Henry Lee Lucas - Is it True Crime - Murder - Confessions - Something Else

Henry Lee Lucas Was born Aug 23rd 1936 in Blacksburg, Virginia to Viola and Anderson Lucas. Henry didn’t get a great start in life as his father was an alcoholic and his mother was a prostitute. He lost an eye at 10 yrs old to a fight with his brother, I guess he didn’t see that coming. And his mother would force little Henry watch her turn tricks, would make him cross dress, and would pimp him out to men and women alike. His teachers complained about the cross dressing to the point where they got a court order to put an end to it. If those teachers were still around that would probably be a cancelation offense. In December of 1949 his father died of hypothermia after collapsing drunk, outside during a blizzard. Soon after losing his father while in the 6th grade Lucas ran away drifting around Virginia. He claimed to have committed his first murder in 1951 at age 15, when he strangled Laura Burnsley (17) after she refused his sexual advances. He later said he was just joking and he didn’t really do it. Something he would end up doing a lot of. At 23 years old he moved in with his half sister Opal in Tecumseh Michigan. He was engaged to a pen pal who wrote him while he was in jail. His mother came to visit Henry and Opal for Christmas 1959. She didn’t approve Henry’s engagement, and wanted him to move back to Blacksburg to take care of her. They fought over this a lot in the coming weeks. On Jan 11th 1960, according to Henry, his mother hit him over the head with a broom, so he stabbed her in the neck. Henry fled the scene, and later said: “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.” That’s kind of like saying she tripped and was going to fall, so I broke her fall with a knife in the throat…….. Opal came home later and found Viola alive, in a pool of blood, but the paramedics didn’t get there in time to save her. Henry was shortly arrested in Ohio. He then said that he killed his mother in self-defense. He was sentenced to 20 to 40 yrs for second degree murder in Jackson State Penitentiary, after 2 suicide attempts, He was admitted to Ionia State Mental Hospital. Then he was released after 10 yrs in June of 1970, they stated it was due to overcrowding. DRIFTER The next year Henry was convicted of attempting to kidnap three schoolgirls at gunpoint, and was sentenced to another 5 yrs. This is when for the second time he got engaged to a pen pal while serving time. His pen-men-ship must have been unreal. At this point I'm thinking he is probably the best salesmen EVER. They married when he was released in 1975, but the marriage only lasted 2 years when Henry bolted when his stepdaughter claimed he was sexually abusing her. He moved back to Virginia, got another girlfriend, then split again when her family confronted him about another abuse allegation. MURDER He had teamed up with a petty thief named Ottis Toole. They shared a weird interest in rape and death. In 1979 they traveled the country together with Ottis’ mentally handicapped niece Becky Powell. They traveled to California when they were hired to help an infirm 82 yr old Kate Rich. Rich’s family turned them out claiming they didn’t do their jobs and had written checks on Kate’s account. While hitchhiking they were picked up by the minister of the religious commune called “the house of prayer” located in Stoneburg TX. When Becky ended up missing Henry claimed she had picked up a ride at a local truck stop. In June of 83 Henry was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. While he was in custody he confessed to the murders of Becky Powell and Kate Rich, led the police to what he said was their remains. The forensics were inconclusive, but this confession helped Henry appear more credible in later confessions. As we discussed earlier, he was a comedian, and later claimed he didn’t kill Powell and Rich, but he did lead the cops to someone’s remains. False Confessions Galore…… In late 1983 Henry reported attempted suicide, rough treatment by inmates, police stripped him, denied him smokes and a bed, held him in a cold cell, tortured his genitalia, and denied him to contact an attorney. During police interviews Henry started to confess to numerous unsolved killings. They thought that he was definitely connected to 28 different killings so James Adams, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety established the “Lucas task force”. The task force cleared 213 previously unsolved murders by Henrys confessions. Henry had started receiving preferential treatment, frequently treated to trips to restaurants and cafes, rarely handcuffed, allowed to wander police stations and jails, and he even knew the codes for security doors. It seems like he had the same effect on the task force as he had on his pen pals.