Woman struck by lightning and killed just before boyfriend was to propose

A romantic hike and planned marriage proposal took a sad turn Friday for 30-year-old Richard Butler and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Bethany Lott.

Butler said he’d taken Lott to Max Patch Bald, a mountain near Asheville, to propose to her. The couple, who live in Knoxville, Tennessee, were hiking up the mountain when thunderstorms began rolling in. Butler had planned to ask Lott to marry him, but he didn’t get the chance:

“I think it was the third one that hit us,” he said. “She was probably five feet in front of me, so given the incline, she was a good bit higher than me, but it jumped to me.”

Butler said he didn’t initially realize he had been hit.

“I was spun 180 degrees and thrown several feet back,” he said. “My legs turned to Jello, my shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire.”

Butler recalled that just prior to the fatal lightning strike, Lott turned to him and remarked on “how beautiful it is.” He said that when he realized his girlfriend had been struck, he tried CPR for 15 minutes before summoning help. Butler also said that he managed to put the ring on her while emergency medical workers attempted resuscitation:

“I put the ring on her finger while the EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) were working on her,” he said.

“They are listing me as her fiancé in the obituaries.”