PLATTSBURGH — A man on the run who State Police believe is responsible for the murder of a Plattsburgh woman in 2022 has been indicted for murder.
According to State Police, the Clinton County District Attorney’s office reported that Larry M. Hicks Jr., 47, of Tabor City, N.C., was indicted by a Clinton County Grand Jury on Jan. 24 for second-degree murder and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
JULY 14, 2022
The charges stem from an incident on July 14, 2022, where State Police went to Westwood Drive in Plattsburgh to check on Monique R. Yanulavich, 45, at about 1:19 p.m.
Yanulavich was not there and law enforcement started looking for her in local areas.
She was found deceased in her vehicle in the parking lot of Champlain National Bank on Route 3 in Plattsburgh around 5:45 p.m. that day.
An autopsy was performed on Yanulavich by Forensic Pathologist, Doctor Michael Sikirica, at Glens Falls Hospital. The cause of death was determined to be multiple stab wounds and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, police said.
A multi-agency investigation led by the State Police determined that Hicks was responsible for the murder of Yanulavich.
Based on evidence, State Police determined that Hicks fled New York.
Hicks is a white male, 6’7” in height, weighs approximately 300 pounds, has blue eyes, and brown and gray hair, police said.
2001 MURDER
Police confirmed in 2022 that Hicks had been charged with murder in the strangulation death of his sister-in-law, Kimberly Michelle Jacobs Suggs on March 8, 2001, in South Carolina.
It was reported that Hicks “pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter … and was sentenced to five years in prison in Darlington County general sessions court.”
More details surrounding the murder were revealed by then assistant Fourth Circuit Solicitor for Darlington County, Sherrie Baugh, in a newspaper article.
“Suggs was found dead in her home on the morning of March 8 by her husband, Christopher Suggs. He had been called back to the house from his job by a relative who had tried to reach the victim by phone and got the victim’s 3-year-old daughter instead,” Baugh said in the article.
“Baugh said Hicks went to Suggs’ home…that morning and strangled her after an argument.”
SEEKING HICKS
State Police said in 2022 that they determined that Hicks fled New York, traveling to North Carolina on a 2015 Honda Goldwing Motorcycle.
On July 15, 2022, he was caught on a surveillance camera in South Carolina, and was last seen on July 21, boarding a bus in Corpus Christi, Texas, bound for Brownsville, Texas, which borders Mexico.
State Police continue to actively search for Hicks, and continue to ask the public for assistance regarding the whereabouts of him.
If anyone has information, they are asked to contact the New York State Police at 518-563-3761.
“Monique R. Yanulavich and her family deserve justice,” police said.
State Police were assisted in the investigation by the Plattsburgh City Police Department, Clinton County Sheriff’s Department, SUNY Plattsburgh Police Department, New York State Forest Rangers, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations and Darlington County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Office.