Roger Dale Stafford (November 4, 1951 – July 1, 1995) was a convicted

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

executed for the 1978 murders of the Lorenz Family and six employees of a Sirloin Stockade restaurant in Oklahoma. Stafford never acknowledged his guilt, but Stafford's wife, Verna, implicated him in a total of 34 murders in seven different states.

Crimes

Stafford began his killing spree on January 12, 1974, by killing 20-year-old Jimmy Earl Berry, a student at the

University of North Alabama The University of North Alabama (UNA) is a public university in Florence, Alabama, United States. It is the state's oldest university. Occupying a campus in a residential section of Florence, UNA is located within a four-city area that also ...

, working as an assistant manager at a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

restaurant in

Muscle Shoals, Alabama Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated popula ...

. Berry was shot four times and the perpetrator robbed the restaurant of

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

1,390.00. This crime remained unsolved until four years after the incident, when Stafford and his brother Harold were implicated by Dale's wife, Verna. Stafford was never prosecuted for Berry's murder because of the Oklahoma murder convictions. He continued on with his murder spree along with his wife, Verna, and brother, Harold, on June 22, 1978. His wife flagged down the Lorenz family on the side of Interstate 35 near

Purcell, Oklahoma Purcell is a city in and the county seat of McClain County, Oklahoma, McClain County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 6,651, a 13% increase from 2010. Founded in 1887, Purcell w ...

, when Melvin Lorenz, 38, his wife, Linda, 31, and their son, Richard, 12, were traveling to

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

for the funeral of Melvin Lorenz's mother. After the Lorenz family stopped to help, Stafford then robbed and murdered the entire family. Three weeks later on July 16, he murdered six employees at a Sirloin Stockade restaurant in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

during a robbery. 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.

Weapons

Roger was armed with a

Colt Trooper The Colt Trooper is a medium Receiver (firearms), frame, double-action revolver featuring a six-round cylinder, Chamber (firearms), chambered for .22 Long Rifle, .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, .38 Special, and .357 Magnum caliber Cartridge (firearm ...

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR (as it is known in unofficial metric designation) is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

. Harold was armed with a

Taurus Model 82 The Taurus Model 82 is a 6-shot, .38 Special, medium frame revolver manufactured by Taurus. Design The revolver is similar in configuration to the Smith & Wesson Model 10 which at one time was the mainstay of law enforcement agencies in the ...

.38 caliber revolver stolen from a pawn shop in Purcell. Verna equipped herself with an .22-caliber

Luger pistol The Pistole Parabellum or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just the Luger or Luger P08, is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1 ...

that was also stolen from a family outside of Purcell.

Capture and trial

Six days after the Sirloin Stockade robbery, Harold Stafford died in a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

accident in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. Police traced a woman who went to see his body at a local funeral home to

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where they found and arrested Verna Stafford. They soon apprehended Roger Stafford as well. On Oct. 17, 1979, he was convicted of all nine murders, and sentenced to death. His wife Verna testified against him, and

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

d him while he was on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...

(she was sentenced to two life terms for her part in the crimes). Stafford married again—twice—while awaiting execution.

Execution

Stafford was executed in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

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 nowiki/>sic">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>sic">nowiki/>sicand you help [sic">sic">nowiki_>sic<_a>.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>sic">nowiki/>sic">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>sic">nowiki/>sicand you help [sicdo it! I am innocent and you know it" written on the back and signed "Roger Dale Stafford 103767". 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Roger Dale 1951 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American murderers 20th-century executions by Oklahoma 20th-century executions of American people American murderers of children American people convicted of murder Executed American mass murderers Executed American serial killers People convicted of murder by Oklahoma People executed by Oklahoma by lethal injection Serial killers from Alabama Serial killers from Oklahoma Serial mass murderers

Crimes

Weapons

Capture and trial

Execution

See also

References