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Blackbird: The True Story of Serial Killer Larry Hall
Hall may have murdered up to 40 women
There is currently a show on Apple TV+ called “Blackbird.” It is based on a book of the same name by James Keene, the drug dealer sent in to elicit a confession from Larry Hall in prison. The show covers the events that unfolded from the perspective of James Keene, but like many “based on a true story” shows, not everything in it is completely factual and some things may never be known.
Here’s what we do know.
Police suspected Hall of murdering at least 14 women and girls. However, they believe he may have murdered many more. The deaths of up to 40 victims could be attributed to Hall.
Hall was originally brought to the attention by complaints from young women claiming he had stalked them. The calls to police about him came after 15-year-old Jessica Roach disappeared from near her home in Georgetown in September 1993. Her body was found six weeks later in a Perrysville, Indiana cornfield.
As the proverbial creepy guy in a van, Hall’s Dodge van was searched by police. Inside, they found a knife and a missing flyer for a woman named Tricia Reitler. Hall had previously been a suspect in that case. He had even confessed to her murder. However, he had been dismissed by police as a “serial confessor” after recanting his statement. By the time Jessica Roach was found, Hall was not even considered a person of interest.
In 1995, Hall was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Roach after he confessed to the crime in a conversation with FBI Agent Mike Randolph. Hall received a life sentence for the crime.
Hall had confessed to harming several women, including Tricia Reitler. According to a CNN report in 2011…
