Larry Chism’s future looked promising. The twenty-nine-year-old Vietnam veteran had earned a college degree in Accounting and was nearing completion of a law degree. He had a great legal mind, but he also had illegal intentions. When his nose was not in the books, he was snorting crack and heroin and sending teenage drug runners to Mexico to sneak the contraband across the border.

Two weeks before he was to graduate from Memphis State Law School in 1974, Chism was arrested for the May 1973 robbing of three MSU students at gunpoint in their dorm room. He was convicted and sentenced to forty years in prison, but the amount of time he has spent behind bars equals approximately only four years. Chism has engineered two jail escapes; the first time he was quickly captured. Following his second escape, authorities twice tracked the elusive egghead but were unable to nab him.

For forty-six years, would-be-lawyer Larry Chism has been Larry on-the-lam; he holds the dubious distinction of the longest-tenured member on the United States Marshall’s 15 Most Wanted List.

Larry Chism

Following his convictions on the armed robbery and drug charges in February 1975, Larry Chism was imprisoned at the medium-security Turney Center in Only, Tennessee, sixty miles southwest of Nashville. He made the most of his situation in editing the prison newspaper The Phoenix, teaching business classes to fellow inmates, and mediating disputes between them and prison officials.

All the while, however, Chism sought a way out of the slammer. An opportunity eventually presented itself.

 A Model Inmate

As a reward for their good behavior, thirty-four inmates, including Chism, were treated to an evening of bowling at the Bowl-A-Rena in Dickson, twenty-five miles northwest of Only, on September 13, 1978. After bowling a spare, Chism excused himself to the restroom where he struck with a vengeance.

Guard Howard Talley observed Chism carrying something as he entered the lavatory. When the prisoner did not return after some time, Talley grew suspicious and investigated. Upon entry, he encountered three inmates, two of whom were trying to pry open a window while the third, Chism, aimed a shotgun at Talley. Instinctively, the guard smashed the door against the inmate and a gunfight ensued with Chism being grazed on his right thumb and shoulder while shooting Officer Talley in the chest and arm. His bulletproof vest likely saved his life.

Three responding corrections officers were commandeered at gunpoint with two sawed-off shotguns and forced to surrender their .38-caliber pistols. Outside the bathroom, the prisoners fired two more warning shots at the ceiling; the buckshot ricochet slightly wounded James Wine, a prisoner not involved in the escape.

It was clear that Chism was the ringleader as he barked the orders to the other inmates, convicted rapists Floyd Brewer and George Bonds, ages twenty-eight and twenty-four, and thirty-one-year-old Ronald Lyons, serving a fifty-year sentence for armed robbery.

The Escaped Inmates;

Left To Right: George Bonds, Larry Chism, Ronald Lyons, Floyd Brewer

After taking eighteen-year-old bowling alley employee Carolyn Barnett hostage, the men fled the facility. After wrecking their getaway car, the escapees stole another employee’s car and drove to the small Dickson Municipal Airport where they swapped hostages, releasing Carolyn unharmed and turning their guns on pilot and airport owner Mel Romine and his young son, Robert.

Carolyn Barnett

The men ordered Romine, washing his airplane at the time, to fly them from the area. During the flight, Chism displayed his intellect, ordering the plane to be flown at a low altitude to avoid radar detection.

After two-and-a-half hours amidst heavy cloud cover and thunderstorms, the overloaded single engine four-seat Cessna 182 gave out shortly after crossing the Arkansas border. Romine was forced to make an emergency landing on a dirt road adjacent to a rice field near Marianna, in the east-central part of the state.

The escapees fled the downed plane, splitting into pairs, leaving Romine and his son unhurt.

Mel Romine

The locale was approximately three-hundred miles southwest of the escape point and, ironically or not, only about twenty miles from Chism’s native Forrest City, where his parents, Millard and Frances, brothers, Harry and Pat, and former wife, Elizabeth, all lived.

All of the men had visited the incarcerated Chism during the prior week, but authorities found no evidence any of them aided him in his escape or knew of his intentions.

The Escapees’ Route 

Nineteen-year-old Ricky Rutledge of nearby Moro heard the plane land and drove to the site to offer assistance. Instead, he became the next hostage as Chism and Lyons carjacked his pickup and forced him to drive for over an hour-and-a-half before ordering him to stop at a rural Woodlawn home, nearly one-hundred miles southwest of where the plane had landed.

Ricky Rutledge

At the home, that of sixty-seven-year-old John King and his sixty-year-old wife Faye, the escapees ate much of the Kings’ food while confining the couple, along with Rutledge, while they slept in shifts during the night.

The following morning, the men tied Rutledge to the Kings’ bedpost before ordering the couple from their home. Outside the residence, the fugitives decided to separate, with Chism, on foot, heading back into the woods, while Lyons forced the Kings into their car and drove off. After approximately twenty minutes, Ricky Rutledge was able to free himself.

Lyons drove over six-hundred miles overnight before releasing the Kings near Covington, Kentucky, twenty-five miles southwest of his native Loveland, Ohio.

John and Faye King

Later that day, George Bonds and Floyd Brewer were captured after their carjacked vehicle crashed into a police car at a roadblock following a high-speed chase along United States Highway 67 near Hoxie, in northeast Arkansas. Both men were injured in the crash and were treated at the University of Arkansas Medical Center.

The captured cons told police their fellow escapees had mentioned going to Texas, but investigators felt that Chism was still in his native Arkansas. Their belief proved correct.

The Injured and Captured Bonds and Brewer

Over the following two days, two sightings of Larry Chism were reported near Calico Rock, one-hundred-forty miles northwest of his native Forrest City. A man declined to give him a ride and a woman reported seeing a man she believed to be Chism loitering near her home.

Shortly thereafter, Chism commandeered a pickup and took hostage its three passengers, local residents Alvin Raby, J.B. Arnold, and Bill Osbourne. A passing truck saw the escaped inmate holding a gun on the men and reported the incident. A chase ensued with Chism wrecking the truck and fleeing into the woods, leaving the men unharmed.

Alvin Raby And J.B. Arnold

The following day, three days after the prison escape, a scruffy man emerged from the woods near Viola, twenty-five miles northeast of Calico Rock and eight miles from the Missouri border. He went to the residence of forty-two-year-old trucker Carl Hensley and ordered him to give him a ride out of the area. Hensley complied after the man said he had a gun, although he did not display it.

Hensley’s wife recognized the man as Chism from television reports of the inmates’ escape and called police. After they located the vehicle and began pursuit, Chism pushed Hensley out the door, took the wheel, and drove through a roadblock. Police shot six rounds into the truck’s wheels, causing it to crash. Chism surrendered after one of the shots grazed his head and another his hand. After being treated at a local hospital, he was again jailed.

A Cuffed And Captured Chism

In total, the four fugitives had taken nine hostages, all of whom were ultimately released physically unharmed.

Ronald Lyons remained at large.

The Escapees’ Odyssey 

For the kidnapping, the hijacking, and the wounding of Prison Guard Howard Talley, each of the three captured escapees was sentenced to an additional thirty years in prison in November 1978. While being held in Arkansas’ Lonoke County Jail as they awaited transfer, they granted themselves parole after only one month.

In the early morning hours of December 22, three days after Chism’s thirtieth birthday, he Bonds, Brewer, and Robert McKee, a seventeen-year-old charged with auto theft, used a procured wrench to pry open the air conditioning vent in their cell and crawl into a nearby room housing keys and weapons. After seizing the items, the men commandeered Donnie Sheets, a radio dispatcher temporarily working as a guard at the jail, and locked him in a cell. They then absconded with his gun and the keys to his 1977 Ford Thunderbird.

By early January 1979, Bonds, Brewer, and McKee were back in custody, but Larry Chism was still on the lam. His trail was not picked up for a year.

A Second Great Escape

The New Year and decade began with Larry Chism being tracked to New Orleans, where a local woman, Evelyn Wood, had lived with him before learning of his true identity. She told authorities that Chism, under the name Earl McClain, had worked several manual labor jobs in roofing and siding and further supported himself by giving multiple blood donations to a plasma center. In the fall of 1979, roughly eight months after his second escape, Evelyn told authorities Chism had spent several weeks recovering in a New Orleans hospital after slipping and falling two stories while loading plywood.

After parting ways, Evelyn told investigators the way Chism headed was northeast, to Mobile, Alabama, one-hundred–forty miles from New Orleans. There, investigators determined he continued working as a laborer and resumed an active social life, dating and briefly living with several different women under a number of aliases.

Chism’s lifelong friend, Jimmy Pierce, also no stranger to law enforcement, had also recently relocated to Mobile and is believed to have aided him in acquiring his new identities.

A Ladies Man-On-The-Lam

Chism had broken up with his most recent gal pal, Linda Hicks, around mid-1980, approximately one month before he was tracked to Mobile. In searching the trailer in which the couple had lived, authorities found their prey had prepared for a life on the lam, compiling the personal details of a number of individuals which he used to create multiple fake identities.  He had even called the family members of deceased children in an effort to glean information about them, hoping to pilfer more identities and obtain needed documents such as birth certificates and social security numbers. He also had literature on establishing mail drops for supplies.

