A 92-year-old man was found beaten to death inside his Baton Rouge home Monday night, and by Tuesday morning police had chased down a car linked to the killing, a pursuit that ended when the vehicle flipped near the intersection of Airline Highway and Greenwell Street. His son was injured in the crash and taken to a hospital.
Larry Salisbury died from injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma, according to WAFB, which reported he was found inside a home along Archery Drive. The Advocate reported Salisbury was found shortly before 6:30 p.m. Monday. Baton Rouge Police identified him as the victim, and investigators say he had been living with his son, Bruce, at the Archery Drive home.
The next morning, officers pursued a vehicle that matched the description of one believed to be connected to the homicide scene, the station's report states. That pursuit ended when the vehicle overturned near the intersection of Airline Highway and Greenwell Street.
Son Booked on First-Degree Murder Charge
Bruce Salisbury was publicly identified as a suspect in his father's killing. After the crash, he was taken to a hospital for injuries and booked after his release. WBRZ reported that he was booked on a first-degree murder charge Tuesday evening. WAFB had reported no charge as of 6 p.m. Tuesday.
WAFB reported that police had been called to Larry and Bruce Salisbury's home twice Sunday over arguments about car keys. Police have not released information about a possible motive, and the homicide investigation remains ongoing, the same report notes. Investigators also have not said what, if any, relationship the overturned vehicle's description had to the scene beyond the match cited by police.
A Protective Order Was Still in Effect
Court records examined by WAFB's I-Team show a protective order had been filed against Bruce Salisbury, but it was rescinded after Larry Salisbury agreed to let his son move back in.
Reporting on Bruce Salisbury's record from earlier this year is inconsistent. The I-Team reported that he pleaded guilty in September to one count of domestic abuse battery and received a six-month sentence with credit for time served, followed by one year of unsupervised probation. A separate account from Unfiltered with Kiran instead described the plea as an amended charge of violating a protective order, a second offense, resulting in two years of supervised probation. The two accounts cannot be reconciled with the information available. WAFB also reported that Bruce Salisbury had a probation review scheduled for November 10, a date that now falls after his father's death.
Homicides Have Held Steady Citywide
The killing comes as Baton Rouge's homicide numbers have held roughly flat year over year. The Advocate reported that the city recorded 42 homicides through the midpoint of 2026, matching the total from the same point in 2025, while the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office logged 11 homicides over the same span, also unchanged from a year earlier. The parishwide total stood at 53 as of June 30.
That same report found overall gun violence up 2% from the prior year even as broader crime trends moved in the other direction, with overall crime within city limits down 7% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, including a 25% drop in robberies and a 7% drop in burglaries.
WBRZ reported that Bruce Salisbury was booked on a first-degree murder charge Tuesday evening. Police have said the investigation into Larry Salisbury's death remains active.
