It was a questionable story, so it turned out to be a hairy one…
An Oklahoma fisherman strangled his friend to death because he bizarrely believed he meant to feed him to Bigfoot, a judge ruled Wednesday.
“Yes, there was a monster in the woods that night, but it wasn’t Bigfoot, it was Larry Sanders,” District Attorney Eric Johnson said after Sanders was found guilty of first-degree murder in Pontotoc County District Court. said after receiving.
The 55-year-old man was fishing for catfish with his high school friend Jimmy Knighten, 52, in July 2022 when he saw a 12-foot sasquatch roaming downstream. It is said that he is claiming. kxii.com.
According to local broadcasters, the friends got into an argument over fish swimming in the South Canadian River, about 160 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, and when Knighten screamed, Saunders saw a mythical monkey come to eat him. He said he thought he was calling.
Sanders told the court he believed Knighten planned to drown him and float his body downstream to feed Bigfoot, the paper reported.
A scuffle between the men broke out and Sanders confessed to police that he grabbed his friend by the throat and strangled him until he turned blue and died.
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Sanders told police he put Knighten in a chokehold until he stopped breathing while the Bigfoot tribe watched, Justin Brown, a special agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, testified during the trial.
Investigators say Saunders then claimed to have raised his hand in victory to show the apes, who were walking upright, that he had won the battle. oklahoman newspaper.
“Larry claimed that while he was in the river, he found Jimmy trying to feed the Sasquatch/Bigfoot,” Sanders told the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
“Larry and Jimmy fought for a long time on the ground. Larry admitted to strangling and killing Jimmy near the river.”
To win a first-degree murder conviction in Oklahoma, prosecutors must prove “premeditated malice,” meaning the killer must have intended to cause death. Mr. Johnson said.
According to kxii.com, Sanders’ lawyer argued that Sanders was simply trying to control the situation in a moment of excitement and did not intend to kill his friend.
Sanders’ lawyers had previously planned to pursue an insanity defense, but stopped doing so after Sanders showed he understood “right and wrong,” the agency said.
The first-degree murder conviction was handed down by Judge Steve Kessinger, and Sanders will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 18th.
