Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik

Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik

Torey Adamcik (left) and Brian Draper (right) in their Mugshots taken after their arrests
Background information
Birth name	Brian Lee Draper (1990-03-21) March 21, 1990 Sandy, Utah, U.S. Torey Michael Adamcik (1990-06-14) June 14, 1990 Pocatello, Idaho, U.S.
Occupation	Students (both; former)
Parents	Draper: Kerry and Pamela Draper Adamcik: Sean and Shannon Adamcik
Killings
Date	September 22, 2006 11:00 p.m.
Location(s)	11372 Whispering Cliffs Dr. Pocatello, Idaho
Target(s)	Cassie Jo Stoddart; Any students
Killed	1 (Cassie Jo Stoddart)
Weapon(s)	Draper: Dagger Adamcik: Hunting knife

Brian Lee Draper (born March 21, 1990) and Torey Michael Adamcik (born June 14, 1990) were two American high school juniors and murderers who perpetrated the Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart on September 22, 2006 in her aunt and uncle's house, in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Stoddart's body was discovered two days later, when her relatives returned home from their trip. The two intended to go on a two week killing spree, they wanted to end their killing spree with a school shooting hoping it would rival and even outdo the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. They were arrested on September 27, 2006 five days after Stoddart was murdered.

The pair claimed that they were inspired to murder Stoddart by the slasher film Scream, which led to them being nicknamed "The Scream Killers". Adamcik and Draper recorded documentary-style videos about how they were horror movie fans, especially Scream, and wanted to reenact a similar murder in real life. They started a "Death List" of other potential victims the day of Stoddart's murder, following their initial plan. Both perpetrators received sentences of life imprisonment without parole on August 31, 2007.

In Montgomery v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a mandatory sentence for a crime committed as a juvenile was unconstitutional, even for a person who committed murder, because it failed to accommodate what is scientifically known about the juvenile brain and blocked the possibility of reform. State courts were urged to review sentences for all individuals who were tried under this system, an estimated 1,200 to 1,800 nationwide. Draper and Adamcik are among the prisoners whose sentences will be reviewed by the state court.

Because of their youth and the premeditation of their crime, the two young men have been studied during and since their convictions. They were covered in the 2013 documentary Lost for Life, about persons convicted and imprisoned as juveniles under mandatory life sentences. Their stories have been featured on BBC Three's Teen Killers: Life without Parole, originally shown on April 21, 2014. The pair of young men were also featured on Investigation Discovery's Your Worst Nightmare, which premiered in October 2014. Draper and Adamcik were interviewed as part of the Cold Justice episode, "Still of the Night", which aired in January 2015. They are also featured in the series premier Of the documentary series entitled CopyCat Killers, shown on the ID channel.

Early life and background

Draper and Adamcik were both born in 1990. Draper was born in Sandy, Utah, while Adamcik was born and raised in Pocatello, Idaho. Draper's family eventually settled in Idaho in 2002.

Draper met Adamcik when they were both sophomores at Pocatello High School. Both boys were interested in films and started recording films of their own.

Draper recalled in an interview how He and Adamcik met in biology class, and how he was assigned to a table with Stoddart and Adamcik and how that's the reason they became friends, The two would talk about and bonded over horror movies.

When Draper entered the junior year of high school, He copied the identity of the Columbine High School shooters, he copied how they dressed, how they talked, what kind of music they listened to, He stated that he wanted to embody their image by starting to wear a trenchcoat. He would praise the two perpetrators of the Columbine shooting on MySpace.

When the pair were skipping an orientation assembly, and were hiding out in the bathroom, Adamcik reportedly asked Draper "Brian, you ever thought about doing something actually real?" to which Draper replied "I had, I’d been reading about Columbine and thinking about that".

Draper and Adamcik would use a camcorder to record their thoughts before and after their murder.

Prior criminal history

On February 17 2004, approximately two and a half years prior to the Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart, Draper and an unnamed student were reported by a student for planning a school shooting.

Adamcik was reported to have tortured and killed cats prior to the killing of Stoddart, after Stoddart's murder police discovered child porn on Adamcik's computer.

Acquiring arms

the Faibairn Sykes Dagger, which was the knife used by Draper

the Buck 119 Hunting Knife, the knife used by Adamcik

One of Adamcik's friend, Joe Lucero, testified that he bought four knives for Adamcik and Draper. Lucero said that he used $45 to pay for the knives—$40 from Draper and $5 from Adamcik. Lucero identified four of the State's exhibits as the knives he bought. One of the knives had a serrated blade; the other three knives were non-serrated. Police found all four knives at the Black Rock Canyon site where the duo tried to burn their weapons and video tape.

