Photo: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
This will be tough to prove.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Jul 13, 2022
An Oklahoma man accused of murdering his fishing partner is blaming Bigfoot for the death of his friend.
53-year-old Larry Sanders went on a noodling trip with his friend at the South Canadian River near Ada, Oklahoma, when a confrontation between the two led to his friend’s death, according to a press release from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Sanders admitted to murdering 52-year-old Jimmy Glenn Knighten on July 9th, 2022 — allegedly confessing to his family and to police who arrived at the scene after the confrontation.
Larry Sanders claims that Jimmy Glenn Knighten summoned “Bigfoot” to kill him on their fishing trip.
When deputies arrived at the scene and arrested Sanders, he claimed that Knighten had summoned “Bigfoot” to go after Sanders and kill him, which is why he needed to kill Knighten first.
“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 told KTEN.
Invoking the “Bigfoot” defense would be tough to prove, which led officials into believing that something else had been going on in Sanders’s mind that would explain the tall tale.
"He appeared to be under the influence of something,” Sheriff Christian said.
"Sanders and Knighten had been noodling in the river on Saturday when a confrontation ensued," according to a statement issued by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. "Sanders reported striking and strangling Knighten."
Noodling is a fishing technique, primarily used in the southern United States, where the fisherman will stick their arm inside of a catfish hole in the hopes that a catfish will latch on and then pull them out of the water.
Knighten's body was eventually retrieved from the river on Sunday after officials struggled to locate his remains due to the strong current in the body of water.
Now, the medical examiner’s office and investigators are working to uncover what really happened and the circumstances of Knighten’s death.
“It always makes it easier,” Christian said of Sanders’s confession. “You still have to prove all the elements of the crime, and what the suspect is telling you, you have to prove that that’s actually what happened.”
Sanders is being held in the Pontotoc County Jail where he has been officially charged with first-degree murder for the death of Knighten.
According to Oklahoma state law, the highest punishment for first-degree murder is the death penalty.
Christian believes that if the defense is unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that “Bigfoot” is the reason behind Knighten’s murder, then the local prosecutors will surely push for the death penalty as Sanders’s punishment.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Since graduating from Rutgers University, he spends most of his free time gaming or playing a fictional sport. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.