Linda Hicks told investigators that after Chism had learned the net was closing in, they had hastily departed Mobile, traveling through Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, all the while essentially living in their car while working odd jobs and donating blood.

After approximately a week, a fatigued Linda wanted to return home. She said she dropped Chism at a rest stop in Meridian, Mississippi, one-hundred-thirty miles north of Mobile, and had not seen or spoken to him since.  Authorities searched the area, but could not locate the fugitive.

A decade passed before authorities again nearly again nabbed their man.

Chism Is Tracked But Not Captured

Having tracked Chism’s trail as the calendar turned to 1980, investigators again zeroed on their man in January 1990 after determining he had applied for a driver’s license in 1988 under the name Kenneth Lamar Brookins in Charlotte, North Carolina. His M.O. was the same, working as a laborer for a pipe company and residing with another woman, whom he introduced as his wife Debra. Prior to settling in Charlotte in September 1988, it was found that the couple had lived in West Virginia for the previous two years under the names Gregory and Sheri Moser.

The “Brookins’” were friendly but secretive; no one knew for sure where they lived. They said they had three daughters, but acquaintances only met one of them, a “tween” or early adolescent girl they introduced as Brenda.

The family appeared poor, initially living in a cheap motel before moving into a small duplex after Chism found work for a home-building company in Matthews, twelve miles southeast of Charlotte, and Debra obtained employment at a laundromat/bar in Charlotte. They had a 1978 Chevy van and, after they had been working for a while, Chism purchased a white 1972 Ford from a coworker.

The “Brookins’” Home

The purported family were affiliated with a small church, Christians United For People (CUP) Ministries, which aided them in obtaining food and clothing as well as providing the girls with YMCA memberships. In return, Chism performed handiwork services and provided cheap or free carpet to CUP members. He appeared to have his own carpet-laying equipment.

The couple frequented yard sales from which they purchased most of their other clothing and appeared to be avid campers, spending a lot of time outdoors. Sheldon Lewis, whom Chism had befriended, said the man he knew as Kenneth Brookins was a habitual marijuana smoker who grew his own plants inside his duplex.

Picking Up Chism’s Trail . . .

Along with his purported wife and daughter, Larry Chism, alias Kenneth Brookins, hastily departed Charlotte in early January 1990, shortly after the fugitive was profiled on America’s Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries. The couple left behind the small amount of food and furniture they had as well as an uncashed paycheck. Chism even called a coworker and told him of his true identity, that he had seen his case profiled on Unsolved Mysteries, and that he could have all of his belongings. They were, instead, turned over to investigators.

Chism’s abandoned possessions were similar to those found when authorities had last tracked him a decade earlier: multiple books on how to change one’s appearance and identity along with several laminating machines from which he is believed to have created his alias of Kenneth Brookins as well as the fictitious names of his possible wife and daughter.

The last confirmed sighting of the fugitive was on December 1, 1990, when he sold his pickup in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, Chism’s trail has gone cold.

. . . But It Is Ultimately Lost

In the ensuing thirty -four-plus years, investigators believe Larry Chism has continued a nomadic lifestyle but likely staying within his comfort zone of the southeast United States. Credible sightings of the fugitive over the years have been reported in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The identities of “Debra and Brenda Brookins” are as a big of a mystery as the whereabouts of Larry Chism. Investigators interviewed multiple women named Debra Brookins, but acquaintances said none were the woman they knew by that name.

When last seen in 1990, “Debra Brookins” was believed to be in her thirties, standing approximately five-feet-two-inches tall and having dirty blond or brown hair. She appeared to have an eye problem as she always held reading materials extremely close to her face; she was never seen, however, wearing glasses. The woman said her mother and either father or stepfather lived in Florida and also mentioned having ties to Rock Hill, South Carolina, twenty-five miles southwest of Charlotte, but authorities could not link anyone by those names to the area.

Brenda Brookins, the perceived daughter of the couple, bore a strong resemblance to Debra. She had brown hair and a noticeable speech problem. Her purported parents often called her ”Brandi” and “Poo.” She once said she was born in July 1978, making her eleven-years-old when last seen. At other times, however, she said she was as young as seven-years-old and as old as fourteen.

The Brookins’ also made reference to having two other younger daughters, Barbi and Sandi, though no one associated with the couple had ever seen them. No one named Brenda, Barbi, or Sandi Brookins was found in the North Carolina school system records from 1988-90 and no one recalled having ever seen Brenda in an area school. Furthermore, no one named Brenda Brookins was found in the records of North Carolina children who were home-schooled during those years.

