Erin Caffey was fifteen when she murdered her mother and two brothers. According to court documents Erin Caffey began dating an older man her parents did not approve on. On the night of the murders Erin Caffey boyfriend and another man entered the home, shot her father, mother and two younger siblings before setting the house on fire. Erin Caffey father would survive the horrific attack. This teen killer would be sentenced to life with parole
Erin Caffey 2023 Information
SID Number: 04889597
TDCJ Number: 01548417
Name: CAFFEY,ERIN MICHELLE
Race: W
Gender: F
Age: 30
Maximum Sentence Date: LIFE SENTENCE CUMULATIVE OFFENSES
ERIN Caffey is 24, and has been in a high-security prison in Gatesville, Texas, for eight years.
My first impression of her was that she seemed gentle and unthreatening, as befits someone who came from a loving, stable home, had never been in trouble and sang in the church choir every Sunday with her mum, dad and two younger brothers.
But to say she’s not what she seems is the understatement of the century. In fact, Erin Caffey is the most dangerous woman I have met in my life.
She organised the killing of her family at the age of 16.
Erin accomplices were her boyfriend Charlie Wilkinson, 18, his pal Charles Waid, 20, and Waid’s girlfriend Bobbi Johnson, 18.
The two men did the killing. Caffey’s mother Penny was shot, then stabbed with a samurai sword and almost decapitated.
Erin 13-year-old brother, Matthew, was shot in the head.
Her eight-year-old brother Tyler was repeatedly stabbed with a samurai sword.
Caffey father Terry was shot five times and left for dead as the house was torched to the ground. But he miraculously survived.
Why did she do it?
The only motive appears to be that a few days before the murder spree, Penny and Terry told their daughter she could no longer see Wilkinson.
Filled with lovesick rage, Erin ordered her boyfriend and his buddy to carry out her revenge.
“I was shocked, angry and hurt, this was the guy I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with and he loved me,” she told The Sun. “We were going to get married.”
When the police arrested them all, she claimed to have been drugged and kidnapped. But the other three all immediately said she was the ringleader.
“I’ve never come across anyone as dangerous as Erin,” said criminal therapist Israel Lewis, who worked with her after her capture.
Caffey was interviewed for a new series called Killer Women With Piers Morgan.
“In Erin Caffey’s case you know you are looking at evil. She is the most evil woman I have ever met,” Morgan said.
The most unsettling aspect of Caffey’s crime is that it is so utterly inexplicable. There were no warning signs, no history of trouble.
“You know, I was voted when we went to youth camp ‘Most Fun Loving Person’,” she said.
“What the hell happened?” I asked.
“I guess what it all boils down to is choices,” Erin Caffey said, almost matter-of-factly.
“When I look back on it now, this was all just stupid. I mean, for what? They weren’t beating me, they weren’t starving me to death. I had it made.”
None of the four involved were drunk or had taken drugs on the night of the murders.
As Wilkinson and Waid did the killing the girls waited in a car.
Records of calls between Erin and Wilkinson nailed her lie that she had been the victim of a kidnap.
Perhaps the most surreal moment of our interview came when she sang Amazing Grace, pitch-perfect.
Her father, the man who she tried to have killed, is the only person who still visits her.
Caffey is serving a minimum of 42 years and won’t be eligible for parole until she’s 59.
Wilkinson and Waid are serving life without parole but were spared the death penalty because Terry Caffey asked for it to be taken off the table. “I wanted them to have the chance to find remorse,” he explained.
Terry Caffey previously told Nightline what happened that night.
“It was so loud and it’s even hard to describe,” he said. “I mean, can you imagine someone standing over you and shooting when you’re sound asleep and now you’re being attacked in your bed?”
“I found out that Tyler, eight-year-old little Tyler, was hiding upstairs in a closet and the two killers, Charlie and Charles [Waid], took turns stabbing him to death,” Caffey said. “The hardest thing [was] to hear that. I remember when I heard that, I just couldn’t believe that’s how they did [it], and it goes back to that guilt and I felt I should have been able to save them and I couldn’t.
He crawled the length of four football fields to find help after being shot five times. He says he wanted to die until he found out that his daughter was alive.
“Then I had something to live for, I had some hope, so I began to fight,” he said. “But that hope would be short-lived because just within half an hour of finding out she was alive, my sister came to me and told me [Erin] had been arrested and had been charged with murder.”
Just a few days after the murders, Terry Caffey would make the eight-hour round trip to a prison to see the person who planned the family murder and had wanted him dead too.
He does it every month.
“Do you believe her version of events?” I asked Terry.
“I feel like for the most part I believe her,” he replied.
“I honestly believe she was not the mastermind. This was a vulnerable 16-year-old girl with a controlling, psychopathic guy.”
This might just hold water if it were not for a previous boyfriend, Michael Washburn, revealing that Erin had said to him too that she wanted her family dead.
Back to Terry Caffey.
“Do you forgive her?” I asked.
“I do forgive her,” he said. “I have to forgive her.”
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16 year old Erin Caffey made her first appearance before a Rains County Judge Monday.
Caffey and three co-defendants are all accused of killing her mother Penny Caffey and her brothers Matthew and Tyler Caffey, before setting the family’s house on fire in Emory. Erin Caffey’s father Terry was shot several times in the attack, but survived. Ironically, he was one of those in court asking for Erin to be allowed to come back home.
Before the judge issued a gag order, defense attorneys confirmed that Terry Caffey testified on his daughter’s behalf, asking that she be allowed to go home with him rather than staying in juvenile custody in Hunt County. Erin’s grandmother also testified for her, but neither testimony would sway the judge, who ordered Erin to continue to be held another 15 business days.
Another issue is still pending in the case – whether she will be tried as an adult. KLTV caught up with both the prosecution and the defense after the hearing.
“She’s facing a certification hearing. It’s not ready to go yet. The psychologist must evaluate her and her probation officer must work on her family report on her,” said William Howard McDowell, Erin’s defense attorney.
We have received the initial case from the Rains County Sheriff’s Department, however the case is still under investigation there are additional things to be done,” said Rains County Attorney Robert Vititow.
As for the other defendants, they were all indicted Monday morning by a Rains County Grand Jury. Bobbi Gale Johnson, Charles Waid, and Charlie Wilkinson were each indicted for capital murder for the deaths of Penny, Matthew, and Tyler Caffey.
