In the summer of 1986, a young man named Todd Stoops met a grim fate in Kansas City, Missouri. He was 23 years old at the time of his death. Stoops had a chance encounter with Robert Berdella at Liberty Memorial Park on June 17, 1986, which led to an invitation to Berdella's house for lunch. Stoops had previously lived at Berdella's home on two separate occasions in 1984 with his wife.
Once inside Berdella's home, a house of horrors for several other young men, Stoops was held captive
for approximately two weeks. During this time, he was subjected to horrific torture and abuse. Berdella's goal was to turn Stoops into a compliant and incapacitated sex slave. He inflicted extreme terror and pain upon Stoops, including using electrical shocks in an attempt to blind him and injecting drain cleaner into his larynx to silence his screams.
Throughout his captivity, Stoops's health deteriorated significantly. Towards the end, he was too weak to even sit up and breathe properly and was unable to keep down any food that Berdella attempted to give him. On June 27, 1986, Berdella's abuse escalated, resulting in a ruptured anal wall which caused severe bleeding and discharge. This injury ultimately led to septic shock, and on July 1, 1986, Todd Stoops died.
Robert Berdella, who became known as the 'Kansas City Butcher,' was arrested on April 2, 1988, after another one of his victims managed to escape. A search of his home uncovered extensive evidence of his crimes, including human remains. In August 1988, Berdella pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of one of his victims. He later pleaded guilty to an additional first-degree murder charge and four counts of second-degree murder, including that of Todd Stoops. Berdella was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He died of a heart attack in the Missouri State Penitentiary on October 8, 1992.
