This is a general discussion thread for cold cases, cold case innovations, or possibly to break out into a thread, if the interest goes that way.
This is a general discussion thread for cold cases, cold case innovations, or possibly to break out into a thread, if the interest goes that way.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
Oh yeah, that's right. I had forgotten that fact. That's pretty damning.Apparently, the serial killer Larry deWayne Hall had her name on a piece of paper in his possession.
Larry Hall (criminal) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Alleged victims
edit
- On June 28, 1982, 19-year-old Naomi Lee Kidder left Buffalo, Wyoming, with several friends en route to Rawlins, Wyoming. They stayed at the Travel Lodge Hotel until June 29, 1982, when Kidder left to go hitchhiking. This was the last time she was seen alive. Kidder's nude remains were found in Natrona County on September 10, 1982, in what appeared to be a partially dug grave.[6] She was identified on March 10, 1993, through dental records. Her cause of death was ligature strangulation. Hall is considered a viable suspect because a document bearing Kidder's name was found in his possession after his arrest.[7]
No
I don't know what to make of that info but that he'd have a doc or piece of paper (I've read it both ways) with her name on it in his possession 12 years later is interesting to say the least.
Tresir
Well-known member
I am wondering if this map could be the document they are talking about. Maybe he made another map in prison. From Hall's wiki.
In 1994, the FBI reached out to a Chicago businessman named James Keene, who was serving a ten-year prison sentence on a drug conspiracy charge. After having learned of Keene's affability and charisma, and worrying that Hall could win his appeal against his conviction for the Roach kidnapping, the bureau offered to totally commute and erase Keene's sentence if he agreed to be transferred to the same maximum security prison as Hall to befriend him and obtain the locations of the bodies of his victims. Keene agreed to the proposition and Hall eventually confessed to him that he had killed Reitler. Hall showed Keene a map he was working on of the American Midwest with red dots and names over it representing his victims.[1]
In response, Keene yelled at Hall, calling him "one of the most despicable forms of human life on this planet." Subsequently, unable to reach his government contacts or prove his true identity, Keene was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks before being released. The map was never recovered by authorities. Hall's eventual appeal was denied and Keene was released from his sentence.[29] Hall is serving life without the possibility of parole in Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina.[1]
Tresir
Well-known member
I guess we have a thread for Hall but i will post on here too as we are discussing it. There is a TV program about this - Keene going in to prison with Hall to get info.
www.digitalspy.com
Black Bird spoilers follow.
New Apple TV+ prison drama Black Bird tells the real-life story of drug dealer Jimmy Keene, as played by Taron Egerton, and is based on his book In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.
Faced with a 10-year prison sentence in 1996, Jimmy agreed to a deal with the FBI – he would be transferred to a maximum-security prison in Springfield, Missouri in order to befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser).
Larry was in prison for the abduction and murder of a 15-year-old girl, but there was a concern that one day he could be released, even though the FBI suspected him of numerous other murders. The deal was simple – if Jimmy could get Larry to confess to more crimes and reveal the locations of the bodies, Jimmy would be allowed to go free.
Apple TV+
The six-episode series follows Jimmy as he takes the FBI deal and attempts to befriend Larry, and also focuses on a pair of law enforcement agents (Greg Kinnear and Sepideh Moafi) as they attempt to uncover more evidence of Larry’s crimes.
Of course, the most interesting character in Black Bird is Larry Hall himself, with the series weaving in his story – including childhood flashbacks – as Jimmy gets to know him. This is in part thanks to Hauser's mesmerisingly creepy performance – a performance that was rewarded, as Hauser won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series for his role in the show.
Hauser's co-star Egerton has spoken about how deeply affecting filming the show was, with the knowledge that its story was based on real events. "I'm quite good at resetting myself, I think, but there were two occasions where I didn’t feel particularly good afterward," Egerton told the Hollywood Reporter.
"It's not like you become so lost in the part that you don't know who you are, but being unable to shed the energy of something. Larry's confession and description of the abduction and murder of Jessica Roach, that was a day where I think we both felt it was difficult to shed the skin of it afterward, because of the reality of it and the knowledge that it really happened."
Much of what appears on screen is true, but there is more to the story of Larry Hall than is told in the series.
The real Larry DeWayne Hall was born on December 11, 1962 in Wabash, Indiana, along with his twin brother Gary. According to a research paper written by the psychology department of Radford University in Virginia, Larry was antisocial in school, had a low IQ and was teased for being slower than other children, and also for having a speech impediment.
