Looking back: Sirloin Stockade murderer Roger Dale Stafford executed for 1978 killing spree

It had been more than 15 years since Roger Dale Stafford had been sentenced to death row at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. But on an early July morning, Stafford was executed in 1995 for the murder of the Lorenz family who had been shot to death along I-35 near Purcell.

The San Antonio family had been driving on I-35 on June 22, 1978, when they were lured to stop under the guise of a motorist needing assistance. Air Force Sgts. Melvin, 38, and Linda Lorenz, 31, and their 12-year-old son, Richard, all were killed.

Stafford also was convicted and sentenced to death for the July 16, 1978, slayings of Oklahoma City Sirloin Stockade employees Terri Horst, Isaac Freeman, David Lindsey, David Salsman, Anthony Tew and Louis Zacharias.

According to a staff story published in the July 1, 1995, edition of The Daily Oklahoman:

In the minds of many Oklahomans, Stafford came to symbolize what is wrong with the criminal justice system.

He spent more time on death row than two of his victims — the Lorenz boy and Terri Horst ― were alive on Earth.

Verna Stafford, who was his wife at the time of the murders, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for her involvement in the slayings. A brother, Harold Stafford, also accused in connection with the grisly crimes, died in a motorcycle accident just days after the Sirloin Stockade slayings, according to newspaper reports.