Link With Killer Sought in Hendricks Homicides

by Kim Kemerly

Investigators are seeking a possible link between convicted murderer Larry Eyler and three unsolved homicides in Hendricks County dating to 1980. Eyler, formerly of Terre Haute, is on Death Row in Illinois. Until recently, he had declined to cooperate with authorities since being convicted in the 1986 dismemberment of a 15-year-old boy in Chicago.

Last week, though, Eyler confessed in Vermillion County to killing a 23-year-old Vigo County man in 1982. Court documents have identified Eyler as a suspect in the murders of 23 young men in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin between 1982 and 1984. Hendricks County sheriff’s detectives have suspected his involvement in a double homicide of two men found dead seven years ago.

On Dec. 7, 1983, a hunter found a human skull in a field on U.S. 40 near County Road. Police uncovered the remains of two men after examining the scene for two days. The second victim’s body was found under a pile of scrap metal in near skeletal condition, but relatively intact. He was identified by a bus ticket at the scene as 19-year-old Richard Wayne of Northern Indiana. The other victim, a black male in his late 20s or early 30s, has not been identified. His clothing, a thermal top and bottom underwear, blue Jeans and white socks was around the lower half of his body.

Dead Several Months

Police believe the man had been stabbed in the back. Authorities think both deaths occurred several months before the bodies were discovered. Sheriff’s department Lt. John Hancock, one of two deputies originally assigned to the case, said Eyler had been targeted as a suspect, although there is no evidence directly connecting him to the deaths.

Sheriff’s department officials also think Eyler may have been involved in the unsolved murder of an Indianapolis bank executive in Hendricks County. The body of 39-year-old Donald Kidwell was found in the trunk of his car near Lizton in 1980. During their investigation, police reportedly found links between the victim and the Indianapolis gay community. According to police, Kidwell was murdered during a time when deputies made numerous arrests for homosexual activity at the Lizton rest park on 1-74. Hancock is checking with authorities in Vermillion and Vigo counties to see whether any new information will help close the three cases.