Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik

Brian Draper
Born	Brian Lee Draper March 25, 1990 (age 33–34) Sandy, Utah, U.S.A.
Occupation	Student at Pocatello High School
Motive	Fame
Details
Date	September 22, 2006 11:00 p.m.
Location(s)	Whispering Cliffs Drive
Target(s)	Student
Killed	1
Weapons	Dagger knife

Torey Adamcik
Born	Torey Michael Adamcik June 14, 1990 (age 34) Pocatello, Idaho, U.S.A
Occupation	Student at Pocatello High School
Motive	Fame
Details
Date	September 22, 2006 11:00 p.m.
Location(s)	Whispering Cliffs Drive
Target(s)	Student
Killed	1
Weapons	Hunting knife

“	There should be no law against killing people, i know it's a wrong thing but.. hell.. hell.. you restrict somebody from it they are gonna want it more	”
	— Adamcik ranting on tape

Brian Lee Draper (born in March 25, 1990) and Torey Michael Adamcik (born June 14, 1990) were a pair of spree killers responsible for the September 22, 2006 murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart.

Background

Brian Draper spent most of his childhood residing in Sandy, Utah. He and his family moved to Pocatello, Idaho where he met Idaho native Torey Adamcik through Pocatello High School. The pair were interested in movies and began filming movies of their own.

Looking for fame Draper and Adamcik wanted to go on a killing spree hoping to outdo Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre. Much like the Columbine killers, Draper and Adamcik would make tapes detailing their plan and motive they would also mention Harris and Klebold in their homemade videos, and were reportedly planning a "Columbine-like" shooting. Draper and Adamcik would choose their two friends Matt Beckham and Cassie Jo Stoddart as their first victims.

Killing of Cassie Jo Stoddart

"Just killed Cassie, we just left her home this is not a f*cking joke!"

- Draper boasting on tape about murdering Cassie

Cassie Jo Stoddart (December 21, 1989 – September 22, 2006), attended Pocatello High School, along with Draper and Adamcik. On the night of September 22, 2006, Cassie was house sitting for her aunt and was visited by her boyfriend Matt. Later, Draper and Adamcik showed up. The four decided to watch a movie together, until Draper and Adamcik said they'd prefer to go to a movie at a local theater, leaving Cassie and Matt at the home. At one point when Cassie and Matt were alone, the electricity was suddenly lost. However, it was restored before Matt was picked up by his mother. Unbeknownst to Cassie or Matt, Draper and Adamcik had returned to the house before Matt's departure (roughly 10:30 p.m). Having never gone to the theater, the two were lying in wait and later confessed to purposely shutting the power off. It is portrayed in the television series "Your Worst Nightmare" (see above), that they cut the power again before proceeding. They then entered the house and stabbed Stoddart 29 times, 9 wounds were fatal. It was revealed in the course of investigation that Draper and Adamcik recorded their plan to murder Stoddart on video tape while they were at school.

Arrest, trial and sentencing

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, both teens blamed each other. During interrogation, Draper claimed he was in the same room with Adamcik when Stoddart was killed but denied stabbing her. He later admitted stabbing her allegedly under commands from Adamcik. He also led the investigators to Black Rock Canyon where the teens disposed of the clothing, masks and knives they used for the murder. It was revealed that both boys were inspired and impressed by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who committed the Columbine High School massacre, and by the "Scream" horror film franchise. Adamcik's trial started on May 31, 2007 and ended on June 8, 2007 with the guilty verdict. On April 17, 2007, Draper was also found guilty. On August 21, 2007, both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for parole for first degree murder and 30 years-to-life for conspiracy to commit murder. Both Adamcik and Draper are serving their time at Idaho State Correctional Institution. Their attorneys filed separate appeals at Supreme Court in September 2010 and April 2011. The first appeal for Adamcik was denied in a 3/2 decision, as was Draper's appeal. Torey Adamcik is undergoing a new hearing for post-conviction release. He claims that character witnesses could have changed the outcome of the sentencing, but that his former attorney, against Adamcik's parent's wishes, chose not to call upon these witnesses, because otherwise, the prosecution would have submitted even more damaging evidence. The Stoddart family also filed a lawsuit against the Idaho School District. They claim that the school was negligent and should have known Draper and Adamcik posed a threat to others. Both the civil court and the Supreme Court dismissed the case stating the action of the killers was not foreseeable.

Motive

“	Combine my love of horror movies with my love of wanting to you know be popular and famous... Like like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold i mean they're pretty famous now and their massacre lasted forty-five minutes and ours is gonna last like two weeks	”
	— Draper talking about wanting to become famous

It has been stated by officials that the two teens wanted to become notorious serial killers, with them wanting to replicate the Scream movie franchise. They hoped to end their mass killing spree with a school shooting and then commit suicide.

Draper is a follower theory

A popular theory surrounding the pair is that Adamcik was the mastermind of the killing. This theory is supported by the boys' behaviour in their tapes in which Adamcik is seemingly dominant over Draper. With Adamcik telling Draper to shut up and cutting across him to tell him he said something "lame" or "gay", while belittling him on various things. Throughout the footage only Adamcik interrupts Draper, and only Draper eggs Adamcik on and agrees with what he says.[3]

Adamcik has long been thought of as the perfect example of psychopathy in minors by many professionals. With some believing that Draper was a depressed outcast manipulated by Adamcik.[4]

Aftermath

Since the pair claimed that they were inspired to murder Stoddart by the slasher film Scream, this would lead to them being nicknamed "The Scream Killers". 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.

On Criminal Minds

• Novels
  • Jump Cut - While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Draper and Adamick appear to be the inspirations for the novel's unsubs, David Yarno and Becker Chapin - Both are killing teens with obsessions over horror films, which they imitated in their crimes, used bladed weapons, targeted one of their female classmates (though Yarno and Chapin targeted her after they all left school, as well as targeted transient people), kept recorded evidence of their crimes, and were motivated by intentions to become infamous.