The 1980's United States is often romanticized as the age of synth music, blockbuster movies, wild hair, roller blading and at last simpler times. Most people often forget to mention that there were serial killers lurking around every other corner.
Most people were understandably afraid of encountering one whenever they stepped out. Data from recent years reveal that serial killers peaked in the 1980s. For whatever reason, it was a relatively popular method to kill individuals for many years until fading away in the 1990s and 2000s. In this article we are going to talk about one of the serial killer who wasn't much of a household name despite killing more than 21 young men and boys.
Larry Eyler was born on December 21, 1952, in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He was the youngest of four children born to divorced parents. He was struggling to cope with homosexual tendencies which simultaneously fascinated and repelled him.
On March 22, 1982, a man named Jay Reynolds was found stabbed to death on the outskirts of Lexington, Kentucky. 9 months later, on October 3, Delvoyd Baker, a 14-year-old teenager, was strangled and his body was thrown on a highway north of Indianapolis. Just after 20 days, a new victim was found. Steven Crockett, 19, was stabbed 32 times and thrown outside Lowell, Indiana on October 23.
He relocated to Illinois and murdered his first victim, Robert Foley, on November 6, in a field northwest of Joliet. He spent Christmas 1982 by killing John Johnston and dumping his body near Belshaw, Indiana. Three days later, he claimed two victims, John Roach and Steven Agan.
The killings continued throughout the spring of 1983 and Eyler kept slipping out of Police's hand who took too much time to notice the pattern. He was eventually caught and convicted in 1986, getting sentenced for execution. In order to avoid execution, Eyler offered to help Indiana authorities investigate a number of his murders in exchange for their intervening to get him off death row in November 1990. Eyler was sentenced to 60 years in jail based on his confession. On March 6, 1994, he died from AIDS.
Although, all these unfortunate killings may have been prevented if Eyler's roommate didn't step in to save him one time. Craig Long, a hitchhiker, was offered a ride by Eyler in 1978. Eyler sexually approached Long, but he declined. Eyler became enraged as a result he stabbed Long and abandoned him by the highway, believing he was dead.
Long crawled away and called the cops. Eyler then returned to the site, informing officers that the stabbing was unintentional. They discovered multiple guns and handcuffs in Eyler's backseat, but he was released after his flatmate offered Long $2,500 to drop the accusations.
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