
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994                   TAG: 9403090190
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NAPERVILLE, ILL.                                LENGTH: Medium

KILLER CONFESSES TO SLAYING 21 MEN

A suspected serial killer who died of AIDS on death row confessed to killing 21 young men in a methodical murder spree in which he lured victims with drugs, alcohol and money, his attorney said Tuesday.

The disclosure provided some answers to a decade of haunting questions about the convicted killer, Larry Eyler, who died Sunday. Authorities had long considered him the prime suspect in the string of murders across Illinois and Indiana in the early 1980s. However, he was convicted in only two killings.

``The reason I'm here is so that the families know, he did confess to the murders of your sons,'' attorney Kathleen Zellner said at a news conference attended by families of Eyler's alleged victims. ``He told me that, and I hope that can bring you some peace of mind.''

Zellner, who had handled Eyler's appeals, said he described the killings to her over the last three years, and that she convinced him to let her release his confession after his death.

She released a list of 21 killings to which she said Eyler had confessed, along with the places and dates where the victims were found in 1982, 1983 and 1984. Zellner's list gave no name for seven of the victims. Eleven bodies were found in Indiana and nine in Illinois; one has never been found, she said.

She also released a handwritten 1990 letter from Eyler to former Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson offering to confess to the killings. Zellner said the letter was never mailed.

Zellner said an accomplice helped Eyler commit four of the killings. She did not name the alleged accomplice but said she knew the person's identity and urged others who may have been targeted as victims or had helped in moving evidence to come forward.

Eyler lured his victims with offers of liquor, drugs and money, Zellner said, then drove them to remote areas where they were handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded and had their feet bound. Not all of Eyler's victims were homosexuals, Zellner said, and Eyler never had sex during the abductions.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB