Johnson City Police officers have arrested one man on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder and insurance fraud.
This morning, officers arrested Dale Keith Larkin, #2 Wayland Court, Johnson City.
The arrest stems from a six-year investigation into the death of Larkin’s wife, Teresa “Teri” Larkin, who was found unresponsive at their home in November of 2003.
The home where the Larkin’s lived together, on Wayland Court, is a high-income neighborhood and, before her death, Teri Larkin was a pharmaceutical sales representative.
According to police, Dale Larkin is unemployed. However, his brother, Dr. Donald Larkin, says that Dale manages a real estate business.
At a press conference held today, police released that information as well as information about life insurance policies taken out by Dale Larkin on Teri Larkin. In the two years before her death, police say that four separate insurance policies, totaling $1 million, were taken out on Teri.
Dale Larkin has since collected most or all of the money from those policies, despite a three-year waiting period and an investigation by the insurance companies.
At the time Teri Larkin was found by her daughter, emergency crews were called to the scene – but police were not called.
Larkin’s body was removed from the home, where she was found in a bathtub. An autopsy was performed soon after, and at that time police were called.
Police say that Dale Larkin was a suspect from the beginning of their investigation – since he admitted to being home at the time. However, since they were not able to conduct a search of the crime scene in time and the first autopsy was inconclusive, no evidence was found.
In March 2009 police say they were able to exhume Teri Larkin’s body from the grave and a second autopsy was performed in Knoxville. The results of that autopsy provided police with more evidence as to how she died.
The autopsy showed she died from suffocation and blunt force trauma was found all over her body. She also had some broken bones. All of this evidence pointed to murder, according to police.
Larkin is currently being held without bond in the Washington County Detention Center and will appear in court tomorrow morning.
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