Journalist Mike Cox sat in a Texas courtroom in November of 1983. Thinking he obtaining information on his newest story about a murder, he half-heartedly listened as the judge asked the defendant if he understood his charges. Cox’s attention was automatically refocused when he heard across the courtroom “Well, Judge, what are we going to do about these other 100 women I’ve killed?” This was the beginning of Henry Lee Lucas’s bizarre confession spree.
Like many of the killers before him, Henry’s childhood was riddled with abuse and mistreatment. He was born in Blacksburg, Virginia in the year 1936. Since his father was a double amputee, the family relied on his mother’s income being a sex worker. The family was plagued with poverty, and Lucas’s mother seemed to take out her aggression on Henry through physical and psychological abuse.
At the age of 10, Henry sustained an injury to his left eye while fighting with his brother. The injury became infected, which ultimately made him lose the functioning of his eye altogether. It has been said that Henry would utilize his new appearance to scare local children into leaving him alone. Though he was able to frighten most with his appearances, his mother still used Henry to gain some extra income in the household. She would dress Henry up in woman’s clothing and force him into sex work, pocketing the profits he made for the day and putting it towards both maintaining a household of nine children and fueling both her and her husband’s alcoholism. After his mother exploited Henry for his body, his sexual deviance began to come out. Still only 10 years old, Lucas became known for forcing his half-brother to perform sexual acts with/on him and even defiling the corps of dead animals.
When Henry was in 6th grade, his father passed away. Being left with just his horrendous mother, Henry dropped out of school and ran away from home. Lucas had an IQ of 87, which was brought up throughout his multiple trials/confessions as a way to question his credibility. Henry claims that when he ran away to Richmond, Virginia he committed his first murder, in which he strangled a 17-year old girl after she rejected his sexual advances. Though Henry was never convicted for that crime, he spent a total of 4 years in a Virginia jail due to various robberies he committed. He was able to escape the Virginia prison at the beginning of his sentence but was caught a few days after and served the remaining of his 4 years.
Once Lucas was released from prison, he went to Michigan to live with his half-sister. Things seemed to be looking up, as he brought his former penpal and now fiance to live with him. The only issue was one key person in his life did not approve of his new love. That person was his mother, Viola. At 23 years old, Lucas smashed his mother over the head with a broom and stabbed her in the neck. He was quickly caught and convicted for the crime. Though Lucas was supposed to spend 20-40 years in prison, he only served 15 years due to prison overcrowding (though some sources claim he only served 10 years). In his Michigan prison cell, Henry met Otis Toole. Together, these two would become one of the most horrific serial killer duos our country has ever seen.
Only 13 years after Lucas finished his sentence for the murder of his mother, Henry was the prime suspect in two more murder cases. The now 47-year-old man was being questioned for the murder of his teenage girlfriend (Becky Powell) and his 82-year old landlord (Kate Rich). Lucas confesses to both of these killings, giving the police both details of how the crimes occurred and where the bodies could be found. He seemed to give up information with ease, even telling the detective that there was a warrant out for his arrest. It is at the sentencing hearing for the murders of Powell and Rich where Lucas gives his famous quote, “…what are we going to do about the other 100 women I’ve killed?” Which is when the circus begins.
Looking at Lucas’s confession tapes (all of which can be found on Youtube or the Netflix documentary The Confession Killer), it is not hard to see that something was off from the beginning. Lucas seemed almost pleased with himself, as he told detectives whatever they wanted to hear. He marveled at the positive attention he gained from the Texas Rangers and craved more throughout the years. At one point. Lucas confessed to murdering 600 women with his partner Otis Toole. When these confessions first started, they seemed to bring a sense of closure to the families who were affected. But as time went on, and it became more and more clear that Lucas was lying through his teeth, the families’ peace grew to hostility and they just wanted to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones. For the next year, detectives, rangers, and journalists would follow each of Henry’s spew of lies as he confessed to murder after murder without being able to provide any details or evidence to actually solve the case.
In the end, Henry Lee Lucas was convicted for eleven murders in total (though eight of those are still disputed). Lucas received a sentence of death in 1984. Throughout the 1990s, Lucas would recant his confessions, and ask for a change to life in prison without the possibility of parole based on the lack of evidence and forced confessions. In 1998, the Governor of Texas (George W. Bush) granted Lucas his wish and changed his sentence from death to life in prison. This would be the only time George W. Bush did this during his time as governor. Henry Lee Lucas spent the remainder of his years in a Texas prison. He died in 2001 of a heart attack.
In most cases, we would see confessions as the final chapter of a victim’s family’s grieving process. When a killer confesses, it allows a family to understand the final moments of their loved ones. It gives them a place to grieve and commemorate and strips the killer of their last ounce of power that they were holding over the family. Henry Lee Lucas is clearly not like most cases. His confessions created more controversy than good. It began a cycle in the media of false identification, and accusations of police forces taking advantage of those with lower IQs. As the world was fawning over Lucas, hanging on his every word, the families of the victims were being sentenced to the shadows. Forgotten about behind the overabundance presence of a man and his stream of lies.
Please feel free to comment with any thoughts on this post. Hopefully, this is going to become a space in which we can interact with one another. I am also encouraging any constructive criticism you may have, as well as other cases you would like me to discuss.
Follow the blog and the Instagram page if you would like to join in my discussions!
Sources:
https://time.com/5745028/the-confession-killer-henry-lee-lucas-netflix/
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/serial-killer-or-serial-liar-d082b762366d