Larry William Eyler (December 21, 1952 – March 6, 1994), also called the Interstate Killer and the Highway Killer, was an American serial killer who murdered a minimum of twenty-one teenage boys and young men across the Midwestern United States between 1982 and 1984. His victims were all discovered in locations close to or accessible via the Interstate Highway System in the states of Indiana and Illinois.
Eyler was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection for the 1984 kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old Daniel Bridges in Rogers Park, Illinois. While on death row he voluntarily confessed to the 1982 murder of 23-year-old Steven Agan, offering to also confess to his culpability in twenty further unsolved homicides if the state of Illinois would commute his sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
Eyler died of AIDS-related complications in 1994 while incarcerated on death row. Shortly before his death, he confessed to the murders of twenty further young men and boys to his defense attorney Kathleen Zellner, although he denied being physically responsible for the actual murder of Bridges, which he insisted had been committed by an alleged accomplice in five of his homicides, Robert David Little. With her client's consent, Zellner posthumously released Eyler's confession following the formal announcement of his death.
Early life Larry Eyler was born on December 21, 1952, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, the youngest of four children born to George Howard Eyler (September 19, 1924 – September 25, 1971) and Shirley Phyllis ( Kennedy, later DeKoff; April 22, 1928 – June 8, 2016). His father was an alcoholic who is known to have physically and emotionally abused his wife and children. Eyler's parents divorced in mid-1955, and he and his sister were regularly placed in the care of babysitters, foster families, or simply left in the care of their two older siblings (the oldest of whom was aged ten) as their mother struggled to financially support and provide adequate care for four children, working two jobs as a waitress and in a factory on weekdays, and occasionally in a bar at weekends. Nonetheless, when Eyler and his sister were in the care of foster families, their mother would frequently visit her two youngest children, and Eyler would claim these separations and reunions brought the family closer.
In 1957, Eyler's mother remarried. This marriage lasted one year before the couple divorced. His mother married for a third time in 1960, although the couple divorced four years later. She married for the fourth time in 1972. Eyler's father and his first two stepfathers drank heavily, and he and his siblings were subjected to frequent abuse, with one of his stepfathers frequently holding Eyler's head beneath scalding water as a form of discipline.
Eyler attended St. Joseph School in Lebanon, Indiana. Although tall for his age and active in sporting activities, he was regularly targeted by bullies due to his being from a poor family and his parents' divorce, frequently leading to his sister, Theresa, confronting her brother's tormentors. Eyler was viewed by teachers as a quiet yet likable pupil, with few friends. Due to his increasing stubbornness and erratic behavior, Eyler's mother placed him in a home for unruly boys in 1963. He found this experience emotionally devastating, and within weeks had tearfully persuaded his mother to allow him to return home. Shortly thereafter, Eyler underwent psychological tests which revealed him to be of average intelligence, although suffering from severe insecurity and holding an extreme fear of separation and abandonment. Deducing these fears sourced from his home life, staff recommended Eyler be temporarily placed in a Catholic boys' home in Fort Wayne. He remained at this residence for six months before he returned to the care of his mother.
Adolescence and early adulthood When he reached puberty, Eyler discovered he was homosexual. He was open about his sexuality only to his family, although he struggled with deep-seated feelings of self-hatred regarding his sexual orientation. Throughout high school, he occasionally dated girls, although none of these relationships became physical. Having been somewhat religious since childhood, Eyler did confide to some close acquaintances how he struggled to accept his sexuality.
In part due to his lackadaisical attitude towards schooling, Eyler failed to graduate from high school, although he did later obtain a General Educational Development certificate. Shortly after leaving college, Eyler obtained employment as a private security guard in the Marion County General Hospital. He worked in this employment for six months before losing this position and finding alternate work within a shoe store. While in this employment, Eyler began familiarizing himself with Indianapolis's gay community, frequenting gay bars and frequently engaging in casual liaisons with men. Several of these individuals noted Eyler averted his eyes from his partner during intercourse while shouting profanities such as bitch and whore, leading many to believe Eyler was fantasizing his partner was female.
Paraphilia By the mid-1970s, Eyler was well known within the gay community of Indianapolis—particularly among those with a leather fetish. Several acquaintances within this community described him as a good-looking, "laid-back guy" and avid bodybuilder who was close to his mother and sister, although others who had engaged in sexual activity with him described him as an individual with a sadistic streak and violent temper which would only surface within their sexual encounters, often involving Eyler extensively bludgeoning, then inflicting light knife wounds upon unwilling partners—particularly to their torsos.
Eyler primarily worked as a house painter, and although never having served in the military, he was fond of wearing Marine Corps T-shirts. He resided in a condominium in Terre Haute with a 38-year-old library science professor named Robert David Little, whom he had first met in 1974 while studying at the Indiana State University. The relationship between the two men was a platonic one, with Eyler viewing Little as something of a father figure.