Murder of Cassie Stoddart

The two videotaped themselves in the moments leading up to the Murder of Stoddart, The tape contained footage of Stoddart at school as well as the boys sitting in Adamcik's car and talking about their plans for the murder and the aftermath of the murder. In the tape, the boys discussed how they will outdo infamous serial killers such as Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer, the two also mentioned Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre and talked about plans of doing a "Columbine-like" shooting. On tape, Adamcik expressed his belief that there should be no law against killing people. Draper would also reference the Scream franchise as a prime inspiration for their crime, the two also criticized religion and religious people. One of their original plans was to murder another girl but they didn’t go ahead with it as they realised the girl wasn’t home, so they chose Stoddart instead. On the night of September 22, 2006, Stoddart was house sitting for her aunt and uncle, Allison and Frank Contreras, on Whispering Cliffs Drive in northeast Bannock County. The Contreras family was out of town and had hired Stoddart to come take care of their three cats and two dogs for the weekend. Stoddart was visited that evening by her boyfriend, Matt Beckham, who arrived around 6:00 p.m. Later, Draper and Adamcik came over to the house to "hang out." Stoddart gave the friends a tour of the house, including the basement. The four teens went into the living room to watch the film Kill Bill, Volume II, but Adamcik and Draper ended up leaving before the film ended, saying they "wanted to watch a movie at their local movie theater instead." Stoddart and Beckham stayed behind.

Stoddart was unaware that before the boys left, Draper had unlocked the basement door so that he and Adamcik could re-enter the house undetected. Some time after leaving the house on Whispering Cliffs, Draper and Adamcik returned to the neighborhood, parked down the street, got out of their car, and put on costumes consisting of dark clothing, gloves, and white, painted masks. The boys quietly entered the house through the basement door while the other couple was watching television in the living room. They intentionally made loud noises in an unsuccessful attempt to lure Beckham and Stoddart downstairs "so they could scare them." Next, they found the circuit breaker and turned off the power in the house, hoping the pair would come downstairs to check the breaker. When Beckham and Stoddart did not come downstairs, the boys turned some of the lights back on.

Stoddart became uneasy after the temporary power outage, and Beckham noticed that one of the Contreras' dogs kept staring down the basement stairs, periodically barking or growling. Seeing that Stoddart felt scared, Beckham called his mother to ask if he could stay the night at the house with her to ease her mind, but she denied his request – instead she offered to let Stoddart come home with Beckham and stay at their house for the night, and she would bring Stoddart back to the Whispering Cliffs house the next morning. However, Stoddart felt it was her responsibility to stay at the house as she was hired to do and care for the animals, and declined the offer from Beckham's mother.

At approximately 10:30 pm, Beckham's mother picked him up, leaving Stoddart at the house alone. Beckham called Adamcik's cell phone to see where he and Draper were, possibly to meet up with them later. Beckham said he could barely hear Adamcik, who was whispering on the phone, and assumed the boys were in a movie theater.

From the basement, Draper and Adamcik heard Beckham leave. The teens turned the lights out again at the circuit breaker and waited, hoping Stoddart would come downstairs to turn the lights back on; she did not. Eventually, the boys went upstairs. Draper was armed with a dagger-type weapon and Adamcik had a hunting knife, the weapons having been purchased at a pawn shop. Draper opened and slammed a closet door at the top of the stairs to scare Stoddart, who was lying on the couch in the living room. The boys then brutally attacked her, stabbing her approximately thirty times; twelve wounds were potentially fatal. the two then left to buy movie tickets to seal their alibi.

During the investigation of the murder, police found the tape recording Draper and Adamcik made while they were at school. The video footage was shown at their trials.

Investigation

The boyfriend of Stoddart's mother was initially considered a person of interest after his fingerprints were found on the circuit breaker door in the basement where the lights were being tampered with in the lead up to the murder. However, he provided a reasonable explanation to this discovery, as he had previously done electrical work at the Contreras residence a few months prior to the murder, which was corroborated by the Contreras family.

The attention turned to Stoddart's boyfriend, Matt Beckham, who had been the last known individual to see Stoddart alive. This is when he confirmed to police that the lights had been flickering on and off while he was present at the home. His mother explained to police that she heard Stoddart's voice from the house as Beckham came out the door. After he was cleared by a polygraph test and consistent alibi, detectives then brought in Draper and Adamcik for questioning.

At first Draper and Adamcik told police that once they left the Whispering Cliffs residence, they went downtown to watch the movie Pulse. After the teens couldn't recount any details from the movie, the detectives pressed harder to determine their whereabouts. They then claimed that they had instead "gone through cars" in the area and had not in fact been seeing the film. Draper eventually confessed to police, but would downplay his role in the crime.

Arrest and interrogations

Draper and Adamcik were arrested on September 27, 2006, and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. During the interrogations, each teen blamed the other. Draper claimed he was in the same room with Adamcik when Stoddart was killed but denied stabbing her, then later admitted to stabbing her under alleged commands from Adamcik. He led investigators to Black Rock Canyon, where the teens had partially burned and then buried the clothing, masks, and weapons they used for the murder. This is where police recovered a partially burned Sony VHS Tape, which after restoration, showed video footage of their plans to kill Stoddart.

