Larry Hall is a murderer, rapist, and suspected serial killer. Authorities believe that Hall was active throughout the 80s and into the early 90s. Hall was arrested in 1994, and eventually confessed to kidnapping 15 year old Jessica Roach. Although Jessica Roach had been abducted and murdered, Hall didn’t confess to murdering her. While waiting for an appeal to his conviction, the FBI feared that Hall might be released and reached out to another prisoner, James Keene, and sent him undercover to try to obtain a confession from Hall.
Jessica Roach & Tricia Reitler
To tell the story of Larry Hall, where do we start? I feel like the best place to start would be with Jessica Roach and Tricia Reitler.
Jessica Roach was born in November of 1977 to Terry (mother) and Loren (father). She grew up in Germantown, Illinois, where she attended high school. By the time she was 15 years old, she was a sophomore who had hopes to become an airline pilot. The Roach family attended the Jehovah’s Witness church in Georgetown, and since her death have wished to remain out of the spotlight. In 2014, the family started to give out a $1000 college scholarship to the school Jessica attended to keep her memory alive, and in hopes that it will remind children and young adults to always be mindful of their surroundings.
One day in September of 1993, Jessica decided to go out for a bike ride, something she did often. She had just gotten a brand new bike, and eagerly jumped on it to ride around their rural neighborhood. About a half an hour later, her sister saw Jessica’s bike laying near the road. She knew something was wrong and immediately went back home and told her parents where her father called the police. Jessica had only made it about a quarter of a mile from their home down the one lane country road they lived on.
Jessica didn’t return home that night, or the following morning. The police, her family, and volunteers all set out in groups to search for Jessica. Unfortunately, they didn’t find her. It would take 6 weeks for someone to find Jessica. A farmer in Perrysville, Indiana, close to the Illinois border was out working in one of his fields when he spotted something. Upon closer inspection, it was a body that looked like it had been there for a prolonged period of time. Initially, the authorities had a hard time finding a cause of death due to the condition of the body. They were hindered in solving the case because of a complete lack of physical evidence as well, but since Jessica’s body had been taken across state lines, the FBI was notified and became involved in the investigation as well.
Tricia Reitler, 19, was a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana in 1993. She was working towards a psychology major with the goal of helping broken families, and on the evening of March 29th, she was working on a term paper. Around 8PM, she decided to take a break and left the campus and walked to a nearby supermarket, which was around a half a mile away. While there, she bought a soda and a magazine, then left, heading back toward her dorm room in Bowman Hall on campus. Tricia never made it back to her dorm that night.
Center Elementary School and the Seybold Pool were located around midway between the supermarket and campus. Tricia’s blood stained clothing was located in a field near the elementary school and pool. There was a basketball court nearby where several people were playing at the time that Tricia went missing, but none were able to provide any information in her disappearance.
Countless search parties were formed and days led to weeks to months to years. Tricia’s body has never been recovered, and no arrests have been made in her disappearance.
So, what do Jessica and Tricia have to do with our case today? The thing that links these two young women is Larry Hall.
Larry Hall
Larry Dewayne Hall was born in December of 1962 in Wabash Indiana. Larry was born mere moments after his twin brother Gary. When the twins were in the womb, they experienced some issues because it was a monochorionic pregnancy. This means that they shared and were dependent on a single, shared placenta while in the womb. As a result of this, Gary received more nutrients and had better growth. Larry would say that while they were in the womb that Gary “fed on him,” which resulted in Gary being more athletic throughout their lives. Larry spent the first few days of his life in the hospital as a result of a lack of oxygen during birth.
As they grew up, there was a noticeable difference between the twins. As Larry mentioned, Gary was more athletic and played sports, and as a result was more popular than his brother. Despite their differences though, they were best friends growing up and on into adulthood. Some people say that Larry displayed signs of destructive behavior and antisocial tendencies very early in life, while many in their small town chalked it up to just Larry being odd. Gary said that when they were younger, one night he woke up with Larry standing over him with a huge branch, like he was going to bash him over the head with it. Larry put it down, and they went on like nothing happened.
The boys lived with their mother, Aera Bernice Hall and father, Robert Hall. Aera was a stay at home mom and homemaker while Robert had served in the Navy during World War 2. Aera was described by neighbors as domineering, and they also said that the household was rather cluttered and basically dysfunctional as the boys grew up. Robert had a job as a sexton at Falls Cemetery in Wabash, where the family lived. As the sexton, the family was allowed to live in a small house that was near the cemetery grounds.
