American murderer (1936?2001)
Henry Lee Lucas
|
---|
Mugshot taken of Lucas in June 1983
|
Born
| (
1936-08-23
)
August 23, 1936
|
---|
Died
| March 12, 2001
(2001-03-12)
(aged 64)
|
---|
|
Conviction(s)
| Capital murder
|
---|
Criminal penalty
| Death
; commuted to
life imprisonment
|
---|
|
Victims
| 3 confirmed
250+ claimed
[1]
|
---|
Span of crimes
| 1960?1983
|
---|
Country
| United States
|
---|
State(s)
| Michigan
and
Texas
|
---|
Date apprehended
| June 11, 1983
|
---|
|
Henry Lee Lucas
(August 23, 1936 ? March 12, 2001), also known as
The Confession Killer
, was an American convicted murderer. Lucas was convicted of murdering his mother in 1960 and two others in 1983. He rose to infamy as a claimed
serial killer
while incarcerated for these crimes when he falsely confessed to approximately six hundred other murders to
Texas Rangers
and other law enforcement officials. Many unsolved cases were closed based on the confessions and the murders officially attributed to Lucas. Lucas was convicted of murdering eleven people and
condemned to death
for a single case with a then-unidentified victim, later identified as
Debra Jackson
.
An investigation by the
Dallas Times-Herald
newspaper showed that many of the murders Lucas confessed to were impossible for him to have committed. While the Rangers defended their work, a follow-up investigation by the
Attorney General of Texas
concluded Lucas was a fabulist who had falsely confessed. Lucas' death sentence was commuted to
life in prison
in 1998. Lucas later recanted his confessions as a hoax with the exception of his confession to murdering his mother. He died of
congestive heart failure
in 2001.
[2]
Lucas' case damaged the reputation of the
Texas Ranger Division
, caused a re-evaluation in police techniques, and created greater awareness of the possibility of
false confessions
. Investigators did not consider that the apparently trivial comforts such as steak dinners, milkshakes, and access to television in return for "confessions" to crimes of extreme seriousness might encourage prisoners such as Lucas, who had little to lose, to make
false confessions
. Investigators also let Lucas see the case files so he could "refresh his memory", making it easy to seemingly demonstrate knowledge of facts that only the perpetrator would know. The police also did not record their interviews, making it impossible to know for sure how much information interviewers gave Lucas unprompted.
Early life and criminal history
[
edit
]
Background
[
edit
]
Henry Lucas was born the youngest of nine children on August 23, 1936, in a one-room
log cabin
in
Blacksburg, Virginia
, to parents Nellie Viola Lucas (1888?1960) and Anderson Lucas (1901?1951), a double
amputee
.
[3]
Lucas' father earned the nickname "No Legs" after losing both of his legs in a
freight train
accident. "My daddy didn't do anything," Lucas later said. "He just sold
pencils
." When Lucas was eight, he was beaten by his mother about the head with a wooden plank which caused him to spend three days in a
coma
. Lucas developed an infection in his left eye at age ten, when one of his brothers struck him with a knife.
[4]
His mother ignored the injury for several days until a teacher swiped him over his eye with a steel-tipped
ruler
and the eyeball burst; it had to be surgically removed and it was replaced with a glass
prosthetic
.
Lucas' mother was a
prostitute
who would force her son to watch her engaging in sex with clients. "First thing I can remember was when my mom was in bed with another man in the house, and she made me watch it," Lucas said. "I just couldn't stand there and watch. I had to turn my back and walk out of the house, and after I did that, she beat me, 'cause I didn't watch it." Nellie would also make him
cross-dress
in public, purportedly so she could later pimp him out to men and women alike.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[3]
[7]
Eventually, Lucas' schoolteachers complained about the cross-dressing, and a
court order
put an end to it.
[7]
Despite this, Nellie continued to abuse and torment Lucas by shooting and killing a
mule
given to him by an uncle and proceeding to beat him because she had to pay to have the
animal carcass
removed.
Lucas was frequently ridiculed as a child and later cited the mass rejection by his peers as a cause for his misanthropy. Commenting on his childhood, Lucas stated:
I hated all my life. I hated everybody. When I first grew up and can remember, I was dressed as a girl by my mother. And I stayed that way for two or three years. And after that I was treated like what I call the dog of the family. I was beaten. I was made to do things that no human bein' would want to do.
[8]
On October 24, 1951, Lucas' alcoholic father died of
hypothermia
after drinking to intoxication and collapsing outside during a
blizzard
. Shortly thereafter, while in the sixth grade, Lucas dropped out of school and ran away from home, drifting around
Virginia
. As an adolescent, Lucas began an
incestuous
sexual relationship
with his half-brother and started engaging in
bestiality
, often capturing small animals and performing
sexual acts
on them before killing them. On June 10, 1954, Lucas was convicted on over a dozen counts of
burglary
in and around
Richmond, Virginia
, and was sentenced to four years in prison. He escaped in 1957, was recaptured three days later, and was subsequently released on September 2, 1959.
[9]
[10]
First murder
[
edit
]
Lucas claimed to have committed his first
homicide
in 1951, when he strangled 17-year-old Laura Everlean Burnsley.
[11]
Burnsley disappeared from a bus stop in
Lynchburg, Virginia
, in March 1951; Lucas confessed to her murder on February 15, 1984. According to Lucas, he picked her up near
Lynchburg, Virginia
, and after she refused his sexual advances and resisted an unsuccessful
rape
attempt, he killed her and buried her body in a secluded wooded area near
Harrisburg, Virginia
. "It scared me quite a bit," Lucas said. "Because the first girl I killed was when I was 14-years-old. I wanted to try the sex I'd been watching." "I got to playing too rough with her," he said. "The pressure of seeing my mom hit
me
?
and my emotions more or less took over, and I couldn't quite handle it." As with most of his confessions, Lucas later retracted this claim.
[9]
[10]
Burnsley has never been found.
Matricide
[
edit
]
In late 1959, Lucas traveled to
Tecumseh, Michigan
, to live with his half-sister, Opal Retta Jennings. Around this time, he was engaged to marry a
pen pal
, Stella Curtis, with whom he had corresponded while incarcerated. When Lucas' mother, 71-year-old Nellie Viola Lucas, visited him for
Christmas
, she disapproved of her son's
fiancee
and insisted he move back to
Blacksburg, Virginia
, to take care of her as she grew older. When he refused, they argued repeatedly.
[3]
These arguments escalated until January 11, 1960, when she struck him over the head with a broom, at which point he
stabbed her
in the neck.
[3]
Lucas then fled the scene. "I was pretty well drunk when she started arguing with me, wanting me to go back to live with her to Virginia, but I told her I didn’t want nothing to do with her," Lucas remembered. He elaborated:
All I remember was slapping her alongside the neck, but after I did that I saw her fall and decided to grab her. But she fell to the floor and when I went back to pick her up, I realized she was dead. Then I noticed that I had my knife in my hand and she had been cut.
[3]
Opal returned later and discovered their mother alive on the bedroom floor, but in a pool of her own blood. She called an
ambulance
, but it arrived too late. The official police report stated that Lucas' mother died of a
heart attack
precipitated by the assault. Lucas was soon arrested in
Ohio
on the outstanding Michigan
warrant
. He claimed to have killed his mother in
self-defense
; Lucas said, "I’ve got gashes in the back of my head. I’ve got black and blue marks on my body from being beaten every day. If I didn’t do something she wanted, I got beaten." But his claim was rejected and he was sentenced to up to 40 years imprisonment in
Jackson State Penitentiary
in southern Michigan for
second-degree murder
. Lucas attempted suicide several times by slashing his wrists and stomach with a razor.
Henry was then transferred to the
Ionia State Hospital
, where he was subjected to
electric shocks
,
behavior therapy
and heavy doses of
anti-depressants
. Henry spent four years at
Ionia State Hospital
before returning to prison in 1966, where a social worker met Lucas while he was incarcerated and described him as "a very inadequate individual with feelings of insecurity and inferiority." After serving 10 years in prison, he was released on June 3, 1970, due to
prison overcrowding
.
[3]
Murders
[
edit
]
Claimed killing spree
[
edit
]
In December 1971, he was charged and sentenced to four or five years in
prison
for attempting to
abduct
a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint. He was also in violation of his
probation
by having a
handgun
in his possession. While serving his sentence for the crime, he established a relationship with a family friend and the widow of a cousin, Betty Crawford, who had written to him. After being released from prison in August 1975, he moved to
Port Deposit, Maryland
, where he married Crawford and moved in with her and her two daughters in
Pennsylvania
on December 5, 1975, and began working at a
mushroom farm
. Their marriage ended in 1976 when Betty accused Henry of molesting her daughters.
