Larry Gene Bell: The Sadistic Killer Who Tortured Families by Phone

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,760
May 31, 1985.

2
00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:08,960
Sherry, Faith Smith walked to her mailbox and never came back.

3
00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:13,360
What happened next was something law enforcement had never really dealt with before.

4
00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,000
A killer who didn't want ransom.

5
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,640
He wanted an audience, and for two weeks he got one.

6
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:42,920
[Music]

7
00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:47,600
We're talking about a case today that happened in South Carolina back in 1985.

8
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,880
The killer's name is Larry Jean-Belle, and the victims weren't only the people he killed.

9
00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,760
The families he terrorized afterwards suffered through their own living nightmare.

10
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,200
Larry Jean-Belle was born in Ralph, Alabama in 1949.

11
00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:06,000
His family moved around constantly bouncing all over the southeast.

12
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,120
He tried finding structure.

13
00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:09,880
Join the Marines in 1970.

14
00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:14,920
That career ended about a year later when he accidentally shot himself in the knee while

15
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:16,720
cleaning his gun.

16
00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:23,320
After that he worked as a prison guard in Columbia, South Carolina for exactly one month in 1971.

17
00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:27,880
Spending time around inmates and watching how authority worked probably planted ideas

18
00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:30,920
in his head about power and control.

19
00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:37,600
He got married in 1972, had a son, and by 1976 the marriage was over.

20
00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,800
Around this time he started working as an electrician's assistant, which gave him something

21
00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,720
dangerous, access to people's homes.

22
00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,960
Bell wasn't simply fixing electrical problems though.

23
00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:55,600
He was studying people, learning their routines, figuring out who would make the easiest target.

24
00:01:55,600 --> 00:02:01,000
Before we get to 1985 we need to talk about Charlotte, North Carolina, because Bell didn't

25
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,240
wake up one day and decide to become a killer.

26
00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:10,520
In July 1975, 21-year-old Denise Newsom porch disappeared from the Yorktown apartments where

27
00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:12,600
she worked as a manager.

28
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,640
Bell lived 300 yards away.

29
00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:21,760
Then in November 1984, 26-year-old Sandy Elaine Cornette vanished after arriving home from

30
00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:22,760
work.

31
00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:27,760
Bell was a coworker of her ex-boyfriend who had been over to her house before.

32
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,840
When detectives interviewed him, he gave them hypothetical information and even drew a map

33
00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,720
showing where the body might be buried.

34
00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:37,720
They couldn't prove it back then.

35
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:42,960
Sandy's case stayed cold for decades, but in February 2025, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police

36
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,960
department's cold case unit finally closed it.

37
00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,280
They formally named Larry Jean Bell as her killer.

38
00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:54,720
So now we know for certain that in May 1985, Bell had already been perfecting his methods

39
00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,120
for at least 10 years.

40
00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,000
Which brings us to May 31, 1985.

41
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,360
Sherry Facemith was 17 years old.

42
00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,200
She'd finished up her high school requirements and was getting ready for graduation, where

43
00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,240
she was scheduled to sing.

44
00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,760
On Friday afternoon around 315, she drove down to the mailbox at the end of her family's

45
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,680
driveway on Platt Springs Road.

46
00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,200
Her dad, Bob, watched her go down from the house.

47
00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:26,680
When he looked again a few minutes later, her car was still there, door open, engine running,

48
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:28,760
but Sherry was gone.

49
00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,840
Bob ran down to find her purse on the passenger seat.

50
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,160
The mail she'd retrieved was scattered across the asphalt.

51
00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,640
No signs of struggle other than that.

52
00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:42,840
This was a blitz attack, someone with a weapon forced her into another vehicle in less than

53
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:44,360
5 minutes.

54
00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:49,760
In broad daylight on a Friday afternoon, that takes a level of confidence that goes beyond

55
00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:51,760
normal criminal behavior.

56
00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,880
The FBI brought in John Douglas as one of their top behavioral profilers.

57
00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,920
Douglas looked at everything and immediately knew they were dealing with someone local,

58
00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,360
someone who understood the family's routine.

59
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,520
And Douglas predicted something that turned out to be absolutely correct.

60
00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,520
The offender would contact the family.

61
00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,680
This crime wasn't about ransom.

62
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,280
This was about psychological control.

63
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,400
And John Douglas knew that.

64
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,680
Three days later, on June 3rd, the phone rang.

65
00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:21,840
It was Bell.

66
00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:24,640
He had Sherry's mom Hilda on the line.

67
00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,840
Over the next several days, he called eight times total.

68
00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:31,120
He used an electronic device to distort his voice.

69
00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,440
You would expect ransom demands on these types of calls.

70
00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,000
That's not what this was.

71
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,520
These were psychological torture sessions.

72
00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,280
He told the family that Sherry was fine and would be coming home soon.

