Monk Steppenwolf

Monk Steppenwolf (formerly: Larry Lee Ranes) is a serial killer who murdered five men between April 6, and May 31, 1964 in Michigan, Nevada, Kentucky and Indiana.

Early Life
Monk Steppenwolf (born: Larry Lee Ranes) was one of four children born to an alcoholic father who worked as a gas station attendant who later abandoned the family when Larry was nine to take up with another woman in Florida, he has an older sister, an older brother and a younger sister.

When Larry was a child, his father made Larry and his brother Danny physically fight each other over everything, he also taught the boys to fight other people as he thought that they should always win a fight especially if they got into a fight in school, they should always be a winner.

In high school, Larry dated a girl named Paula who went back and forth between dating him and Danny, After high school Danny married Paula and had 2 children with her but Paula still has feelings for Larry and wrote to him while he was in prison. Danny eventually found the letters between his Larry and Paula and the two of them began fighting regularly; Danny later left the marriage and decided to move to Wyoming, although he later moved back to Michigan and Paula and Danny tried the relationship again and had a third child but it didn’t work and he divorced Paula.

During his time in high school Larry and Danny sought out their father, hoping to reconnect. He kicked them out and said “get out of here, I never want to see you again.“

His brother Danny also became a serial killer.

Crimes
On April 6, Vernon LeBenne, 23, was found robbed and shot at a Battle Creek, Michigan gas station he worked at part-time. Vernon was an active duty Air Force member stationed at the Fort Custer Training Center. When he was found the next day, he was still alive but in a coma; he died twelve hours later.

On April 20, Charlie Sizemore, 38, was found robbed and shot at a Manchester, Kentucky S&F tire company service station he worked at, he was still alive when he was found but died in a Lexington hospital a few hours later.

On May 30, Gary Smock, 30, was found tied up and murdered in his abandoned car on the side of a usually well traveled road near Kalamazoo, Michigan. Larry pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and put Gary in the trunk and told him to just stay there and be quiet. When Smock instead beat on the trunk lid, Ranes tied his hands behind him and shot him twice in the back of the head which killed him. Larry admitted killing Gary because he was upset that he was making noise in the trunk of his own car. Gary was found when a police officer checked out an abandoned vehicle. The pathologist estimated that Smock had died within five minutes of the shooting, some time between 6 A.M. Saturday morning and 2 P.M. that afternoon. That same morning, a group of fisherman found Charles Snyder, a gas station attendant who had been shot in Elkhart, Indiana. It appeared to be another robbery/homicide. Investigators wondered if the two murders were connected considering the motive was robbery and a .22 caliber was used in both crimes.

Five days later, Larry Ranes called the police claiming that he wanted to commit suicide. Police arrived at his home and found him alive. He was taken to the police station, questioned, and admitted to killing Gary Smock and Charles Snyder. Larry admitted killing Gary because he was upset that he was making noise in the trunk of his own car. He then admitted to driving to Elkhart and robbing and killing a gas station attendant Charles Synder. Ironically, he was waved through a police roadblock with Gary’s body in his trunk. The police didn’t suspect him because he was cool, calm and collected. Larry also admitted to killing airman Vernon LeBenne. Initially he declined a defense attorney so the prosecution ordered a psychiatric evaluation. He told the psychiatrist that he never thought his life would amount to much especially after getting discharged from the military. He had no sense of direction. He admitted feeling worthless and that it sent him into a bad place. He tried to take his own life before and was sent to a hospital for two weeks but he felt that nobody paid attention to his needs.

He also admitted to another murder committed in Nevada.

On October 23, Ranes was sentenced to life without parole for Smocks murder.

While in prison He changed his name to Monk Steppenwolf.