[3]
Lucas then went to
Jacksonville, Florida
, in 1976, and ended up at a
soup kitchen
where he met
Ottis Elwood Toole
, a part-time
transvestite
, and struck up a friendship with him. In 1978, he moved in with Toole's mother in
Springfield, Florida
, and became close to Toole's niece, 11-year-old Frieda Lorraine "Becky" Powell, who had a mild
intellectual disability
and had escaped from a
juvenile detention center
.
[3]
A period of stability followed,
[13]
[14]
with Lucas and Toole working together in a
roofing company
between 1979 and 1981.
According to Lucas, during this time they engaged in a multi-state killing spree in which they targeted
hitchhikers
,
sex workers
, and
migrants
. He also claimed that Toole enjoyed
crucifying
their victims, then barbecuing and eating them. After their arrest, they were caught discussing
cannibalism
over a prison phone. "Remember how I liked to pour some blood out of them?" Toole asked Lucas. "Some tastes like real meat when it's got barbecue sauce on it."
[15]
Powell would also occasionally travel with the men as well and may have even helped Lucas and Toole lure potential victims.
[11]
When interviewed about his crime spree, Lucas stated:
I killed 'em every way there is except poison. There's been strangulations, there's been knifings, there's been shootings, there's been hit-and-runs... I didn't have any [emotions]... I had no feelings for the people themselves, or any of my crimes... I'd pick them up hitchhiking, running and playing, stuff like that. We'd get to going and having a good time. First thing you know, I'd killed her and throwed her out somewhere. I don't know how to really explain why I kept on. It was just, like I say, as though I left my body. And just as though the more you look at them, as though that person wasn't dead. And you just keep stabbing them and imagining that person's not dying.
[11]
Arrest, confession to murders of Powell and Rich
[
edit
]
On January 20, 1982, Lucas convinced Powell to run away with him to avoid
child welfare
authorities and they lived on the road, eventually traveling to
California
, where an employer's wife asked them to work for her infirm mother, 82-year-old Katie Pearl "Kate" Rich.
[3]
However, Rich's family turned the couple out, accusing them of failing to do their jobs and writing
cheques
on Rich's
bank account
. While
hitchhiking
, Lucas and Powell were picked up by the minister of a Pentecostal
[16]
religious
commune
called The House of Prayer, located in
Stoneburg, Texas
.
[17]
Believing Lucas and the 15-year-old Powell were a married couple, the minister found Lucas a job as a
roofer
while allowing the couple to stay in a small apartment on the commune where they even attended church services.
[18]
However, Powell became argumentative and homesick for
Florida
; when she turned up absent, Lucas claimed that she left at a truck stop in
Bowie, Texas
.
On June 10, 1983, Lucas was arrested on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by
Texas Ranger
Phil Ryan
. While in jail he wrote a letter to the sheriff; "I have killed for the past 10 years and no one will believe me. I cannot go on doing this. I also killed the only girl I ever loved." Later, he confessed to the murders of Powell and Rich, and led the police to their purported remains, although
forensic
evidence alone was inconclusive and the
coroner
stopped short of positively identifying either of them.
Lucas claimed he had lured Powell to an isolated field in
Denton, Texas
, on August 23, 1982, stabbed her in the chest; engaged in
necrophilia
with her
corpse
,
dismembered
,
decapitated
her
post-mortem
and scattered her body pieces. Then in
Ringgold, Texas
, on September 16, 1982, Lucas lured Rich to join him in a search for Becky on a camping ground. He then stabbed her in the chest; carved an inverted cross on her chest
post-mortem
and engaged in
necrophilia
with her corpse as well, before stuffing her body into a
drainage
pipe
. Lucas' participation in the investigation would serve to boost his credibility in later confessions to other crimes. Lucas later denied involvement, but the consensus is that he did murder Powell and Rich.
[17]
False confession spree
[
edit
]
In November 1983, Lucas was transferred to a jail in
Williamson County, Texas
. He reported that he attempted
suicide
after receiving rough treatment by the inmates, and claimed that police stripped him
naked
, denied him
cigarettes
and bedding, held him in a cold cell, mutilated his
genitalia
, and did not allow him to contact an attorney.
