Cassie Jo Stoddart was brutally murdered in cold blood when she was house-sitting in 2006. The killers, Cassie's own classmates, kept a creepy list of people they planned to kill
It has been over 17 years since the killing of a teenager shocked a community, haunted by the actions of two of her classmates who murdered her for fun.
Cassie Jo Stoddart was killed while she was house-sitting in Bannock County, Idaho in 2006. Her two killers were partly emulating what they had seen in cult classic horror flick Scream.
On September 22 that year, Cassie invited her boyfriend Matt Beckham to join her while she was at the property, close to her own home in Potacello, Idaho. Matt agreed and brought with him his friend Torey Adamcik. Adamcik also brought along Brian Draper.
Adamcik and Draper were the two teens who would become Cassie Jo’s cowardly killers. They kept a “death list” between them and even kept video evidence of them discussing killing that would eventually point prosecutors towards them.
Matt arrived around 6pm on the evening of the murder and was joined by Adamcik and Draper. They four teens watched the Quentin Tarantino movie Kill Bill, Volume II before Adamcik and Draper left, saying they wanted to watch a movie at a cinema.
Adamcik and Draper unlocked the basem*nt door before they left in order to make an easy entry for themselves later that night. They donned white-painted masks, dark clothes and gloves and entered through the basem*nt door again.
Cassie, who still had Matt for company, was taunted when the killers turned off the power at the circuit breaker before turning it back on. Matt wanted to stay by Cassie’s side so she would feel safe - one of the family dogs had become alarmed and kept growling at the basem*nt - but was not allowed to stay and was picked up by his mother at 10.30pm.
Matt’s mum offered Cassie a bed for that night, but she declined saying she felt responsible for the property which belonged to her aunt and uncle Allison and Frank Contreras. Matt also rang Adamcik and Draper and were met with whispers in response. He took this to mean they were in the cinema and could not speak loudly.
After Matt left, the boys began to scare Cassie, slamming a closet in the process. Draper, armed with a dagger, stabbed Cassie at least 29 times. Dr Charles Garrison, a forensic pathologist, later said most of the wounds were to Cassie’s heart. Her body was found by the Contreras’ 13-year-old daughter on Sunday - the killing took place on the Friday night.
“This would rate — if not the top — real close to the top of all the incidents we’ve had to deal with,” said Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen in 2016. “Senseless, premeditated killing for the thrill of killing — all of those things that scare you the most, this was one of them.”
Cassie’s brother Andrew Stoddart was told of his sister’s death by his sobbing step-dad, surrounding by tearful neighbours. “I didn’t even know how to process it,” Andrew said. “I thought, ‘Is this really going on right now?’ I just broke down.”
He added: “When we were younger, we were raised by our grandparents quite a bit… Cassie was always the headstrong one out of all of our siblings. She was the one I always looked up to even though she wasn’t the oldest one.”
Andrew continued: “Me and her were always into the same stuff and going to the same places… We did everything together even though we would argue and stuff, just like any other sibling. I just miss having my sister right there a grade above me. I felt like I was always a step behind her looking up to her. She really was a role model. She was really smart, doing good and had a lot going for her.”
Mary Vagner, School District 25’s superintendent at the time of the killing, said: “It was a horrible experience that occurred for students who knew each other and those who were friends with each other… On the school community, it had a very sad and horrific impact.”
Andrew was asked in 2016 if he forgave Cassie’s killers. He gave a stern “no.” He said: “After everything I’ve seen, after how long they dragged this out, no. I’ve sat through everything. I’ve sat through every hour of the trials. No. There’s not a doubt in my mind that they both did it. I’ve sat down and talked with my family about it and really what it does is reopen the wound."
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Adamcik and Draper were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the murder. Their separate appeals were denied in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Draper led detectives to evidence he had buried in the area of Black Rock Canyon. It contained two dagger-like weapons, the clothes they had worn and a videotape of the teens planning the murder. The videotape also had footage of the moments after the murder, in which Draper said they had “Just killed Cassie.” He said: “I stabbed her in the throat, and I saw her lifeless body.”
