5. Michael Perry
Michael Perry went for a joy ride one October night in 2001 with Jason Aaron Burkett after stealing two cars from a friend’s parents. The night resulted in three homicides and Perry’s life changed forever. Perry hid in Sandra Stotler’s laundry room so he could steal her car. He shot her in the side. When she struggled, he shot her again. Perry and Burkett then dumped Stotler’s body in a lake.
When Adam Stotler arrived home with a friend, Perry convinced them that another friend had been shot in the woods and needed help. They then drove to the woods where Perry shot Adam Stotler and another person dead.
Filmmaker Werner Herzog interviewed Perry in the week before his execution in 2010. Perry maintained his innocence. Even though Perry led police to the bodies of two friends shot in the woods, he claimed he gave the confession when he was both high on drugs and after being roughed up by police.
In the days before his execution, Perry did show remorse about disappointing his adoptive parents and living life as a “rent boy,” offering sex in exchange for rent. Perry was executed for the crime of killing Sandra Stotler. His accomplice Burkett is doing life in prison for the killing of their mutual friends in the woods. No motive was ever found beyond going for a simple joy ride; a joy ride that resulted in three cold-blooded killings.