73
00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:46,560
Then in the same conversation, he described how he gave her three options for how she wanted

74
00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:47,560
to die.

75
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,480
A gunshot, a drug overdose, or suffocation.

76
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,200
He claimed she chose suffocation.

77
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,800
He described wrapping her head in duct tape until she stopped breathing.

78
00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,240
Then he started discussing Sherry's funeral arrangements with her older sister, Dawn.

79
00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:07,060
He wanted to stay involved in their grief to remain the center of their world even after

80
00:05:07,060 --> 00:05:08,920
Sherry was gone.

81
00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,560
And here's where the story takes another turn.

82
00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,360
During one of those recorded calls with Dawn, Bell made a slip.

83
00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,720
He said, quote, "All I wanted to do was make love with Dawn."

84
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,880
Then he quickly corrected it to Sherry's name, but it was too late.

85
00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:28,640
The FBI profilers realized Dawn had been his original target all along.

86
00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:33,800
Sherry and Dawn looked remarkably similar, and the chaos of a five-minute blitz abduction,

87
00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,480
Bell had grabbed the wrong sister.

88
00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,440
When he realized his mistake, he didn't release Sherry.

89
00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,600
He used her murder as a weapon against Dawn.

90
00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,760
The calls became increasingly focused on Dawn herself.

91
00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:51,320
He told her that God wanted her to join Sherry, that her death was inevitable.

92
00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:55,400
During one of Bell's first calls, he mentioned that Sherry had written them a letter.

93
00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,040
He called it her last will in testament.

94
00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:02,560
When the letter arrived, state officials intercepted it, and that letter became one of the most crucial

95
00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:04,680
pieces of evidence.

96
00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,200
Sherry had written this letter on a yellow legal pad while Bell held her captive.

97
00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,800
She knew she was going to die, and instead of filling those pages with terror, she wrote

98
00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,040
messages of love to her family and her boyfriend.

99
00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,120
She quoted Romans 8.28.

100
00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,120
She told them not to become hard or bitter.

101
00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:27,920
The spiritual maturity in that letter, written by a 17-year-old girl facing her own murder,

102
00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:30,880
was almost impossible to comprehend.

103
00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:33,480
But here's where science cracked the case.

104
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:39,240
The FBI took that legal pad to their laboratory at Quantico, and used a technique called "Electrostatic

105
00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,800
Detection Analysis," or "ESDA."

106
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,840
When you write on a pad of paper, the pressure from your pen leaves microscopic indentions on

107
00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:49,240
the sheets underneath.

108
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:54,800
The ESDA process applies an electrostatic charge to the paper, then uses a special powder

109
00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,880
that makes those hidden indentations visible.

110
00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:02,120
When they processed Sherry's letter, they discovered a partial 10-digit phone number that had

111
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,600
been written on a previous page.

112
00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:09,640
That phone number became the key, and investigators tracked it to a couple named Ellis and Sharon

113
00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:10,640
Shepard.

114
00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,520
When law enforcement showed up and read them the behavioral profile John Douglas had developed,

115
00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,360
both Ellis and Sharon said the same name simultaneously.

116
00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:20,960
Larry Jean Bell.

117
00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,600
Bell had recently house sat for the Shepards, and that phone number was one he'd written

118
00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:26,360
down during his stay.

119
00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:31,360
The Shepards also confirmed that Bell had regular access to a silver Buick Rivera.

120
00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:36,520
That detail sent alarm bells ringing, because a silver car matching that description had

121
00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,920
been seen at another abduction two weeks after Sherry disappeared.

122
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:47,160
On June 14, 1985, 9-year-old Deborah May Helmick was playing in her front yard with her three-year-old

123
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,320
brother at a trailer park.

124
00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,200
A silver car pulled in.

125
00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,160
Bell got out, grabbed the screaming little girl through her into the vehicle, and drove

126
00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,120
away while her toddler brother watched.

127
00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:00,080
Witnesses saw the entire thing.

128
00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,720
Bell didn't care anymore about being careful.

129
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,720
John Douglas had predicted this escalation.

130
00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,800
He told local law enforcement that Bell was in the disintegrating state and would likely

131
00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:11,320
strike again soon.

132
00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,080
Deborah's body was found June 22.

133
00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:18,480
She'd been murdered the same way as Sherry, suffocated with duct tape.

134
00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:23,560
In a detail that reveals the sexual component of Bell's pathology, Deborah's body was found

135
00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,680
wearing adult silk bikini underwear over her own children's underwear.

136
00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:33,960
Law enforcement arrested Larry Jean Bell on June 27, 1985.

137
00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:38,360
When they searched his apartment, forensic technicians found six human hairs that matched

138
00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:39,960
Sherry Smith.

