Larry Hall (suspected serial killer)

Larry Dewayne Hall (born December 11, 1962) is an American convict and serial killer. An aficionado of the American Revolution and Civil War, Hall traveled around the Midwest for historical reenactments and is alleged to have abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered girls and women. He came to police attention after the discovery of a 15-year-old's remains in November 1993, and was convicted of her kidnapping. He later confessed to that and an additional murder, though recanted his confessions of both crimes. Since his arrest, Hall has confessed to more than 35 murders, recanting them all, though authorities believe he could be responsible for the deaths and disappearances of between 40 and 50 young women, which would place him among the most prolific serial killers in American history.[1]

Larry Hall
Hall's 1994 mugshot
Born
Larry Dewayne Hall

(1962-12-11) December 11, 1962
Wabash, Indiana, U.S.
EducationHigh school diploma
Motive
Conviction(s)Kidnapping (18 U.S.C. § 1201)
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment without parole
Details
Victims2 confirmed
35+ suspected
Span of crimes
March 29, 1993 – July 20, 1993 (Confirmed)
CountryUnited States
State(s)
WeaponsVarious
Date apprehended
October 1994
Imprisoned atFCC Butner

Early life

Larry Hall was born as a twin in Wabash, Indiana on December 11, 1962, to parents Robert Hall, a cemetery worker, and Aera Hall, a homemaker. He spent his first few days in a neonatal intensive care unit due to lack of oxygen after his twin brother Gary "fed on him in the womb" in a monochorionic pregnancy. At age 12, Hall began digging graves with his sexton father, whom he was "terrified" of, at Falls Cemetery in Wabash which desensitised him to the presence of human cadavers and resulted in him stealing valuables from the coffins buried in the cemetery. Hall and his brother attended West Ward Elementary School where he displayed antisocial behaviour and struggled academically due to his low intelligence quotient, reportedly in the 80s.[2][3] According to Gary Hall, Larry had no friends and girlfriends and despite his efforts to be a positive influence on his brother, Larry was "evil" and tried to kill him several times.[4]

The Hall family suffered financial difficulties, which increased when Robert lost his job as a gravedigger and caused the family to leave the house allocated for them in the cemetery and move to a shack with just one bedroom. He was fired from the Falls Cemetery when he started to put dead bodies in the wrong gravesites because of his aggressive alcoholism. Hall was often teased throughout school for being slower than the other children, in addition to his frequent night terrors, various speech impediments and compulsive bedwetting. At the age of 15, Hall and his brother were both arrested for breaking the windows of a downtown storefront. Hall is also suspected of committing additional acts of arson, burglary, and other petty crimes during his adolescence in his hometown of Wabash.[2] After high school, Hall got a job as a janitor, and began traveling around the country to take part in American Civil War historical re-enactments.[5] Hall's brother claimed that Larry's Civil War guise was a way to cover his lack of personal hygiene and to act upon his violent urges.

Murders

The Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that Hall began killing in the early 1980s. Over the subsequent decade, numerous female corpses, some young and unidentified, were discovered and later attributed to Hall due to their bodies being strangled and sexually mutilated.[2] Hall frequented historical re-enactment sites around the United States and would select victims from nearby towns and cities. He abducted his victims, who were primarily but not exclusively young white girls and adult women, and would often, but not always, rape and torture them, and then stab or strangle them to death. He usually dismembered their bodies post-mortem and engaged in sexual acts with their corpses.

