LINCOLN — Lincoln Police didn’t have to go far to arrest a murder suspect. 46-year-old Alaric Harden was arrested Thursday at the Lancaster County Jail where he was already in custody on unrelated charges.
Public Information Officer Erika Thomas says he was booked for first-degree murder and using a weapon to commit a felony in the death of 76-year-old Larry Cole in December, 2023.
Officers were called to a home near 12th and New Hampshire in the North Bottoms to do a welfare check on Cole. “The front door was found barricaded with a strong odor of natural gas coming from inside the residence.,” Thomas says.
“Officers requested assistance from Lincoln Fire & Rescue. When LFR entered the home, they found Harden inside. He was taken to the hospital for natural gas exposure.” Thomas says they also found Cole’s body in the living room where it appeared he had been dead for several days.
“An autopsy determined Cole’s cause of death to be stab wounds to the head, neck and torso along with blunt force trauma to the head.” During the investigation, the state crime lab determined a knife found next to the kitchen sink had both the victim and suspect’s DNA on the blade and the suspect’s DNA on the handle.
What led up to Cole’s death is under investigation.
