In the late summer of 2020, a series of violent and seemingly random attacks began to terrorize the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, leaving a trail of fear and unanswered questions. The first victim in this tragic chain of events was Larry Eugene McChristian, a 64-year-old man from the small town of Yellville. A white male, Larry had traveled approximately two and a half hours south to the state's capital for medical treatment at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
His journey for healing, however, ended in an act of unimaginable violence that marked the beginning of a city's nightmare.
Larry was born on October 23, 1955. He was a son and a brother, with family ties in the Yellville area. In August 2020, he found himself in Little Rock, reportedly staying with his daughter while seeking medical care. After receiving treatment at the UAMS emergency room, he was discharged in the early morning hours of Friday, August 21. When the hospital was unable to reach his daughter, they provided him with information on local homeless shelters and a bus token. Two days later, on August 22, the UAMS Police Department took a missing person report for him.
In the pre-dawn hours of Monday, August 24, 2020, a passerby made a horrifying discovery in the front yard of a residence on the 2200 block of South Gaines Street. Larry McChristian lay dead, the victim of a brutal stabbing. Police arrived at the scene around 2 a.m. and found him with his hospital discharge papers still on his person. An autopsy would later confirm he died from multiple stab wounds. There was no evidence of a robbery or struggle, suggesting the attack was as sudden as it was senseless.
The investigation into Larry's death initially yielded few leads. Surveillance footage from a nearby home captured a chilling sequence of events. A figure is seen walking north on Gaines Street, where he stops and stabs Larry. The attacker then walks away, only to return moments later to stab him again, standing over him as he died. The footage, however, was not clear enough to identify the assailant. With the case growing cold, neighbors in the area pooled together a $10,000 reward for information that could lead to an arrest, a testament to the community's shock and desire for justice.
Months passed, and the city was shaken by another stabbing. On September 23, 62-year-old Jeff Welch was found killed on his own front porch. Then, after a winter of quiet apprehension, the violence erupted again. On April 11, 2021, a 43-year-old woman named Debra Walker was stabbed 15 times while walking alone at night; she miraculously survived. Just 27 hours later, on April 12, 40-year-old Marlon Franklin was found stabbed to death. The attacks were all unprovoked, occurred in the early morning hours, and took place in the same general area of Little Rock.
The survivor, Debra Walker, was able to provide investigators with a crucial description of her attacker: a slender Black male, standing over six feet tall. This description, combined with the similar methods and timing of the attacks, led the Little Rock Police Department to officially link the four cases. In late April 2021, Police Chief Keith Humphrey announced that the city was dealing with a serial attacker, known on the streets and in the media as the "Little Rock Slasher" or the "River City Ripper." The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit was brought in to assist with the investigation.
The announcement sent a new wave of fear through the community. Police increased patrols, and the reward for information leading to the killer's capture was increased to $20,000. Yet, despite the public warnings, the surveillance footage, and the survivor's description, the killer has never been identified. The attacks abruptly stopped after Marlon Franklin's murder, leaving authorities to wonder if the killer was incarcerated on other charges, had moved away, or was simply waiting. For the family of Larry McChristian, and the families of the other victims, there has been no closure, only the enduring pain of a life cut short by a phantom killer who remains at large.
