Searching for Larry and Carri Williams usually leads you down two completely different, and frankly jarring, paths. It’s a bit of a "tale of two couples" situation that keeps tripping people up on the internet.
On one side, you have the world of high-stakes finance. Larry Williams is a legend there. He’s the guy who turned ten grand into over a million bucks in a single year. Seriously. His daughter is the Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams, and for decades, Larry has been the face of technical analysis. His name is synonymous with the "Williams %R" indicator you'll see on almost every trading platform from New York to Tokyo.
But then there's the other side. The dark side.
There is another couple—Larry and Carri Williams—from Sedro-Woolley, Washington. Their story has nothing to do with stock charts or "Ultimate Oscillators." Instead, it is a harrowing case of criminal abuse that culminated in the death of their adopted daughter, Hana Williams, in 2011. Because they share the same names as the famous trader and his family members (his ex-wife is Carla, but names get blurred in search bars), things get messy fast.
Let's clear the air and look at what actually happened with both, because honestly, the distinction matters.
The Tragedy of Hana Williams: The "Other" Larry and Carri
Most people landing here are likely looking for the details of the 2013 trial that shocked the Pacific Northwest. This wasn't a business failure; it was a systemic failure of a household.
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Larry and Carri Williams were a couple who followed a very specific, and highly controversial, parenting philosophy. They were devotees of a book called To Train Up a Child, written by Michael and Debi Pearl. The book advocates for "no-break" discipline, which includes using plastic tubing to "swat" children and using cold weather or food deprivation as "training" tools.
In May 2011, their adopted daughter Hana was found dead in the backyard. She was emaciated. She had lost a significant amount of her body weight. The official cause of death was hypothermia and malnutrition.
The details that came out during the seven-week trial were stomach-turning.
- Hana was forced to sleep in a cold barn or a locked closet.
- She was made to shower outside with a garden hose in freezing temperatures.
- The couple also severely abused their adopted son, who survived but bore the physical and emotional scars of their "discipline."
In 2013, a jury found them guilty. Carri Williams was convicted of homicide by abuse and sentenced to 37 years. Larry Williams was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 28 years. If you're looking for "what happened to them," they are currently serving those sentences in the Washington State Department of Corrections.
The Trader Larry Williams: A Different World Entirely
If you’ve switched gears and realized you’re actually looking for the financial wizard, you’re talking about Larry R. Williams. This Larry was born in Montana back in 1942. He isn't in a prison cell; he’s likely looking at a commodity chart or writing his next book.
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Larry R. Williams is basically the "Godfather" of modern momentum trading. In 1987, he entered the Robbins World Cup Championship of Futures Trading. It’s a real-money competition. He started with $10,000. By the end of the 12-month period, his account sat at $1,137,600. That is an 11,376% return. Nobody has ever beaten that record in the history of the competition.
Interestingly, the "Williams" name in trading isn't just about Larry. His daughter, Michelle Williams—yes, the one from Dawson's Creek and The Fabelmans—actually won that same trading competition ten years later. She didn't hit 11,000%, but she turned her $10,000 into $100,000. It’s a weird, fascinating family trait.
Why the Names Get Confused
The confusion usually stems from Larry R. Williams' ex-wife. While the Washington state mother is Carri Williams, the trader was married to Carla Williams. One letter difference. In the world of fast typing and Google Autocomplete, it’s easy to see why the two stories collide.
Larry R. Williams has had his own brushes with the law, but they were purely financial. He fought a massive, decade-long battle with the IRS over tax evasion charges related to his book royalties and offshore accounts. He was even arrested in Australia in 2006 because of a U.S. warrant. Eventually, he settled the case, admitting he was "naive" about certain tax laws, but it’s a far cry from the criminal homicide case in Washington.
The Real Legacy of Larry Williams (The Trader)
If you're here for the business side of things, you should know that Larry Williams didn't just get lucky once in 1987. He fundamentally changed how we look at markets.
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He created the Williams %R. It’s a momentum indicator that measures overbought and oversold levels. Basically, it tells you if a stock has been pushed too far in one direction and is due for a snapback.
- Market Sentiment: He was one of the first guys to scream about the Commitment of Traders (COT) report. He believed that if you want to know where the price is going, you have to watch what the "Big Commercials" (the guys moving the actual oil and grain) are doing.
- Seasonality: Larry proved that markets often move in cycles based on the time of year. For instance, he famously tracked how gold or soy beans tend to behave in certain months across decades of data.
- Position Sizing: He’s a massive advocate for "The 4% Rule" (not the retirement one). He argues that you should never risk more than a tiny fraction of your account on a single trade, because even the best system will hit a losing streak.
He’s written a ton of books, but Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading is the one most people swear by. It’s dense, it’s full of math, and it’s kinda blunt. That’s Larry.
Actionable Insights: Making Sense of the Noise
Whether you came here because of a true crime interest or a financial one, there are two very different lessons to take away.
On the Legal/Social Side:
The case of the Washington Larry and Carri Williams led to significant discussions about the "homeschooling loophole" and the lack of oversight for adopted children in certain states. It remains a landmark case in child advocacy. If you are interested in supporting causes that prevent this kind of tragedy, looking into organizations like the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children or local foster care advocacy groups is a solid move.
On the Financial Side:
If you’re trying to emulate the trader Larry Williams, start by learning his %R indicator.
- Don't ignore the COT: Most retail traders just look at candles. Larry would tell you to look at who is buying those candles.
- Risk Management is everything: He turned $10k into $1.1M, but he also lost millions at various points in his career. The difference between him and a "blown-up" trader is that he stayed in the game.
- Check your sources: Always verify which "Larry Williams" you're reading about. One will teach you how to trade the S&P 500; the other is a cautionary tale of a very different, tragic nature.
The internet has a funny way of flattening people into names and keywords. In the case of Larry and Carri Williams, it’s a reminder that a name can hold both a legacy of brilliance and a history of tragedy, depending on which part of the map you're looking at.
To learn more about the technical side of the trader's work, you should check out the Commitment of Traders (COT) reports published weekly by the CFTC. It’s the raw data Larry uses to find his "Big Money" edge. If you're following the legal case, the Washington State Court of Appeals filings provide the most accurate, non-sensationalized timeline of the 2013 trial.