Larry Dean Bright (born July 8, 1966), also known as The Bonecrusher, is an American

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

responsible for the deaths of at least eight women between the ages of 30 and 41 in central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The murders occurred between July 2003 and October 2004, in Peoria and Tazewell County,

. His nickname derives from his purported propensity for burning his victims' bodies before crushing their bone fragments with a hammer. After confessing to his crimes in May 2005, Bright was convicted of eight counts of murder and sentenced to eight life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Biography

Not long after 2000, Bright began to spend a great deal of free time around sex workers, taking particular interest in African-American women.

Exposure

Between March 2001 and October 15, 2004, the bodies of six women were found in rural areas around the

counties of Peoria and Tazwell, and four other women were reported missing from the area. In October 2004, the Peoria City Police Department formed a task force of 13 police officers, with input from neighboring law enforcement agencies, to investigate the cases. Bright came under suspicion that December, after police arrested 35-year-old sex worker Vickie Bomar for theft. While residing in the county jail, the woman offered to help investigators in exchange for a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

. Bomar claimed that, in July, a client named Larry Bright lured her into the outbuilding of his mother's home, where he lived. After sharing alcohol and drugs, Bright attacked her, and attempted to rape her at knifepoint, but Bomar managed to escape after a struggle. Since the alleged incident occurred five months prior to her arrest, authorities questioned the legitimacy of her statement. Bomar claimed that she was afraid to report the incident earlier, as she had failed to appear in court on other charges, which officers later confirmed when checking her criminal history. While investigating the suspect, investigators became aware of at least six similar cases during which Bright had displayed aggressive behavior, particularly towards African-American sex workers. Bright was detained and interrogated in late December, whereupon he was told that he could be charged with illegal deprivation of liberty under aggravated circumstances. He refused to cooperate with officers and denied the charges, and was released shortly after due to a lack of evidence. The district attorney was granted a search warrant on January 20, 2005, allowing investigators to search Bright's property for potential evidence. During this search, police attention was drawn to several plots of excavated land, which Bright's mother claimed originated when she and her son removed several

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...

bushes. When digging through the area, however, officers found ashes and many small bone fragments. Based on this evidence, Bright was temporarily detained in the Tazewell County Jail. After

forensic examination Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...

determined that the bone fragments were human in origin, Bright was charged with

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

, and the prosecutor ordered his house excavated. Not long after, Bright confessed to the murder of eight women.

Victims

Bright's first known victim was 30-year-old Sabrina Payne, whom he had picked up on the outskirts of Peoria. He offered her money in exchange for sex, and drove Payne to his house. During his interrogation, Bright claimed that he had no memory of how he killed Payne, as he was intoxicated at the time, but the autopsy implied strangulation. After the murder, he loaded the body in his

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

and took it to a cornfield outside Tremont, where it was discovered on July 27, 2003. In early August 2004, Bright met 33-year-old sex worker Laura Lollar, and offered her money in exchange for sexual services. He strangled Lollar during intercourse and burned her body in the backyard to dispose of any evidence. In January 2005, he identified her from a photograph presented to him. In late September, Bright met with 40-year-old sex worker Linda K. Neal in the parking lot of a Peoria furniture store. He offered her drugs in exchange for sex, to which Neal agreed. As with previous victims, Bright took her to his house, where they took

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

before engaging in intercourse. After Neal fell asleep, Larry strangled her. Because his mother was at home, he decided to dispose of the body away from the house. Bright took the body to Tazewell County, where he discarded it on the roadside, leaving traces from a shoelace on her neck. In conducting the autopsy, the coroner found biological evidence from a male perpetrator in the victim's body. After Bright's arrest, several cigarette butts were taken from his home and sent for

DNA profiling DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding. DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...

, where it was found to match the DNA of Neal's killer. Bright's last confirmed murder took place on October 14, 2004, when he killed 41-year-old Brenda Erving. During the interrogation, Bright claimed that he had no memory of the woman's name or where they had met, but that he took her to his house, they took drugs for about an hour, and then engaged in intercourse before he attacked her. He admitted that Erving was particularly strong and resisted fiercely, nearly rendering him unconscious. She nearly managed to run away, but was unable to open the door and leave the building, which enabled Bright to strike her several times in the back of the head. Once she was immobilized, he strangled her to death. While still intoxicated, Bright intended to dispose of Erving's body in a nearby lake, but he became disoriented and instead discarded of the corpse near a

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history that ...

in Peoria County instead, where it was found shortly after.

Trial

As part of his plea bargain and full confession, Bright was spared the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. On May 30, 2006, he was sentenced to eight terms of life in prison, without the possibility of parole. During his court hearings, Bright confessed to additional murders in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, but later retracted his statements. He also expressed that he contemplated

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

on multiple occasions, but that he never followed through due to his religious beliefs. Bright also admitted that he intended to attack the arresting officers with knives so that they would shoot him, but he refrained because his mother was at the scene. While some investigators proposed

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

as the primary motive for Bright's killings, he denied this, instead giving several explanations for his motives. At first, he claimed that he developed a misogynistic view of African-American women after contracting

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

from a sex worker. When he tested negative for the virus, this explanation was questioned. Later, Bright claimed that, as a 19-year-old boy serving a prison sentence, he was sexually abused on multiple occasions by African-American prisoners, and developed an urge to punish Black men for causing him harm. As he was not sexually attracted to men, in later years he claimed that his hatred shifted to focus on female sex workers.

References

External links