The Son who Murdered his parents (Pt.1)
In early 1981, 29 year old Larry Romine and his wife Diane separated. He subsequently spent most nights with his girlfriend, Ginger McEntire. According to later court testimony, his parents disapproved of aspects of his lifestyle. After a recent argument with his father, Larry told Ginger not to worry because “It would not go on much longer.”
On Thursday, March 19, 1981, according to Larry’s later statement to investigators, he took Ginger’s shotgun without her knowledge, returned home, took what he described as two hits of LSD, and loaded the gun. He walked approximately a quarter mile to his parents’ house near Black Knob Church Rd. in Ludville, and entered with his key while they were away.
Around 4 pm, Larry's mother, Avilee Romine, age 50, returned from work from Lacey Mills in Fairmount and was shot in the chest in her bedroom. The April 1982 trial report identified reported a firing distance of approximately four feet.
At just after 6 p.m., Larry's father, Roy Lee Romine, age 48, returned carrying groceries and was shot in the back in the kitchen. The trial report placed the firing distance at approximately 17 feet. Larry’s statement described him waiting in the living room between the shootings. Larry subsequently stole his mom's pocketbook, paycheck, and other papers were taken. The eventual armed-robbery conviction concerned these items.
Later that night, within a half an hour of killing his father, Larry met Ginger, and they spent the night in a motel.
The next morning, when his mother failed to meet her carpool group, her coworkers attempted to contact her and eventually asked nearby minister Reverend Anthony McClure to check the house. McClure discovered both bodies after he entered through an unlocked door from the carport and notified the sheriff’s department.
That Sunday, March 22, joint funeral services were held at the Ludville Church of God, with Reverend Milton Jackson and Reverend Anthony McClure officiating. Larry's parents burial followed in the church cemetery.
The following day, Larry was observed burning the contents of a box in a trash barrel. Investigators subsequently recovered a metal tool resembling one Avilee used at work, along with metal pieces resembling parts of her pocketbook and coin purse.
On Tuesday, March 24, Larry was brought in for questioning and gave investigators a statement admitting that he had shot his mother and father. The Pickens County Progress published the arrest report and the parents’ obituary two days later. Its arrest report described a joint investigation by the sheriff’s department, GBI, and State Crime Lab.
Larry went to his first trial at the Pickens County Courthouse on March 29, 1982. After jury questioning the 12 jurors were selected by March 31, 1982. On Friday, April 2, 1982, the jury came back with a finding of guilty on both counts and of robbery.
The court gave Larry a death sentence for the two murders and a life sentence for the armed robbery the following day.
Part Two is about the case's convoluted route through the judicial system, from Georgia to the Georgia Supreme Court and eventually to the United States Supreme Court.
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