The existence of Barbi and Sandi Brookins has not been confirmed or dismissed. It is also still unproven whether Brenda Brookins is Larry Chism’s child.

No photographs of Debra or Brenda Brookins have been found.

Computer-Aged Renderings Of Larry Chism

Larry Porter Chism is wanted on escape charges. He has been convicted of multiple narcotics violations, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, armed robbery, and kidnapping.

While imprisoned, Chism was five-feet-ten-inches tall, weighed one-hundred-sixty pounds, had brown eyes, black hair, a birth mark on his left thigh, and scars on his arms. When last seen in 1990, he had a moustache and a similar build and physical features.

Prior to his imprisonment, Chism was a law student who had worked as a salesman, farmer, logger, and typist. After his second escape, he worked several manual labor jobs.

Computer-Aged Image Of Larry Chism

Approximately Age Sixty

Chism is confirmed to have used the aliases Kenneth Brookins, Earl McClain, and Gregory Moser. Many of his friends who are believed to have been involved in his drug operation prior to his incarceration are believed to have helped him procure other fake identifications.  Other possible pseudonyms include Jack Coffman, Gary Joseph Buoni, Gary Joseph Buomi, Gerald Goleman, Douglas D. Baker, Charles Cox, Alan Barry, Daniel Barry, Warren Smith, Mark Anthony Baldwin, Theodore Lee Mason, Carl McClair, James La Blanc, James M. Simpson, James F. Hedrick, Ralph Blair, Charles B. Purtie, Howard Smith II, and George Rubert.

Larry Porter Chism is the senior member of the United States Marshall’s 15 Most Wanted List. A $25,000 reward is offered for information leading to his capture or proof that he is deceased.

The Marshals’ Longest Most-Wanted Man 

Larry Chism would today be seventy-six-years-old. His hair is likely now gray and he may now be wearing contact lenses instead of glasses or he could have had Lasik surgery and no longer need either. He may still have a mark or scar on his right hand from the shooting at the bowling alley during his first escape, and he may have lost a portion of his right thumb.  Chism is to be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Larry Chism, please contact the United States Marshals Service at 1-877-926-8232 or www.usmarshals.gove/tips

Computer-Aged Avatars of Larry Chism

From America’s Most Wanted

William Hinson frequently visited Larry Chism during his incarcerations. The men had become friends while they were students at Memphis State University.

In November 1978, two months after the inmates’ escape from the bowling alley, Hinson and four other men were charged with conspiracy in aiding and abetting the escape. Hinson was believed to have planted the shotguns along with money for the inmates in the bowling alley bathroom ceiling.

Like Chism, Hinson became a fugitive, spending over thirteen years on the run before surrendering in June 1992 after living in hiding in Tucson, Arizona. Investigators believe he met with Chism on multiple occasions during those years, though they have not released any information on the specific nature of the encounters.

I could not find what punishment Hinson and the others received.

William Hinson

On January 26, 1979, one month after Chism’s second escape, a well-dressed and well-spoken man posing as a United States Treasury official walked into the First National Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio. He displayed what appeared to be a bomb to bank president John Grant and demanded $250,000 in cash and bonds. After Grant complied, the man calmly walked out of the bank and disappeared.

The robber strongly resembled a clean-shaven Larry Chism and several bank employees picked him out of a photo lineup. He was charged with armed robbery in 1985, one day before the statute of limitations on the crime was to expire.

Some investigators believe Chism committed the act, but others do not believe he was the robber.

The Composite Resembles The Escapee

Was Chism The Cincinnati Armed Robber?

Whereas Larry Chism was placed on the U.S. Marshall’s Fifteen Most Wanted List, Ronald Lyons, the fourth inmate who escaped from the bowling alley, made it onto the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. He evaded capture for nearly a year before being nabbed in Hungry Valley, Nevada, twenty miles northeast of Reno, in September 1979. Like the other escapees, he received an additional thirty years in prison for kidnapping and air piracy charges.

Cincinnati is twenty-five miles from Lyons’ hometown of Loveland, Ohio, and only two miles from Covington, Kentucky, where he had driven John and Faye King and released them after forcing them from their home. Lyons was a convicted armed robber, but investigators found nothing suggesting he had any role in the Cincinnati robbery.

After splitting up with Larry Chism following their escape, nothing was found suggesting Ronald Lyons had had any subsequent contact with him or that he aided him in his second jail escape three months later.

No Evidence That Lyons Was Lying

SOURCES:

• America’s Most Wanted
• Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
• Associated Press
• Baxter Bulletin
• Benton (Arkansas) Courier
• The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)
• Memphis Flyer
• Memphis Press-Scimitar
• New York Times
• The Tennesseean
• Unsolved Mysteries