Inspired by the Scream Franchise: The Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart
Cassie Jo Stoddart was born on December 21, 1989 and attended Pocatello High School in Pocatello, Idaho. Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik also attended school with Cassie, and were friends with her boyfriend, Matt Beckham.
Brian had spent most of his childhood in Utah, before moving with his parents to Pocatello, Idaho, meeting Torey and the two soon became best friends. The two boys both shared a love of film and would often walk around the school video-taping their classmates and making their own movies.
Cassie was a very responsible well-behaved girl and that’s why her aunt and uncle, Allison and Frank Contreras, asked her to house sit for them in northeast Bannock County on the night of September 22, 2006. They needed Cassie to come house sit because they owned three cats and two dogs that needed to be taken care of during the weekend while they were away.
While Cassie was house-sitting that night, her boyfriend, Matt, came by around 6pm to hangout for a bit. A little while later, Brian and Torey also showed up to hangout with the couple. Cassie gave the boys all a tour of the house, including the basement before going back up to the living room to watch ‘Kill Bill, Volume II.’
Brian and Torey left the house before the movie finished saying that they would rather go watch a movie at the local movie theatre instead. Cassie did not realize that before the two boys left, Brian had unlocked the basement door so he and Torey could return back to the house at a later time.
At one point, Brian and Torey had come back to the neighbourhood, parked down the street, and changed into dark clothes, gloves and white masks. The re-entered the house through the basement door while Cassie and Matt were still watching TV in the living room. The boys tried to make some loud enough noises to get Cassie and Matt to go down to the basement so they could “scare them.”
When this didn’t work, they found the circuit breaker and turned off the power in the house, hoping the couple would walk downstairs to check the breaker. Cassie and Matt still did not come downstairs so the boys turned some lights back on.
Even though Cassie had not gone down the stairs to check anything, she was still freaked out by the power outage and Matt had noticed that one of the dogs had been barking and growling near the basement stairs. Because Cassie was obviously freaked out, Matt called his mother and asked if he could stay the night with Cassie but his mother said no. Matt’s mother did invite Cassie to come stay the night at the Beckhams, offering to drive her back to her aunt and uncle’s house the next morning. Cassie felt that it was her responsibility to house sit so she decided to stay and Matt left.
Matt left around 10:30 pm, thinking that he was leaving Cassie alone in the house. Matt called Torey’s phone and asked where him and Brian were, possibly to see if they could meet up after. Matt could not hear Torey on the phone because he was whispering, and Matt just assumed this was because they were still in the movie theatre.
Brian and Torey heard Matt leave and they decided to turn the lights out again, hoping that Cassie would come downstairs to turn the lights back on, but she did not. Eventually, Brian, carrying a dagger-type weapon, and Torey, holding a hunting-style knife, went upstairs.
Brian opened and slammed a closet door to frighten Cassie who was on the couch in the living room. The boys then attacked Cassie, stabbing her about 30 times, with 12 of these wounds potentially fatal. The weapons the boys had used were purchased at a pawn shop with the help of an 18 year old named Joe Lucero, as Brian and Torey were only 16 at the time of the murder.
Police originally questioned Matt, who they thought was a possible suspect because Matt did not show a whole lot of emotion. However, when Matt began to tell the police that Brian and Torey were also at the house that night, police began to look at the two boys. Matt had also passed a polygraph test.
When police questioned Brian and Torey they discovered that Brian had a crush on Cassie, but she was not interested because she was dating Matt. The boys also told police that they had been at the movie theatres that night, which they had movie stubs for the movie ‘Holes.’ However, when police began asking simple questions about the movie, the boys could not answer. Police asked the boys what the movie was about, who was in the movie, ect, and the boys could not say anything about the movie besides they remembered thinking that it was boring.
Police really began to view the boys as suspects, because they were movie fanatics and went to the movies all the time. If they were huge movie buffs they should be able to remember details of a movie they were supposedly at a few days ago. The police questioned the girl who was working the ticket booth at the movies that night, and the girl said that neither Brian or Torey were at the movie theatre that night. She said she would’ve remembered seeing the two boys, as they were regulars.
Because Brian and Torey were movie fanatics and had dreams of directing and filming their own horror movie, the police discovered later that the two had filmed their entire plan to murder Cassie, which was planned at school. They also filmed themselves right before the murder, talking in the car about how they were about to murder her.
This video footage was played at their trials.
Brian and Torey were both arrested on September 27, 2006, charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. When questioned, both of the boys automatically turned against each other. Brian said though he was in the room while Cassie was murdered, he did not stab her. He then later said he did stab her but only under Torey’s commands. Brian’s DNA had been found under Cassie’s nails on both her right and left hand, but Torey’s DNA was not. Brian showed police where they had disposed of the clothing, masks and knives they had used that night.
At the trial, Brian admitted that he had been inspired by the Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Torey said he had been inspired by the Scream horror films franchise, which is often what this case is known as. Brian was found guilty on April 17, 2007 and Torey was found guilty on June 8, 2007. Both boys received a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, and 30 years to life for being convicted in conspiracy to commit murder.
Both Brian and Torey are serving their time at Idaho State Correctional Institution and have filed many appeals since, all being denied.
In 2010, the Stoddart family filed a civil lawsuit against the Idaho School District claiming that the school should have known that Brian and Torey posed a threat to others. This case was dismissed, saying that the actions of Brian and Torey were not foreseeable.
In 2012 the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory sentences of life without parole are unconstitutional for youth offenders, even in the case of murder. In 2016, it was decided that this doctrine should also be applied to cases retroactively as youth who commit such crimes have the ability to change. Brian and Torey’s case falls under this as they were 16 when the crime was committed.
Cassie’s family suffered quite a bit after her murder. Her teenage cousin who was 13 at the time, was the one who had found her body, suffering from severe trauma, and at one point had tried to take her own life. Cassie’s aunt and uncle also had a hard time, her aunt was so depressed she lost her job and often felt responsible for Cassie’s death.
Cassie’s aunt and uncle tried to sell the house for years, but no one wanted to buy the home because of the horrible tragedy that had occurred there.
There was a documentary that came out and Brian and Torey were interviewed during this documentary. Brian did show some remorse, though Torey did not not. In the interview Torey’s mother refuses to believe that Torey committed murder and acts like he is the victim in this.
The boys had a list of people they wanted to kill, and it is a tragedy that the succeeded in even one of these murders. I will never understand people who look up to mass murderers as idols, and who are so intrigued with copying popular horror film franchises.
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