[19]
After four days in jail, Lucas pleaded guilty to the two murders of Powell and Rich in court but then also claimed to have committed over a hundred additional murders. In interviews with law enforcement personnel, Lucas confessed to numerous additional unsolved killings. It was thought that there was positive corroboration with Lucas' confessions in twenty-eight unsolved murders, so the
Lucas Task Force
was established by
James B. Adams
, the director of the
Texas Department of Public Safety
.
[19]
The task force officially cleared hundreds of previously unsolved
homicides
as a result of Lucas' confessions. Lucas received preferential treatment that was extremely lax for someone supposedly thought to be a
mass murderer
. He was frequently taken to
restaurants
and
cafes
, rarely handcuffed, allowed to wander police stations and jails, and he even knew codes for security doors.
[20]
[17]
Later attempts at determining Lucas' involvement in his confessed crimes were complicated when it was discovered he had been given access to information in the files of cases he was confessing to.
[21]
There were suggestions that the interview tapes showed that Lucas would read the reactions of those interviewing him and alter what he was saying, thereby making his confessions more consistent with facts known to
law enforcement
.
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
Discredited
[
edit
]
Journalist
Hugh Aynesworth
and others investigated the veracity of Lucas' claims for articles that appeared in
The Dallas Times Herald
. They calculated that Lucas would have had to use his 13-year-old Ford station wagon to cover 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometres) in one month to have committed the crimes police attributed to him.
[5]
After the story appeared in April 1985 and revealed the flawed methods of the
task force
, law enforcement opinion began to turn against their claims that crimes had been solved.
[25]
[26]
The bulk of the Lucas Report was devoted to a detailed timeline of Lucas' claimed murders. The report compared his claims to reliable, verifiable sources for his whereabouts; the results often contradicted his confessions, thus casting doubt on his participation in most of the crimes he had confessed to.
Texas Attorney General
Jim Mattox
wrote that "when Lucas was confessing to hundreds of murders, those with custody of Lucas did nothing to bring an end to this hoax
... we have found information that would lead us to believe that some officials 'cleared cases' just to get them off the books."
[17]
Lucas' case damaged the reputation of the
Texas Ranger Division
, caused a re-evaluation in police techniques, and created greater awareness of the possibility of
false confessions
. Investigators did not consider that the apparently trivial comforts such as steak dinners, milkshakes, and access to television in return for "confessions" to crimes of extreme seriousness might encourage prisoners such as Lucas, who had little to lose, to make
false confessions
. Investigators also let Lucas see the case files so he could "refresh his memory", making it easy to seemingly demonstrate knowledge of facts that only the perpetrator would know. The police also did not record their interviews, making it impossible to know for sure how much information interviewers accidentally gave Lucas unprompted.
[27]
Incarceration and death
[
edit
]
Lucas was ultimately convicted of eleven
homicides
including those of his mother along with Powell and Rich. He had been
sentenced to death
for one, a then-unidentified woman dubbed as "
Orange Socks
", whose body was found in
Williamson County
on
Halloween
1979, despite a time sheet recording his presence at work in
Jacksonville, Florida
, on that day.
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31]
[32]
Lucas was granted a stay on his death sentence after it was discovered that details in his confession came from the case file which he had been given to read. The sentence was
commuted
to
life imprisonment
in 1998 by then-
Governor
George W. Bush
.
[33]
On March
12, 2001, at 11:00
p.m., Lucas was found dead in prison from
congestive heart failure
at age 64. He is buried at
Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery
in
Huntsville, Texas
.
[34]
Victims
[
edit
]
Differing opinions
[
edit
]
Lucas' credibility was damaged by his lack of precision: he initially admitted to having killed sixty people, a number he raised to over one hundred victims, which police accepted, and then to a figure of six hundred that led to him not being taken seriously.
DNA evidence
has verified that Lucas did not kill twenty of his supposed victims.
[35]
Of more than three thousand murder cases in which he was a suspect, police believed more than two hundred cases were committed by him.
[36]
However, he remained publicized as
America
's most prolific
serial killer
, despite denials such as stating, "I am not a serial killer."
