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.”
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Comments
Hello , I am Verna’s niece ,I am in contact with her and would be willing to help you .I am however sure they did not do this to your brother.. please feel free to contact me ….
Hi Vicki, thank you for your response. Yes I would really like to talk to Verna. I would be willing to travel to meet her. According to detectives, they flew to OK and interviewed her and she implicated Roger and Harold in Jimmy’s murder, but was not with them that night. As you can imagine, I am still looking for answers in Jimmy’s unsolved murder which was 35 years ago today. You may email me at wberry8073@yahoo.com. I look forward to communicating with you and Verna. Wanda
i was in prison with verna stafford and she is still and evil woman. She is very heartless and you can almost feel the evil seeping out of her pores!!!!!
hi amber funny you say she is evil considering she is very religeous and pays the highest respects to god !!!! you must be evil yourself since you think she is evil for being in prison for something her husband did… she has more heart then most anyone in this world could ever imagine
I want to know why anyone, even if they know Verna, can believe her story is totally factual. She has said Roger killed 30 to 40. She was with him all the way until she was done. I mean She is the same to me as he was. The brother died and she could not face life with him alone, they were splitsville- I dont care what is said, she was just as souless as he. Religious what does that mean, To do something religiously, I drink coffee religiously, the bible says God hates Religion!!! thats for you NO NAME
My best friend is the Melvin Lorenz Daughter and Ricky Lorenz Big Sister!! We met a year after murders, I was ggod friends with her and 2 brothers infact One came to my house and said she gave him up the hour he heard! They are all family to me. Permently Damaged by Verna’s Evil as well as Rogers and brother.
The same story has been told so many times it is word for word, just the same typed article of Vernas help herself version. I have found other versions out there. I have read that Ricky was killed first and then they torchered Linda trying to get more money from Melvin before killing her and then Melvin. We will never know the facts of the case. One persons version only, and that person was trying to save her ass!!
If anyone knows any other information about this case please email. I am researching to find out if we can get the story closest to fact as possible. So if the day comes my friends want to read it, dive into deeper they can, if not the info will just sit unopened! No comments from the Peanut gallery out there please!!!
A]ll three murders were especially heinous, atrocious and cruel. The unprovoked murders committed upon a family who had taken time as they made their way to the funeral of Melvins Mother to stop and help a fellow citizen were “extremely wicked,” “shockingly evil” and “outrageously wicked and vile.”
Hi, my name is kosta karvounis. Harold stafford was my brother-in-law he was married to mary stafford(miller) My brother in-law John miller and I were the ones who helped catch roger. we went with the police when they were looking for him in chicago since they had no good picture of him. We walked the streets looking for him and eventually i spotted him coming out of the lawson ymca in chicago. roger yelled out hi Kosta what are you doing here i walked up too him and started talking to him. I then gave the signal that that was him. suddenly almost everyone on the street turned into a cop and snatched him. Harold and roger lived with us on and off during the years when they weren’t on the road.My sister in law mary who was married to harold traveled with the staffors thru out the country. She was home taking care of verna and rogers young children when all these murders took place. Mary was cleared of all charges and never implicated. She was an unknowing dupe for them. None of us had any idea that any of them were capable of that including mary. In fact mary told me a story the day of the stockade murders she was watching television and made a comment that how could anyone be so cruel to other people and little did she know she was talking to the killers. We got a call one day in 1978 that mary and verna were arrested for murder while they were working for aaa auto towing in chicago. We slept with a shotgun by the door until we went with the il. bureau of investigation to finger roger. After we nabbed him we went to the police department where we signed paperwork and did an official fingering of him. We stayed until oklahoma police arrived in chicago to transport him. Roger sat squating on a chair handcuffed just looking at john and me with those eveil eyes. very scary,he was so animal like. But no one had any idea what he was capable of. there were storys that he was being implicated in other murders not sure where. Im not in contact with mary anymore but she may have knowledge if on their travels if they went thru bull shoals at that time. Many years have gone by not shure if shed remember or even want to remember. It all almost destroyed her life. she is a very warm and caring woman. John and I were suppose to get the reward for his capture. however they gave it to some maids in oklahoma. they felt giving it to rogers family would look bad even though without us he wouldnt have been caught. If yah wanna get in touch with me. email kostagk1@wi.rr.com
F.Y.I. – A friend of mine sit in on Roger’s trial for the lorenz murders. The boy had some kind of disability and before Roger shot him, the boy put his hands up. Roger had no mercy. He shot that 12 year old boy like an animal, and Verna watched. Think about that. If Verna was all that righteous and had a concientous, how could she be with that man. Roger thought he was God’s gift to women, he would strut into the courtroom and give the women a wink as he walked by. Roger and Verna are what we’d call “Trailer Trash” here in Oklahoma. No, that’s an insult to people who are trailer trash. Hope Roger enjoys eternity in hell, and Verna, I’m sure the Devil can’t wait to greet you. You guys killed friends of friends, and tore this City up. You broke all the laws of decency in this State, and most people here wish you had never been born. The only bright spot in this story are the family members who were good righteous people who didn’t get the glory they deserve. Those are the true Okies…God bless them.
My father was the one who saw Verna,Roger, and Harold in the camper at the convenience store in stillwater after they cold blooded killed the Lorenz family. He worked with the OSBI to do composite drawings. I attended trial in Purcell where my father was a witness. One of the things that I heard was that the Staffords thought my dad was a policeman and followed him back to his house where they were going to kill him but for whatever reason changed their minds. If Verna is so religious…does she tell her niece how much guilt there is when you hear a 12 yr old crying for his life and you cold blooded kill him after you have killed his parents? RIP Lorenz family and all the innocent kids they killed at Sirlion Stockade….
Also, I want to add for the niece. I have no doubt that Verna was probable an abused woman by Roger. But if she had
made wise choices back then, she would have taken her kids and ran from him as fast as she could. Maybe if she would have done that her kids lives would have been different and maybe if she had done that all those innocent people wouldn’t have died b/c if she had done that she wouldn’t have been there pretending to be a stranded motorist and without a woman doing that maybe the Lorenz family wouldn’t have stopped to help. And if anyone has doubts about my fathers testimony, think again, he had a photographic memory.
Mr Raymond, would love to write or visit Verna before she dies as she, roger and harold were most likely the last three to see my 19 year old brother at a mcdonalds in muscle shoals AL on Jan 12,1974. It was suspected he was the first in a long line of murders. Would like to share more information and would like some type justice for Jimmy. ..still unsolved murder . Wanda Berry.