her, so he could film it on his phone," according to the affidavit. "Butler got on top of [Kate] to watch her pass out. He set up his phone to record it, so he could watch it later. [Kate] lost consciousness on this occasion as well," police records said.
According to the affidavit, investigators searching Butler's phone found a video from Aug. 1, 2024, which they said backed up what Kate had alleged: it showed Butler "strangling [Kate] until unconsciousness."
Kate's father said he's in "disbelief" at what his daughter says happened to her at such a young age – and by someone so young.
"It's like, how do they even know to do that? Like, normal kids, that's not how you live, so, it's just kind of disbelief that could happen, especially to my child," Austin said.
Some of the allegations Kate made about her time with Butler echoed those of her newfound confidant – another ex-girlfriend of Butler's, who in court documents is referred to by her initials, "L.S." Police noted in arrest affidavits that Butler "employed similar strategies to elicit cooperation" from the victims, "including strangling her until unconsciousness for refusing to have sexual intercourse with him."
L.S. told investigators she and Butler began dating in late January 2024. It wasn't long before the abuse began, she said.
Groundhog Day of that year found the pair attending a wrestling dual at Oklahoma State University together. Then, parked in his car outside a local ice cream shop, Butler "forcibly removed her clothing, aggressively pinned her down, sat on top of her" and sexually assaulted her, L.S. told police.
L.S. "yelled and told him 'no' repeatedly and tried to push him off of her, but was unable to overpower him." She said Butler "told her he was sorry for what he was about to do, but he had to do it," she told investigators. At the last minute, a passerby "called out from the street and interrupted him."
The assaults continued, L.S. told investigators. In late February, when they were in her car in a Walmart parking lot, she said "she was strangled to the point of unconsciousness" by Butler after she "would not participate in sexual acts with him," according to police records.
She "was scared and crying. She told Butler, 'no,' but he did not listen," records said. L.S. said she "was hyperventilating and then recalled her vision being blurry and she was dizzy. She reported her head immediately hurt and she was confused about what occurred. She was scared of Butler, but when she regained consciousness Butler was laughing at her."
L.S. would later recount she had to have surgery on her neck because of that incident.
"That moment changed my life," L.S. said in a victim impact statement filed with the Payne County court at the time of Butler's plea hearing. "A medical professional later told me that I was just 30 seconds away from dying. Thirty seconds. If you had kept your hands on my neck just a little longer, I wouldn't be standing here today."
Butler was sentenced this fall to community service, rehabilitation and out-patient counseling. If he fully complies, his criminal record would be expunged when he turns 19 next year, and will not have to register as a sexual offender.
"Youthful offender status is a very common concept throughout the country. Every state has some version of it," said ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire. "That allows him for lighter penalties, namely no prison time, so long as he abides by those regimented rules that he has to follow until he turns nineteen."
"Community service and counseling doesn't equate to what he did to her. What he's taken from her," Yvonne said.
Kate's family and her lawyer have demanded more accountability than what they view as a slap on the wrist -- and that it sends the wrong message.
"That we're not protecting young women in Oklahoma," said attorney Rachel Bussett, who began representing Kate and her family after the sentence. "That's not a good message to send."
In a statement to ABC News, Payne County District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas defended the outcome of the case and how it was handled.
"The three young people involved were all 16 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. Each of the allegations was reported to have occurred during consecutive dating relationships and none of the allegations was reported until after the relationships had both ended," Thomas' statement said. "These circumstances do not justify criminal behavior or minimize victim trauma but they do impact the evidence available for a prosecution and they also impact potential defenses. We discussed these factors at length on multiple occasions with each family, including advising them from the beginning that this matter was likely to end up as a youthful offender prosecution and could even end up in juvenile court."
Butler and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment.