The Tales of the Mentally Unstable: Michael Perry Story

Michael Perry is known as an American murderer who was born on April 9, 1982. Perry was ultimately responsible for murdering three victims including Adam Stotler, 17, Jeremy Richardson, 18, and Sandra Stotler, 50 on October 24, 2001. 

Summary

Perry would ultimately confess to the crime at hand. In Perry’s confession, he would state that Jason Aaron Burkett and himself decided they wanted to steal two cars from Adam Stotler’s parents. 

Burkett would knock on the front door of the Stotler household and ask to use their telephone. Perry would then go into the home using the back door in the garage armed with his shotgun and take his spot in the laundry room. Perry would then knock on the back door. 

When Sandra Stotler came to the back door to answer the knock, this is Perry would come barging out of the laundry room and shoot Sandra in the side. 

Sandra would then fall to the ground. When she tried to get up, Perry would shoot her again. They would then load Sandra up into the back of a pickup truck and dispose of her body into a lake nearby. 

Perry along with Burkett would then drive out to Kristin Willis place of employment to pick her up and then drive back out to the Stotler house. 

This is when Adam Stotler, Sandra’s son would arrive home with his friend Jeremy Richardson. Perry and Burkett would then convince the pair that one of their friends had been shot in the nearby woods and needed help getting him to safety. 

Jeremy and Adam would then follow Willi’s truck back into a wooded area nearby, then according to Perry, Burkett was the one who pulled the trigger shooting both Adam and Jeremy. 

Once the pair was shot dead, they would go back to the Stotler home and then headed off to the local bar. 

Just two days later, the local police would stop Perry for a simple traffic violation. Before police could pull Perry over, they had to ensure a high-speed chase. 

Once they got Perry in their custody, they would ultimately arrest and book Perry for the possession of Adam Stotler’s wallet. 

Then just a few days later, after Perry would post bail, Perry was driving around in a stolen Isuzu, Burkett and Perry would then run into the deputy sheriff’s vehicle while again trying to escape apprehension. 

The pair would ultimately get arresting when they were hiding in a nearby apartment complex, where the shotgun that was used to murder Sandra Stotler was located. 

Forensic evidence was even located in the Crater Lake, the Stotler residence, and in the wooded area that all matched up perfectly with Perry’s confession. 

Ultimately, Perry would-be put-on trial for the murder of Sandra Stotler. 

During the trial, Perry would even take the witness stand for his own defense and claim that the confession that the police got from him was coerced and not true whatsoever. However, the jurors in the case did not buy into this testimony. 

Perry’s Accomplice Burkett went to trial separately from Perry. Burkett was convicted of capital murder, but he received a life in prison sentence. 

Final/Special Meal

The final meal that Michael Perry requested before his execution was three cheese, bacon, and egg omelets. In addition to his omelets, he also requested to have three chicken cheese enchiladas along with three cans of Coke, Dr. Pepper, and Pepsi each. 

Last Words

Michael Perry before execution was asked by the warden of the facility, if he had any last words. Michael Perry had quite a lot to say in his final moments. Michael Perry said this in his final moments, and I quote: 

“I want to start off by saying I want everyone to know that’s involved in this atrocity that they are forgiven by me. Mom, I love you. I’m coming home, Dad. I’m coming home.”

Crime Facts

This crime all started in October of 2001. Michael Perry along with his good friend, Jason Aaron Burkett, would decide they wanted to steal one or two automobiles. 

Their plan finally became a reality on October 24, 2001, when they went to the home of Sandra Stotler. The Stotler home was situated in Montgomery. 

Michael Perry would enter the Montgomery home through the back of the house, while Jason Burkett would knock on the front door. 

Perry would ultimately shoot and kill Sandra Stotler with his shotgun when she went to the back of the home. 

After Sandra Stotler was dead, the pair would then dump her lifeless body in the Montgomery County’s Crater Lake. 

Burkett and Perry would then return to Sandra Stotler’s residence in the gated community where her residence was located. This is when they would wait right outside of the gate for her son, Adam Stotler and his friend Jeremy Richardson, 18. 

Burkett and Perry would then lure the teens out to a wooded area where they would ultimately murder both Richardson and Stotler. 

Burkett and Perry would then be seen driving Adam’s Isuzu Rodeo along with Sandra’s precious Camaro. 

Then on October 30, 2001, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s corporal would find Burkett and Perry along with another unidentified man driving around in a white Isuzu Rodeo near a local truck stop. The car would then hit the corporal while trying to flee, but the corporal would end up shooting out the back-passenger tire. 

The car would then crash into a store nearby. Burkett and Perry were armed with a shotgun. The pair would climb the fence nearby and ran into the apartment complex where the police were able to apprehend them both. 

After the police gave them their Miranda warning, one of the detectives would take a state from Perry. This is where Perry would admit to the crime at hand. 

Evidence

The night before Michael Perry would be apprehended by police, Perry would point a shotgun at then Jason Burkett’s girlfriend and state that he already murdered someone, so it really won’t matter if he kills someone else. 

Police would then arrest Perry on May 22, 2001 for a dead conduct after he started shooting at a house. 

When Michael Perry was just finishing first grade, he was just eight years old at the time of his diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder. 

Then near the end of seventh grade, Perry was diagnosed again, but with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Then near the end of eight grade, Perry would also diagnose with conduct disorder. 

So, to piece all of this together, all these disorders are just the adult version of Antisocial Personality Disorder. 

Perry would then be admitted to a mental hospital twice. Here is where Perry would be tested for bipolar disorder and the test would come back as negative. Perry would not even qualify for learning disabled for special education classes when he was in elementary school. 

When Perry was in middle school, he decided to stop going to school altogether. Perry would run away from his home and come back whenever he felt the need to. Perry would then start to steal his mom’s jewelry and try to pawn it off. Even one-time Perry would steal is parent’s vehicle and ran the vehicle into the mailbox. Perry would even break into his neighbor’s houses and tore down the wallpaper and moldings. 

During this time, Perry would start going to counseling with psychiatrists and psychologists. 

When Perry was finally kicked out of his outbound class in Florida, then his parents decided it was time to start filing charges against their son. Ultimately, Perry would then be ordered by the court to go to a long-term facility for health care. 

Then in September of 1997, Perry would be sent off to the Father Flanagan’s Boys Town located in Nebraska. 

Just three months after he arrived at the Father Flanagan’s Boys Town, Perry would threaten one of his house parents. He threatened his house parent by stating that he will rape and murder their kids. 

After this threat, Perry was then sent into the locked facility for a four-month period. 

Perry did not have the right level of depression or any of the DSM-IV disorders needed to have any sort of mental health care provided while he was at the Father Flanagan’s Boys Town. 

Perry’s parents worst fear was not being able to control their son. They would soon send Perry out of the Casa by the Sea. Casa by the Sea was a highly secured high school campus that was in Mexico. Perry would ultimately graduate high school. However, you should note that Perry did not graduate from Casa by the Sea. He would ultimately leave Casa by the Sea on his 18th birthday. 

Perry would then be ultimately homeless after leaving Casa by the Sea program. However, he would spend about four to six months in the Job Corps, alongside another four months in Houston, and a small stay with his parents. 

Perry would end up staying for short periods with either some acquaintances or be in the local shelters. 

Perry would not be able to hold down a job. However, he did work a month at Walmart, spent some time working in the Job Corps, and even laid tile while he was in Houston. 

To really support himself, Perry would sell pills and alcohol. Perry would steal the pills prior to selling them. 

Then on October 2, 2001, Perry would be arrested for using a fake prescription to get 100 pills of Xanax. 

While in the Montgomery County Jail, Perry would show how unruly he truly was. Perry was highly belligerent and needed to be restrained most of the time. Perry even tried to bite an officer who was at the time trying to restrain him. 

Blames Friend for Murder

Perry would confess to the local authorities that he was the one who killed Sandra Stotler who was a nurse in her home on October 24, 2001. However, later down the line, Perry would recant this statement. 

Perry would claim that he was in jail on a traffic charge that was unrelated to the Stotler murder case. He stated that this is when the state’s medical examiner would pinpoint the exact time of death, which was on October 26 and that Michael Perry would not have been the killer. 

Perry would go on to blaming his once friend, Jason Burkett for shooting and killing Sandra Stotler and then Stotler’s child, Adam along his Adam’s best friend, Jeremy. 

Burkett would already be convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his part in the two boys’ deaths. 

The Prosecutors stated that there was more than enough evidence that supported Perry’s confession and that nearly all the information that Perry provided could have only come from the person that was involved. 

The time of death was not really an issue, stated Bill Delmore who is an appellate specialist working inside the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. 

Perry’s defense team has stated that Burkett who was also convicted of capital murder but was only given a life sentence should also have been charged with Sandra’s murder as well. 

Execution

Perry was 28 years old when he was officially executed. Perry would only gasp four times before he was officially pronounced dead. 

Perry would be pronounced dead just nine minutes after the staff started administering the lethal injection medicines. Perry was officially dead at 6:17 pm. 

Perry was the 14 inmates to be executed this year in the state of Texas. 

Mary Ann Bockwich, Sandra’s mother, stated that they cannot move on with their lives and close this chapter. While Lisa Stotler, Sandra’s daughter stated that this was not a good no matter what anyone says or thinks. Lisa went on to state that she needed to look into the eyes of Michael Perry to see if he was really the monster, she thought he was, and she stated that he was, and that justice was served.