Man tracked his husband to Walmart by putting device under his car before stabbing him and then trying to orchestrate second attack from jail

Background: The Walmart store on Nashville Pike in Gallatin, Tenn. (Google Maps). Inset: Larry Wayne Cole (Sumner County District Attorney's Office).

A man in Tennessee will spend the next several decades behind bars for tracking his husband to a Walmart and stabbing him — before trying to finish what he started once he was locked up.

Larry Wayne Cole has been sentenced to 42 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder, "and assaults on two law enforcement officers while incarcerated," the Sumner County District Attorney's Office announced.

On July 30, 2024, Cole "tracked his former spouse's movements by secretly placing an electronic surveillance device on the victim's vehicle," the prosecutorial agency stated. This led the defendant to a Walmart in Gallatin, Tennessee, a city some 30 miles northeast of Nashville.

The defendant spotted the victim in a vehicle in the parking lot, and broke in and "repeatedly stabbed" him before "fleeing the scene." The victim was his husband, regional CBS affiliate WTVF reported, and he was later listed in stable condition.

After the attack, Cole fled the scene in a Volkswagen Jetta with a license plate bearing his name and traveled north to Maine, before trying to cross into Canada, authorities said. He was arrested and thrown in jail.

"While awaiting trial in the Sumner County Jail in 2025, Cole attempted to orchestrate a second attack," according to the DA's office. "He solicited another inmate, who was preparing to be released from custody, to murder the victim and the victim's entire family" at their home in Wilson County, which is just south of Sumner County.

"Fortunately, the inmate immediately notified local authorities," the agency continued. Investigators recovered maps of the victim's home, "coded references identifying the home's location, and evidence that Cole had offered payment in exchange for the murders."

While jailed, Cole also attacked two correctional officers with the Sumner County Sheriff's Office, authorities said.