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

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

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. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. 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 Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

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 the Illinois State Police, and neighboring law enforcement agencies, to investigate the cases. Bright came under suspicion that December, after police arrested 35-year-old

sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is ...

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 known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

. 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 several plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the Rosaceae, rose family, most of which are in the subgenus ''Rubus#Modern classification, Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Ras ...

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 combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

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 committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, 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 Strangling or strangulation is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain by restricting the flow of oxygen through the trachea. Fatal strangulation typically occurs ...

. 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 definition ...

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 Smoking, smoked. Crack offers a short, intense Euphoria (emotion), high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Sub ...

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 and genetic fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is cal ...

, 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 the 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 the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

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 and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. 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 U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

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

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

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 (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

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 Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...

view of African-American women after contracting

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

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