The Man Who Murdered His Friend And Blamed It On Bigfoot

You'd be surprised what kind of absurd alibis killers have produced to explain away their horrific actions. According to Ranker, one woman believed she was living in The Matrix and shot her landlady in the head because she was giving off "evil vibes" and was clearly a metaphysical imposter. Two teenagers turned a rifle on a police van in 1994 and took the life of one officer after claiming that they'd been homicidally hypnotized into killing by Tupac lyrics. Authorities resolved that the infamous slaying of activist Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone by Dan White was ultimately caused by a radical change in his diet (junk food, snack cakes, etc.) that cast him into a state of delusional, homicidal depression. These are real instances of murder that juries past have had to weigh the credibility — or incredibility — of in court, and the list of bizarre examples goes on longer than you'd think.

Have you heard about the recent case of an Oklahoma man named Larry Sanders? According to All That's Interesting, Sanders was out fishing with his friend, Jimmy Knighten, on the afternoon of July 9th, 2022. After a heated conversation turned into a scuffle, Sanders strangled his friend and left him for dead. He was arrested shortly thereafter, whereupon he readily admitted his crime and provided a motive as well. Sanders' reasoning: Bigfoot made him do it. 

Larry Sanders told police that Jimmy Knighten intended to summon Bigfoot and offer him (Sanders) up as food. He therefore only choked his friend to death in order to avoid being devoured by the forest-dwelling monster. "Larry advised he believed Jimmy was trying to get away from him so that the Sasquatch could eat Larry," Special Agent Justin Brown told The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (via The Oklahoman). "Larry would not let Jimmy get away. Larry punched Jimmy and struck Jimmy with a stick. "Larry confirmed he killed Jimmy by choking him to death near the river."

Naturally, investigators were skeptical of Sanders' proclamation. As far as inhabitants of the region are aware, there is no Sasquatch stalking the woods awaiting the chance to gobble up unsuspecting fishermen; not one that they can confirm of, at least. Having said that, police are of the opinion that Larry Sanders genuinely believes that the threat was real at the time. He stands by the assertion that Bigfoot was indeed lingering deep within the leaves and that Jimmy Knighten had a mind to call him forth for a fresh plate of man flesh, as All That's Interesting reports. 

After killing Jimmy Knighten and leaving his body in the Oklahoma forest, Larry Sanders fled and returned home where he was met by his daughter. He relayed the story to her without hesitation and insisted that Bigfoot would be responsible for devouring him whole had he not followed through with the slaying of Knighten. Sanders also revealed his crime to his daughter's boyfriend, who happened to be Knighten's son. Police were made aware of the incident promptly thereafter and apprehended Sanders (on the grounds of an outstanding warrant for an unrelated crime) while a search team combed the woods nearby. From the start, Sanders willingly provided help and even drew a map of where he believed Knighten's body was (per All That's Interesting). 

After the corpse of Knighten was discovered, Sanders was placed behind bars and charged with first-degree murder. While there's no confirming the information, authorities believe that Sanders may have been using methamphetamine around the time of the killing and later reported that he "seemed to be under the influence of illegal drugs" when he was arrested. Sanders is currently in jail awaiting his sentence, as The Oklahoman reports.