[17]
[37]
Some continue to believe, nonetheless, that Lucas was responsible for a massive number of killings. Criminologist Eric Hickey cites an unnamed "investigator" who interviewed Lucas several times and concluded that he had probably killed about forty people.
[38]
Such assertions were given little credence, with the
lawmen
involved refusing to corroborate these claims.
[39]
[40]
An experienced
Texas Ranger
to whom Ryan's team allowed access to Lucas said that although it was obvious to him that Lucas often lied, there was an instance where he demonstrated guilty knowledge. "I remember him trying to cop to one he didn't do, but there was another murder case where I'll kiss your butt if he didn't lead us right to the deer stand where the murder took place. Ain't no way he could've guessed that, and I damn sure didn't tell him. I think he did that one."
[40]
Other Rangers had similar experiences with Lucas.
[41]
Convicted
[
edit
]
In total, Lucas was convicted of eleven murders including the deaths of Viola Lucas, Becky Powell and Kate Rich. The eight other victims that Lucas was convicted of murder for are as follows:
- 26-year-old
schoolteacher
Linda Jane Phillips disappeared on August 8, 1970, in the
Dallas
suburb of
Richardson, Texas
, while returning from a party to her parents' home in
Kaufman County
. Her mutilated body was found on August 10. She sustained twenty-six stab wounds and had been
sexually abused
. Lucas confessed to the murder and claimed he forced Phillips' car off the road at about 2:30 a.m. Lucas then allegedly forced her into his car at gunpoint, made her disrobe and then stabbed her in the
throat
, chest and
stomach
.
[42]
- The body of
Patrolman
Clemmie Everett Curtis, 30, was found on August 3, 1976, handcuffed near his patrol car in a wooded area just outside of the
Huntington, West Virginia
, city limit. He had been shot through the chest once. Lucas confessed that he and Toole had killed Curtis.
[43]
- Lillie Pearl Darty, 18, accepted a ride with Lucas on November 11, 1977, at a
gas station
in
Harrison County
and later was
sexually assaulted
and shot in the head.
[44]
Her decomposing body was found three weeks later in a wooded area north of
Marshall, Texas
.
- 23-year-old
Debra Louise Jackson
,
[45]
informally known as "Orange Socks" when unidentified, is believed to have been murdered on October 30 or 31, 1979, in
Georgetown, Texas
. Her body was found naked, except for the pair of orange socks from which the nickname was derived.
[46]
[47]
She had been
strangled
, and was believed to have died only hours before the discovery.
[48]
- On April 26, 1981, Lucas allegedly broke into the apartment of 17-year-old
babysitter
Dianna Lynn Bryant in
Brownfield, Texas
, with the intent of robbing it. He then took a knife he carried to cut loose the cord on a
vacuum cleaner
and used it to strangle Bryant. Dianna's father was satisfied with Lucas' confession and the case was closed.
[49]
- Glenna Fay Biggers, 65, was found by a neighbour on December 20, 1982, in
Hale County, Texas
. A
butcher knife
had been thrust into her stomach and a
fork
into her throat. According to Lucas, he broke into her home, killed her and then stole $180.
[50]
- Laura Marie Purchase, 26, was discovered on March 17, 1983, dead in a burning wooded area near League Line Road in
Montgomery County, Texas
. Purchase had been reported missing from
Houston
on March 5. An
autopsy
determined that she had been
sexually assaulted
and strangled. In 2008, DNA testing ruled Lucas out as suspect in Purchase's case. In 2021, another man was charged with her murder.
[51]
- On April 16, 1983, 16-year-old Laura Jean Donez skipped school in
Houston, Texas
, but was never seen again. On April 18, 1983, an oilfield worker spotted a fire burning in a wooded area near a logging road in
Montgomery County, Texas
. Donez had been strangled,
raped
, beaten about the head, and her body burned after death. Lucas confessed to Donez's murder and was able to lead police to where her body was discovered.
[52]
Suspected
[
edit
]
Although almost all of Lucas' confessions have been discredited or entirely proven false, both he and Toole still remain credible suspects in the deaths of several women based on compelling
circumstantial evidence
. Cases in which they are both seen as viable suspects are as follows:
- On June 27, 1977, detectives responded to a wooded area off Old Union Church Road outside of
Townsend, Delaware
, after the remains of 50-year-old Marie Petry Heiser were discovered in an open field.
