Strohmeyer lashes out at factors underlying his crime

Bill Gang

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

Child-killer Jeremy Strohmeyer today read a long statement at his formal sentencing, criticizing friend David Cash for not stopping him from killing Sherrice Iverson and blaming the crime in part on circumstances of his adoptive childhood.

On at least three occasions, Strohmeyer attempted to implicate Cash, his high school friend who was with him the night of the murder at Primm Valley hotel-casino on Memorial Day weekend in 1997.

Strohmeyer also said that as an adoptive child, he and his adoptive parents were kept in the dark about the mental illness and addictions of his birth mother, characteristics that he says he inherited. Had he known of the circumstance, he said, he could have sought treatment that would have prevented him from killing the 7-year-old girl.

When Strohmeyer finished his statement, he was, as expected, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

During his statement this morning, he said that after the incident, Cash "showered him" with accolades that the two had "gotten away" with the killing.

Strohmeyer also testified that "Dave talked about how we should hide the facts about what happened."

He also said that Cash could have stopped the killing if he had wanted to.

Strohmeyer said he felt a loyalty to Cash and "took all the blame" for him.

The Clark County District Attorney has repeatedly said it would not indict Cash because he did not commit a crime by simply not trying to stop it.

Cash, a student at the University of California at Berkeley, has denied wrongdoing. Strohmeyer today called him "an arrogant, unfeeling hater" -- terms that have been used by a number of Cash's critics who continue to push for his indictment.

Still, Strohmeyer, took most of the blame himself while also implicating the California state mental-health system and the adoption system for not letting his adoptive parents know about his birth mother being a schizophrenic with an extensive alcohol addiction -- an addiction he apparently acquired.

Before Cash's statement, Iverson's mother, father and brother had a chance to look into Strohmeyer's eyes and condemn him for killing and raping their daughter.

Through eyes that appeared sunken and tired, Strohmeyer met their fiery gazes, listened to their anger and then apologized, telling them he knows he is bound for a "barren" life.

Iverson's mother, Yolanda Manuel, vented venom and hatred at Strohmeyer, telling him, "You are so evil that if I had a wish, I'd put you to death the same way you put my child to death."

"I want you to feel every pain you put me through," she said, noting that she has suffered four nervous breakdowns as a result of the May 25, 1997 incident at the Primm Valley hotel-casino at the Nevada-California border.

"Are you the demon? Are you the devil?" she said. "I hate to look at your evil, crazy face."

The girl's father, Leroy Iverson, confined to a wheelchair because of ongoing illnesses, predicted with a sense of knowing satisfaction that Strohmeyer would have a tough time in prison.

"I'm not going to curse you because you're already cursed by the devil," he said. "That was my daughter. That was all I had."

With his hair unkempt, dressed in a blue jail jumpsuit and bound in shackles and belly chains, the now 20-year-old confessed killer said he is "haunted daily" by the knowledge he was responsible for Iverson's death.

"I'm a condemned man not only by the state but by my own conscience," he said in Chief District Judge Myron Leavitt's courtroom that was jammed with spectators and media.

Some of those supporting the victim's family sobbed openly. Tears also streamed down the faces of Strohmeyer's parents and sister.

In frustration, Iverson asked Strohmeyer why he was in the women's restroom at the resort and why he killed their daughter.

It was a question that has haunted, or at least confused, much of the country since the girl's body was found propped on a toilet by a hotel employee helping Leroy Iverson search for his missing daughter.

Much of Strohmeyer's statement seemed to be an attempt to explain away his guilt, although he claimed he wasn't making excuses.

"Everything I saw was through a drunken state," Strohmeyer said, contending it was all part of a game. "Can you imagine to open your eyes and not know how you got there and seeing a half-naked girl down there?"

"The panic overcame me and I couldn't think straight. That scene is etched in my brain and will be part of me for the rest of my life."

But he said has no real memory of the 20 minutes he was alone with the Los Angeles second-grader who was described by bother of her parents and her brother, Harold Iverson, as a very bright and caring girl who loved school.

Despite the confrontations and tears, nothing that was said at the formal sentencing hearing was going to have an effect on Strohmeyer's future. The admitted rapist and killer had agreed to accept four life prison terms -- three without the possibility of parole -- as part of a plea bargain that let him avoid the possibility of the death penalty.

The deal came on Sept. 8 after a jury had been selected and opening statements had been scheduled.

Strohmeyer's conviction seemed destined since the incident at the Primm Valley hotel-casino on the Nevada-California border 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas. He had been taped following Iverson into a women's restroom during the early morning hours after they had been seemingly playing near a video arcade where Iverson's then-14-year-old brother was occupied.

Playfully tossing wet paper towels back and fourth, however, degenerated into a brutal assault and then murder.

After he was caught three days later outside his home, Strohmeyer gave three confessions to police. He already had made similar admissions to friends and family. His buddy at the Primm, David Cash Jr., had witnessed part of the attack before leaving the restroom and testified against his friend before a Clark County grand jury.

In his statement today, Strohmeyer said he was misdiagnosed by a "unlicensed therapist" and was given the drug Dexedrine by a psychiatrist who relied on the diagnosis of the therapist.

"Where did I go so wrong?" Strohmeyer asked, noting that before the incident he was an honor student senior, member of the varsity volleyball team and had dreams of going into the Air Force.

He said he never thought of himslef as "an immoral and unfeeling" person who would kill a little girl, but rather "a good guy."

"I've done a monstrous thing," he said, noting that he was ready to spend the rest of his life in prison.

On the day of the killing, Strohmeyer said he was coming down from speed and had been drinking beer when he began "playing a game" of chase with Iverson, whom he had followed into a casino ladies room.

She hit him with a "wet floor" sign and he said he got so angry he picked her up and "blacked out" from there.

The next thing he said he remembered was seeing the girl on her back on the toilet dead.

"Panic overcame me. I could not think straight," Strohmeyer said, noting that he remembered only two minutes of the 20 he spent in the bathroom.

He claimed he had been served drinks in the casino, became drunk and was drugged out on methamphetamine, specifically dexadrine, which had been prescribed to him by a psychiatrist.

"I wanted to get away from the horrible scene as fast as I could," he said. "I was stricken with guilt and sick with remorse."

SUN REPORTERS Art Nadler and Ed Koch contributed to this story.