One of them also faces a new charge. Wilkinson, Erin’s boyfriend, was also indicted for attempted escape. According to the indictment he dug a hole in the wall of his cell at the Rains County Jail on March 25th.
Rains County has requested the assistance of the Attorney General’s office. They are already there, and Lisa Tanner, who specializes in capital murder cases, is there to help. They will be there for the entirety of all four trials.
Alyssa Bustamante was fifteen years old when she lured a nine year old girl into the woods and killed her. According to Bustamante she wanted to see what it felt like to murder someone. This teen killer who had planned on killing two other children and had already predug two graves would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison
Missouri teenager Alyssa Bustamante has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in the killing of a 9-year-old girl. The 18-year-old was sentenced Wednesday in Cole Country Circuit Court. She pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the October 2009 stabbing and strangling of her neighbor, Elizabeth Olten.
Bustamante’s defense attorneys said in court that an abundance of the drug Prozac could have been a catalyst to her behavior. A consulting psychiatrist testified Monday afternoon that Bustamante’s prescription for Prozac may have helped lead her to kill.
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A Missouri woman whose 9-year-old daughter was killed by a teenage neighbor in 2009 has agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit that requires the imprisoned killer to pay her more than $5 million.
Patricia Preiss signed a deal Monday to settle the lawsuit she filed against Bustamante, who was 15 when she killed Preiss’ daughter, Elizabeth. Prosecutors alleged Bustamante committed the crime to see how it felt to kill someone.
Bustamante, who is now 23, confessed to the killing. She was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
It’s unclear if Bustamante has the means to pay the settlement. Attorneys for her and Priess did not immediately return phone calls seeking details Tuesday from The Associated Press.
Bustamante signed the settlement agreement in March, but documents show Preiss didn’t agree to the deal until Monday, The Jefferson City News-Tribune reported. A trial was scheduled to begin on Aug. 7. Bustamante is serving her sentence at the Women’s Eastern Missouri Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia.
Bustamante pleaded guilty in 2012 to luring Elizabeth to the woods in the small town of St. Martins, just west of Jefferson City. She slit the girl’s throat and strangled her before burying her in a grave she had dug several days in advance, according to investigators.
Under the lawsuit settlement, Preiss agreed to dismiss any remaining counts. Bustamante also is required to notify Preiss if she receives any compensation arising from publicity about the case.
Jefferson City woman reaches $5M settlement with inmate in killing of 9-year-old daughter
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On October 21, 2009, fifteen-year-old Alyssa Bustamante strangled and stabbed nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten to death and then buried her body in a shallow grave. Upon questioning by law enforcement officers, Bustamante admitted that she had killed the child, and she led the officers to the grave.1
In November 2009, the Cole County Juvenile Officer filed a petition asking the juvenile court to relinquish its jurisdiction over Alyssa Bustamante to allow the State to prosecute her as an adult in circuit court. The juvenile court held a “certification” hearing (at which Bustamante was represented by counsel) and ultimately granted the Juvenile Officer’s petition. The State then charged Bustamante as an adult with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Attorneys Donald Catlett and Charles Moreland from the Capital Division of the Public Defender’s Office entered an appearance on Bustamante’s behalf. The matter was set for trial on January 26, 2012.
On January 10, 2012, Alyssa Bustamante appeared before the circuit court, accompanied by her attorneys, to plead guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action, pursuant to an agreement with the State. Plea counsel informed the court that he and co-counsel had reviewed the substitute information with Bustamante and that she was “prepared today to take responsibility for these offenses.” Alyssa Bustamante confirmed that she wanted to withdraw her not-guilty plea and to plead guilty to the charges in the substitute information.
The court informed Alyssa Bustamante of the range of punishment for the offenses and explained that there would be a sentencing hearing at which evidence would be taken and the court would then decide what the sentence would be. Bustamante acknowledged that she understood that she was entering a “blind plea,” meaning that the judge was not bound by any agreed upon sentence, and that she could not withdraw her guilty plea after the plea hearing. The circuit court accepted Bustamante’s guilty plea after finding that she had entered the plea “knowingly, willingly, voluntarily, and intelligently,” with a full understanding of the charges and the consequences of the plea, and that a factual basis had been established for the plea.
At the sentencing hearing, numerous witnesses, including several expert witnesses, testified for both sides. The circuit court heard evidence about Bustamante’s history of mental health issues and about the circumstances surrounding the murder. On February 8, 2012, the court sentenced Bustamante to consecutive terms of life for the murder and thirty years for ACA.
Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper were both sixteen when they decided they wanted to kill someone and they chose a friend, Cassie Jo Stoddart. The two young teen killers decided to wait until Cassie Jo was alone and they sneaked into her home and brutally stabbed the teenager to death. Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper alibi fell through and soon the two teens would be standing trial where they were convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
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On September 22, 2006, Stoddart was spending the night at her cousin’s house, the Whispering Cliffs residence, performing house-sitting duties. Matt Beckham (Beckham), Stoddart’s boyfriend, stated that he and Stoddart had invited Torey Adamcik to the Whispering Cliffs residence that evening to “hang out.” Adamcik and Brian Draper arrived at the Whispering Cliffs residence at approximately 6:30 or 7:00 PM. After spending approximately two hours at the Whispering Cliffs residence, Draper informed Stoddart and Beckham that he needed to leave and shortly thereafter Draper and Adamcik departed.
Approximately fifteen minutes after Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper departed, the power at the Whispering Cliffs residence went out. Beckham called his mother to ask for permission to stay the night, but such permission was denied. After speaking with his mother, Beckham phoned Adamcik to inform him that Beckham would be going home for the night. Beckham later said that during their conversation Adamcik spoke in a whisper and claimed to be at a movie. Beckham and Adamcik spent the following day together. Beckham tried repeatedly to call Stoddart throughout the day but was unable to get an answer.
On September 24, 2006, it was discovered that Stoddart had been killed at the Whispering Cliffs residence. Police officer Hatch responded to the scene and noted large amounts of blood on the victim’s body, as well as deep lacerations and stab wounds. Shortly after responding, police and paramedics confirmed that Stoddart was dead. Detectives conducting the preliminary investigation determined that Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper had been among the last people to see Stoddart alive.
