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Who Is Larry Hall? A Look Back At The Real Story Behind Subject Of Apple TV's True Crime Series 'Black Bird'
Black Bird is based on the true story of Jimmy Keene, who went from a high school football star to a drug dealer and later became an FBI undercover agent to help solve the case of serial killer Larry Hall.
Trigger Warning: This article contains gruesome details of murder, rape and violence, which could be triggering for some readers.
Apple TV+ has launched Black Bird, a true crime series that follows inmate Larry D. Hall's confessions of rape, murder, and abduction of victims in the 90s. The series follows inmate James Keene, who was sentenced to 10 years without parole after being caught in a drug sting. Keene is tasked with eliciting confessions from Hall, with the promise of freeing him if successful.
Who is Larry Hall?
Larry Dewayne Hall, an American serial killer is accused of abducting, raping, torturing, and murdering multiple girls and women, allegedly during historical reenactments in the Midwest. Hall 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 thirty-five murders, recanting them all. However, authorities believe he could be responsible for the deaths and disappearances of between forty and fifty young women, which would place him among the most prolific serial killers in American history.
At age 12, Hall began digging graves with his father, which led to his desensitization to human cadavers and theft of valuables. His father's alcoholism caused him to misplace cadavers, causing him to lose his job and force the family to move to a shack with one bedroom.
At age 15, Hall and his brother were arrested for breaking storefront windows. Hall was suspected of committing arson, burglary, and other petty crimes. After high school, Hall worked as a janitor and participated in American Civil War re-enactments. Gary later claimed his Civil War guise was a way to cover his lack of hygiene and violent urges.
The FBI 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. Hall frequented historical re-enactment sites around the U.S. 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.
Larry Hall has confessed to several murders
Larry Hall, despite not being convicted of murder, confessed to abducting and killing 15-year-old Jessica Roach in 1993. A jury convicted him of kidnapping and bringing her across state lines for sex, but no physical evidence to support a murder conviction was available.
The federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Hall a retrial in the Roach case in 1996 because the original trial judge didn’t allow a psychologist to testify. The testimony reportedly indicated a mental health condition caused Hall to falsely confess to Roach’s abduction. Hall was convicted again in the second trial and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Hall has also confessed to abducting and killing 20 year old Laurie Depies, but police could not corroborate his confession. Depies disappeared from northern Wisconsin in 1992.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Illinois State Police announced in August 2017 reopened the 1992 cold case of Tammy Zywicki who was murdered. She was abducted just four days after Depies, from Utica, Ill., which is 233 miles south of Depies’ abduction location. Although Hall was a suspect in the case, there were other suspects as well.
Hall has confessed and recanted confessions to several more rapes and murders. He is currently serving a life sentence at a medium security level federal prison in Butner, N.C., according to CBS News.
Disclaimer: If you need support or know someone who is struggling with any kind of abuse, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist, NGO or speak to someone about it. There are several helplines available for the same.
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