'We are elated!' victim's friend says after parole is denied to three-time killer Larry Stafford

Tim Hrenchir, Topeka Capital-Journal
·2 min read
Parole was recently denied to Lawrence Stafford, who is shown here in a photo taken at the 1992 trial in which he was convicted in Shawnee County District Court of two counts of first-degree murder.
Parole was recently denied to Lawrence Stafford, who is shown here in a photo taken at the 1992 trial in which he was convicted in Shawnee County District Court of two counts of first-degree murder.

A close friend of the late Mary Workman's expressed joy after learning parole had been denied to Larry Stafford, the man convicted in the double murder 30 years ago this month of Workman and her boyfriend, John King.

"We are elated!" Jefferson County resident Gail Hefner told The Capital-Journal.

The Kansas Prisoner Review Board last month denied parole to Stafford, 77, a Norton Correctional Facility inmate who also has a conviction for voluntary manslaughter linked to a separate killing committed in 1978.

Stafford will next become parole-eligible on Jan. 1, 2027, said Carol Pitts, public information officer for the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Hefner, a friend of Workman's since 1973, had asked the prisoner review board to deny parole to Stafford, who was Workman's former boyfriend, she told The Capital-Journal last November.

Workman and Stafford dated off and on for a total of three years before they broke up in 1991, according to testimony at Stafford's trial.

Stafford had killed before

Stafford had previously pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 1978 gunshot death of Kirby Clifton, 31, whose body was found in his partially submerged car in the Missouri River at Atchison.

Stafford served prison time, then was released on parole in 1982 and came to live in Shawnee County, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.

Testimony at Stafford's trial indicated that after their breakup, her fear of Stafford caused Workman to move in with other relatives for several months.

She then returned to her home but changed the locks on its doors and also changed the remote control code on its garage door every day.

King, Workman's boyfriend, found Stafford in October 1991 hiding behind a refrigerator in King's home in Topeka holding a shotgun, which King took away. Stafford was charged with aggravated burglary and aggravated assault.

Sentence was reduced upon appeal

Those charges were dropped after Workman, 42, and King, 33, were shot to death early Jan. 5, 1992, in Workman's home at 840 N.E. 35th.

At the end of a 10-day trial, a jury convicted Stafford in May 1992 of two counts of first-degree murder, as well as one count each of aggravated burglary and the unlawful possession of a firearm.

Stafford was initially sentenced to two "Hard 40" life prison terms, which would have left him ineligible for parole for at least 80 years, but that sentence was reduced upon appeal.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Parole denied to man serving time in 1992 Shawnee County double murder