Naman Shrestha
In the spring of 2008, a 66-year-old Melrose, Florida, resident named James Thomas Stewart was found dead, sending shockwaves across the entire community. The investigation led the detectives to a missing persons case, which was unexpectedly connected to the horrific homicide. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Signs Of A Psychopath: I Can’t Stop Myself’ provides a detailed account of the entire case and the investigation that ensued, through exclusive and in-depth interviews with James’ loved ones and the officials who worked hard to solve the case.
James Stewart Was Found Dead in His Home During a Welfare Check
Born around 1942, James Thomas Stewart was born without hands, which led to him having a challenging lifestyle. However, he didn’t let it stop him from living a happy and content life. He shared a close-knit bond with his brother, Mike Stewart. At 66, he resided at 109 Cherry Laurel Drive in Melrose, Florida. James was also a person with a hearing disability. On May 1, 2008, when he had not talked with his family for several days, his family reported the same to the police, who went to his house for a welfare check around 10:30 am that morning.
After the officers entered his house, they discovered a gruesome crime scene and found the 66-year-old man dead inside, with his Toyota Tacoma missing from his driveway. The medical examiner conducted an autopsy and determined that James was beaten and stabbed before being suffocated to death. The cause of his death was asphyxiation as the perpetrator suffocated him by wrapping a plastic garbage bag over his head. Without any delay, a homicide investigation was launched.
James Stewart’s Perpetrators Fled the State in His Pickup Truck
During the investigation, the authorities connected a missing persons case of a teenager named Morgan Amanda Leppert to James Stewart’s homicide, as a call had been placed from James’ phone to the girl’s phone on April 25, 2008. By then, Morgan’s mother had reported her missing and told the police that she feared her daughter had run away with a former convict named Toby Lee Lowry, who had been released after a 20-month prison sentence the previous year. It was reported that Morgan and Toby were in a romantic relationship, which allegedly began around the fall of 2007. Thus, arrest warrants were issued on charges of first-degree murder of James Stewart against both of them.
A couple of days after James’ remains were found at his home, on May 3, the police took Morgan and Toby into custody in El Paso, Texas, after a motorist recognized the duo from a nationally publicized Amber Alert as they were panhandling near Interstate 10. After the arrest, the police theorized that the two had targeted James, with whom they had no prior relationship or acquaintance, and Morgan knocked on his door, pretending her car had broken down, on the evening of April 25, 2008. It is alleged that after she asked him if she could use his phone, James ambushed the 66-year-old man and the duo stole his pickup truck and cash after killing him. During her initial interview on May 3, 2008, Morgan denied any knowledge of James and claimed that Toby had come to pick her up in the truck the night she ran away from her home.
As the detectives confronted her with evidence that put her at the crime scene, she admitted to hitting James with aluminum curtain rods and stabbing him with a knife, which she claimed didn’t even break the skin. However, Morgan told the investigators that Toby was the one who stabbed and beat James before suffocating him with a plastic bag. “Toby did all of it. Toby made sure he was dead. I told him I had to get out (of Florida), and he said he was going to do whatever he had to to be with me, and he took it too far…I didn’t want to leave Toby,” she added. After the confession, she consented to giving her DNA samples. Besides the murder charge, Toby was also charged with car theft, panhandling, and interference with the custody of a child.
Morgan Leppert and Toby Lowry Are Serving Life Terms in Separate Florida Prisons
According to reports, Toby Lowry attempted to take his own life by hanging himself in his Putnam County jail cell about a month after his arrest. A few months later, in January 2009, in order to avoid the death penalty, he pleaded guilty to the charges of murder, burglary, and robbery in connection with the killing of the Melrose-based man, James Stewart. He also agreed to testify against Morgan Leppert at her trial. Thus, Toby was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In August 2009, during Morgan’s jury trial, the prosecution played two hours of her taped statements during her interrogation after her arrest.
Eventually, the jury found her guilty of first-degree murder, but the prosecution didn’t seek the death penalty because of her age. Thus, on September 29, 2009, she was sentenced to a mandatory life prison term for her involvement in the murder of James Stewart. She also received a 50-year sentence each for the burglary with battery and robbery with a deadly weapon convictions. During her sentencing hearing, James’ brother, Mike Stewart, took the stand and delivered an emotional victim impact statement. He said, “Every night when I go to sleep, I pray that this whole thing will be one big bizarre nightmare.”
Nearly seven years later, in June 2016, Morgan’s resentencing hearing took place, and she was again sentenced to life in prison, but with the possibility of parole. She took the stand and addressed James’ loved ones: “I regret every one of those choices we made that night…I hope that one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” As of today, 40-year-old Toby Lowry is incarcerated at the Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell, Florida, while 33-year-old Morgan Leppert is serving her sentence at Lowell Correctional Institution in Marion County, Florida.
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