Apple TV
As Black Bird depicts, Larry – along with his brother Gary, although the series doesn't show this – regularly helped his father Robert Hall dig graves when he was a child, before taking a job as a janitor after leaving school.
The Radford University document also reveals that, as a teenager, Larry was suspected of committing acts of arson, vandalism and various petty crimes in his hometown of Wabash. And it also reports that Larry is the suspect in more serious crimes from that time – including the abduction of two young girls in Michigan and Indiana who went missing when Larry was just 18 years old, and whose bodies have never been found.
As he grew up, Larry became fascinated with Civil War and Revolutionary War reenactments, and between 1980 and 1994 travelled across the Midwest to attend and participate in them. According to TheCinemaholic, authorities believe that he may be responsible for at least 40 disappearances and possible murders of young women that took place during this time.
It was only when the remains of 15-year-old Jessica Roach were found in late 1993 that Larry finally came under suspicion. Jessica had vanished less than half a mile away from her home in Georgetown, Illinois on September 20, 1993, when she was out riding her new bike.
Her remains were found on November 8, and shortly after a witness came forward saying they had seen a man walking out of the cornfield where her body was found, and that he left in a van. Months later, this led the police to Larry, whose Dodge van had been reported following young girls in the area on various occasions in 1993 and 1994. One girl had noted down the van's licence plate and told the police, who discovered it belonged to Larry Hall.
Apple TV
"That plate came back to Larry Hall, who we had never heard of at that time," Gary Miller, the chief investigator for Vermilion County Sheriff's Office in Illinois told CNN.com. Miller brought Hall in for questioning and showed him a photo of Jessica.
"He immediately flinched," said Miller. "He turned to his right and put his hand up over his face like he didn't want to see the picture. And he told me he didn't think he'd ever seen that girl."
Hall later confessed to the murder of Jessica. "I tied her up, but I can't remember with what. I took her pants off," CNN reported that he told investigators. "I laid her up against a tree and put a belt around her neck and she stopped breathing."
As in the series, he also mentioned other missing girls. "All of the girls looked alike. I cannot remember all of them. I picked up several girls in other areas, but I can't remember which ones I hurt."
Unfortunately, Hall recanted everything he had said – which also included a confession to murdering university student Tricia Reitler – the next day, and investigators began to wonder whether they had arrested a serial killer or a serial confessor.
Hall was eventually convicted of Jessica Roach's kidnapping after evidence was found in his van, but investigators believed he was responsible for many more murders, so they enlisted the help of prisoner Jimmy Keene to befriend Larry.
According to CNN, Larry did admit to Jimmy that he had killed Tricia, but he didn't say where her body was. Sometime later, Jimmy found Larry in the prison workshop with a map. He was carving wooden falcons and placing them on it.
Apple TV+
"It was a map with red dots over Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. And he covered it up really fast," Keene told CNN.com. The falcons were, according to Hall, placed on the map to "watch over the dead".
It's here where the Black Bird depiction slightly strays from real-life events. In the series, Larry goes into far more detail, voluntarily showing Jimmy the map and boasting about his crimes, while Jimmy pleads with him to give the families peace by revealing where the bodies are buried.
When Larry refuses, Jimmy snaps and calls Larry a monster, thus ending their 'friendship'.
In real life, Keene – believing he would be freed immediately once he told the FBI about the map – also stopped pretending to be Hall's friend, blowing his own cover.
"I told him he was a… sicko," he told CNN. "I told him that he was insane. I said that, 'You are one of the most despicable forms of human life on this planet.'"
"People probably wouldn't understand the mounting pressure, that kettle is ready to boil over at any time, you know, and it just felt good to unload on the guy," he later said to Dateline, as reported by msn.com.
In Black Bird, following his confrontation with Larry, Jimmy finds himself unable to contact the FBI and the people who know why he is really in Springfield prison, and he is locked away in solitary confinement while Larry posts the map and falcons to his family (his father is seen burning it).
The same thing happened to the real Jimmy Keene, although what really happened to Larry's map and wooden carvings is unknown. In the interview with Dateline in 2012, as reported by msn.com, Keene admitted that his confrontation with Larry Hall meant that the vital map evidence was lost.
"I'm disappointed I didn't wait a day or two at least, I should have waited a few more days," Keene said. "I wish I could have done more for [the families] but I did all I could do, and I feel in my being that I did all I could do."
But in an in-depth and honest interview with VladTV in August 2023, Keene cleared up the primary aim of his mission, as well as revealing how much information Hall gave him.
