Experts sift for clues to psychiatrist's plane crash
By Vic Ryckaert
November 21, 2006
Aviation investigators combed a rural area in Illinois today searching for clues that would determine why a prominent Indianapolis psychiatrist's plane crashed, killing him a few hours after he had testified in a murder trial.
Dr. Larry Davis, who served as an expert witness in hundreds of criminal cases, was the only person on board the Piper Cherokee, authorities say, when the plane went down about 5:30 p.m. Monday in a field south of Milford and a few miles west of the Indiana border.
Iroquois County Coroner Bill Cheatum said preliminary results of an autopsy Tuesday found no health problems that could have led to the accident.
“This is horrible,” said Bob Hammerle, an Indianapolis defense attorney. “Aside from the obvious personal tragedy, it’s one of those losses that creates a professional void. There isn’t anyone else that operates at his level.”
Davis, 63, was thrown from the cockpit, Cheatum said. The Iroquois County Sheriff’s Department and the National Transportation Safety Board were still combing through the wreckage today trying to piece together what went wrong.
Sharon Farmer, Davis’ secretary for 25 years, described Davis as kind, loving and caring. He loved to bake cherry pies, make his own noodles and even baked and decorated the cake for his daughter’s wedding, Farmer said.
“He loved his work, he loved his family,” Farmer said. “He was just a great guy.”
Davis and his wife Betty have two grown children, Farmer said. He also was very proud of his two granddaughters.
For decades, Davis testified on behalf of psychotic and sexually deviant criminals in numerous high-profile cases in Central Indiana. Davis was chief psychiatrist for the defense in the case of Anthony G. “Tony” Kiritsis, who made national headlines when he wired a sawed-off shotgun around the neck of an Indianapolis mortgage company executive in 1977 and paraded him through downtown streets.
“He was not only the very best forensic psychiatrist in Indiana and one of the best in the entire country, he was an excellent psychiatrist who helped thousands of people suffering from every kind of psychiatric disorder imaginable,” said J. Richard Kiefer, one of Kiritsis’ attorneys.
“People know Larry because of the cases he was involved in, but what the public doesn’t see is Larry Davis the psychiatrist who genuinely helped dozens of people.”
Prosecutors had a healthy respect for Davis, but rarely called on him as an expert witness.
“I liked him. He was a pleasant fellow,” said Larry Sells, a retired Marion County prosecutor. “I just didn’t agree with darn near every decision he reached.”
Davis has been in practice more than 30 years. At his clinic, a restored historic building at 1431 N. Delaware St., Davis treated mainly patients who suffered from sexual problems. According to his website, Davis helped men deal with penile dysfunction and helped transsexuals arrange sex-change operations.
Davis spent the afternoon testifying in Lasalle County courtroom in Ottawa, Ill., on behalf of a sex offender seeking to be freed from a commitment to a state institution. The judge declined, ruling that the defendant was still a danger to society.
He landed at the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru at 11:42 a.m. Monday and departed at about 5 p.m. in clear weather, office manager Donna Marenda said.
On his way out of court, Davis spoke to bailiff Jim Mazak about the car he had borrowed from the airport.
Mazak called the vehicle a “beat-up Oldsmobile.” Speaking of his conversation with Davis: “He told me it was more dangerous driving the car the airport let him use than it is flying.
Call Star reporter Vic Ryckaertat (317) 444-2761.
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