Waldo Butters is an Assistant Medical Examiner at Cook County Morgue and a polka enthusiast. He first appears in Death Masks. His rallying cry of "Polka will never die!" cements his status as a fan-favourite.
Role in the Series
Butters handled the bodies of the incinerated Red Court vampires after the events of Grave Peril, and when he reported that some of the remains were "humanoid, but definitely not human," he was forced to undergo psychological evaluation, lost his seniority, and got stuck on the night shift. Despite this disgrace, he still keeps an eye out for weirdness and calls Karrin Murphy when some of it comes his way. Examples of this happening are in Death Masks, Dead Beat, and White Night. In Dead Beat, we see another side to his personality when he joins Harry in his efforts to take down the necromancers threatening Chicago. In Turn Coat, Butters is called in by Harry to help take care of Morgan and to stitch him up, at which time he tells Harry to "wash his freaking hands."
Physical Appearance
From Dead Beat:
"Screw up my life?" He stared a me for a second and then said, deadpan, "I'm a five-foot-three, thirty-seven-year-old, single, Jewish medical examiner who needs to pick up his lederhosen from the dry cleaners so that he can play in a one-man polka band at Oktoberfest tomorrow." He pushed up his glasses with his forefinger, folded his arms, and said, "Do your worst."
From White Night:
Butters was an odd little duck. He wasn’t much taller than Murphy, and she probably had more muscle than he did. His shock of black hair resembled nothing so much as an explosion in a steel wool factory. He was all knees and elbows, especially in the surgical greens he was wearing, his face was lean and angular, his nose beaky, and his eyes were bright behind the prescription glasses.
Butters on TV
Butters has several cameos on the TV show, appearing in the episodes "Hair of the Dog," "Soul Beneficiary," and "What About Bob?," always wearing a polka-related t-shirt. He is played by Matt Gordon.