"It wasn't just two girls," he said, "I got confessions out of him on about 20 girls. So this was a lot of stuff I got on him. And you see a lot of these write-ups in the paper going, 'Oh he was supposed to get the bodies, he blew his cover with the map and all that'. That's not true either. These people write stuff that – they don't even know what they're writing most of the time.
"The primary goal was to keep him in – that was the primary goal of the mission. Secondary was if we can find any of the bodies, that's icing on the cake, and they really wanted to find Tricia Reitler for sure. We had already found Jessica Roach, so they wanted to find Tricia Reitler. But if he gets out, it doesn't do you any good even if you haven't found her then because he's out to kill again."
Regardless, Keene's outburst with Larry Hall sadly meant that there are many families – including the parents of Tricia Reitler – who do not know whether Hall killed their missing children, or where their bodies are.
In 2009, Tricia's mother, Donna, told Cleveland.com, "I'm not interested in punishment or retribution. I just want to find out where my daughter is and bring her home. Sixteen years later, we're still sitting by the phone waiting for information. This constant up-and-down is painful. We've never been able to grieve."
Apple TV+
Since he was imprisoned, Larry Hall has confessed to more than 15 murders, and then recanted each confession. He also claimed in an interview with the Associated Press in 2011 that he had abducted 39 women between 1980 and 1994.
Now 60 years old and incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Butner Medium II in North Carolina with no possibility of parole, it is believed that Hall isn't just responsible for the 21 murders referred to in Black Bird, but that he could have committed more than 50 murders.
This would make Larry Hall one of the most prolific serial killers of all time in the US.
Black Bird is available now on Apple TV+, with new episodes airing week
Black Bird: What the show leaves out about serial killer Larry Hall
The true story is even darker than what you see on screen.
www.digitalspy.com
Black Bird: What the show leaves out about serial killer Larry Hall
The true story is even darker than what you see on screen.
By
Jo BerryBy
Updated: 20 March 2024
Black Bird spoilers follow.
New Apple TV+ prison drama Black Bird tells the real-life story of drug dealer Jimmy Keene, as played by Taron Egerton, and is based on his book In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.
Faced with a 10-year prison sentence in 1996, Jimmy agreed to a deal with the FBI – he would be transferred to a maximum-security prison in Springfield, Missouri in order to befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser).
What to Read Next
Larry was in prison for the abduction and murder of a 15-year-old girl, but there was a concern that one day he could be released, even though the FBI suspected him of numerous other murders. The deal was simple – if Jimmy could get Larry to confess to more crimes and reveal the locations of the bodies, Jimmy would be allowed to go free.
Apple TV+
The six-episode series follows Jimmy as he takes the FBI deal and attempts to befriend Larry, and also focuses on a pair of law enforcement agents (Greg Kinnear and Sepideh Moafi) as they attempt to uncover more evidence of Larry’s crimes.
Of course, the most interesting character in Black Bird is Larry Hall himself, with the series weaving in his story – including childhood flashbacks – as Jimmy gets to know him. This is in part thanks to Hauser's mesmerisingly creepy performance – a performance that was rewarded, as Hauser won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series for his role in the show.
Hauser's co-star Egerton has spoken about how deeply affecting filming the show was, with the knowledge that its story was based on real events. "I'm quite good at resetting myself, I think, but there were two occasions where I didn’t feel particularly good afterward," Egerton told the Hollywood Reporter.
"It's not like you become so lost in the part that you don't know who you are, but being unable to shed the energy of something. Larry's confession and description of the abduction and murder of Jessica Roach, that was a day where I think we both felt it was difficult to shed the skin of it afterward, because of the reality of it and the knowledge that it really happened."
Much of what appears on screen is true, but there is more to the story of Larry Hall than is told in the series.
The real Larry DeWayne Hall was born on December 11, 1962 in Wabash, Indiana, along with his twin brother Gary. According to a research paper written by the psychology department of Radford University in Virginia, Larry was antisocial in school, had a low IQ and was teased for being slower than other children, and also for having a speech impediment.
Apple TV
As Black Bird depicts, Larry – along with his brother Gary, although the series doesn't show this – regularly helped his father Robert Hall dig graves when he was a child, before taking a job as a janitor after leaving school.
The Radford University document also reveals that, as a teenager, Larry was suspected of committing acts of arson, vandalism and various petty crimes in his hometown of Wabash. And it also reports that Larry is the suspect in more serious crimes from that time – including the abduction of two young girls in Michigan and Indiana who went missing when Larry was just 18 years old, and whose bodies have never been found.
