On this day, Aug. 3, in 1978, Larry Eyler, who would later become known as the “Highway Killer,” was arrested on suspicion of slashing a hitchhiker with a butcher knife, but the charges were later dropped and Eyler continued his murder spree.
In 1983, an Indiana police unit charged with solving the murders of nearly two dozen victims got a tip from the hitchhiker who survived the earlier attack. That tip led them to Eyler, whom they witnessed dumping trash containing the remains of a 15-year-old boy.
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Eyler was sentenced to death. He died in 1994. Afterward, his attorney released the details of the 21 murders Eyler claimed as his own. His confessions matched the physical evidence, and the cases were closed.
– Scott McCabe