Detectives Thomas and Ganske went to the Adamcik home and interviewed Torey Adamcik on September 24, 2006. Adamcik’s father, Sean Adamcik (Sean), was present. This interview was the first of two interviews that detectives Thomas and Ganske conducted with Adamcik. During the course of the first interview, Adamcik informed the detectives that he and Draper had gone to the Whispering Cliffs residence at approximately 8:30 PM on September 22, 2006, for a party. Adamcik stated that when it became apparent that a party was not going to take place, he and Draper decided to go and see a movie in Pocatello. When the detectives questioned Adamcik regarding the movie he had reportedly seen, Adamcik was unable to describe what the movie had been about. Adamcik told detectives that following the movie he and Brian Draper had gone to spend the night at Adamcik’s home.
On September 27, 2006, after Adamcik’s first interview, but before the second, Brian Draper led law enforcement agents to a stash of evidence buried in the Black Rock Canyon area (BRC site). The evidence uncovered by law enforcement at the BRC site included:
1. Two dagger-style knives with sheaths.
2. A silver-and-black-handled knife with a smooth and non-serrated blade.
3. A folding knife with a silver blade and black handle, which is similar to a survival knife. The portion of the blade nearest to the hilt is serrated.
4. A homemade Sony videotape (BRC tape).
5. A box of stick matches.
6. A melted brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
7. Partially burned notebook paper.
8. A partially melted multi-colored mask.
9. A red and white mask.
10. A pair of black boots.
11. A single black glove.
12. A pair of black “Puma” gloves.
13. A pair of blue latex gloves.
14. A pair of fingerless black “Athletic Works” gloves.
15. A black “Calvin Klein” dress shirt.
16. A black “Hagger” shirt.
Torey Adamcik conceded that his handwriting was present on the notebook paper found along with the other evidence at the BRC site. The BRC tape contained footage of Adamcik and Draper planning Stoddart’s murder, and later reacting to having killed Stoddart. The BRC tape skips around and is not recorded in chronological order. The following relevant portions of the BRC tape have been rearranged according to the time and date stamps that appear on the BRC tape.
1. September 21, 2006, at 8:05:23 PM [Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper are in a car, Adamcik is driving and Draper is filming from the passenger seat]
Draper: We’re going for a high death count.
Adamcik: Plus, we’re not going to get caught Brian, if we’re going for guns, we’re just gonna end it. We’re just gonna grab the guns and get outta there and kill everybody and leave.
Draper: We’re going to make history. ․ We’re gonna make history.
Adamcik: For all you FBI agents watching this—
Draper: (laughing)
Adamcik: Uh ․ you weren’t quick enough. (laughing)
Draper: You weren’t quick enough, and you weren’t s-s-smart enough. And we’re going over to [Jane Doe 1’s] house, we-we-we’re going to snoop around over there and try to see if she’s home alone or not, and if she’s home alone, SPLAT! ․ She dead.
Adamcik: Don’t put your humor into this Brian.
Draper: Uh, I’m not putting any humor into it. ․ Yep, people will die, and m-m-memories will fade.
Adamcik: Memories will fade. ․ I, hmm, I wonder what movie you got that from Brian?
Draper: Myself!
Adamcik: (laughing)
Draper: That was from myself.
Adamcik: No wonder it was so lame.
Draper:—kay, we’re on our way, and I’m gonna, I’ll let you stay tuned, we’re almost there.
2. September 21, 2006, at 8:08:12 PM [Adamcik and Draper are in a car, Draper is filming Adamcik with the camera light on]
Draper: We’re at [Jane Doe 1’s] house. It’s clear out there in the pasture. We’ve already snooped around her house a couple times, Uh, and sh-sh-she’s not at home so we’re gonna go to that church over there and we’re gonna call a girl and a guy named Cassie and Matt. They’re our-our friends but we have to make sacrifices. So um I feel tonight i-i-it is the night and I feel really weird ․ and stuff. I feel like I want to kill somebody. Uh, I know that’s not normal but what the hell.
Adamcik: I feel we need to break away from normal life.
Draper: How bright is this light? [Draper has turned the camera light directly onto Adamcik]
Adamcik: Because ․ let’s put it this way ․ parents, along with their parents, along with their parents, and so on—
Draper: Uh-huh
Adamcik:—taught them about God, Jesus, the whole bullshit—
Draper: (laughing)
Adamcik:—line. I’m sure you guys believe in God as well. I realized when I was in seventh grade ․ along, you don’t believe in Santa Claus or—
Draper: (laughing)
Adamcik:—vampires, or werewolves, they’re used to metaphor, not let—they teach their kids back in the 1800s, I learned this in English class, about telling their kids that they can’t go outside or a vampire will get you—just to make their kids stay and do what they want to do. God is basically—
Draper: That’s what God’s for right?
Adamcik:—the same way—
Draper: Yep.
Adamcik:—tryin’ to get people to do good, or else “so-called” [air quoting] you go to hell.
Draper: And we’re obviously going to hell if it’s real, but who gives a shit?
Adamcik: And why would you say it’s real?
Draper: [talking over Adamcik] Yeah, but it’s not real. It’s not real, cuz it’s so blatantly obvious that it’s not real, but (laughing)
Adamcik: People believe it because their parents teach them, and so it’s so hard for them to let go of it because they’ve been taught their whole life.
Draper: Yeah, I know.
Adamcik: But, fuckin—
Draper: What?
Adamcik:—the point I’m makin’ is ․ we are also taught that things like killing people and other things is wrong. The only thing that is wrong about is because it’s breaking the law and the law is only wrong (mumbling, searching for words)—
Adamcik: There should be no law against killing people. I know it’s a wrong thing, but ․
Draper: Natural selection—
Adamcik:—Hell, hell, you restrict somebody from it, they’re just gonna want it more.
Draper: Exactly. Goodbye camera.
3. September 21, 2006, at 8:15:39 PM [Adamcik and Draper are in a car, Adamcik is driving and Draper is filming from the passenger seat]
Draper:—home. My friend’s too pussy to go investigate—turn here
Adamcik: Too smart—
Draper: Why aren’t you turning there dude?
Adamcik: Cuz it’s faster this way
Draper: Now we’re going to go over to Cassie and Matt’s house. If they’re home alone, we’re gonna ․
Adamcik: It’s Cassie’s house. Matt is there.
