Sirloin Stockade murders timeline
Sirloin Stockade murders timeline
Compiled by Tony Thornton
Published: July 16, 2008
1978
June 22 — The bodies of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Melvin Lorenz, 38, and his wife, Staff Sgt. Linda Lorenz, 31, are found near Purcell. Their pickup and son are missing.
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June 24 — Authorities find Richard Lorenz, 12, about a mile from where his parents were found.
July 16 — Six employees of the Sirloin Stockade restaurant at SW 74 and Pennsylvania are herded into a walk-in freezer and shot about 10:45 p.m.
July 23 — Harold Stafford dies in a motorcycle accident in Tulsa. Verna Stafford later testifies that he was involved in both the Lorenz and steakhouse murders.
July 24 — Police begin checking for links between the two cases.
1979
Jan. 2 — The OSBI releases three composite sketches.
Jan. 3 — A drunken Roger Dale Stafford makes an anonymous call to the OSBI, saying he met two of the people in the composites. He gives names: Verna and Harold Stafford.
March 13 — Roger Dale Stafford is arrested in a YMCA lobby in Chicago. He is returned to Oklahoma City the next day.
Aug. 2 — Roger Dale Stafford is ordered to stand trial for the steakhouse murders.
Oct. 17 — An Oklahoma County jury convicts him and sentences him to death.
Dec. 20 — The Court of Criminal Appeals grants the first of numerous stays of execution.
1980
March 7 — A jury convicts Roger Dale Stafford of the Lorenz killings and sentences him to death.
1984
April 2 — Fifteen hours before he is to be executed for the Lorenz killings, Roger Dale Stafford wins a delay from the U.S. Supreme Court.
1989
Aug. 7 — A judge tells Verna Stafford: "There's one of the hottest corners of hell vacant, with your name right above it," and sentences her to two consecutive life terms. Previously serving an indeterminate sentence of 10 years to life, she had sought a resentencing.
1995
May 30 — Prison officials notify Roger Dale Stafford that his execution date is 30 days away and urge him to make arrangements.
July 1 — Stafford is executed after 15 1/2 years on death row.
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