139
00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,280
Combined with the phone number evidence, the witness descriptions, and the recorded phone

140
00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,680
calls, the case against him was overwhelming.

141
00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,800
Bell's trials turned into psychological theater.

142
00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,760
His defense attorney went in for a guilty but mentally ill plea.

143
00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:58,520
Bell testified for six hours, but instead of answering questions, he repeated phrases

144
00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:00,880
like "Silence is golden."

145
00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,040
He claimed to be Jesus Christ.

146
00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,240
He exhibited bizarre outbursts.

147
00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,960
The prosecution demonstrated that all of Bell's theatrical behavior happened while the

148
00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:11,640
jury was present.

149
00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:15,920
When they left, he was calm and calculating, pretty normal acting.

150
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,200
His madness was a performance.

151
00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:23,320
The jury in the Sherry Smith case deliberated for 55 minutes before convicting him.

152
00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,240
The Deborah Helmock trial had the same outcome.

153
00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,440
Both juries recommended the death penalty.

154
00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,600
Larry Jean Bell spent a decade on death row filing appeals.

155
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:38,440
On October 4, 1996, he was brought to the execution chamber.

156
00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:42,720
He been given a choice between lethal injection and the electric chair.

157
00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:44,280
He chose the chair.

158
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,040
John Douglas later said that choice was Bell's final power play.

159
00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,360
His last chance to show everyone he was in control.

160
00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:57,040
Larry Jean Bell was pronounced dead at age 46 without offering any final statement.

161
00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:02,440
Sherry's sister Dawn wrote a book called "Grace So Amazing" about surviving this nightmare

162
00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:07,560
and became a national speaker helping other families deal with violent loss.

163
00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:13,400
And that 2025 development confirming Bell murdered Sandy Cornette back in 1984 proves

164
00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,080
what investigators suspected all along.

165
00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,640
Larry Jean Bell wasn't someone who suddenly snapped.

166
00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:24,240
He was a calculating predator who'd been refining his techniques over a decade.

167
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,040
The only reason he finally got caught was because he couldn't resist the need to torture

168
00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:29,560
the families.

169
00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:34,560
His compulsion to be the center of their pain is exactly what gave investigators the evidence

170
00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:45,040
they needed to take him down.

171
00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:50,160
Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories.

172
00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:55,840
Hi, I'm Joe, I'm the host and here's an email subject just saying hi.

173
00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,440
Hey Joe, no big story here that I want you to cover.

174
00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,600
I just wanted to send you an email and say that I appreciate the work you put into the

175
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,200
show and the way that you talk to the audience like actual people.

176
00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,320
It feels more like listening to a person than a podcast voice.

177
00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:11,720
That's why I've stuck around.

178
00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,720
Then in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

179
00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:21,760
Thank you for the email and yeah, I think personally there are the way that AI has taken over so many

180
00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,800
different facets of our everyday life, including podcasting.

181
00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:32,240
I think that the real human beings doing real human being podcasts like this one, they're

182
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,840
going to not be necessarily affected as much.

183
00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,240
They'll be the ones that stand out head and shoulders above the others.

184
00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:44,160
Now the AI podcast, some of them aren't too bad, but it's hard to get behind those because

185
00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:48,120
it's like, I mean, you're just pushing a button and spitting this thing out and it doesn't

186
00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:52,880
take any work, it isn't take any time or any actual human power effort.

187
00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:54,880
So somehow that feels like cheating.

188
00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,680
In the shows like this one where it's a human being talking to another human being, I think

189
00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:03,160
in the long run, we'll stand out head and shoulders above the rest of them.

190
00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:04,720
At least that's what I'm banking on.

191
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,960
So Ben, again, I appreciate the email and hey, if you're a brand new listener to this

192
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:13,120
podcast, you can hit subscribe wherever you're listening right now and then go to the website

193
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,040
10minuteMurder.com.

194
00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:18,560
You're going to find all kinds of things there, including a way to send me an email like Ben

195
00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:19,560
did.

196
00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:21,480
And if you're an OG listener, I love you.

197
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,600
As always, please keep sharing this podcast with your friends and your family, rating it

198
00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,560
five stars, reviewing it positively wherever that's possible.

199
00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:31,160
And I get this question every now and then.

200
00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:33,680
What does it take to be an OG listener?

201
00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:37,720
Just be a consistent listener to this podcast over a long period of time.

202
00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:38,720
And that's it.

203
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:39,720
You don't have to buy anything.

204
00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:40,720
You don't have to do anything special.

205
00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,160
You don't even have to share it with anybody.

206
00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:48,120
Just consistently listen to the podcast and then boom, OG status granted.

207
00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,040
All right, that's going to do it.

208
00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:51,440
That is your episode for today.

209
00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,840
I really appreciate you listening to 10minuteMurder.

210
00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:55,240
See you next time.