Alleged victims
  • On June 28, 1982, 19-year-old Naomi Lee Kidder left Buffalo, Wyoming with several friends en route to Rawlins, Wyoming. They stayed at the Travel Lodge Hotel until June 29, 1982, when Kidder left to go hitchhiking. This was the last time she was seen alive. Kidder's nude remains were found in Natrona County, Wyoming on September 10, 1982, in what appeared to be a partially-dug grave.[6] She was identified on March 10, 1993, through dental records. Her cause of death was ligature strangulation. Hall is considered a viable suspect because after his arrest he was found in possession of a document bearing Kidder's name.[7]
  • On September 6, 1986, the body of a young woman was found nude, strangled, and sexually mutilated a day after her death in a cornfield near Summerfield, Illinois by a farmer. The unidentified woman was referred to by detectives as the "Summerfield Jane Doe," and was buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery under a gravestone that said "Jane Doe: Known Only to God".[8] In 2007, the unidentified woman's body was identified as being 26-year-old Eulalia Mylia "Lolly" Chavez after fingerprints from an arrest record matched. After confessing to Chavez's murder to a St. Louis television reporter via letter, Hall became a suspect. DNA evidence at the crime scene proved to be inconclusive against Hall's DNA.[9]
  • Linda Lynn "Little Linda" Weldy, 10, disappeared on February 24, 1987, after she was dropped off by her school bus near her home on McClung Road in La Porte, Indiana at about 3:30 pm.[10] Her body was found three weeks later on March 17, along an abandoned railroad track nine miles away from where she was last seen on County Road 500 South near Kingsbury, Indiana.[11] She had been manually strangled. According to investigators, Hall was in the area at that time.[12]
  • At around 2:00 p.m. on June 4, 1987, 16-year-old Wendy Louise Felton stayed home in Marion, Indiana when her older sister drove their parents part-way to an airport for a business trip that afternoon.[13] When her sister returned home at about 5:00 pm, she found Felton was gone, but all of her belongings were left behind in her bedroom.[14] Felton's home was less than twenty-five miles from Wabash, Indiana which is where Hall lived at the time and is located only a few miles away from a re-enactment site he often visited. Detectives have not ruled out Hall as a suspect.
  • 19-year-old Paulette Sue Webster was last seen walking home from a friend's house in Chester, Illinois at 11:00 p.m. on September 2, 1988.[15][16] She has not been seen since. At first, authorities believes she left on her own accord, but foul play is now suspected in her case. In 2011, Hall sent a letter to author Christopher Hawley Martin, who is from Hall's hometown of Wabash, Indiana and who wrote a book about Hall's crimes titled, Urges: A Chronicle of Serial Killer Larry Hall, in which he claimed responsibility for Webster's murder. Hall claimed Paulette was taken from the main east and west roads through Chester near a mobile home park.[17] Hall then said he took Paulette to a remote location where she was kept and sexually assaulted for several hours. Hall claimed he either threw her in the Mississippi River or buried her. Hall wrote; "If I did it, I would have put her in a river or in a field."[18]
  • On July 1, 1991, Michelle Lee Dewey, a 20-year-old single mother, was found strangled in her second-floor apartment on South Downey Avenue in the Irvington section of Indianapolis. Her 18-month-old son was in a back bedroom with the door wedged shut; he was unharmed. Hall's twin brother, Gary, claimed that he confessed to killing Dewey.[19] Hall had visited Indianapolis that day after seeing an advertisement for a Dodge 1982 blue van. Authorities suspect that Hall had spotted Dewey sunbathing in the backyard and then went into her house and murdered her.
  • Laurie Jean Depies, 22, was seen entering her grey 1984 Volkswagen Bug or Rabbit at the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, Wisconsin on August 19, 1992, at approximately 10:00 pm.[20] She apparently arrived at her boyfriend's apartment complex in the 300 block of west Wilson Avenue in Menasha, Wisconsin between approximately 10:15 and 10:30 pm. Depies' boyfriend had been waiting in his apartment with his sister and a friend.[21] They heard her car pull into the lot and went looking for her when she did not arrive at the apartment. They found her locked vehicle in the complex parking lot.[22] Depies' car's hood was found to have a Styrofoam soda cup on it, and her purse and overnight bag were still inside. In 2010, Hall, who was first identified as a suspect in Depies' disappearance in 1995, admitted to abducting and murdering her.[23] Investigators searched the area where Hall said he had buried Depies, but they were unable to locate either her body or any other tangible proof of his claim.[24]
  • 19-year-old Tricia Lynn Reitler was last seen at approximately 8:00 p.m. on March 29, 1993, at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. Reitler was writing a term paper that evening, and decided to take a break. She walked to Marsh Supermarket, which was approximately half a mile from the university's campus. She purchased a soda and a magazine and left the store, intent on returning to her dormitory in Bowman Hall.[25] Authorities believe Reitler was abducted while returning to her college. Between the store and the university, close to Seybold Pool and Centre Elementary School, Reitler's bloodstained pants, shirt and shoes were found in a field. Investigators found maps, ether, photos and newspaper articles concerning Reitler inside Hall's vehicle.[26] Additionally, there were handwritten messages that described Hall stalking women outside the grocery store where Tricia was last seen. Hall eventually withdrew his confession to the kidnapping and murder of Reitler, and he was never charged in connection with her disappearance. Investigators searched an area of Grant County, Indiana near the Mississinewa Reservoir for Reitler's body. Hall led them to the scene, saying he had buried her body there, but no evidence was located.
  • On September 23, 1993, 15-year-old Jessica Lynn "Jessi" Roach was last seen at approximately 3:30 p.m. riding her bicycle near her home in Georgetown, Illinois. On November 8, 1993, her body was discovered in a cornfield near Perrysville, Indiana.[27] In early 1994, after a witness came forward saying they had seen a man driving a van around the cornfield, several other people called the police about an unidentified man driving a van and talking to young girls.[28] The parents of one youngster got the license plate number of the van. It was registered to Hall, who was brought in for questioning in October 1994. Authorities showed Hall a photo of Roach and he "immediately flinched," leading them to suspect he had been involved in her murder, though he denied having ever seen her.[1] After finding evidence in his Dodge 1982 van connecting him to Roach's disappearance and after Hall gave details that only the perpetrator of the crime could have known, Hall eventually confessed to and was charged with Roach's abduction. He was not, however, charged with her murder because police could not pinpoint where she was killed. He was arrested at his parents' residence in the 300 block of Grant Street in Wabash, Indiana in December 1994 and found guilty in June 1995.[1]