Growing up Larry and Gary helped their father work in the cemetery. This usually involved keeping up with the mowing and digging graves. It’s said that the boys started working with their dad as young as 12 years old. (So, in Black Bird, it shows Larry digging up a body and taking jewelry after being told to do so by his dad. There are no mentions of this in articles that I’ve found, including Jimmy Keene’s book about this. So I didn’t include that as it seems like it might be one of the few things added to the story for the show.)
Money was very tight in the household, as you could imagine. That was made worse when Robert lost his job at the graveyard and the family had to move from the provided home to a one bedroom shack. Robert was an alcoholic, and it started to affect his work…. He had been putting the wrong bodies in graves! They also said that his alcoholism had grown into an intolerable problem for his employer. It was also reported that Robert was violent with the boys after he had been drinking.
As they were growing up, the boys got in trouble here and there. Larry had been caught setting small fires occasionally, and one at least one occasion, when they were 15, both the boys were picked up by the police for breaking the windows of a downtown storefront. Speaking later, the officer who questioned the boys said, “It took a long time before we could crack the Hall brothers. They were just kids, but they held up better than hardened criminals, even over something as petty as broken windows.” While in school, Larry was picked on by other students because of the way he talked and the fact that he wet the bed into a later age than most. Larry was also suspected of other crimes as a teenager including burglary. After he graduated high school, he got a job as a janitor, which seemed to really grab him. He learned about all the chemicals and how to use them, how they reacted with one another, and honestly, excelled at it.
While in school, Larry was not a great student, except for History class. He loved to learn about different periods throughout history and things that occurred. As a result, after he graduated, he and Gary both became interested in historical reenactments, and would often travel to take part in different events throughout the Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan areas.
Larry was known to drive around in an 80s model work van. When someone says “serial killer van,” the van that you imagine, that’s the van that Larry drove.
How is Larry Connected to Jessica and Tricia?
When the investigators were looking for any info or tips they could get in the Jessica Roach case, they were told that at one point, a witness had seen a work van driving near the corn field. The time frame fit when they suspected Jessica had been taken there. They didn’t have much to go on though, no license plate, etc, just a description of a work van, so it was vague at best. Then, in 1994, the police received several calls about a man driving around in a work van in the area talking to young girls.
On May 29th, 1994, Amy Baker was out rollerblading when she noticed a work van drive past her several times. Each time it passed, it got closer and drove slower. She saw a car nearby that was driven by someone she knew, and she told them that if they didn’t hear from her within 45 minutes to call her parents and have them call the police with the description of the van, a brown and tan work van. She also gave them the license plate number, which she looked for as the van drove past and she remembered it. The van was registered to Larry Hall.
The same day, a 13 year old named Abbey and 15 year old named Kaylen were riding their bikes when they noticed a brown and tan van following behind them. They quickly cut through an alley and went to Kaylen’s house. Abbey called her grandfather who called the police. Abbey’s parents went out looking for the van, and when they spotted it, the driver shut off his lights when he noticed he was being watched. Shortly after, he tried to drive away but got stopped at a redlight, at that point they pulled up and noted the license plate and called the police… the van was registered to Larry Hall.
The following day, May 30th, an officer pulled Larry over after he had passed by a group of young women several times. While searching Larry’s van, he noticed some unusual items such as a spray can of starting fluid, a cotton mask, and cotton balls, a plastic tarp, some knives and a length of rope. The officers found newspaper articles about Tricia Reitler and a piece of Indiana Wesleyan University stationary with Reitler’s name printed on it. Hall was arrested by police and confessed to killing Tricia Reitler. Authorities requested that Hall take them to the place he left her body, but after basically leading them out on a wild goose chase, they concluded that he was just a “serial killer wannabe” looking for attention.
THE NEXT DAY, four girls were walking and a brown / tan van pulled up by them asking if they wanted a ride several times. The girls got scared and ran to one of their homes where the girls mother ran out screaming at the man driving the van as he drove away. One of the girls said that the man had dark hair and a beard and had tried to get her into his van two times before. Her father went out looking for the van and found it, it was Larry Hall’s van. The police searched a workshop / barn that Larry used to work on his vehicles, and they found some straps that could be used to restrain someone.
In July of 1994, two girls (13 and 10) were playing in their yard when they noticed a work van parked across the street. The van drove over and asked if they knew where a specific street was, and when they said no, he asked if they wanted a ride. They ran into their house and told their parents who came out and got a license plate as the van drove away, it was registered to .. you guessed it, Larry Hall.
October 22, 1994, two girls (both 14) left a convenience store and saw the van. They started to run home, and the van sped up and got closer to them and asked why they were running away and if they wanted a ride. They called the police, and it turns out.. It was Larry Hall again.
October 28th, Det Jeff Whitmer of the Wabash PD got a fax from Gary Miller, an investigator with the Vermilion County Sheriff’s office in Illinois. Miller was asking for help regarding two attempted abductions in Georgetown, IL, and if the Wabash PD knew of Larry Hall. Whitmer called Miller and the two spoke about Larry. Miller told him that in both of the attempted abductions, the young women gave a description of a tan van and provided a license plate number. After running the number, it returned as being registered to Larry Hall. Miller also told him about the unsolved murder of Jessica Roach. Whitmer knew Larry, and he asked Miller if there were any military reenactments in the area during the time that Jessica went missing.
November 2nd, Whitmer went to Wabash to talk to Larry Hall. He was accompanied by two investigators who were working the Tricia Reitler case as well. They spoke for a while, and Miller noted that Larry “emitted no outward signs of disturbed behavior.” He was soft spoken and quiet in his demeanor. When Miller told him why he was there, about the 2 girls claiming a man in a van was harassing them, Larry acted confused and claimed that he was never in Georgetown, and hadn’t been in Illinois for years.
November 15th, 1994. Miller returned to Wabash with an FBI agent also investigating Jessica Roach’s murder. As they arrived, Detective Whitmer was going to Larry’s house to see if he would come talk to Miller and the FBI agent. Hall agreed, and they met with the investigators. Hall was read his miranda rights and signed a waiver of his rights. They began to question him about Jessica, and at one point, showed Larry a picture of her. Larry had an immediate reaction and hung his head and began to cry. He started to recount the events of Sept 20th, 1993. He signed a confession admitting to abducting and murdering Jessica Roach, which he later recanted.
On December 21, 1994, Hall was charged in a one count indictment for kidnapping Jessica Roach for purposes of sexual gratification and transporting her from Illinois to Indiana. Hall and his attorney filed a motion to have the confession suppressed as evidence but it was denied. The trial took place in June of 1995, and after an 8 day trial, Hall was found guilty. In August, he was given life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In 1996, Hall’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial, claiming that Hall hadn’t received a fair trial based off of testimonies from various doctors and experts not being properly considered by the court during the trial. They were granted a new trial, and in August of 1997, Larry Hall’s second trial began, and he was again found guilty. In December of 1997, Hall was again given Life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jimmy Keene
After his second conviction and subsequent life sentence, Larry Hall again set out to appeal it. The authorities and FBI had a fear that this second conviction could be overturned as well. So they took an approach that seems like it was just straight out of the plot of a movie.
In 1996, the DEA arrested James “Jimmy” Keene. Jimmy was a star athlete in highschool where he grew up in Illinois. He was a star football player and captain of the football team. There was one thing though, Jimmy didn’t come from a rich family like many of his teammates, so to keep up with the rich kids at school, he turned to selling drugs. He started small and quickly grew into the guy people knew to go to when they wanted something. After school, Jimmy wasn’t recruited by any schools to play football, so he stuck with dealing drugs. Over time, he grew his empire in Chicago and at the time of his arrest, he was making over a million dollars a year in the drug game. Then it all came crashing down, when the DEA and FBI showed up.
Jimmy had been using the money he earned to cover expenses for his father, Big Jim Keene, who was a decorated police chief in the Chicago area before he retired. Keene was advised by the federal prosecutor working the case to plead guilty and not fight it, and he might get a lighter sentence of 4-6 years. So Jimmy did, but was given 10 years in prison, with no chance of parole. Now, Keene broke the law and went to serve his sentence. We’re not here to say “Oh, he was a good guy who got in over his head,” or anything like that.