Draper: Matt is there. Sorry. We’re gonna ga—we’re gonna knock on the door. We’ll see who is there. We’ll, we’ll see, we’ll see-see if their parents are home or not. If they’re home alone we will leave our way and then we will come back in about ten minutes. We’ll sneak in through the door because chances are they’re probably in Cassie’s room. S–s–s–so we will sneak in the front door, we’ll make a noise outside.
Adamcik: And Matt will come out to investigate.
Draper: We’ll kill him. And we’ll scare the shit out of Cassie ․ okay?
Adamcik: Sounds like fun.
Draper: Well stay tuned.
4. September 21, 2006, at 8:36:46 PM [Adamcik and Draper are in a car, Adamcik is driving and Draper is filming from the passenger seat]
Draper: We found our victim and sad as it may be she’s our friend but you know what? We all have to make sacrifices. Our first victim is going to be Cassie Stoddart and her friends ․
Adamcik: [directed at passing car] God, turn your brights off asshole!
Draper: We’ll let you ․ (laughs) we’ll find out if she has friends over, if she’s going to be alone in a big dark house out in the middle of nowhere (laughs). How perfect can you get? I, I mean like holy shit dude.
Adamcik: I’m horny just thinking about it.
Draper: Hell yeah. So we’re gonna fuckin’ kill her and her friends and we’re gonna keep moving on. I heard some news about [Jane Doe 2], she’s gonna be home alone from six to seven so we might kill her and drive over to Cassie’s thing and scare the shit out of them and kill them one by fucking one. Hell yeah.
Adamcik: Why one by one? Why can’t it be a slaughterhouse?
Draper: Two by two and three by three. Cause we’ve got to keep it classy.
Adamcik: Keep it classy.
Draper: So yeah. It’s going to be extra fun.
Adamcik: You’re evil (laughs).
Draper: Yes, I am. So are you dude. Evil. Evil.
Adamcik: No. Evil is an expression of God. That was another test you failed.
Draper: Evil is not an expression of God.
Adamcik: Yes, it is.
Draper: That is bullshit and you know it.
Adamcik: Evil of origin is a follower of fucking Satan.
Draper: There is no Satan.
Adamcik: Is Satan real? Then shut up.
Draper: Then how are we supposed to express ourselves?
Adamcik: Good and Bad.
Draper: We’re, we’re bad.
Adamcik: We are bad.
Draper: That sounds so shitty.
Adamcik: We’re evil. That sounds even shittier.
Draper: Hey, we’re not, okay. Then we are sick psychopaths who get their pleasure off killing other people.
Adamcik: That sounds good baby.
Draper: We’re gonna go down in history. We’re gonna be just like Scream except real life terms.
Adamcik: That sounds good baby.
Draper: We’re gonna be murderers. Like, let’s see, Ted Bundy, like the Hillside Strangler.
Adamcik: No.
Draper: The Zodiac Killer.
Adamcik: Those people were more amateurs compared to what we are going to be, we’re gonna be more of higher sources of Ed gl ․
Draper: Gein
Adamcik: Gein
Draper: (laughs) Well let’s say we’re that sick and that twisted—
Adamcik: Oh, you know what Ed Gein’s words were?
Draper: What?
Adamcik: He saw a girl walkin’ down the street, right?
Draper: Yeah.
Adamcik: Two questions came to his head. Hmm, I could take her out and have a nice time with her—
Draper:—and then kill her? Skin her alive?
Adamcik:—charm the pants off her. Or, I wonder what her head would look like on a stick? (laughs)
Draper: (laughs) Holy shit!
Adamcik: It’s creepy huh?
Draper: Kick ass.
Adamcik & Draper: (laughing)
Draper: Murder is power, murder is freedom, goodbye.
Adamcik: Umm—
5. September 22, 2006, at 12:10:58 PM [Adamcik and Draper are sitting at a table with the camera facing them]
Draper: Alright, cool.
Adamcik: [looking down and writing in a notebook] I was planning to kill him.
Draper: September 22, 2006, we’re skipping our fourth hour class. We’re writing our plan right now for tonight. It’s gonna be cool.
Adamcik: We? Torey and Brian ․ [writing] ․ we’re making our death list right now, for when, for actually tonight ․
Draper: (whispering) she’s watching us ․
Adamcik: (unintelligible)
Draper: She’s still watching us ․
Adamcik: (mumbling, unintelligible)
Draper: [loudly] Number 2 is what?
[long gap where Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper are both concerned a teacher is going to see them, are whispering various things related to this and trying to make themselves less visible]
Adamcik: [writing again] Then ․ (unintelligible)
Draper: Yeah, if you’re watching this we’re probably deceased.
․
Draper: Hopefully this will go smoothly and we can get our first kill done and then keep going.
Adamcik: For you future serial killers watching this tape
Adamcik & Draper: (laughing)
Adamcik: I don’t know what to say.
Draper: It–It’s—
Adamcik:—good luck with that.
Draper: Good luck.
Adamcik: Hopefully you don’t have like 8 or 9 failures like we have.
Draper: Yeah, we’ve probably tried maybe 10 times, but they’ve never been home alone so—
Adamcik: Or when they have, their parents show up.
Draper: As long as you’re patient you know, and we were patient and now we’re getting paid off, cuz our victim’s home alone, so we got er, our plan all worked out now ․ I’m sorry. I’m sorry Cassie’s family, but she had to be the one. We have to stick with the plan ․ and she’s perfect, so she’s gonna die (laughs)
․
6. September 22, 2006, at 9:53:20 PM [It is dark and Draper and Adamcik are sitting in a car.]
Draper: We’re here in his car. The time is 9:50, September 22nd, 2006. Um ․ unfortunately we have the grueling task of killing our two friends and they are right in—in that house just down the street.
Adamcik: We just talked to them. We were there for an hour, but ․
Draper: We checked out the whole house. We know there’s lots of doors. There, there’s lots of places to hide. Um, I unlocked the back doors. It’s all unlocked. Now we just got to wait and um ․ yep, we’re, we’re really nervous right now but, you know, we’re ready.
Adamcik: We’re listening to the greatest rock band ever.
Draper: We’ve waited for this for a long time.
Adamcik: Pink Floyd. Before we commit the ultimate crime of murder.
Draper: We’ve waited for this for a long time.
Adamcik: A long time.
Draper: We—well stay tuned.
7. September 22, 2006, at 11:31:56 PM [Adamcik and Draper are in a car driving.]
Draper:—just killed Cassie! We just left her house. This is not a fucking joke.
