Inspiration comes from a great many sources. Inspiration is the root of creation. It can also be the root of destruction.
Cassie Jo Stoddart was born on December 21st, 1989 in Pocatello, Idaho. She was a serious student who wasn’t known to party or drink. She loved music, drawing, and house sitting for her aunt and uncle, Allison and Frank Conterras, while caring for their animals.
Cassie’s uncle worked in Nevada, so her aunt and cousin often took weekend trips to go see him. Cassie was known as a responsible teenager, and took her house-sitting responsibilities seriously.
In 2006, she was a high school student at Pocatello High School, where she had a lively social life. She got along with most everyone, and was dating a caring young man named Matthew Beckham.
She was also friends with both Brian Draper, and Torey Adamcik, who knew her boyfriend. The boys enjoyed films, and had a keen interest in filmmaking. Draper and Adamcik had even started recording their own videos.
In fact, the boys had started working on a secret project. They kept some of the details under wraps, but enlisted the help of an unwitting friend.
Adamcik called his friend, Joe Lucerno, and asked for his assistance in buying some knives. Joe was 18, and therefore legally allowed to make purchases at the pawnshop Adamcik had found. He told Joe that he had wanted to start a collection, and would fund the purchase. In total, Joe bought four knives for the boys, no questions asked.
On the evening of September 22nd, 2006, Cassie was caring for her aunt and uncle’s pets, while housesitting. At around 6:00 PM, Matt came over to keep Cassie company. A little while later, Draper and Adamcik also came over. Cassie showed the boys around the house. Draper and Adamcik seemed to pay extra attention to the basement.
After the impromptu tour, the four teens settled in the living room to watch movies. Before the end of the movie, Draper and Adamcik left the house. They told the couple that they wanted to go watch a movie at the theatre instead. What Cassie didn’t know was that Draper had unlocked the basement door, ensuring that entry later would be possible.
A little while later, as Cassie and Matt were still watching movies in the living room, Draper and Adamcik returned to the neighbourhood – if they’d ever left at all – and parked a ways down the street. They put on dark, or black, clothes, gloves, and white masks before they quietly re-entered the house, through the unlocked basement door.
First, the boys started making noises, intending on “scaring” the couple. Next, in an attempt to lure them to the basement, they turned off the power to the house from the circuit breaker. Matt and Cassie didn’t take the bait, and the boys turned the power back on. One of the dogs was staring down the basement stairs, growling and barking.
Cassie was scared and uneasy. Matt called his mom to ask if he could stay with her, to ease Cassie’s anxiety. Matt’s mother refused, but instead offered to have Cassie spend the night with them. Cassie declined – she was responsible for the care of the house and the animals, and didn’t want to leave them alone, or the house empty, overnight.
Cassie was still uneasy, but reassured Matt that she’d be fine when his mom came to pick him up at 10:30 PM. As he left, Matt called Adamcik’s phone to see what he and Draper were up to. Matt stated that he could barely hear what Adamcik was saying, as he was whispering. Matt figured that he was still at the theatre and didn’t think much else of it.
As the boys heard Matt leave, they tried to lure Cassie back down the basement by turning the power off again. Once again, Cassie wasn’t baited. The boys then snuck upstairs. They slammed a closet door at the top of the stairs, intending to scare Cassie again.
They found Cassie lying on the couch in the living room, and they attacked. Later, it would be reported that Cassie had suffered approximately 30 times. Approximately 12 of those wounds had the potential to be fatal.
At around 12:15 AM, Matt tried to call Cassie to say goodnight, but she didn’t pick up. The following morning, September 23rd, 2006, Matt tried to call her over and over again. But Cassie never picked up. Cassie’s mother, Anna, attempted to contact her multiple times as well, to no avail.
That evening, Matt hung out with Adamcik. He expressed concern over Cassie. It wasn’t like her not to reply to calls or texts. He asked Adamcik to drive by Cassie’s aunt and uncle’s home, so that he could check on her. Adamcik refused, stating that he didn’t have enough gas to make the trip. Matt was disgruntled, but relented. He spent the night with his friend, but continued to worry.
The following day, Sunday, September 24th, 2006, at around 1:15 PM, Cassie’s aunt, uncle, and cousin returned to their home. Cassie’s cousin entered the home first, followed by her mother and father. Allison noticed that all of the doors were open, and that there was broken glass on the floor. They then found Cassie on the living room floor, in a pool of blood. Allison called 911.
Anna was pulling up to the house when Allison, Frank, and their daughter exited the home. Frank was left with the unfortunate task of delivering the news.
When investigators arrived, they spent the next hour combing over the scene, collecting evidence. They found very little aside from Cassie, and the broken glass. Most interestingly, they didn’t find the murder weapon.
Next, investigators interviewed Matt, as he was the last person to see Cassie alive. He told them that his mother had picked him up, and he’d gone home to watch a movie with his family, then he went to bed after attempting to call Cassie. Matt and his family were fully cooperative with investigators; Matt even offered to take a polygraph test.
As Matt told them about their evening, they asked him about his friends – Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik. He told them that they both held a particular interest in Cassie, which made him a little uncomfortable. He told investigators that he’d caught the boys staring at Cassie strangely, whispering about her, and even, seemingly, attempting to flirt with her.
Matt told investigators that he wouldn’t have been surprised to discover that Draper and Adamcik had returned to the house after he left, knowing that Cassie would be in the house alone.
Later that day, investigators went to the Adamcik residence, and asked to interview Torey in regards to Cassie’s murder. Sean Adamcik, Torey’s father, was present throughout the course of the interview. The teenager admitting to hanging out with Draper, Cassie, and Matt on Friday night, but stated that he had expected there to be a party at the house.