In 1998, about 10 months into his sentence, Beaumont approached Jimmy with a deal. Beaumont was the prosecutor over Larry Hall’s case as well, and he wanted Keene’s help. He asked Keene to transfer from a minimum security facility to the maximum security facility that Hall was in. That facility housed the criminally insane and violent offenders. He wanted Keene to befriend Hall, and get him to confess to the murder of Reitler, including the location of her body. If he could do that, Jimmy would get released early from his sentence. By this time, Larry had confessed and recanted to killing Tricia Reitler and other women, claiming that the details he gave were from dreams he had.
Jimmy said that he first thought, “What happens when I gotta deal with these crazy killers and stuff… What if I get shaked? What if I get killed…. Am I gonna survive this?”
Initially, Jimmy told Beaumont no and that he wouldn’t do it because it was too dangerous. Shortly after that though, Jimmy’s dad suffered a sudden stroke and his health began failing at a rapid rate. He came to visit Jimmy in a wheelchair, and after seeing his dad, who had always been this big strong man to him, in such a frail state, he went back to Beaumont and told him he would try to get Hall to confess. As he was being transferred to the new facility, Keene got cold feet as they drove up and tried to back out, but the US Marshalls said it was too late and they proceeded.
In the prison, Jimmy had the cover of being convicted of running weapons. His only contact within the prison was the psychiatrist. Outside, he had an FBI contact that he could call as well. Beaumont chose Jimmy because he was very charismatic and good at talking to people. But, it took a little while for Jimmy and Larry to connect. To earn Larry’s trust, Jimmy stood up for him against another inmate. They were in the TV room, watching America’s Most Wanted, a favorite in the prison. While watching another inmate came in and changed the channel. Keene got up and changed it back, then the inmate did the same, then Keene again changed it back. After this the inmate approached Jimmy and tried to punch him but missed. Jimmy swung back and kicked the inmate to the ground, then jumped on him and started hitting him until guards separated them.
After that incident, Larry started talking to Jimmy more and more. They began to have regular conversations, and eventually, Jimmy felt comfortable enough to bring up Tricia Reitler. After talking about it for a bit, Hall admitted to burying Tricia’s body “way out in the country,” but never gave a precise location. Jimmy wasn’t sure if that was enough for Beaumont to hold up his end of the bargain though.
One day, in the prison workshop, Jimmy saw that Hall had a map of the Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin area, and scattered throughout the map were little red dots. He concluded that those dots were the locations of bodies that Larry had buried. Larry also had 10-15 wooden falcon status about the size of chess pieces. When asked about them, Larry said that the falcons “watched over the dead.”
After this, Jimmy Keene called his FBI contact and told them that he had the info and they needed to get him out. He told them about the map and figures and the confession. The thing is though that when he called, he had to leave this all on an answering machine because no one answered. They had told him that when he called and told him he had the info, he would be out within 24 hours. So with that thought in mind, he went back to Larry and began to unload on him. He had so much disgust and anger built up inside from pretending to be Larry’s friend for all this time and listening to Larry describe in detail different versions of the crimes he committed.. He finally just exploded; Keen said that he told him “You know, I’m going to be going home tomorrow Larry.. You’re a crazy killer… ‘and i started calling him everything you can think of’”
Guards intervened, and Jimmy was taken to Larry Hall’s psychologist who scolded him for upsetting Larry’s mental state. She ordered that Jimmy be “thrown in the hole.” The chief psychiatrist, who was Jimmy’s contact within the prison, was on vacation.. For two weeks. When Beaumont got the message he reached out to the prison, but it was like Keene disappeared. He would remain in solitary confinement for two weeks until his contact within the prison returned and got him out.
By then though, Larry Hall knew that Jimmy was only there to get information from him. Reportedly, when the guards were taking him away after their altercations, he asked Jimmy if Beaumont sent him. Larry did something with the figures and the map, and they were never recovered. Jimmy said that he knew he should have waited to confront Larry, but everything just boiled over and “it just felt good to unload on that guy.”
Jimmy Keene was released from prison after serving 17 months of his sentence. His father was still alive, and Jimmy got to spend 5 more years with him before he passed away. Jimmy Keene eventually entered the real estate market and found success, and in 2010, wrote a book about his experience titled “In With The Devil.”
Larry Hall is serving out his sentence of life without the possibility of parole in a facility in North Carolina. He has confessed and later racanted to 39 murders. The FBI suspects that he could have committed up to 50 kidnapping / murders, which would make him one of the most prolific serial killers in US history.