Adamcik: I’m shaking.
Draper: I stabbed her in the throat, and I saw her lifeless body. It just disappeared. Dude, I just killed Cassie!
Adamcik: Oh my God!
Draper: Oh, oh fuck. That felt like it wasn’t even real. I mean it went by so fast.
Adamcik: Shut the fuck up. We gotta get our act straight.
Draper: It’s okay. Okay? We—we’ll just buy movie tickets now.
Adamcik: Okay.
Draper: (Unintelligible)
Adamcik: No.
Draper: Okay. Bye.
On September 27, 2006, after the BRC site evidence was found, detectives Ganske and Thomas conducted a second interview with Torey Adamcik at the Pocatello Police Department in the presence of Adamcik’s parents. Detective Ganske read Adamcik his Miranda rights at the beginning of the interview and Adamcik signed a waiver-of-rights form. During the course of the interview, Adamcik informed detectives Ganske and Thomas that he and Draper had arrived at the Whispering Cliffs residence at 8:00 or 8:30, got a tour of the home, watched a portion of the film Kill Bill Vol. 2, departed from the Whispering Cliffs residence at approximately 10:00 PM, and began attempting to break into cars. Torey Adamcik stated that during the course of their attempted burglaries he made multiple calls to Beckham and during the final call Beckham informed Adamcik that his mother was coming to get him from the Whispering Cliffs residence.
Adamcik stated that he and Brian Draper returned to Adamcik’s house at around 11:30 PM and did not leave for the remainder of the night. However, when Ganske informed Adamcik that witnesses had seen him at the convenience store, Common Cents, Adamcik stated that he and Draper had gone to the store so that Draper could buy matches for Draper’s cigarettes. Adamcik eventually admitted that he and Draper had gone to Black Rock Canyon. At the close of Adamcik’s second interview, the detectives informed Adamcik of the evidence that they had discovered at the BRC site and pressured Adamcik to tell the truth. Adamcik responded by asking “Can I talk to an attorney?” The detectives stopped questioning Adamcik immediately, and exited the room, allowing Adamcik and his father, Sean, to converse in private in a different room. Following this private meeting, Adamcik, Sean and the detectives reconvened in the interview room where detectives proceeded to tell Adamcik that he was going to be arrested and informed Adamcik of the evidence they had gathered. In response to intervening questions from Sean, Adamcik made both verbal and nonverbal replies.
At trial, the jury heard extensive forensic testimony documenting and analyzing Stoddart’s wounds. The medical examiner, Dr. Steve Skoumal, performed the autopsy on Stoddart on September 25, 2006. Dr. Skoumal determined that the cause of Stoddart’s death was stab wounds to the trunk. In all, Dr. Skoumal documented thirty knife-related wounds on Stoddart’s body, twelve of which were potentially fatal. The State also had forensic pathologist Dr. Charles Garrison examine Stoddart’s body. Dr. Garrison testified “It’s my opinion that there were at least two knives used, one of which was a non-serrated blade, and one of which was a serrated blade.” In general, the majority of the potentially fatal wounds that Dr. Skoumal listed were inflicted with the serrated blade, however, wound number 1, which struck the right ventricle of Stoddart’s heart, was inflicted by a non-serrated blade—consistent with Dr. Garrison’s testimony—and was potentially fatal.
On June 8, 2007, the jury found Torey Adamcik guilty of both conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder.
Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper Photos
Torey Adamcik And Brian Draper Videos
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Supreme Court Upholds Torey Adamcik Sentence
The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man who was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he committed in his teens, and in doing so, released a series of audio transcripts between the killer and his accomplice.
The transcripts between convicted murderers Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper shed light on the grisly nature and premeditation of the Sept. 22, 2006, killing of fellow classmate, Cassie Jo Stoddart, and were included in the opinion issued by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Adamcik had initially sought post-conviction relief in the district court in September 2013 on several claims including ineffective assistance of counsel. Adamcik also claimed his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment.
After the district court denied all their client’s claims, Adamcik’s lawyers appealed. In its opinion, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled in favor of the district court’s decision, noting that Adamcik had failed to demonstrate his counsel provided ineffective assistance.
The Idaho Supreme Court also determined that the court had appropriately considered Adamcik’s age in his sentencing and found that his life sentence did not violate his Eighth Amendment rights.
Included in the opinion is a list of evidence uncovered by law enforcement agencies that was buried by Adamcik and Draper in Black Rock Canyon near Pocatello. In addition to several articles of black clothing, law enforcement officials found three knives, two masks and a homemade Sony videotape.
On the tape were segments of video that showed Adamcik and Draper planning and discussing the murder the day before, the day of and immediately after they killed Stoddart.
Before the murder, Adamcik told Draper, “we’re not going to get caught,” to which Draper replied by saying, “we’re going to make history,” according to the transcript in the Supreme Court’s opinion.
The transcript includes conversation between Adamcik and Draper referencing horror-slasher films like “Scream” and comparing themselves to serial killers like Ted Bundy, the Hillside Strangler and the Zodiac Killer.
“Those people were mere amateurs compared to what we are going to be,” Adamcik said.
In another segment of the transcript, Draper says “I feel like I want to kill somebody. Uh, I know that’s not normal, but what the hell.”
Adamcik replied, “I feel we need to break away from normal life.”
Several parenthetical citations throughout the transcript indicate Adamcik and Draper were laughing while the camera was rolling, and during one segment, Draper said the two had tried, unsuccessfully, to kill on eight or nine previous occasions.
“But they’ve never been home alone,” Draper said.
And Adamick replied by saying, “Or when they have, their parents show up.”
The night of the murder Stoddart was house-sitting at a relative’s home on Whispering Cliffs Drive in Pocatello. Adamcik and Draper came to “hang out” with Stoddart and another mutual friend, Matt Beckham.
Stoddart, Beckham, Adamcik and Draper were all juniors at Pocatello High School in 2006.
According to the transcript, Draper said he and Adamcik identified Stoddart as their victim the day before the murder, despite claiming she was their friend.
“We’ll find out if she has friends over, if she’s going to be alone in a big dark house out in the middle of nowhere. How perfect can you get?” Draper said.
“I’m horny just thinking about it,” Adamcik replied.
After spending approximately two hours at the Whispering Cliffs residence, Draper informed Stoddart and Beckham that he needed to leave and shortly thereafter Draper and Adamcik departed.
