The story of Henry Lee Lucas is certainly a memorable one. A man who willingly admits to up to 600 murders is a remarkable tale, but is it one of a psychopathic killer whose thirst for blood can never be satisfied or is it one of a man whose environment broke him and who the justice system took advantage of?
The mystery behind Lucas’s tales is not if he is a killer or not, but how many murders he actually committed. Though most serial killers go to the grave not admitting how many lives they have taken, Lucas died with more false confessions than confirmed murders.
I discussed Henry Lee Lucas’s life, crime spree, and confessions in my latest post, so today I will be reviewing Robert Kennen and Taki Oldham’s Netflix docuseries The Confession Killer. The five-episode series starts with Lucas’s famous courthouse statement and continues on with each of his confessions after that. One of the more interesting aspects of the series is Lucas’s relationship with the Texas Rangers. While watching Lucas, it becomes clear that his intense urgencies to please others and be the center of attention created a perfect storm of the erupts, and once the eruption begins, confessions spew over like lava in a volcano.
In my opinion, it is harder to define Henry Lee Lucas as a sociopath. Though we can look at individuals like Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Edmund Kemper and see the clear diagnosis, Lucas takes this in another direction. Most will use his horrific childhood as the main factor behind his actions. Although I do believe in the psychological effects one’s childhood has on them, and the notions of one’s environment shaping them as a human, there is no set playbook in creating a serial killer. People live through horrendous childhoods and never harm another living being. Yes, reliably available and affordable mental health services would play a huge role in helping those who experience trauma and may decrease the number of crimes we witness daily, but I personally cannot sit with the excuse that humans kill solely because of their past trauma.
What I think sets Lucas aside from the other “iconic” killers is his IQ. Typically, we see serial killers as extremely intelligent, meticulous, and organized. They have the ability to plan and execute their crimes without being noticed and may even escape persecution a few times before they are finally caught. Lucas, however, cooperated past the extent he is even asked to. He is noticeably a little delayed and just wants to say whatever he thinks would make the Rangers happy. It almost makes me wonder if he was taken advantage of? This is dangerous because one could begin to question Lucas’s involvement in any of the killings. It seems as though he is undoubtedly guilty of the murder of his mother, girlfriend, and landlord, but after seeing his confessions everything moves into a grey area.
Henry Lee Lucas is a story filled with confusion, uncertainty, and an ever-moving storyline. Though we may never know what truly happened, all we can hope is that the families whose cases were overlooked because of these false confessions are reopened and that their true killers are apprehended.
If you have a Netflix subscription, I recommend that you watch Robert Kennen and Taki Oldham’s The Confession Killer.
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.
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