Larry Gene Bell (October 30, 1949 – October 4, 1996) was an American double murderer in Lexington County, South Carolina, who was electrocuted for the murders of Sharon "Shari" Faye Smith and Debra May Helmick. Bell forced Smith to write a "Last Will and Testament" before he murdered her and taunted her parents by telephone.
Seventeen-year-old Shari Faye Smith was abducted from the driveway of her Lexington County, South Carolina home on Friday, May 31, 1985, at approximately 3:15 p.m., two days before her high school graduation. State officials and local F.B.I. agents initiated the largest manhunt in South Carolina history, which lasted until her body was found on June 5, 1985. Larry Gene Bell was convicted of her murder and that of Debra May Helmick, a little girl he kidnapped and murdered exactly two weeks after he kidnapped Shari. He was given two death sentences and was executed in the electric chair in South Carolina on October 4, 1996.
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The TV movie Nightmare in Columbia County (1991) with Jeri Ryan, was based on his crimes. He was the 346th person to be executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
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