After his mother denied his request to stay overnight, Beckham phoned Adamcik to inform him that he would be going home for the night. Beckham later said that during their conversation Adamcik spoke in a whisper and claimed to be at a movie. Beckham and Adamcik spent the following day together, according to the Supreme Court opinion.
Two days after the murder, Stoddart’s body was discovered and detectives interviewed Adamcik the same day. During the interview, Adamcik claimed he and Draper left the Whispering Cliffs residence to watch a movie, but could not recall what the movie was about.
The transcript ends with a segment at approximately 11:30 p.m. the night of the murder. Draper took credit for killing Stoddart, saying, they “just killed Cassie. We just left her house. This is not a (expletive) joke.”
Adamcik said, “I’m shaking.”
Draper then said, “It’s OK. … We’ll just buy movie tickets now.”
Draper was convicted of first-degree murder on April 17, 2007, and sentenced to life in prison. He remains incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Institution in Boise.
On June 8, 2007, a jury found Adamcik guilty of both conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder. Adamcik was sentenced to 30 years fixed and an indeterminate life sentence for the conspiracy conviction, and a fixed life sentence for the first-degree murder conviction. He also remains incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Institution in Boise.
Torey Adamcik is currently incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Facility
Brian Draper Now
Brian Draper is currently incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Facility
Torey Adamcik Release Date
Torey Adamcik is serving life without parole
Brian Draper Release Date
Brian Draper is serving life without parole
Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper Photos
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An Idaho man sentenced to life in prison as a teenager for his role in the stabbing death of another teenager as part of a quest to become a famous serial killer will remain behind bars.
A U.S. District Court on Monday rejected Torey Adamcik’s request that his first-degree murder conviction be vacated and that he receive a new sentence.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale ruled that the evidence supports Adamcik’s murder conviction and that the Idaho Supreme Court in December 2017 did not err in affirming Adamcik’s life sentence without parole.
Torey Adamcik was 16 on September 2006 when he and then 16-year-old Brian Draper killed their friend and classmate Cassie Jo Stoddart, 17, in a house north of Pocatello.
Torey Adamcik remains an inmate at the Idaho State Correctional Institution, a medium-security men’s prison in Kuna in southwestern Idaho.
Torey Adamcik And Brian Draper More News
The second and final day of testimony in the evidentiary hearing for convicted murderer Torey Adamcik opened with retired Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Heideman taking the stand and closed with Adamcik maintaining his innocence and apologizing to the victim’s family.
Adamcik was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2006 stabbing death of his friend and classmate, Cassie Jo Stoddart, and conspiracy to commit murder. His co-defendant, Brian Draper, was also convicted of first-degree murder in a separate trial. Draper’s post-conviction relief hearing was dismissed Feb. 26, 2013.
Draper and Adamcik were just 16 when convicted, and both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Adamcik was the last witness called to testify by his attorney Dennis Benjamin of Boise.
Benjamin maintained that Adamcik’s defense team during the 2007 murder trial, Aaron Thompson, Greg May and Bron Rammell, failed to provide evidence in the case that could have had an impact on the outcome of the trial.
While his former teachers and family members described Adamcik as immature and lacking in critical thinking skills, the 25-year-old was articulate and very much involved in his ongoing defense.
Adamcik also maintained that he had no hand in the stabbing death of Stoddart.
Stoddart was stabbed 29 times while house sitting for a relative in a rural area north of Tyhee Road.
“I thought we were going to scare (Stoddart),” Adamcik said.
He and Draper waited in the basement and at one point, Draper cut the power.
“We were trying to lure them downstairs,” Adamcik said. “I think I turned on the power so the house phone would work and I called them.”
He told the young man that he was at a movie theater and about 30 minutes later, the boy’s mother picked him up.
Adamcik said he argued with Draper, who cut the power again and headed upstairs. Draper was armed with what was referred to in the murder trial as the “Sloan blade,” a dagger-type weapon, and Adamcik wielded a hunting-style knife referred to as the “Rambo knife.”
“(Draper) told me to go into the living room and I said, ‘No,’” Adamcik said. “He went around me and stepped into the living room. Cassie said something to him and then screamed. I thought this is not going according to plan.”
Draper told him to go into the living room and Adamcik said he could hear Stoddart.
“It sounded like she was snoring,” he said. “I knelt down beside her. I might have dropped my knife and I left the room.”
Draper told him to turn the lights back on and he did. Then Adamcik said he went out the back door, removed a mask, his shirt and one glove and put them in the trunk of his car.
“I thought (Draper) was behind me. I waited a couple of minutes,” Adamcik said. “I was extremely anxious, I don’t know how to describe it.”
He doesn’t remember when the video recorder was turned on, but on it Draper said, “I just killed Cassie, I saw her lifeless body.”
Adamcik said he pretended to be high on the video.
Stoddart’s mother, Anna Stoddart, cried quietly as Adamcik gave his account of the events of that evening.
Bannock County Deputy Prosecutor Ian Service noted that it was Adamcik who appears on the video telling Draper that they “had to get their act together,” and Adamcik said he knew they were in trouble.
“I just didn’t know how much trouble,” Adamcik said.
They returned to the Adamcik home and he noticed that Draper had blood on his forearm and hand.
“My thought at that time was ‘how could I ever tell anyone?’” Adamcik said.
According to Adamcik, Draper said they had to get rid of the evidence and they drove to Blackrock where Adamcik dug a hole and buried a video recorded the night of the killing, the knives, masks, gloves and clothing.
Draper later led investigators to the buried items.
“I never wanted it to happen, and I want to apologize to Cassie’s family,” Adamcik said.
Anna Stoddart, Cassie Jo’s mother, said the hearing shattered what little closure the family has attained.
“It’s just ridiculous, the parents need to get over their denial, realize that (Adamcik) did it and he’s going to spend the rest of his life in jail and he should,” Anna said. “They still have their son. I have to visit my daughter in the cemetery. I didn’t get to see her graduate or get married or have babies.”
Anna said the only contact that she has had with the Adamciks since Cassie was murdered was a call from Dr. Phil McGraw asking if she would be interested in appearing on his daytime show with Shannon Adamcik. Anna declined to appear.
Much of Wednesday’s testimony focused on whether or not a plea agreement had been presented to Adamcik and when the deal was offered.
