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In the summer of 1999, the Jasper Police Department began working on a case so violent it disturbed even the most seasoned detectives.
"It was very, very graphic."
Captain Larry Cantrell is talking about what may be the most difficult case he's ever worked on in the 23 years he's been with the Jasper Police Department.
"When we arrived on scene, there was a lawn mower and a human body, blown up, that was scattered over a three yard area and I don't mean yard sticks, I mean lawns."
52-year-old Larry McAnnally was pronounced dead at the scene, the victim of a horrendous crime.
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"Looking at the lawn mower and the body, it looked like a lot more than I think would have been necessary to kill somebody."
Many of the images are so graphic they can't be shown on television, but the pictures that can be shown, clearly depict the force of the blast. Shrapnel embedded in rain gutters, windows blown out, and pieces of the mower found inside the home. Investigators quickly realize this is not an ordinary explosion.
"All of a sudden we just heard a loud, loud, loud boom, explosion."
Betty Delberta lives a few homes away from where the blast took place and remembers it very clearly.
"Everybody just started running out of their homes and then we found out a lawn mower had blown up with a man on it."
Captain Cantrell adds, "The lawnmower had been rigged to explode once the ignition was turn on."
A full scale investigation followed involving local, state and federal investigators. No stone was left unturned.
Captain Cantrell says, "Any time you have a case like this, a spouse killed the remaining spouse is always looked at."
The investigation took a strange turn when a service technician found a second explosive device underneath Mrs. McAnnally's vehicle.
Captain Cantrell explains, "This is the same lot number that was found under her truck at the oil change place."
It’s also the same lot number as a batch of explosive stolen from the Moss Levin Mine in Carbon Hill, explosives that may have been used to kill Larry McAannally.
Captain Cantrell admits, "We've made several arrests on the burglary and theft of the explosives, but we haven't been able to prove who put them under the mower."
Until he can, Captain Cantrell will continue to work this case, hoping to provide closure to the family of Larry McAnnally.
Captain Cantrell declares "We're real close. We just need a little bit more and I think we can make an arrest."
If you have any information that will help close this case, you are urged to call the Jasper Police Department at 205-221-2121.
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