[53]
She had suffered
blunt-force trauma
to her head and had fought back against her assailant. Lucas lived in
Elkton, Maryland
, at the time near to where Heiser's remains were found.
[54]
Investigators also found that writings Lucas made had many similarities to the
crime scene
.
- 45-year-old Stella Ellen McLean disappeared from a restaurant in
Scottsbluff, Nebraska
, on February 7, 1978. On April 15, 1978, her headless body was discovered near
Interstate 25
in
Platte County, Wyoming
. She had been
raped
and strangled; her head was never recovered.
[55]
In September 1984, Jim Larson, an investigator for the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Department in
Nebraska
, questioned Lucas about Stella's murder. Larson asked deceptive questions to test Lucas, but apparently, Lucas offered compelling
testimony
to support his claims of killing McLean.
- 40-year-old Janet Lee Callies was last seen at the Sandbar, a bar near
Interstate 80
in
Grand Island, Nebraska
, on November 15, 1978.
[56]
[57]
In 1984, Lucas confessed to Callies' murder and stated that he and Toole had strangled Callies and buried her body "somewhere between the north edge of Grand Island and the
South Dakota
border."
[58]
Lucas managed to recall personal details about Callies, such as how she had three children.
- 19-year-old Cheryl Anne Scherer was last seen working her shift at the Rhoades Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own Station self-service
gas station
in
Scott City, Missouri
, on April 17, 1979, at 11:45 a.m.
[59]
Toole and Lucas both admitted to authorities that they had killed and abducted a young woman nearby about the time that Scherer vanished. Scherer was the only girl reported missing in the region at the time, despite Lucas' claims to the contrary when police showed him a photo of her.
[60]
Even though it was proved that Toole's
niece
and
nephew
, as well as Lucas and Toole, were present in
Scott City, Missouri
, at the time of Scherer's disappearance, there was never enough evidence to bring charges against them.
[61]
- A
highway
worker discovered the body of an unidentified woman on October 29, 1981, in
Iola, Texas
. Her cause of death was
blunt force trauma
to the head. The victim, known as the Grimes County Jane Doe, was also wrapped in a
plastic bag
.
[62]
Lucas confessed to her murder, stating that he drove the victim to the area from
Durham, North Carolina
, and claiming that her name may have been "Cheryl".
[63]
He then strangled her while Toole beat her in the head with a
tire iron
. He was able to lead police to the area in which her body had previously been found.
Media
[
edit
]
There have been several books on the Lucas case. Four narrative films have been made based on his confessions:
Confessions of a Serial Killer
(1985);
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
(1986), in which the title role is played by
Michael Rooker
;
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part II
(1996); and the 2009 film
Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas
. Two documentary films were released in 1995:
The Serial Killers
and
Henry Lee Lucas: The Confession Killer.
In 2019,
Netflix
released a five-part serialized documentary
The Confession Killer
focusing on the far-reaching consequences of the investigation.
[64]
Wild Crime: Murder in Yosemite
season two (2022) focuses on Lucas.
See also
[
edit
]
- Sture Bergwall
(born 1950) a Swedish "serial killer" whose confessions are now believed to be fabricated.
General:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Gorney, Cynthia; Taylor, Paul (April 15, 1985).
"The Killer Who Recanted"
– via washingtonpost.com.
- ^
Horton, Adrian (December 5, 2019).
"He was America's most deadly serial killer ? but it was all a lie"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
April 8,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Lewis, Brenda Ralph (2009).
Mapping the Trail of a Serial Killer: How the World's Most Infamous Murderers Were Tracked Down
. New York: Lyons.
ISBN
978-1-4617-4944-8
.
OCLC
1059274469
.
- ^
a
b
Karlin, Adam (February 17, 2016).
"Henry Lee Lucas: The Confession Killer"
.
The Lineup
. Retrieved
February 2,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"The Henry Lee Lucas Show"
.
Texas Monthly
. June 1985.
- ^
Scott, Shirley Lynn.
"What Makes Serial Killers Tick?"
.
truTV.com
. Archived from
the original
on July 28, 2010
. Retrieved
January 10,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Corder, Erica; Pregnall, Andrew (October 31, 2016).
"True Crime Blacksburg: The Henry Lee Lucas Story"
. The Pylon
. Retrieved
December 6,
2019
.