Heideman was the first witness called to the stand Wednesday and he said he had taken a plea deal to Aaron Thompson 60 to 90 days prior to trial and the agreement was offered to Adamcik and Draper.
Under the settlement agreement, the state would have dismissed the conspiracy to commit murder charge and recommended a sentence of life in prison with 30 years fixed in exchange for a guilty plea to first degree murder.
Heideman said the deal was turned down.
Retired Sixth District Judge Peter McDermott testified Wednesday that he was not aware of the plea deal and he said he wouldn’t have gone along with it if he had known.
“Given the crime and all that transpired in the courtroom, I feel the sentence was appropriate,” McDermott said.
Rammell testified Wednesday that Adamcik was not interested in plea deals — they were seeking an acquittal in the case.
Another hiccup in the 2007 murder trial came when forensic expert Rudolf Riet conducted tests using a knife identical to the “Sloan blade” and almost identical to the “Rambo knife,” and a pig belly.
Riet stabbed the pig skin with the knives and compared the results to autopsy photos.
Wednesday, Riet said it was unusual to not test the actual murder weapon, but he said the defense team in 2007 told him they could not access the knives.
When Rammell argued that they could not obtain the weapons from prosecutors, Heideman said he reacted.
“I got a little hot under the collar and I called him a liar. I was out of line and I should have maintained my composure until the jury was gone,” Heideman said. “I had an open door policy and the defense had access to all the evidence. But we weren’t going to just let them go in and take the knives. There had to be an established chain of custody.”
McDermott dismissed the jury following Heideman’s outburst.
The judge also excluded testimony from Riet in the 2007 murder trial.
Benjamin did secure the murder weapons earlier this month and Riet conducted the tests using those knives two weeks ago.
Riet testified Wednesday that the tests indicated that the “Sloan blade” and the “Rambo knife” made similar wounds when the Rambo blade was inserted halfway.
Heideman was also questioned about images downloaded from a computer in the Adamcik home. The content included child pornography and violent images.
Thompson testified Tuesday that the prosecutor told him that unless they withdrew their character defense he would release the disc and to avoid having the jury see the images, they opted not to call character witnesses in the case.
Heideman acknowledged that he told the defense team he would use the contents of the computer to rebut the character witnesses.
Rammell said motions were not filed to suppress or exclude the images because if the judge did approve the motions, the action would have still been argued in front of the jury.
Sixth District Magistrate Mitchell W. Brown will rule on the matter after reviewing briefs from the state and the defense.
Service said the defense must show that not only was legal counsel deficient, but that the deficiency impacted the outcome of the trial.
“I think judge McDermott’s testimony was a turning point in the hearing,” Service said. “He was pretty clear.”
Benjamin said he thought the defense had proven everything it needed to prove and he said public interest complicated the case.
Benjamin has known Adamcik for several years and said it was a privilege to represent him
Jacob Matt Morgan who is mostly referred to as Matt Morgan was seventeen years old when he set his home on fire in South Carolina killing his fourteen month old brother. According to court documents Matt Morgan would set at least two fires inside of the trailer home and then leave the residence. Authorities would charge him with murder after he wilfully leave his fourteen month old brother in the burning residence. His parents told authorities that Matt Morgan suffers from a number of mental health issues including being on the autism spectrum. Regardless this teen killer would be sentenced to fifteen years in prison
A York County teen accused in the death of his 14-month-old half-brother pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and unlawful conduct of a child in court Tuesday.
Jacob Matthew Morgan, 17, will spend 15 years in the Department of Corrections
Morgan, known to friends as Matt, was arrested last year after a fire at his Rock Hill mobile home killed his baby half-brother, Joshua Hill, in March.
Morgan pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter instead of murder, and an unlawful conduct towards a child charge, rather than homicide by child abuse.
The teenager also entered an Alford plea, maintaining his innocence, for third-degree arson rather than first-degree arson.
Last year, prosecutors said Morgan gave several conflicting statements before eventually admitting to starting the fire. Investigators testified fire patterns showed two fires were set and said Morgan’s stories didn’t add up.
“It my estimation both fires were set at or near potential heat sources – both of them near heaters – to disguise the fire as being accidental,” said SLED investigator William Keller.
In court Tuesday, an emotional Morgan told the judge that he loved his brother and wished he could have saved him.
“To kill him would be killing a piece of myself,” Morgan said.
Prosecutors told the judge the fire had two points of origin the bedroom where Hill was asleep and the living room. Morgan was accused of lighting tea candles before the trailer home went up in flames.
Deputy solicitor Willy Thompson said the teen had a fascination with fire, and that evidence pointed to the flames being intentionally set.
“Whether he certainly intended to kill his brother or not, it may be up for some debate,” Thompson said, “But he obviously set the fire that ultimately killed his brother.”
Prosecutors said Morgan had a cell phone, but never used it to call for help.
Despite the evidence against the older brother, loved ones continue to stand behind him.
“I will never get over losing my little boy,” said Myke Hill, father of Joshua and step-father to Morgan. “I will never get over my other son being accused of the loss of our little boy.”
A first-degree arson charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in jail. After consulting with his public defender, Morgan opted to enter the Alford plea, admitting the state had enough evidence to convict him.
“We have always believed in his innocence, because we know our son. We know the evidence against him looks horrible,” said Morgan’s mother Julie in court.
Prosecutors said they’re pleased with the deal, and the amount of time Morgan will serve behind bars.
Deputy solicitor Thompson said it was challenging because the victim’s family and suspect’s family were one and the same, and did not want prosecution.
“The friends and neighbors of the family, they were very adamant in us not prosecuting him at all. But that was not an option, because this obviously was a crime,” Thompson said.
Morgan’s family feels like they’re losing another son.
“We’re as set as we can be… the pain will never go away, but hopefully it will lessen in time,” Myke Hill said.
Morgan will be on five years of probation after his release, but could be sent back to jail for 15 years if he violates any of the terms.
Jacob Matt Morgan is currently incarcerated at the MacDougall Facility in South Carolina
Jacob Matt Morgan Release Date
Jacob Matt Morgan is scheduled to be released in 2022
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The half-brother of a 14-month-old boy killed last week in a Lesslie-area mobile home fire has been charged with murder and arson after an investigation uncovered that the 17-year-old intentionally set fire to the home while the child was sleeping, authorities said.
The arrest comes just days after the fire that killed Joshua Hill on Friday morning in a mobile home park off Catawba Church Road near Lesslie.
