Mugshot Larry Joe Scott
Larry Joe Scott now stands accused in the nearly five-decade old murder of Bonnie Neighbors, a North Carolina woman who vanished when she went to pick up her son from school.
It was one of North Carolina’s most enduring cold cases. Scott is 65-years-old and from Florida. His arrest was announced in a news conference by the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office in Clayton County, North Carolina. Authorities described how Scott had allegedly “eluded them for 47 years.” But not anymore.
A determined cadre of investigators never gave up on finding justice for Neighbors throughout all of the years, authorities said in the news conference.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Authorities Say DNA Testing Led to the Break in the Case
Sheriff Steve Bizzell announced the arrest in a press conference, saying, “I am humbled, and I am thankful that we are here today to take yet another step towards justice for Bonnie Neighbors.”
Detectives in Florida and from North Carolina arrested Larry Joe Scott, age 65, formerly of Benson, on April 29, 2019, the sheriff said. He was accused in the first-degree murder and kidnapping of Bonnie Neighbors.
The case agent in 1972 was in the audience during the press conference, the sheriff said. The case was reopened in 2007. He also cited the work of the district attorney, the attorney general of North Carolina, and crime lab analysts, among others.
“Today is a good day. Today is a great day for the Neighbors family,” the sheriff said.
District Attorney Susan Doyle said, “Today is a very exciting day for law enforcement. For almost 47 years, many thought this day would never come. This day has come.” She cited the tenacious determination of the sheriff and investigators, as well as the “incredible work” of the crime lab.
The crime lab has developed “cutting-edge technology in the pursuit of justice,” she said, calling it “life-changing work.”
Doyle said that “we have made an arrest in the 1972 kidnapping and murder of Bonnie Neighbors.”
In 2017, the state crime lab was able to take advantage of new, more sensitive technology, according to authorities. This led to a DNA profile that led to the arrest.
Authorities also repeatedly mentioned the Neighbors’ family during the news conference. “It’s a great day for the Bonnie Neighbors family,” the sheriff said, mentioning “her two boys and sister.”
2. Scott Was Living on the Streets in Bradenton, Florida, the Sheriff Said
Johnston County Sheriff announces arrest in murder and kidnapping of Bonnie Neighbors. @WNCN
Scott was living on the streets of Bradenton, Florida and eating daily at a soup kitchen, according to Bizzell.
The sheriff said that Scott is being held in Florida and is going to be extradited back to North Carolina.
The Johnson County report says that Neighbors was a homemaker. The site reported that Bonnie Neighbors was described as being focused on three things: “church, family and home.”
According to 1270wmpm, Neighbors was 33-years-old when she disappeared on December 14, 1972.
She was last seen on her way to pick up her son Ken, then 7, from school. She had her other son, Glenn, who was only 3-months-old, with her, according to the article, which added that she was the wife of an accountant named Kenneth Neighbors.
Her station wagon was found abandoned, and her body was discovered three days later in an unoccupied migrant labor camp nearby, the article reports. “Mrs. Neighbors had been fatally shot twice in the abdomen and suffered a blow to the head. She had been blindfolded and her feet and hands were bound with cloth baby diapers,” reported 1270wmpm.
Glenn Neighbors’ Facebook page says he now works for a county EMS. Ken Neighbors lives in another state and is self-employed, according to what he wrote on Facebook.
3. Larry Joe Scott Has a Criminal History in Florida
Larry Joe Scott has a criminal history in Florida, according to a review by Heavy of online court records from Sarasota County.
For example, in 2017, he was accused of assault on an officer or firefighter and trespassing, both first-degree misdemeanors. He was declared indigent. The probable cause affidavit in that case describes him as “transient.” It also says he was born in North Carolina and stands only 5 foot 5 inches tall. The box for indication of alcohol use was checked. He was accused of violating the terms of pretrial release.
The arrest affidavit says that an employee at the Salvation Army “was involved in an altercation with Larry Scott after he told him that he was too intoxicated to stay.” He told Scott that he couldn’t come back for 30 days but Scott was accused of refusing to leave.
Officer arrived and Scott refused to provide his name and was uncooperative, according to the affidavit.The officer said Scott “flung his arm forcefully and violently” in the officer’s direction causing him to move to avoid being hit.
In another incident in Florida, Scott was accused of a weapons offense and trespassing. That affidavit alleges that police were called to a dispute with a knife. A man alleged that Scott had been trespassing on his property and he asked him to leave. A verbal altercation ensued, at which point Scott “reached into his backpack and produced a large knife.” The other man “slapped the knife from Scott’s hand onto the ground” and stepped on it with his foot and pulled out a box cutter. He said that Scott remained belligerent and in his face as he called police.
Larry Joe Scott has other cases in Florida for trespassing, consuming alcoholic beverages in public, and larceny. In the latter case, he was accused of shoplifting by stealing burritos off a grill at a grocery store.
4. The Sheriff Recalled How Neighbors Was Found Murdered With Her Baby in Her Arms
BREAKING NEWS >> The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office announced they have identified and arrested a man in connection with the 1972 murder of Bonnie Neighbors. t.co/snJHlf8Dqj
When the murder first occurred, the sheriff was a teenager. He emotionally recalled at the news conference how Neighbors’ baby was found alive at her side. Bizzell described how he was able to give that now grown son the news about the arrest.
“I am humbled for the part that we have played in this, and I thankful that God gave me the vision and the heart 12 years ago to reopen a case where justice had been far too long delayed,” he said.
“I am also thankful that we have worked diligently to solve the case that I remember from the time I was a 14-year-old young boy, where an innocent young mother was murdered, and her baby left in her arms in a migrant labor camp near Benson.”
He described how “that baby laid there in those cold December nights before he was finally found. Through all those years, we have looked to find who had done it. I was able to look that little baby boy, who is now a grown man, in his eyes and I was able to tell him, ‘We have found and arrested your mother’s murderer.’”
He cited the work of a detective and retired captain who came back to work on the case.
5. Authorities Don’t Believe Larry Joe Scott Knew Bonnie Neighbors or Her Family
What was the motive for such a brutal crime? Authorities say they aren’t sure.
Scott lived in Benson and frequented the labor camps back in 1972, according to the Sheriff. “There is not a connection between Scott and the Bonnie Neighbors family at all,” he said.
Bizzell said he’s not sure what the motive is because the investigation is “ongoing.”