As he grew up, Larry became fascinated with Civil War and Revolutionary War reenactments, and between 1980 and 1994 travelled across the Midwest to attend and participate in them. According to TheCinemaholic, authorities believe that he may be responsible for at least 40 disappearances and possible murders of young women that took place during this time.
It was only when the remains of 15-year-old Jessica Roach were found in late 1993 that Larry finally came under suspicion. Jessica had vanished less than half a mile away from her home in Georgetown, Illinois on September 20, 1993, when she was out riding her new bike.
Her remains were found on November 8, and shortly after a witness came forward saying they had seen a man walking out of the cornfield where her body was found, and that he left in a van. Months later, this led the police to Larry, whose Dodge van had been reported following young girls in the area on various occasions in 1993 and 1994. One girl had noted down the van's licence plate and told the police, who discovered it belonged to Larry Hall.
Apple TV
"That plate came back to Larry Hall, who we had never heard of at that time," Gary Miller, the chief investigator for Vermilion County Sheriff's Office in Illinois told CNN.com. Miller brought Hall in for questioning and showed him a photo of Jessica.
"He immediately flinched," said Miller. "He turned to his right and put his hand up over his face like he didn't want to see the picture. And he told me he didn't think he'd ever seen that girl."
Hall later confessed to the murder of Jessica. "I tied her up, but I can't remember with what. I took her pants off," CNN reported that he told investigators. "I laid her up against a tree and put a belt around her neck and she stopped breathing."
As in the series, he also mentioned other missing girls. "All of the girls looked alike. I cannot remember all of them. I picked up several girls in other areas, but I can't remember which ones I hurt."
Unfortunately, Hall recanted everything he had said – which also included a confession to murdering university student Tricia Reitler – the next day, and investigators began to wonder whether they had arrested a serial killer or a serial confessor.
Hall was eventually convicted of Jessica Roach's kidnapping after evidence was found in his van, but investigators believed he was responsible for many more murders, so they enlisted the help of prisoner Jimmy Keene to befriend Larry.
According to CNN, Larry did admit to Jimmy that he had killed Tricia, but he didn't say where her body was. Sometime later, Jimmy found Larry in the prison workshop with a map. He was carving wooden falcons and placing them on it.
Apple TV+
"It was a map with red dots over Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. And he covered it up really fast," Keene told CNN.com. The falcons were, according to Hall, placed on the map to "watch over the dead".
It's here where the Black Bird depiction slightly strays from real-life events. In the series, Larry goes into far more detail, voluntarily showing Jimmy the map and boasting about his crimes, while Jimmy pleads with him to give the families peace by revealing where the bodies are buried.
When Larry refuses, Jimmy snaps and calls Larry a monster, thus ending their 'friendship'.
In real life, Keene – believing he would be freed immediately once he told the FBI about the map – also stopped pretending to be Hall's friend, blowing his own cover.
"I told him he was a… sicko," he told CNN. "I told him that he was insane. I said that, 'You are one of the most despicable forms of human life on this planet.'"
"People probably wouldn't understand the mounting pressure, that kettle is ready to boil over at any time, you know, and it just felt good to unload on the guy," he later said to Dateline, as reported by msn.com.
In Black Bird, following his confrontation with Larry, Jimmy finds himself unable to contact the FBI and the people who know why he is really in Springfield prison, and he is locked away in solitary confinement while Larry posts the map and falcons to his family (his father is seen burning it).
The same thing happened to the real Jimmy Keene, although what really happened to Larry's map and wooden carvings is unknown. In the interview with Dateline in 2012, as reported by msn.com, Keene admitted that his confrontation with Larry Hall meant that the vital map evidence was lost.
"I'm disappointed I didn't wait a day or two at least, I should have waited a few more days," Keene said. "I wish I could have done more for [the families] but I did all I could do, and I feel in my being that I did all I could do."
But in an in-depth and honest interview with VladTV in August 2023, Keene cleared up the primary aim of his mission, as well as revealing how much information Hall gave him.
"It wasn't just two girls," he said, "I got confessions out of him on about 20 girls. So this was a lot of stuff I got on him. And you see a lot of these write-ups in the paper going, 'Oh he was supposed to get the bodies, he blew his cover with the map and all that'. That's not true either. These people write stuff that – they don't even know what they're writing most of the time.
