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A 19-year-old man called 911 in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2011, and calmly told a Catawba County, North Carolina, dispatcher that he had shot and mutilated the roommate he lived with south of Hickory, according to authorities and a recording of the call later released by the sheriff's office.

Michael Joseph Anderson placed the call around 4:45 a.m. from the home he shared with Stephen Starr, 36, on Ruth Drive in the Mountain View community, Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid said. "I took some pills and, um, the pills made me go mad and I murdered my roommate," Anderson told the operator, according to the recording. He said he had shot Starr three times and then used an axe on the body.

Deputies who responded found Starr dead inside the doublewide home. Reid said the victim had been shot with both a handgun and a shotgun, stabbed several times and struck repeatedly with an axe. An autopsy later showed the word "JOKER" had been carved into Starr's chest and abdomen, with additional words written on the body in ink.

The 911 dispatcher who took the call described the caller as unnervingly composed. "I've had some calls like this, nothing this grisly, this gruesome, and the gentleman was just so calm, it was really eerie," the dispatcher said.

Anderson blamed the killing on an overdose of cough medicine, saying the drug had made him "go mad." Investigators said he had posted messages on Facebook in the minutes before the call, including one at 4:13 a.m. that read, "I finally cracked guys I really did it this time guys." He was jailed without bond.

Speaking to reporters after his arrest, Anderson said he had loved Starr "as a friend" and told the victim's family he was sorry. Deputies said they were still working to determine a motive.

On Feb. 23, 2012, Anderson pleaded guilty in Catawba County Superior Court to second-degree murder, according to a news release from District Attorney James Gaither. He was sentenced to between 16 and 20 years in state prison.