Autopsy Reveals 'JOKER' Carved Into Murder Victim's Body

NEWTON, N.C.,None — The person who killed Stephen Starr ensured that not only was he dead, but that he would be unrecognizable by anyone who found him.

According to the autopsy report from the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Starr was not able to be transported in one piece to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

Starr was mangled so badly that little of his head was intact. One of his arms was nearly severed. Part of his left ear was cut off. He had 17 stab wounds.

Starr, 36, was found shot and his body stabbed and mutilated in his home on Ruth Drive in Mountain View on Feb. 14. His cause of death is listed as multiple gunshot wounds, according to the autopsy.

Starr was shot once in his head and twice in his chest. Catawba County Sheriff's investigators removed several weapons from Starr's home, according to a search warrant, most notably a Remington shotgun and a Colt .45-caliber pistol. Sheriff Coy Reid said it is believed the suspect used the pistol in the shooting.

"Minimal brain tissue remains within the cranial vault," the autopsy states. Officials sent a portion of the cerebral cortex, which surrounds the brain, in a plastic bag, along with two skull fragments, with Starr's body to be examined.

One of the gunshots in Starr's chest, called gunshot wound A on the autopsy, broke two ribs on his left side, punctured his left lung and broke part of his sternum. Gunshot wound B broke an additional four ribs on the left and one on the right, punctured his left lung again and hit his aorta.

After being shot three times, Starr's body was mutilated. The attacker struck Starr's head several times, with the cuts ranging from one to 11 inches. He also nearly amputated Starr's upper left arm between the elbow and shoulder, in what is described as a "chopping injury" in the report. Starr's upper left and right arms are broken, as well. All told, Starr had six stab wounds on his chest and abdomen and seven stab wounds on his arms. He also had four stab wounds on his legs. All this is believed to have happened after he died, according to the autopsy report.

The autopsy also revealed what was carved on Starr's body, as well as what was written on it in ink.

"JOKER" was carved on his left chest and abdomen. On his right abdomen, in ballpoint pen, "I'm f---ing syco" was written.

Sheriff's investigators seized a black-handled knife from Starr's bedroom on Feb. 14, with the blade still under Starr's body, according to the search warrant. They also took an ax, which was still lodged in Starr.

Michael Anderson, 19, was arrested for Starr's murder on Feb. 14. He alerted authorities to it, calling 911 to admit that he had killed Starr, his roommate. Anderson blamed it on an overdose of the cold medicine Mucinex DM. He told the 911 operator, "I did some things to his body that you don't want them to see. You're not going to know who it is."

Anderson was charged with murder and has been in jail without bond since then.

He was due in Superior Court Tuesday. His attorney, Robert Campbell, received additional discovery documents from the district attorney's office Tuesday and his case was continued until Oct. 3.

WSOC