Incarceration

In 1998, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reached out to a Chicago businessman named James Keene, who was serving a ten-year prison sentence on a drug conspiracy charge. After having learned of Keene's affability, charm and charisma, and worrying that Hall could win his appeal against his conviction for the Roach kidnapping, they offered to totally commute and erase Keene's sentence if he agreed to be transferred to the same maximum security prison as Hall to befriend him and obtain the locations of the bodies of his victims. Keene agreed to the proposition and Hall eventually confessed to him that he had killed Reitler. Hall showed Keene a map he was working on of the American Midwest with red dots and names over it representing his victims.[1]

In response, Keene yelled at Hall, calling him "one of the most despicable forms of human life on this planet." Subsequently, unable to reach his government contacts or prove his true identity, Keene was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks before being released. The map was never recovered by authorities. Hall's eventual appeal was denied and Keene was released from his sentence.[29] Hall is serving life without the possibility of parole in Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina.[1]

The 2022 American crime drama miniseries Black Bird depicts Keene and Hall's relationship in prison. Hall is portrayed by Paul Walter Hauser.[30] Developed by Dennis Lehane, it is based on the 2010 autobiographical novel In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by James Keene with Hillel Levin.[31] The six-episode miniseries premiered on July 8, 2022, on Apple TV+.

References
  1. Berry, Jo (July 22, 2022). "Black Bird: What the show leaves out about serial killer Larry Hall". Digital Spy. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  2. Mike Aamodt. "Larry DeWayne Hall – Radford University" (PDF). Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  3. Young, Josh (2014). Myths and Mysteries of Missouri: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained. Globe Pequot Press. p. 128.
  4. Dana Rosenblatt (July 5, 2011). "Recanted confession leaves missing girl's parents in limbo". CNN. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  5. Kriti Mehrotra (July 6, 2022). "Where is Serial Killer Larry Hall Now? Is He Still Alive? yes he is still alive". The Cinemaholic. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  6. "HOMICIDE U-165". Archived from the original on 2003-02-20.
  7. "A daughter searches for answers in mother's murder". Casper Star-Tribune. May 2, 2013.
  8. "NATION – ILLINOIS MURDER VICTIM'S DAUGHTER SEEKING JUSTICE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT CONTINUES TO INVESTIGATE KILLING NEAR SMALL VILLAGE". Legal News. March 10, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  9. "Illinois detectives investigate Indiana killer in 1986 murder". The Indiana Lawyer. July 12, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  10. "COLD CASE FILES: The kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Linda Weldy". WSBT. May 12, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  11. Kriti Mehrotra. "LaPorte County police reopen 1987 cold case". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  12. Clifton French (May 3, 2019). "Looking For Linda's Killer: Two suspects (Part 2)". ABC News. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  13. "Wendy Louise Felton". The Charley Project. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  14. "299DFIN – Wendy Louise Felton". Doe Network. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  15. "1135DFIL – Paulette Sue Webster". Doe Network. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  16. "Paulette S. Webster". The Charley Project. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  17. "The Disappearance of Tricia Reitler and Many Others". Thomas Lauth: Missing Persons Investigations Worldwide. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  18. "Chester mom suspects Larry Hall in killing of her daughter, Paulette Webster". BND. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  19. "Who killed Michelle Dewey?". WTHR. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  20. "LAURIE JEAN DEPIES – MENASHA, WISCONSIN". FBI. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  21. "Laurie Jean Depies". The Charley Project. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  22. "604DFWI – Laurie Jean Depies". Doe Network. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  23. "Inmate Larry DeWayne Hall admits role in '92 Wis. disappearance of Laurie Depies". CBS News. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  24. "Missing Wisconsin Woman Laurie Depies' 19-Year-Old Cold Case Cracked By Inmate Larry Hall's Admission". ABC News. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  25. "910DFIN – Tricia Lynn Reitler". Doe Network. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  26. "Tricia Lynn Reitler". The Charley Project. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  27. "Family remembers Jessica Roach with scholarship, memorial". Supreme Court of Illinois. August 27, 1996. Retrieved April 22, 2014 – via The News-Gazette.
  28. "UNITED STATES v. HALL (1996)". Supreme Court of Illinois. August 27, 1996. Retrieved March 5, 2022 – via FindLaw.
  29. Lauren Huff (August 5, 2022). "Black Bird boss on the finale's killer improv, fact vs. fiction, and what didn't make the cut". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  30. Otterson, Joe (January 25, 2021). "Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser to Star in Apple Series Adaptation of 'In With the Devil'". Variety. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  31. "Black Bird (TV Series) (2022)". FilmAffinity. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
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