Trial and sentencing

At trial, the prosecution revealed that the duo were inspired by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (who committed the Columbine High School massacre) and the Scream horror film franchise. In a passage written by Draper titled "Columbine" that was shown in court during his trial it reads:

“I am becoming more and more obsessed with Columbine. It seems now that that’s all I think about. I would give anything to go back in time, and be a part of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold’s lives. They are my heroes. I will follow in their footsteps and maybe I’ll even meet them.”

Draper was convicted on April 17, 2007; Adamcik was convicted on June 8, 2007. On August 21, 2007, based on being convicted of first-degree murder, each received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, plus thirty years-to-life for being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.

Adamcik and Draper are both serving their time at Idaho State Correctional Institution, located in unincorporated Ada County, Idaho, near Kuna. In November 2019, Adamcik's sentence was upheld after his appeal was denied by the Idaho Supreme Court.

The defense of Brad Compher, the perpetrator of the Murder of Nori Jones, presented the idea that there were alternative suspects other than Compher who were not investigated by authorities. In a questionable move, Compher's defense singled out Draper and Adamcik, as possible suspects and had them transported to Pocatello for the trial. Neither individual testified and Compher was later found guilty by the jury.

Appeals

The convicted men's attorneys filed separate appeals at the Idaho Supreme Court, in September 2010 for Adamcik and in April 2011 for Draper. Draper was seeking to have his conviction vacated or to be given a limited life sentence that would allow for his release on parole (if approved) after thirty years. The first appeal for both Adamcik and Draper was denied in a 3–2 decision. The high court vacated Draper's conviction on conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, saying that jurors were given erroneous instructions on that charge, but they affirmed his conviction for first-degree murder and life sentence without parole.

In July 2015, Adamcik gained a hearing for post-conviction relief with state Sixth District Magistrate Judge Mitchell W. Brown. He claimed that testimony from character witnesses could have changed the outcome of the sentencing, but that his former attorney, against his parents' wishes, chose not to call upon these witnesses. Adamcik said that his attorney believed that the prosecution would have submitted even more damaging evidence. In March 2016, Judge Brown denied his request for post-conviction relief. Adamcik appealed Judge Brown's decision to the Idaho Supreme Court, which on December 26, 2017, rejected Adamcik's appeal for post-conviction relief and upheld the district court decision.

Following the Idaho Supreme Court's decision, Adamcik filed a federal writ of habeas corpus in January 2018, in which he argued that the court denied his first appeal based on a theory that was not presented to the jury. Adamcik also argued that he should be entitled to a new sentencing hearing in light of the Miller and Montgomery decisions (see section US Supreme Court and mandatory life sentencesTemplate:Broken anchor below). Federal magistrate judge Candy W. Dale presided over Adamcik's writ and on November 25, 2019, she denied the writ.

Adamcik appealed Judge Dale's decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with oral arguments on February 7, 2022, Jay Bybee, Morgan Christen, and James Selna (sitting by designation) presiding. On March 24, 2022, the court upheld the sentence in an unpublished decision.

Supreme Court decision on mandatory life sentences

In Miller v. Alabama (2012), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole were unconstitutional for juvenile offenders, even in murder cases. It further ruled that the youth of the convicted offenders must be considered.

In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Montgomery v. Louisiana that this doctrine should be applied to cases retroactively, and conducted a review of all such cases, which numbered between 1,200 and 1,500 nationwide. Given the brain immaturity of juveniles, the high court ruled that there should be an opportunity to consider mitigating factors, as well as a review of such inmates' sentences, with relief possible for those who reformed. It further stated that "children who commit even the most heinous crimes are capable of change." Draper and Adamcik are among those cases that state courts must review under this new mandate. About 1,100 cases are in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Michigan, where courts ruled that the Supreme Court's decision to overturn mandatory life sentences for juveniles was not retroactive.

In popular culture

In January 2013, Shannon Adamcik, the mother of Torey Adamcik self published a book, titled The Guilty Innocent which received criticism due to Adamcik's denial of her son's involvement in the crime.

On February 16, 2023, the tape recordings that Draper and Adamcik made, along with a complete transcript of the tape recordings, were obtained from the Bannock County, Idaho court system through the Idaho Public Records Act.

The duo have been featured in several different television shows and programs including a February 18, 2024 episode of the popular true crime series Dateline with correspondent Keith Morrison.

Draper and Adamcik were featured on BBC Three's 'Teen Killers: Life without Parole', originally shown on April 21, 2014.

During his tenure in prison Draper has given two interviews, one on the 24 March 2023 and another on the 15 January 2024 both of which are available on Youtube.

Documentaries

• Your Worst Nightmare: When the Lights Go Out, S1 E2 - Oct 29, 2014
• CopyCat Killers: Scream, S1 E1 - Feb 27, 2016
• Murder Among Friends (TV series): Stick to the Plan, S2 E16 - Jul 20, 2017
• Unmasked: The Final Scream, S1 E2 - October 22, 2018
• A Time to Kill: Evil in the Basement, S4 E6 - Aug 13, 2021

See also

• Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
• Slenderman stabbing
• Copycat crime
• Leopold and Loeb
• List of youngest killers
• Scream (franchise)