Man Won $1,000 at a Casino, Then Was Stabbed 88 Times — by a 'Serial Killer' By KC Baker

A Maryland man who had been released early after two murder convictions will spend the rest of his life in prison.

On Wednesday, Nov. 12, Reginald Lively, 68, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the fatal bludgeoning and stabbing of John Hall III, 68, in northwest Baltimore, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates announced in a statement.

“This is a serial killer, and this gentleman needs to be off the streets,” Bates told WBAL.

This is Lively’s third homicide conviction. 

He previously pleaded guilty in 1986 to second-degree murder in connection to the death of Eleanor Williams in Anne Arundel County and served eight years of a 20-year sentence, Bates said in the statement.

After he was released, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection to the death of Willy Mae Arrington in North Carolina in 2000. 

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and served about 12 years before being paroled again. 

“This violent offender should never have been allowed to walk free,” Bates said in the statement.

Lively’s third killing came to authorities’ attention on May 28, 2021, when police responded to a call about a person in an apartment building who was “bloody and unresponsive,” per the statement.

A maintenance man told police he had been receiving complaints about water dripping into apartments on the first and second floors and went to Hall’s apartment to see what was going on. 

Maintenance workers found Hall “on the floor, bleeding, and covered with a blanket,” Bates says in the statement. 

Hall was pronounced dead at the scene.

The medical examiner ruled Hall’s death a homicide caused by blunt-force and sharp-force trauma.

He had suffered at least 17 blunt-force trauma injuries and a total of 88 sharp-force trauma injuries.

During the ensuing investigation, detectives learned that Hall had won approximately $1,000 at a casino the previous evening, but no large sums of money were found at the crime scene.

Lively, who lived in the same building, was soon eyed as a person of interest.

Security video reviewed by investigators showed Lively leaving his apartment at 6:17 a.m. and getting into the elevator.  At 6:52 a.m., when he  emerged from the elevator, he was seen “carrying a plastic bag with an unknown weighted object that appeared through the bag and was covered with something reddish in color.”

He didn’t have a bag with him when he initially got on the elevator. 

“The video also showed the defendant returning to the building at 7:03 a.m. through the side door of the building without the bag,” Bates said in the statement.

Investigators then learned that Hall had accused Lively previously of taking an unknown amount of money from him.

Lively initially denied having anything to do with Hall’s murder, saying he was asleep at the time of the slaying.

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When confronted with pictures of him carrying a bag in the early morning hours, he said he was carrying a wrench he had gotten from another floor in the building.

But then, Bates said in the statement, “DNA analysis circumstantially confirmed the defendant’s presence in the victim’s apartment.”

Lively was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty.

Bates credits Cold Case Unit Chief Kurt Bjorklund for not giving up on this case.

“We don’t have a strong motive other than there was money missing from his apartment,” Bjorklund told WBAL. “Completely pointless killing. We were able to give a measure of justice to John’s family.”

Hall’s family was happy with the verdict. “We got justice today, that’s the main thing (for which) we are happy, as a family, everything we went through, the trial and case,” George Hancock, Hall’s nephew, told WBAL.