- "Me and your family go way back."
- ― Burt Hartman, to Heather Miller about the Sawyer family
Burt Hartman is a former mayor of Newt, Texas and is the main antagonist of Texas Chainsaw 3D. He was the archenemy of both Leatherface and Heather Sawyer.
History[]
Throughout his life, Burt held a strong hatred for the Sawyer Family, as they were responsible for the brutal murder of both his father and sister.
In 1973, When Leatherface was about to be turned in to Sheriff Hooper, who was sent to arrest him for his crimes, Burt arrived at the Sawyer ranch with a Lynch mob, as he decided to take both matters and the law into his own hands. In an act of vigilante justice, he and the mob, now joined by Sheriff Hooper, engaged in a shootout with the Sawyers, where they killed nearly all of them, sans Leatherface, who had managed to escape, while Heather Sawyer, who was a baby at that time, didn't get shot. After most of the Sawyers were killed, their house was soon destroyed by a fire caused by Molotov cocktails, which were thrown into the house by the mob. Due to this occurring event, Burt Hartman and the mob where hailed as heroes, and this allowed the former to be elected as Mayor.
Burt remained oblivious of Leatherface's survival until many years later. Decades later when the now-teenage Heather Sawyer inherits her grandmother's mansion, Leatherface turns up and begins rampaging. Later, when word gets out that Leatherface is still alive and that Heather is a member of the Sawyer Family, an enraged Burt Hartman vows to kill off the remaining Sawyers, after being reported of one of Leatherface's gruesome murders. He later spots Heather escaping from a local bar, after she met up with her lawyer. He begins chasing after her, but Heather manages to escape. Nevertheless, a determined Burt Hartman continues pursuing her with his friend Ollie.
When he later learns from his son Carl that he has managed to abduct Heather, he orders him to take her to a slaughterhouse where he is at so that they could use her as a bait to lure in Leatherface. When the latter arrived and begins freeing Heather, after learning that she is his long-lost cousin, Burt and Ollie proceeded to ambush him from behind and managed to beat Leatherface down. With help from Ollie, Burt has him forcefully dragged by a chain to a meat grinder in an attempt to finally kill him for good. This was foiled, however when Heather arrived to help her cousin. After Leatherface got his chainsaw back, Burt proceeded to duel with the cannibalistic killer. After being forced back, he then attempts to kill Heather. After beating her down, he was about to finish her off with a crowbar when he was interrupted by Leatherface, who had activated his chainsaw. Engaging with the latter once more, Burt's feet were brutally amputated and was forced into the meat grinder, which resulted in his death.