- ^
"Hear evil"
. Crime And Investigation.
- ^
a
b
Bobit, Bonnie (October 14, 2009).
"Henry Lee Lucas"
. Crimemagazine.com. Archived from
the original
on May 16, 2010
. Retrieved
July 12,
2010
.
- ^
a
b
"Henry Lee Lucas Dies in Prison"
.
ABC News
. January 7, 2006
. Retrieved
July 12,
2010
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Anatomy of a Killer"
.
The Washington Post
. October 11, 1984.
- ^
Ramsland, Katherine
.
"Henry Lee Lucas, prolific serial killer or prolific liar?"
.
Crime Library
. Archived from
the original
on February 10, 2015
. Retrieved
December 17,
2008
.
- ^
"The Twisted Life of Serial Killer Ottis Elwood Toole"
.
Fox News
. December 16, 2008. Archived from
the original
on July 2, 2013
. Retrieved
December 17,
2008
.
Toole met Lucas in 1978
- ^
"Henry Lee Lucas: The Confession Killer"
.
The Biography Channel
. Archived from
the original
on September 9, 2014
. Retrieved
June 8,
2014
.
- ^
"Henry Lee Lucas: The Depraved Serial Killer Who Confessed To Hundreds Of Murders"
. ATI. November 6, 2021.
- ^
Leyton, E. (2011).
Hunting Humans: The Rise Of The Modern Multiple Murderer
. McClelland & Stewart. p. 11.
ISBN
978-1-55199-643-1
. Retrieved
October 21,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Shellady, Brad (June 1, 2002).
"Henry: Fabrication of a Serial Killer"
. In Kick, Russ (ed.).
Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies
. Disinformation Company.
ISBN
0971394202
.
- ^
Rosenfeld, H. (2009).
Depravity: A Narrative of 16 Serial Killers
. iUniverse. p. 182.
ISBN
978-1-4401-2847-9
. Retrieved
October 21,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
The Times-News ? Oct 18, 1983, AP, Texas Ranger Unwilling Confidant Of Henry Lee Lucas
- ^
Gudjonsson, Gisli H. (2003).
The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A Handbook
. John Wiley & Sons. p. 556.
ISBN
9780470857946
. Retrieved
December 28,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"The Two Faces of Henry Lee Lucas"
. D Magazine. October 1985.
- ^
"Runaway Jane"
.
Who Killed Jane Doe?
. Season 1. Episode 6. March 28, 2017.
Investigation Discovery
.
- ^
"Case File: 1UFNY"
.
doenetwork.org
.
The Doe Network
. Retrieved
September 14,
2014
.
- ^
Catalanello, Rebecca (February 9, 2015).
"Detectives turn to New Bethany Home for Girls in search of leads in woman's 1981 death"
.
The Times-Picayune
. Retrieved
June 28,
2015
.
- ^
Mattox, Jim (April 1986).
"Lucas Report"
(PDF)
.
- ^
Henderson, Jim (June 26, 1998).
"Henry Lee Lucas able to confuse authorities and then beat death"
.
Houston Chronicle
. Archived from
the original
on September 30, 2007
. Retrieved
February 26,
2005
.
- ^
Knowles, Hannah (October 12, 2019).
"Confessions made him the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. But is he telling the truth?"
. Retrieved
August 30,
2023
.
- ^
Gudjonsson, Gisli H. (2003).
The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A Handbook
. John Wiley & Sons. p. 557.
ISBN
9780470857946
. Retrieved
December 28,
2012
.
- ^
Lunsford, D. Lance (May 28, 2006).
"Drifter's confession to Williamson murder failed to hold up"
.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
.
Archived
from the original on February 14, 2018
. Retrieved
March 20,
2014
.
- ^
"USA: The death penalty in Texas: lethal injustice"
.
Amnesty International
. March 1, 1998. Archived from
the original
on November 26, 2007
. Retrieved
July 12,
2010
.
- ^
"Today's Headlines"
. Ble.org. June 25, 1999. Archived from
the original
on February 7, 2009
. Retrieved
July 12,
2010
.
- ^
Strand, Ginger Gail (2012).
Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate
. University of Texas Press. pp. 157?.
ISBN
9780292726376
. Retrieved
December 28,
2012
.
- ^
Holmes, Michael (June 26, 1998).
