Serial Killer of the Month: Henry Lee Lucas

Born: 1936, not yet executed…

Henry Lee Lucas is often mistaken for one of the most prolific serial killers in American History. Henry Lee Lucas is one of the most prolific serial killers in American History. Sure, if you have seen “Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer” you know that he managed to have the best serial killer movie made about him. (Screw Silence of the Lambs – Hollywood wouldn’t know a serial killer even if the killer in question ritualistically cuts their victims’ eyes and genitals out before fucking the open wounds.)

One of the people Lucas killed for sure was his mother. But even her death is clouded in mystery. Henry says they had an argument and he lightly cut her throat and punched her – that she died from a heart attack. The coroner’s report showed that she died from a puncture wound. He served ten years and was released in 1970.

The one-eyed convict soon was back in prison for four more years being convicted of attempted kidnapping. “I have a sex problem,” he said at the trial for this second felony. 

After a brief marriage, during which he molested his step-daughters, Henry finally got a chance to start his career for real.

He drifted down to Florida and met a tall bisexual named Otis Toole. The two of them were soon sharing body fluids, robberies, and, for fun, murders. To hear Lucas tell the tale, the two of them killed from Texas to Nevada. Among the early victims was a woman whose name has never been discovered, but was called Orange Sox – I don’t think I need explain.

According to testimony at their 1979 trial, there was just about nothing, by way of killing, that the duo hadn’t tried – except poison. Toole even claims that they barbecued one person. Lucas denies this, saying that he didn’t like barbecue sauce.

After a short stint in jail for stealing a pickup in 1981, Lucas returned to Florida with Toole to get Toole’s niece Becky. Toole remained in Florida, where he received a life sentence for burning down a boarding house and as a result killing two people. Lucas and his new 15-year-old lover were headed through Texas then their car finally died. Henry worked as a laborer for a California couple for a short while. He then worked for the couple’s grandmother, 80-year-old Granny Rich. But she soon sent them on their way, believing them to be thieves and worse. Then they stayed on a fundamentalist sanctuary called House of Prayer – a converted chicken ranch. Shortly after this Becky disappeared – hitch-hiking home, Henry claimed. And less than a month later, Granny Rich disappeared.

Granny Rich’s disappearance aroused police suspicion, and soon Henry was in jail on a weapons violation. He soon tried to confess to his crimes, and once he started confessing, the son-of-a-bitch wouldn’t shut up. He confessed not only to murders of those near him, Becky and Granny, but to helping with the Jim Jones Guyana Slayings and the Jimmy Hoffa hit. He also admitted to killing Orange Sox, and hundreds of others.

He was shipped all over America, where he explained how he killed whomever’s murder it was the local police had not been able to solve. As a result, police closed 210 unsolved murder cases. And Henry confessed to at least a hundred more than that. But even the crimes that Henry was convicted of – Orange Sox for instance, there is clear proof from employment records and bills that Henry couldn’t have been in the same state where the crime took place at the same time the crime took place.

It is likely that Lucas killed maybe only 10 or 20 people. And several years after his trial, conviction, and death penalty sentence, Lucas recanted the whole of his confession, saying that he had been told if he stopped confessing, then he would be quickly executed. So, go figure.

Henry Lee Lucas has a great movie made about him, but as for the man himself as a prolific serial killer, it’s strictly caviat emptor…or buyer beware. —SLUG Mag

Read more Serial Killer of the Month from the SLUG Archives:
Serial Killer of the Month: Andrei Chikatilo “The Red Ripper”
Serial Killer of the Month: Charles Whitman . . . All American

Having a killer time in the archives? Consider becoming one of our donors!