Larry Sanders via the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation.
An Oklahoma man who said he killed his buddy because he thought he was going to feed him to Bigfoot was found guilty on Thursday.
A judge ruled there was enough evidence to convict 55-year-old Larry Sanders for first-degree murder in the death of Jimmy Knighten in July 2022. Sanders will be facing a lifelong prison sentence on June 18.
“Yes, there was a monster in the woods that night, but it wasn’t Bigfoot, it was Larry Sanders,” District Attorney Erik Johnson told Ada, Oklahoma, CBS affiliate KXII.
KXII reported that Sanders took the stand in his defense on Wednesday. He said he and Knighten, 52, were noodling in a river when he saw a 12-foot Bigfoot downstream. He reportedly testified that Knighten kept telling him to go after a fish, which made Sanders think Knighten was going to try to drown him and feed him to Bigfoot.
As Law&Crime reported, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a press release that agents responded on July 10, 2022, to a request for assistance from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office regarding a possible homicide.
Authorities said Sanders had confessed that he and Knighten were noodling in the South Canadian River the day before when “a confrontation ensued.”
Sanders allegedly admitted to “striking and strangling” Knighten, ultimately killing the other man. Sanders’ lawyers said their client wasn’t trying to kill Knighten but just get control of the situation.
“Noodling” is fishing in which a person submerges into a body of water and uses his or her hands to catch a fish — typically a catfish — by sticking an arm into the fish’s mouth. The method is primarily practiced in the southern United States.
According to a report at the time from NBC affiliate KTEN, when deputies first responded to a 911 call, they arrived as Sanders was telling a family member that he had just killed Knighten. Sanders then spoke to detectives and allegedly blamed the attack on Knighten calling upon Bigfoot.
“So, his statement was that Mr. Knighten had summoned ‘Bigfoot’ to come and kill him, and that’s why he had to kill Mr. Knighten,” Sheriff John Christian reportedly told the station. Christian reportedly added that when he spoke to deputies, Sanders “appeared to be under the influence of something.”
Sheriff deputies discovered Knighten’s body on July 10, 2022, authorities said.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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