"Bush Commutes Death Sentence"
.
Associated Press
. Retrieved
June 18,
2024
.
- ^
Turner, Allan (August 3, 2012).
"Eternity's gate slowly closing at Peckerwood Hill"
.
Houston Chronicle
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
- ^
Schager, Nick (December 2, 2019).
"He Confessed to Murdering 600 Women. It Was All a Lie"
.
The Daily Beast
– via www.thedailybeast.com.
- ^
Horton, Adrian (December 5, 2019).
"He was America's most deadly serial killer ? but it was all a lie"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
August 31,
2021
.
The subject of anxious news features and four feature films, Lucas confessed to murdering hundreds of people ? at first 100, then 200, then about 600. An odd-jobs drifter with three teeth and a lazy eye, Lucas would recall, often on camera, precise and grisly details about each victim. Police officers from across the country interviewed him for more than 3,000 murder cases, to much fanfare; at least 200 cases were attributed to him, closing them to further investigation and making Lucas the country's most prolific serial killer.
- ^
"USA: Fatal flaws: Innocence and the death penalty in the USA"
.
Amnesty International
. November 12, 1998. Archived from
the original
on October 16, 2007
. Retrieved
July 12,
2010
.
- ^
Hickey, Eric W. (2005).
Serial Murderers And Their Victims
. Wadsworth Pub Co.
ISBN
0-495-05887-4
.
- ^
"Texas Ranger a reluctant confidant as inmate confesses to 150 murders"
.
Lawrence Journal-World
. October 16, 1983.
- ^
a
b
"The Twilight of the Texas Rangers"
.
Texas Monthly
. February 1994.
- ^
Nieman, Robert (2006).
"Interview With MAX WOMACK Texas Ranger, Retired"
(PDF)
.
- ^
"Henry Lee Lucas pleads guilty to another murder"
. UPI. May 24, 1984.
- ^
"Patrolman Clemmie E. Curtis"
. Officer Down Memorial Page.
- ^
"Lucas indicted in teen's death"
. UPI. February 28, 1984.
- ^
Garner, Erica (September 3, 2019).
"Police looking for info on cold case murder victim with ties to Abilene"
.
KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com
. Retrieved
September 3,
2019
.
- ^
"Inside the Criminal Mind".
Time Life
. 2014. p. 21.
- ^
"One-eyed drifter to die for 'orange socks' killing"
.
AP Online
. March 31, 1998. Archived from
the original
on March 29, 2015
. Retrieved
May 15,
2014
.
- ^
Michael Graczyk (June 17, 1998).
"Orange Socks tombstone simply reads: Unidentified Woman 1979"
.
Abilene Reporter-News
. Archived from
the original
on March 21, 2014
. Retrieved
March 20,
2014
.
- ^
"25-Year-Old Brownfield Murder Case Could be Re-Opened"
. KCBD. May 31, 2006.
- ^
"Serial murderer Henry Lee Lucas, who claims he has..."
UPI. May 24, 1984.
- ^
"Suspect in 1983 Killing of Laura Marie Purchase Arrested After Serial Killer Falsely Confessed to Crime"
. Inside Edition. May 25, 2021.
- ^
"Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Squad"
(PDF)
. MONTGOMERY COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE.
- ^
"For 40 years, her identity was unknown. Now, a Delaware homicide victim has been identified"
. Delaware News Journal.
- ^
"132UFDE - Unidentified Female"
. The Doe Network.
- ^
"Cold Cases"
. Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
- ^
"Janet Callies"
. The Charley Project.
- ^
"JANET CALLIES ? GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA"
. FBI.
- ^
"4109DFNE - Janet Lee Callies"
. The Doe Network.
- ^
"338DFMO - Cheryl Ann Scherer"
. The Doe Network.
- ^
"Cheryl Anne Scherer"
. The Charley Project.
- ^
"After 44 years, search for Cheryl Scherer continues"
. Southeast Missourian.
- ^
"543UFTX - Unidentified Female"
. The Doe Network.
- ^
"Unknown teen picked up in 1981 likely murdered by Texas serial killer"
. ABC13.
- ^
Stevens, Ashlie D. (December 6, 2019).
"Netflix's "Confession Killer" un-solves murders as a ruthless true crime story in reverse"
.
Salon
. Retrieved
December 6,
2019
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|