The Unsolved Murder of Lawrence Howard Groves

Lawrence ‘Larry’ Howard Groves was a forty-year-old man from Lakeville, Indiana. He lived in a bungalow with his two dogs. Larry had lived in the bungalow since he was seventeen, with his partner, Tom Bennett. Tom’s father, Derl Bennett, had given the bungalow to his son. When Tom had died of a sudden heart attack in 2003, the house went back into Derl’s name. Though he owned the deed to the house, the man had told Larry Groves that he was welcome to live in the house for as long as he wanted.

On January 12, 2003, Groves arrived at his house around 9 PM. About two hours later, he called his friend, Sandy Smith, who lived in Biloxi, Mississippi. They were talking for about ten minutes, and everything seemed fine. But then, someone started banging loudly on Groves’ front door. Sandy recalled hearing a man’s voice, and they were demanding that Groves let him in.

Groves assured Sandy that everything was okay. He told her the name of the person who was banging on his front door (although this person’s name was never released to the public). Larry told her that he’d call back in twenty minutes, however, he never called back. Sandy never heard from her friend again.

On January 28, 2003, Wendy Groves reported her son missing. She was concerned, because her son was not at his antique business. None of Groves’ family or friends had seen him at the house. His house was locked, and they had no way of getting inside to check on him. None of his neighbours had seen him in a while, either.