The York County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jacob Matt Morgan, 17, on Monday, police records show.
Morgan will be tried as an adult in criminal court, said Willy Thompson, 16th Circuit deputy solicitor. Jacob Matt Morgan turned 17 years old on Feb. 17, making him an adult under state law.
He is accused of setting a fire that officials say fully engulfed a home in the Apple Valley Mobile Home Park around 8:30 a.m. Friday. The home was destroyed and fire personnel have said they could not get inside in time to save the child.
In South Carolina, a murder conviction carries a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison and up to life without parole. However, Morgan’s young age saves him a potential death penalty case in York County because prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty for people under the age of 18, under state law.
Jacob Matt Morgan had an initial appearance before a magistrate judge Tuesday afternoon in a courtroom adjacent to the York County jail in the basement of the Moss Justice Center in York. He was found to be indigent and the court appointed him a public defender.
Morgan has not previously been arrested in South Carolina, according to state records.
He is being held without bond, awaiting an opportunity to go before a circuit court judge. Magistrates cannot set bonds for defendants in murder cases.
The York County Public Defender’s Office will conduct its own investigation into the fire and circumstances around Joshua Hill’s death, said 16th Circuit Chief Public Defender Harry Dest.
Public defenders have not yet studied any evidence in the case, said B.J. Barrowclough, deputy public defender. The “loss of life, particularly the loss of life of a child, is a huge tragedy,” Barrowclough said Tuesday.
The case has taken its toll on local fire and police officials “who tried so desperately to save Joshua’s life,” said York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant on Tuesday. “It’s tragic that such a young life was lost in this fire. Our prayers go out to the family of Joshua Hill.”
The intentional killing of a helpless toddler is “a truly terrible” act and one of the worst he’s seen in his 43 years in law enforcement, Bryant said.
“People, what they will do, never ceases to amaze me,” he said. “This family has been dealt a terrible blow. They were dealing with the death of the baby, and funeral arrangements, and now they have to deal with the fact that it is his brother who we have charged with committing this crime.”
Bryant added that he is proud of the volunteer firefighters and one of his deputies who was one of the first people on the scene. The deputy tried to get into the burning home to rescue the boy, but she could not breach the flames and heat that engulfed the trailer with the child inside.
Some people at the scene, including the half-brother now charged with murder and arson, were allegedly screaming at emergency responders on Friday after those responders could not save the child.
“She did everything she could do – everything – to try and save that baby and it has been very hard on her,” Bryant said. “She has lived through hell thinking about what she was not able to do. And now, this.”
Lesslie Fire Chief Tommy White said Tuesday that the news that the fire was set intentionally is “horrible.”
“My guys risked their lives that day and now we are finding out that it was done on purpose,” White said, adding that firefighters could have died trying to save the child.
Morgan is accused of setting the fire “with malice aforethought” to kill his half-brother while the child slept inside, arrest warrants state. Investigators based the arrests, in part, on Morgan’s own statements, according to the warrants
Local authorities investigated the fire along with the State Law Enforcement Division, the state Fire Marshal’s Office, the York County Fire Marshal’s Office and the York County coroner.
The day of the fire, a neighbor, Jessica Godbold, told The Herald that she heard screams and saw smoke. Godbold lives three doors down from the home where Joshua Hill died. She said on Friday that she saw someone going back into the house after flames broke out.
She identified that person as “Matt,” the child’s older brother. Matt’s hair, Godbold said, was singed by the fire.
Godbold said she tried to help a sheriff’s deputy – a first responder – get into the mobile home through a window. But, the glass exploded, she said, adding “it almost hit me, it was horrible.”
A man who identified himself on Friday as the child’s grandfather asked for the community to pray for his family. He added, “My grandson was full of life and laughter.”
Matt Morgan, 17, cried through much of his court appearance Tuesday when he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting a fire that killed his brother, 14-month old Joshua Hill in March 2015.
Morgan set a fire in the living room and to a blanket in the bedroom where Hill slept in their home on Catawba Church Road on March 6 while his parents were away.
Morgan said in a statement to deputies that he woke up from where he was sleeping on a couch in the living room and went back to the bedroom to try and save his brother but fire kept him out of the room.
However Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson said that wasn’t the truth and Morgan later changed his story.
“He said then, that he actually never did go back to the bedroom to help the child. He went outside and observed the fire for some period of time,” Thompson said.
Morgan watched the fire burn the house while his brother died, officials said. He had a cellphone with him but did not call 911. Eventually he went to a neighbor’s home to get help.
Morgan’s parents and his grandparents stood behind him and said he would have never done such a thing on purpose.
“We have always believed in his innocence because we know our son,” said his mother Julie Morgan.
His stepfather Myke Hill said he’d never get over losing his baby son or losing his stepson to prison. Still, he stood by Matt Morgan and supported him.
“I’m not going to have any sheriff, any investigator, tell me to my face that he’s a cold-blooded killer when he cries at Disney movies,” Myke Hill said.
Prosecutors said Matt Morgan was fascinated by fire and had set a small one in his own room only two weeks earlier. On Monday, he spoke out in court about the death of his brother calling him his best friend.
Morgan was allowed to plea down to involuntary manslaughter instead of murder and unlawful conduct toward a child, instead of homicide by child abuse.
He also had a third charge reduced from first-degree arson to third-degree arson. On that charge he took an Alford plea, which means he doesn’t admit to the crime but understands the court still treats it as a guilty plea.
A South Carolina man, who has been in prison for seven years for a deadly Rock Hill fire that killed his baby brother, was denied parole Wednesday. However, even with that denial, it appears under state law that Jacob Matthew Morgan could be released from prison as early as December. At that point he would have served about half of a 15-year sentence. Morgan, now 24, was denied a chance at release Wednesday by the unanimous vote of a panel of the S.C. Parole Board after a video conference hearing, said Valerie Suber, associate deputy director of the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. The parole board had gathered in Columbia. Morgan appeared in the parole hearing from MacDougall Correctional Institute in Berkeley County. It was his second parole hearing after he was denied in May 2021. Joshua Hill, Morgan’s younger brother, was 14 months old when he died in the March 2015 mobile home fire in York County, just outside Rock Hill. Morgan was babysitting at the time. The incident captured national attention.
Read more at: https://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/crime/article261565112.html#storylink=cpy
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