When it was evident that there would be no party, he and Draper decided to leave. He then said that he and Draper went to theater to watch a movie, but he couldn’t remember any of the details. He ended his statement by stating that he slept over a Draper’s home.
The next day, September 25th, 2006, investigators went to the Draper residence in order to interview Brian Draper in regards to Cassie’s murder in the presence of his mother. Draper began crying during the interview, telling the same story that Adamcik had told investigators the day before. Draper, like Adamcik, could not give the investigators any details about the movie they supposedly saw.
The following day, on September 26th, 2006, Brian Draper was taken in by the Pocatello Police Department for another interview, this time without his parents in the room. He was read his Miranda rights. When he told the same story again, the detectives interviewing him flat out told him they didn’t believe him. Draper relented, a little, and claimed that, instead of being at the movies, he and Adamcik had been stealing from cars. He denied any involvement in Cassie’s murder, and was allowed to leave at the conclusion of the interview.
After this interview, the Drapers allowed detectives to search their son’s room, sure that they wouldn’t find anything. They found the sheath to a knife. Draper claimed that the knife didn’t belong to him, but rather a friend, and that this same friend was in possession of the knife.
On Wednesday, September 27th, 2006, detectives once again interviewed Brian Draper. They were getting closer to the real story – but they needed Draper to tell it.
Draper was read his Miranda rights, and agreed to speak with detectives without a lawyer present. Feeling the heat, or maybe because he just couldn’t take it anymore, Draper confessed. He told the detectives that he had unlocked the basement door to the house, with the intention of returning. He also stated that he and Adamcik had broken glass ashtrays on the staircase, and had slammed doors.
Next, Draper stated that the boys found Cassie in the living room, where Adamcik walked in front of him, and commenced the attack. Draper was adamant that he believed Adamcik and Cassie were just pulling a prank. He stated that Adamcik had done all the stabbing, and that he, himself, hadn’t stabbed Cassie at all.
Draper, accompanied by his father, then led detectives to where he and Adamcik had buried evidence of the murder at Black Rock Canyon. As detectives dug, they found matches, black boots, blue rubber gloves, fingerless gloves, several knives, including a serrated folding knife, a small dagger, a dagger with a sheath, and a knife with the signature ‘Sloan’ written on the inside. They also found a red and white mask, and several pieces of clothing.
Later, DNA testing would show that Cassie’s blood was found on several pieces of clothing, as well as the serrated knife. Adamcik’s DNA was found in the mask.
However, it wasn’t the DNA that would be the smoking gun in the case. As detectives continued to dig, they also found a Sony videotape. The tape was badly damaged, but later was able to be repaired and straightened so that it would be playable.
That same day, detectives brought Adamcik to the station for a second interview, accompanied by his father. Adamcik maintained that he had no knowledge of the murder, and claimed he and Draper were rifling through cars. Detectives didn’t even entertain the lies. They told him, flat out, that they’d found the evidence he and Draper had buried, and that the evidence indicated he and Draper had, in fact, murdered Cassie.
Sean Adamcik was shocked. He turned to his son, and asked if what the detectives were saying was true. His son simply hung his head, and nodded mutely. At the end of the interview, detectives took Adamcik’s shoes, which he informed them he’d been wearing the night of Cassie’s horrific murder.
On September 27th, 2006, Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik were both arrested and charged for first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
It was during the trial that the prosecution laid out the motive for Cassie’s murder. Her murderers had been inspired. Draper had claimed inspiration from the Columbine shooting, and Adamcik had claimed inspiration from the Scream movie franchise.
The prosecution also played the video that had been found at Black Rock Canyon. The day before the murder, Draper and Adamcik videotaped themselves discussing their plans, naming Cassie specifically as their intended “first” target, stating it was “unfortunate” that she just so happened to be their friend.
Another video was also shown in court of the boys bragging about what they’d done, shortly after having attacked Cassie. One of the boys is quoted in the video as saying: “I just killed Cassie. We’ve just left the house. This is not a fucking joke.”
On April 17th, 2007, Brian Draper was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart. Torey Adamcik was found guilty on June 8th, 2007. Both teens were sentenced to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for first degree murder, as well as 30-years-to-life for the charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder on August 21st, 2007.
In September of 2010, the attorneys representing Torey Adamcik filed an appeal with the State Supreme Court. The attorneys for Brian Draper did the same in April of 2011.
Both appeals were denied, however, Draper’s conviction for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder was vacated, though his conviction for first-degree murder was affirmed, as well as his sentence of life without the possibilty of parole.
In July of 2015, Torey Adamcik was granted a hearing for post-conviction relief, claiming that testimony from character witnesses could have changed the outcome of his sentencing, and this chance was not granted as his attorney did not call character witnesses up to the stand. In March of 2016, Adamcik’s grant for post-conviction relief was denied. This decision was later upheld by the Idaho Supreme Court.
In January of 2018, Adamcik filed a federal writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the Idaho Supreme Court denied his first appeal based on a theory that had not been presented to the jury at the time of the trial. The writ was denied, which Adamcik appealed. In November of 2019, Adamcik’s conviction and sentence were both upheld.
Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik were both heavily inspired to do what they did. Their inspiration grew dark and twisted, and led them to commit murder.
While many others draw inspiration from horror movies, or even real-life, horrifying events, very rarely do those inspirations lead others down the winding path where Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik found themselves.
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Sources:
Betrayal: The Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart – Amity Elise – Medium
Did the murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart inspire the ‘Scream’ franchise? – Nikki Hudson – The Film Daily
Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart – Odd Murders and Mysteries
The Generation Why podcast – Episode 257 – The Scream Murder
Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddard Wikipedia page