Help close the Denise Stice case
If you haven’t had a chance yet, check out Augie Frost’s story in today’s Oklahoman about the unsolved slaying of businesswoman Denise Stice back in November.
Did anyone here know her? Anybody have any theories? We want to hear ‘em.
New clues in Tinker worker’s killing
A prominent small-business leader was beaten and shot in the head before being found nude wearing only a wedding ring and floating face up in an Oklahoma City lake last year, according to a medical examiner’s report obtained Monday.
Denice Stice, 48, was found dead Nov. 27 on the south side of Lake Overholser. Stice worked with small businesses at Tinker Air Force Base.
Stice had been shot one time in the left side of her head and had several cuts and bruises on her face and body indicating she was beaten before death, the report states. She also had a badly fractured tooth.
There was no evidence found by the medical examiner that she was sexually assaulted, according to the report.
Besides the new information about Stice’s injuries and state of her body in the latest report, little has been released by authorities since her body was found just west of the lake’s dam.
Oklahoma City police Capt. Steve McCool would only say that the case is an active investigation, and would not say whether a suspect has been identified.
Police Sgt. Paco Balderrama said in November it appeared her body had been dumped at the lake to conceal evidence about the killing.
The medical examiner’s report said there was a blood trail leading from a parking lot to the area of the lake where she was dumped.
Her body was found by a Texas youth group passing through Oklahoma City about 9 a.m., Balderrama said. It did not appear the body had been there very long.
Police later found Stice’s car in a parking lot of an apartment complex near NW 10 and N Tela Drive, about 3 miles from where she was dumped. Police have not said what they found in the car.
Don Stice reported his wife missing later that afternoon when she did not show up for work at the base. A missing persons report was never filed because police immediately identified her as the woman found at the lake.
Detectives searched the couple’s home, 12316 Crystal Gardens Drive, but would not say what they found inside. A 911 call was never made from the home before the killing.
Denise Stice was the “face of small business” at Tinker Air Force Base, colleagues said after her death. She was the director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at the Air Logistics Center on the base.
She was also a stepmother to Gary and Alex, Don Stice’s two children from a previous marriage.
A break in the foot case?
CNN posted this story on Friday, but I’ve been out of town at a writers conference and just found it today.
One of the feet that has washed up on Canadian shores has been linked by DNA to a missing man. The man, who is described only as depressed, went missing a while back. Now authorities finally know who one of the feet belongs to.
Check it out: www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/19/canada.feet.ap/index.html
Verna Stafford, 30 years later
Verna Stafford is the only surviving participant in the Sirloin Stockade and Lorenz family murders.
In 1978, when the killings occurred, she was married to Roger Dale Stafford. Her brother-in-law was Harold Stafford, who died in a motorcycle accident a week after the steakhouse slayings.
Verna Stafford pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for helping the state prosecute Roger. She is currently serving two consecutive life sentences.
In May, she was denied parole.
An investigative report to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board includes details from an interview with her that took place on March 18.
Here’s her account of what happened:
“OFFENDER’S VERSION OF INSTANT OFFENSE:
“Admits guilt in both cases. … In the McClain County case (Lorenz family), subject pretended to be a stranded motorist while Roger and his brother hid. A family stopped and the man tried to help her start the car. Roger asked the man for money and he offered $20, explaining that it was all he could afford, and Roger got angry and shot him. The man’s wife got out of the car, became hysterical when she saw her husband and tried to hit subject. She blocked the blow and Roger shot the woman. They moved the bodies into a ditch, then Roger heard a noise in the back of the victims’ pickup. He shot into the pickup, then brought out the body of a child and took him down the embankment. Roger took the victims’ pickup and subject and her brother-in-law left in the car. Approximately 3 weeks later, she, Roger, and his brother robbed a restaurant (Sirloin Stockade) in Oklahoma City. They took the employees to the office and Roger got the money … and gave it to her. She suggested they put the employees in the meat locker, thinking that this would give them time to get away and keep the employees, but the manager kept saying they would get caught and he would tell on them. This infuriated Roger, and he and his brother began shooting the employees. He told subject that she was going to be part of it, put his gun in her hand and, with his hand over hers, pulled the trigger once. She pled guilty to the murder of the female victim in McClain County and one victim in Oklahoma County.”
Sirloin Stockade murders
They’re not a cold case, but the Sirloin Stockade murders are among the most infamous crimes in Oklahoma history.
I’m not a native Oklahoman. I grew up in the northeast and moved around the world a few times before getting hired by The Oklahoman as a crime writer about nine years ago.
I think I heard about the Sirloin Stockade murders my first week on the job — even though they’d happened more than two decades earlier.
A few Oklahoma crimes seem to remain on everyone’s radar here: the Oklahoma City bombing, the Edmond post office massacre and — of course — the steakhouse murders, which occurred 30 years ago today. (See the story on NewsOK.com.)
What do you remember about the slayings?
