Bio

Jeffrey Lane Tokar was born on August 29, 1964. He grew up in a challenging environment due to family issues. His father, Louis Tokar, was an alcoholic, and his parents divorced when Jeffrey was very young. After the divorce, his mother, Doreen Smith, married and divorced multiple times. This led to a lot of instability for Jeffrey during his childhood.

Throughout his early life, Jeffrey moved between different homes. He lived with his mother, his father, his maternal grandparents, and an aunt. These frequent changes in his living situation made it difficult for him to feel settled. He often enrolled late in school and did not stay in one school for long. Because of this instability, he struggled academically and emotionally.

At a young age, Jeffrey began drinking alcohol. By the time he was in his early teens, he was already a heavy drinker. He was known to become aggressive when under the influence of alcohol. This led to a number of legal troubles in his teenage years and young adulthood.

Murder Story

Around noon on March 11, 1992, Jeffrey Tokar and his girlfriend, Sandra Stickley, drove to a rural area north of Centralia, Missouri. They were looking for an empty house. They found the Douglass residence and parked in the driveway. To avoid leaving fingerprints, Tokar took his socks off and placed them over his hands. He went inside the garage and returned with a shotgun and shells he had found in the home.

Later that afternoon, Johnny Douglass returned home with his children, eight-year-old Jared and four-year-old Lynzie. They noticed Tokar's vehicle in the driveway. Johnny told his children to stay in the truck while he went to investigate. However, Lynzie left the truck to follow her father, and Jared soon followed.

Inside the Douglass home, Tokar and Stickley were taking items and stuffing them into pillowcases. When they heard Johnny arriving, Stickley warned Tokar. Tokar loaded the shotgun and went towards the garage, where he confronted Johnny Douglass. During the encounter, Stickley heard Johnny pleading, "Mister, please don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything you say."

Tokar told Johnny not to look at him and then shot him twice. After the shooting, Tokar and Stickley left the scene in their car. Tokar wiped down the shotgun with his shirt and removed a shell. He then stopped to throw the shotgun and shell into a nearby farm pond. In the meantime, Jared ran to a neighbor's house to seek help.

When the police arrived, they found Johnny Douglass dead in the garage. He had been shot once in the face and once in the back of the head. Police discovered that Tokar and Stickley had taken various items from the home. Two days later, they were arrested. Initially, Stickley denied her involvement but later confessed. She testified that Tokar had admitted to killing Johnny Douglass.

Following their arrest, the police found the shotgun and shell in the pond where Tokar had discarded them. Tokar was charged with first-degree murder. On August 27, 1993, he was convicted and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection on March 6, 2002.