"The primary goal was to keep him in – that was the primary goal of the mission. Secondary was if we can find any of the bodies, that's icing on the cake, and they really wanted to find Tricia Reitler for sure. We had already found Jessica Roach, so they wanted to find Tricia Reitler. But if he gets out, it doesn't do you any good even if you haven't found her then because he's out to kill again."
Regardless, Keene's outburst with Larry Hall sadly meant that there are many families – including the parents of Tricia Reitler – who do not know whether Hall killed their missing children, or where their bodies are.
In 2009, Tricia's mother, Donna, told Cleveland.com, "I'm not interested in punishment or retribution. I just want to find out where my daughter is and bring her home. Sixteen years later, we're still sitting by the phone waiting for information. This constant up-and-down is painful. We've never been able to grieve."
Apple TV+
Since he was imprisoned, Larry Hall has confessed to more than 15 murders, and then recanted each confession. He also claimed in an interview with the Associated Press in 2011 that he had abducted 39 women between 1980 and 1994.
Now 60 years old and incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Butner Medium II in North Carolina with no possibility of parole, it is believed that Hall isn't just responsible for the 21 murders referred to in Black Bird, but that he could have committed more than 50 murders.
This would make Larry Hall one of the most prolific serial killers of all time in the US.
Black Bird is available now on Apple TV+, with new episodes airing week
Tresir
Well-known member
Actually we don't seem to have a specific thread but this links to a recent post about Hall and this 1982 murder on the SK thread.
Post in thread 'Discussion on Serial Killers, Spree Killers, Mass Killers, And single event killers.' Discussion on Serial Killers, Spree Killers, Mass Killers, And single event killers.
Post in thread 'Discussion on Serial Killers, Spree Killers, Mass Killers, And single event killers.' Discussion on Serial Killers, Spree Killers, Mass Killers, And single event killers.
Well, it was reportedly in his possession at the time of his arrest so I wouldn't think so. I'd think it's an ID or SS card but for me that'd be the very evidence LE says they're looking for, that is, evidence he was there at the same time and place and so I doubt it's one of things, either.
Btw, I wonder what items were either in her backpack or possibly missing.
That'd be interesting to know.
Most intriguing to me is that her clothes are missing, I mean, being that her other belongings- backpack and purse- were there.
Tresir
Well-known member
As I stated, I am thinking that the map was taken by LE on his arrest, so he started making another one in prison. He apparently carved wooden falcons that he put on the map to "guard" the locations. Allegedly he mailed it to his father who burned it. (the prison map he made.)
Last edited:
I'm thinking it's probably a news article. I've read that there were such items found in his home, items which pictured victims and he'd drawn on them in some disturbing way. I remember there was drawing of rope...
Funny, to me, I don't remember it more clear than that.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
It's too bad the feds did not prepare him better. He should have never blown his cover, he should have understood what he needed to get and understood that the feds could not just swoop in the minute he wanted them to get him out of there, and just how it works. Maybe tested him a bit to see to it he was up to such a task and advised him on what to do in various scenarios.
Did he get his ten year sentence commuted or did they refuse since they didn't have the goods?
Did he get his ten year sentence commuted or did they refuse since they didn't have the goods?
Guess Who
Well-known member
They got their main thing to do it.
"The primary goal was to keep him in – that was the primary goal of the mission. Secondary was if we can find any of the bodies, that's icing on the cake, and they really wanted to find Tricia Reitler for sure. We had already found Jessica Roach, so they wanted to find Tricia Reitler. But if he gets out, it doesn't do you any good even if you haven't found her then because he's out to kill again."
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
Not sure what you mean? Main thing to do what? Keep him in? This also is coming from the "snitch".
Guess Who
Well-known member
As in that is what the actual deal that was made to him was to ensure he got the info to keep him in. They accomplished that.
My feeling is that his extra time in solitary was them trying to figure out how to handle it.
Tresir
Well-known member
Yeah i agree that he blew it and they probably put him in solitary so as not to blow his cover and also for his protection maybe.
I have to say that I don't know the source of that info- I'm pretty sure I read it in a blog- but I've since read from Hall's appeal record that when he was pulled over in '94 and his van was searched, a flyer re the disappearance of Tricia Reiter was found in his van.
Btw, The Charley Project mentioned other suspects during the investigation of Reiter's disappearance.
It's seeming that every time I find an article re Hall, there's another disappearance or murder I hadn't heard of but that LE want to attribute to Hall.
Tresir
Well-known member
The article i posted says he was released.
See post 63 above.
