Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 10, 1993 TAG: 9306090424
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Within 5 minutes, police say, he had shattered her spine with a single shot - and murdered two of her next-door neighbors.
The Talladega police and the FBI have been looking for him ever since.
One place they traced him to was a railroad trestle in Botetourt County. There, in 1989, George apparently left a collection of belongings that included his wallet, camouflage clothing, camping supplies and an X-rated movie purchased at a video store in Roanoke.
Last week, George's case was featured on the NBC television show "Unsolved Mysteries." The show produced dozens of leads, including reports that George may have been in Roanoke or Lynchburg in the past few months.
Investigator Tom Bowerman of the Talladega Police Department said the Virginia leads, like most of the others, are vague enough that it's likely nothing will come of them.
But he believes someone in the Roanoke Valley - probably in Botetourt - has information that could lead to George's capture.
"I think there's someone in that area he knows," Bowerman said. "They have no idea that he committed that crime."
The video is one piece of evidence that makes the detective believe there's a Roanoke Valley connection. "That's an abnormal item for somebody on the run or who's camping out to have." George probably stayed for a while with someone who had a VCR, Bowerman said.
Bowerman said the case is one of just two unsolved killings in Talladega, a city of 17,000 about 50 miles from Birmingham.
He gave this account of the killings:
George had a history of violence against his estranged wife, Geraldine.
That night, he staked out her apartment. She came home, unlocked her apartment and went next door to the home of Janice Morris and Ralph Swain, who were baby-sitting for her. Geraldine George sent her son and daughter home while she chatted with Janice Morris.
When she got back to her apartment, Larry George was inside. She wanted to know what he was doing there. They argued. He whipped out the Luger.
She told her daughter to run upstairs and call for help. As Larry George chased after his daughter, Geraldine George ran next door.
He yanked the phone out of the wall and headed next door after Geraldine. Janice Morris was getting ready to dial the police. George shot her in the chest.
Geraldine curled up behind an armchair to hide. Larry shot her in the side.
Ralph Swain came downstairs. Larry George grabbed him by the shirt and shot him in the back of the head.
Police believe George hid in the woods around town for a week, then caught a ride to Brewton in southern Alabama.
In June 1989, the Botetourt County Sheriff's Department got a call about a suspicious person near a farm in the Blue Ridge area. Deputies discovered some belongings under a trestle spanning Glade Creek. They found a driver's license, ran a check on it, and found its owner was wanted on suspicion of capital murder.
The only other confirmed sighting of George was in Wilmington, Del., in June 1990.
Talladega police have posted a $10,000 reward in the case. (Their number is 205-362-4162.)
George, now 37, is 6-foot-2 and at one time weighed about 175 pounds. The name "Trish" was tattooed on his left bicep. He has worked as a truck driver and smokes Newports and Kools.
The FBI says he has been known to frequent palm readers and mystics.
by CNB