The Karen Grammer Story

The Trail Dips South

While on a trip to Florida, tracking down a potential witness in the Watson killing, Smit and Heim got word that Dunn, the one-time roommate of Corbett and Glenn, had left Colorado Springs and headed south. Using old-fashioned shoe leather, Smit tracked Dunn to New Orleans. They charged him with an unrelated Colorado crime and, after securing a federal warrant, Smit and Heim persuaded the New Orleans police to arrest him.

New Orleans Police logo

"Lou and I went down to the New Orleans House of Detention down there," Heim told Crimelibrary in a recent interview. "We walked into a room with Dunn there and I said, 'I think you know about seven murders that we want to know about. I don't think you had anything to do with the murders except that you were there when they occurred and I think you can tell us what happened. Am I right?' "

Larry Dunn

At first, Dunn was silent. A tape recorder hummed on the interview table.

"You don't have to say anything," Heim continued. "Just nod your head yes or no."

"He nodded his head 'yes,'" Heim told Crime Library. "And I said, 'I will give you immunity from your involvement in any of those crimes if you will tell me what happened and who did it.'"

Dunn hesitated briefly. Then, Heim said, he began his sickening litany of mayhem.