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Police solve 23-year-old murder

By Mark Harrison
The Times-Journal

Published June 26, 2009

Authorities finally closed the book Friday on a 23-year-old Fort Payne murder case.

DeKalb County District Attorney Mike O’Dell said evidence shows Larrry Lavon Dyar was responsible for the 1986 shooting death of Mark Allen Phillips. Dyar died in August 2008 from complications associated with cancer.

O’Dell cited revenge as the motive for the murder. He said Phillips, along with two other men, were allegedly involved in the gang rape of Dyar’s wife, Glenna Annette.

Fort Payne Police Commissioner Ron Ogletree said that rape happened near the Billy Ford’s area of DeKalb County in 1979, before Dyar actually met her. She was 16 years old at the time.

O’Dell said the rape was never prosecuted because the victim suffered an emotional collapse after a preliminary hearing and “could not go forward” with testimony.

“Our educated guess is that after she married Dyar, she told him about what happened,” Ogletree said. “He decided to take matters into his own hands, and this was a revenge killing.”

O’Dell said Dyar did not emerge as a suspect in the case until 2004. Before then, investigators had operated under the false belief that the murder was drug-related.

He said it’s believed Phillips was heavily involved in the local drug culture at the time of his murder.

“It’s one of those cases where we had a lot of people say ‘I didn’t kill [Phillips], but I wish I had,’” O’Dell said. “We even had several people confess to the murder just because they wanted credit for killing him, but we were able to eliminate them as suspects.”

O’Dell said even after Dyar emerged as a suspect in the case, investigators “could not corroborate” his involvement. Ogletree credited Fort Payne Detective Lt. Andy Hairston for eventually gathering enough evidence to do so. O’Dell also said Capt. Gary Bell, the initial investigator on the case, Chief of Detectives Mike Grant and Assistant Chief Randy Bynum helped to close the case.

O’Dell said that on April 19, 1986, Dyar went to Phillps’ home on Scenic Drive in Fort Payne. When Phillips answered the front door, Dyar shot Phillips in the chest area with a 16-guage shotgun. Phillips died a short time later.

Phillips then-8-year-old daughter was present at the time of the shooting, and O’Dell said she saw Dyar flee into nearby woods after the murder, and get into a white van. Dyar’s wife also saw the van, being driven by a second man.

“Dyar ran backwards through the woods, keeping his eyes locked with Phillips’ daughter the entire time,” O’Dell said. “So, it made an impression, but back then we couldn’t’ get enough information to make a positive identification. Plus, there were numerous people around at the time involved in the drug trade who were driving white vans.”

After Dyar died, O’Dell said several people came forward with additional information, including a man who drove the van that night, who was given immunity in exchange for information.

“The driver helped fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. The agreement was that he would be immune to prosecution, and his identity would not be released, as long as we had no reason to believe he was actually involved in the shooting,” O’Dell said. “It turns out he wasn’t. In fact, we’re not sure he even fully knew what was happening that night.”

After Dyar’s death, several of Dyar’s family members also told investigators that he frequently confessed to the murder while intoxicated, O’Dell said.

“Unfortunately, in cases like this one, people don’t want to talk while the killer is still alive because they are afraid of what will happen to them,” O’Dell said. “Closing files like this can be difficult as there’s an element of satisfaction missing. However, we will never close a case until we can confirm, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who is responsible for the crime that has been committed.”

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