Lawrence Frank Lamont

Serial Killer

Lawrence Frank Lamont: The 1972 Multistate Murder Spree

Escape and the Beginning of the Crime Spree

Lawrence Frank Lamont was an Ohio prisoner whose name became associated with a violent series of kidnappings, robberies and murders committed during the early months of 1972. Lamont, whose first name has occasionally appeared as Laurence in court and news records, escaped from an Ohio prison with fellow inmate James Patterson in February 1972. After obtaining a stolen vehicle and a firearm, the two fugitives began traveling through several states, targeting convenience stores, service stations and other businesses where employees were working alone. The escapees moved through parts of Ohio, Michigan and several other states while attempting to avoid capture. Their crimes were not confined to theft or efforts to obtain transportation. Store clerks and attendants were abducted, driven away from their workplaces and, in several cases, killed. Lamont later admitted participating in a broader series of killings involving as many as seven men, although only three Michigan-area murders eventually resulted in state murder convictions.

The Murders in Michigan and Ohio

The three murders for which Lamont was ultimately held responsible occurred during a short period in March 1972. The victims were men working at small businesses near the Ohio-Michigan border. Their employment placed them in vulnerable circumstances, often alone and responsible for cash registers, vehicles or other property that the fugitives needed.

• Earl R. Ludlow March 21, 1972 Temperance, Michigan: Ludlow, 68, was working as a clerk at a party store in the Temperance area of Monroe County. He was abducted from the business during a robbery and taken to an isolated location near LaVoy Road. Ludlow was shot three times in the head in an execution-style killing. His body was abandoned away from the store. Lamont later confessed to killing Ludlow, although he subsequently attempted to distance himself from that confession.
• Joseph Satcher March 22, 1972 Toledo, Ohio and Monroe County, Michigan area: Satcher, 23, was a gas-station attendant in Toledo. He was abducted during the night of March 21 into the early hours of March 22, only hours after Ludlow was killed. Satcher was taken across or near the Michigan border and murdered as the fugitives continued their flight. Lamont admitted responsibility for Satcher's killing during the original investigation. The close timing and similar circumstances connected Satcher's death to the abduction and murder of Ludlow.
• Frank Welzbacher March 1972 Monroe County, Michigan: Welzbacher was another business employee abducted during the fugitives' crime spree. He was killed in Monroe County under circumstances connected to the robberies and kidnappings committed by Lamont and Patterson. Publicly available accounts consistently place his death in March 1972, but an exact day has not been reliably established in accessible records. Lamont later entered a no-contest plea to Welzbacher's second-degree murder along with the murders of Ludlow and Satcher.

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Confirmed Victims: (3)

Earl R. Ludlow Age: (68), Date of Death: 1972-03-21

Lamont sentenced to life in prison - Monroe Evening News