Eyler and Little regularly socialized within Indianapolis's gay community, although Little—a socially awkward, taciturn and unattractive individual—typically struggled to form friendships or obtain sexual partners during these excursions, resulting in Eyler frequently bringing young men to Little's home to engage in sex with the two.
First attempted murder On August 3, 1978, Eyler picked up a 19-year-old hitchhiker named Craig Long on 7th Street in Terre Haute. Shortly after Long entered the pickup truck, Eyler propositioned the youth, resulting in Long attempting to leave the vehicle. In response, Eyler pressed a knife against the youth's chest as Long stated, "I don't have any money." Eyler then drove towards a rural field, stating: "It's not your money I want. I'm not after your money." He then ordered Long to undress before he handcuffed the youth, bound his ankles, then ordered him to climb into the back of the pickup. When Long attempted to flee from the pickup as Eyler undressed, Eyler chased after him as Long shouted: "You queer!" In response, Eyler stabbed the youth once in the chest, penetrating his lung. Long slumped to the ground, feigning death. He later stumbled to a nearby house, where the occupants summoned paramedics.
Shortly thereafter, Eyler drove to the house as Long received first aid and offered the handcuff key to a sheriff's deputy, claiming he had stabbed the young man accidentally. He was arrested and taken into custody. A search of his vehicle recovered a hunting knife, a metal-tipped whip, a butcher knife, a further set of handcuffs, tear gas, and a sword.
Eyler was later charged with aggravated battery, to which he agreed to plead guilty. A judge set his bond at $10,000, a sum which was raised by friends. He was released on bail until August 23. On this date, Eyler's lawyers offered Long a check from Little for $2,500 in return for his agreeing not to press charges. Long accepted the offer, and Eyler changed his plea to not guilty. As such, he was acquitted on November 13, being fined $43 in court costs.
Long-term relationship In August 1981, Eyler formed a long-term relationship with a 20-year-old married man named John Dobrovolskis. Dobrovolskis lived with his wife, two children, and three foster children on North Greenview Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. His wife, Sally, was tolerant of her husband's sexual orientation and of the fact that her husband's lover often lodged with them on weekdays, paying a third of the rent.
Both Eyler and Dobrovolskis held a penchant for sadomasochism, and their sexual activity frequently involved Eyler binding his partner to devices before proceeding to beat and lash him as he hurled curses at Dobrovolskis before the two engaged in penetrative sex. Although neither Eyler nor Dobrovolskis was inclined towards monogamy, the couple considered their relationship a permanent one. Nonetheless, Eyler constantly sought assurance he was the only man in his lover's life, and the two are known to have frequently argued over Eyler's accusations of his lover's infidelity. These arguments would occasionally lead to Dobrovolskis striking Eyler, who never retaliated in these physical altercations. Occasionally, the couple's arguments were initiated by the perceptions and recriminations of Robert Little, who made no secret of his intense dislike of Dobrovolskis to Eyler and resented the fact he was in a long-term relationship.
Although Eyler primarily, and intermittently, worked as a house painter in Illinois on weekdays, he also worked as a liquor store clerk in Greencastle, Indiana on Saturdays. As such, he regularly traveled between the two states, living rent free at Little's Terre Haute residence at weekends.
Murders Between 1982 and 1984, Eyler is known to have committed a minimum of twenty-one murders and one attempted murder. All his murders involved the restraining of his victim, and several victims were subjected to varying degrees of sadomasochism before being stabbed and/or slashed to death, with the majority of the wounds being inflicted to the victim's chest and abdomen. His victims were typically plied with alcohol and sedatives such as ethchlorvynol before their restraint and murder. Several victims were disemboweled after death, and Eyler is known to have dismembered the bodies of four of his victims. His victims were typically discarded in fields close to major Interstate highways with their trousers and underwear frequently discovered around their knees or ankles and their shirts and wallets missing from the crime scene.
On October 12, 1982, Eyler lured a 21-year-old named Craig Townsend into his vehicle in Crown Point, Indiana. Although drugged, extensively beaten and later abandoned naked and comatose in a rural field (causing Townsend to also suffer from exposure), the young man survived this assault. Eleven days later, on October 23, Eyler abducted and murdered a 19-year-old named Steven Crockett. His body was discovered in a cornfield in Kankakee County approximately twelve hours after his murder. An autopsy revealed Crockett had been beaten, then stabbed to death, suffering thirty-two knife wounds, including four to his head. One week later, on October 30, a 26-year-old named Edgar Underkofler disappeared from Rantoul, Illinois. His body was not discovered until March 4, 1983, in a field close to Danville, Illinois. Sometime the following month, Eyler murdered a 25-year-old barman named John Johnson. His body was discovered one month later in Lowell, Indiana. On November 20, Eyler abducted a 19-year-old hitchhiker named William Lewis at a location close to Vincennes, Indiana. He was stabbed to death and buried in a field close to Rensselaer, Indiana.