NORMAN. – New details have emerged in the investigation surrounding the death of 76-year-old Larry D. Fox on January 30th, leading to the arrest of his 28-year-old son, Robert Walter Dean Fox, of Norman. Robert Fox was booked into the Jackson County Jail on April 17th on a murder charge.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the investigation conducted by Detective Jesse Hutchinson of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department revealed a potential motive related to inheritance. Larry Fox and his wife reportedly owned approximately 700 acres of real estate. Weeks before the murder, Larry Fox allegedly told his son that he intended to reduce Robert’s share of the family land inheritance due to Robert’s perceived lack of work ethic.
Detective Hutchinson detailed in the affidavit an interview conducted on February 20th with an individual who knew the location of the murder weapon: a black Stevens model 230 pump-action 12-gauge shotgun. This witness told police he met with Robert Fox on the night of Larry’s murder, though he was not initially told the reason.
The witness stated that Robert Fox instructed him to stand near a fence. From that position, the witness overheard Larry and Robert speaking without yelling. The witness then saw a flash, heard a gunshot, and witnessed Larry fall towards his son. Robert Fox allegedly told the witness, “It was finally over,” and asked the witness to shoot him in the arm, which the witness refused. Robert Fox then reportedly shot himself in the left arm. Both men left the scene and returned to a nearby barn lot.
The witness recounted that Robert Fox abruptly stopped their vehicle on the road, exited, and shot the windshield of his Dodge Durango. Afterward, Fox allegedly threw the shotgun at the witness and instructed him to dispose of it in a lake or pond.
The investigation began on the evening of January 30th after Robert Fox’s wife called 911 to report her husband had been shot and located him in a barn in the 11000 block of West County Road 325 North. First responders found Larry Fox deceased at the scene.
A search warrant led investigators to discover an AR-style rifle, 9 mm shell casings, blood, cellphones, a flashlight, eyeglasses, a ball cap, and red 12-gauge spent shotgun shells at the location where Robert Fox claimed he was when the initial gunshots occurred.
In an interview, Robert Fox told detectives he had called his father because of suspected trespassers near the barn. However, records from Larry Fox’s phone indicated three calls between him and his son prior to the incident, the last lasting approximately one minute and 39 seconds and ending at 8:44 p.m.
Robert Fox claimed that upon Larry’s arrival at the barn, they spoke briefly before he heard gunshots to the east, causing his father to fall. Fox stated he then fired three to four shots from his 9 mm handgun towards the woods and was subsequently struck in the forearm by another shot. He admitted to dragging his father’s body into an adjacent room of the barn before fleeing to his home, about two miles away. Fox also claimed another shot struck his vehicle’s windshield as he fled. However, Detective Hutchinson noted that Robert Fox’s account did not align with the physical evidence.
An autopsy revealed Larry Fox had a bruise on his back consistent with being struck by shotgun pellets at high velocity. Damage to Larry’s jacket also matched penetration by buckshot from a shotgun containing white binding material. A firearms examiner determined the close-range pattern of the shotgun wounds contradicted Robert Fox’s claim of being over 30 feet away when the fatal shot was fired.
Investigators also recovered a trail camera from the barn, which appeared to have been shot. The intact SD card contained images, the last showing a flashlight shining at the camera around 10:21 p.m. on January 21st. A witness corroborated that he and Robert Fox were at the barn around the time the camera was shot with the same weapon used in Larry Fox’s murder. Investigators determined three buckshot rounds had been fired from the shotgun, which had been gifted to Robert Fox years prior. Notably, when the trail camera was shot, Larry Fox was in Baltimore, Maryland.
Robert Fox is being held in the Jackson County Jail without bond on a charge of murder. He is scheduled for a pretrial conference in Jackson County Circuit Court on June 5 at 11:30 a.m. A jury trial is scheduled for October 7 at 8:30 a.m. with Judge Richard W. Poynter presiding.
All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This article is based on the information provided in the Probable Cause Affidavit and does not represent a final determination of guilt or innocence.