"After having learned of Keene's affability and charisma, and worrying that Hall could win his appeal against his conviction for the Roach kidnapping, the bureau offered to totally commute and erase Keene's sentence if he agreed to be transferred to the same maximum security prison as Hall to befriend him and obtain the locations of the bodies of his victims. Keene agreed to the proposition and Hall eventually confessed to him that he had killed Reitler. Hall showed Keene a map he was working on of the American Midwest with red dots and names over it representing his victims.[1]
In response, Keene yelled at Hall, calling him "one of the most despicable forms of human life on this planet." Subsequently, unable to reach his government contacts or prove his true identity, Keene was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks before being released."
Re Keene, he not only didn't get info as to where any bodies were but apparently, he also didn't get any info on any unsolved cases that only the killer would know.
It sounds to me like Keene hadn't been getting anything of substance from Hall and that's the real reason he lost his temper.
It sounds to me like Keene hadn't been getting anything of substance from Hall and that's the real reason he lost his temper.
Tresir
Well-known member
Black Bird vs. the True Story of James Keene and Larry Hall
The Black Bird true story is compared to the Apple TV+ miniseries about inmate James Keene's undercover work to befriend serial killer Larry Hall.
I just read this long article, which is a bit more informative about the info that Keene got for LE from this. They had bugged Hall's cell.
From the article -
Keene passed a polygraph with regard to the confessions and other valuable information he obtained from suspected mass murderer Larry Hall. The polygraph convinced Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Beaumont that Keene had succeeded. In total, he got confessions pertaining to Hall's involvement in the disappearance of 20 different young girls. Some of the confessions were recorded via a bug that Keene planted in Hall's cell. Like in the Black Bird series, the new evidence was the main reason that the judge in Hall's case denied his appeal.
"I succeeded in a very big way and kept him locked up for life, and to never ever be free to roam around in society and be able to kill other people's young daughters," he told History vs. Hollywood. "That was the primary goal of the mission and finding the bodies would have been secondary."
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
Very long read but well worth it. More details about things than I head read before.Black Bird vs. the True Story of James Keene and Larry Hall
The Black Bird true story is compared to the Apple TV+ miniseries about inmate James Keene's undercover work to befriend serial killer Larry Hall.www.historyvshollywood.com
I just read this long article, which is a bit more informative about the info that Keene got for LE from this. They had bugged Hall's cell.
From the article -
Keene passed a polygraph with regard to the confessions and other valuable information he obtained from suspected mass murderer Larry Hall. The polygraph convinced Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Beaumont that Keene had succeeded. In total, he got confessions pertaining to Hall's involvement in the disappearance of 20 different young girls. Some of the confessions were recorded via a bug that Keene planted in Hall's cell. Like in the Black Bird series, the new evidence was the main reason that the judge in Hall's case denied his appeal.
"I succeeded in a very big way and kept him locked up for life, and to never ever be free to roam around in society and be able to kill other people's young daughters," he told History vs. Hollywood. "That was the primary goal of the mission and finding the bodies would have been secondary."
I did not realize Keene had been in there six months at least. I still think he should have held off on blowing at Hall but who am I to say when he'd been in a tense situation in a max facility... The FBI really screwed up with him having absolutely no way to successfully contact the outside. I don't know that I believe the agent's phone system "lost" his call/message. Then his contact inside the prison on vacation. Had it not been for that failure, they would have likely had the map.
It seems to me if he confessed and it was caught by a bug in his cell, they could try prosecuting. No body is not the deal it used to be. However since he'd recanted other confessions, and no bodies were found at coordinates he'd given, maybe it's not enough...
I'm a little confused in that he started two highly successful legal businesses in 1988 which apparently were still thriving. That would have been before prison. He went on to author books, direct and produce movies, etc.? Talented man. So other than a stint of a bit over a year in prison, he's had a pretty good life it seems.
The bit about the acid he learned to make when working at a cemetery was interesting. If he truly used that and did so with every body, then bodies they have found maybe were not his victims... However, maybe sometimes he didn't have the acid...
Also if he gave coordinates for a couple of victims (IF he told the truth), then maybe he knew such for all of his victims. Otherwise, I could believe he maybe does not know exactly where he dumped all. It would depend on his level of detail. Like if he picked disposal sites before picking the victim, he'd know or remember most likely. However if he just picked a victim and then drove til he found a good spot, good chance he could not take them to the exact spot, especially if he was traveling in parts not well known to him.
Again an interesting read and well worth the time.