Roger Dale Stafford

Roger Dale Stafford
Booking Photo 1979
BornNovember 4, 1951
Sheffield, Alabama, U.S.
DiedJuly 1, 1995(1995-07-01) (aged 43)
Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Oklahoma, U.S.
ConvictionFirst degree murder (9 counts)
Criminal penalty
Execution by lethal injection
Details
Victims9–34
Span of crimes
1974–1978
CountryUnited States
StatesOklahoma, Alabama, possibly others
WeaponsFirearm

Roger Dale Stafford (November 4, 1951 – July 1, 1995) was an American convicted serial killer and mass murderer executed for the 1978 murders of the Lorenz family and six employees of a Sirloin Stockade restaurant in Oklahoma.[1] Stafford never acknowledged his guilt, but Stafford's wife, Verna, implicated him in a total of 34 murders in seven different states.[2]

Crimes

On January 12, 1974, Stafford killed 20-year-old Jimmy Earl Berry, a student at the University of North Alabama, working as an assistant manager at a McDonald's restaurant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Berry was shot four times and the perpetrator robbed the restaurant of US$1,390.00.[3] This crime remained unsolved until four years after the incident, when Stafford and his brother Harold were implicated by Stafford's wife, Verna. Stafford was never prosecuted for Berry's murder due to later murder convictions in the state of Oklahoma.[2]

On June 22, 1978, Stafford, aided by his wife Verna and brother Harold, robbed and killed the three-person Lorenz family on the side of Interstate 35 near Purcell, Oklahoma. Verna flagged down the family's car, containing Melvin Lorenz, 38, his wife, Linda, 31, and their son, Richard, 12, who were traveling to North Dakota for the funeral of Melvin Lorenz's mother. After the Lorenz family stopped to help, Stafford then robbed and murdered the entire family.[1]

Three weeks later on July 16, Stafford murdered six employees at a Sirloin Stockade restaurant in Oklahoma City during a robbery.[4] The victims were 17-year-old David Lindsey, 16-year-old David Salsman, 17-year-old Anthony Tew, 15-year-old Terri Horst, 43-year-old Louis Zacarias and 56-year-old Isaac Freeman, all of whom were shot to death.[5]

Weapons

Roger was armed with a Colt Trooper .357 Magnum. Harold was armed with a Taurus Model 82 .38 caliber revolver stolen from a pawn shop in Purcell. Verna equipped herself with an .22-caliber Luger pistol that was also stolen from a family outside of Purcell.[6]

Capture and trial

Six days after the Sirloin Stockade robbery, Harold Stafford died in a motorcycle accident in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Police traced a woman who went to see his body at a local funeral home to Chicago, Illinois, where they found and arrested Verna Stafford. They soon apprehended Roger Stafford as well.[7]

On October 17, 1979, he was convicted of all nine murders, and sentenced to death.[8] His wife Verna was convicted of two counts of second degree murder for the deaths of Linda Lorenz and Terri Horst and was given two life sentences.[9] She also testified against her husband, and divorced him while he was on death row. Stafford married again—twice—while awaiting execution.[4]

Execution

Stafford was executed in Oklahoma by lethal injection on July 1, 1995.

Less than two weeks later, Assistant Attorney General Sandy Howard received a $5 Sirloin Stockade gift certificate with the message "Hey, you got away with it. I am murder [sic] and you help [sic] do it! I am innocent and you know it" written on the back and signed "Roger Dale Stafford 103767".[10] Investigators traced the certificate's origin to a Sirloin Stockade restaurant in El Reno, Oklahoma, and determined that it had been mailed from McAlester, Oklahoma (where Stafford was imprisoned), on July 3, two days after Stafford's execution.[10]

Verna Parole

Verna was accepted for parole on her first life sentence in August 2026 but has to serve 15 more years on her second life sentence before actually being eligible for parole.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Grimes, Jeanne (June 20, 2013). "Deadly summer of 78". The Purcell Register. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Victim's Family Lacks Closure After Execution". NewsOK.com. July 16, 1995. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  3. ↑ Speaks, Shoalanda (June 25, 2016). "Shoals Crime: Murder at McDonald's". Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Thornton, Anthony (July 15, 2008). "Drifter shoots, kills 6 workers at steak house (July 16, 1978)". NewsOK. Archived from the original on May 15, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  5. ↑ Querry, K. (July 16, 2018). "The crime that changed Oklahoma: 40 year anniversary of Sirloin Stockade murders". KFOR-TV. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Case Files: Sirloin Stockade Murders". Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Executed Inmates: Stafford". Tulsa World. June 20, 2014. Archived from the original on June 22, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  8. ↑ Thornton, Tony. "Sirloin Stockade murders timeline". NewsOk. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Stafford v. State, 0-89-897". Vlex.
  10. 1 2 Jenkins, Ron (July 14, 1995). "Stafford Sent "Gift" to Prosecutor Certificate Received After Execution". NewsOk. Retrieved May 15, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  11. ↑ https://journalrecord.com/2026/08/12/oklahoma-pardon-board-recommends-parole-verna-stafford/
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