What did Henry Lee Lucas do?
Henry Lee Lucas was an American murderer who killed his mother in 1960 and two other people in 1983. However, he is most famous for falsely confessing to a number of unsolved murders, earning himself the moniker “The Confession Killer.”
While in prison for these 3 murders, Lucas falsely confessed to approximately 600 other murders when questioned by law enforcement officers. This led to a lot of unsolved cases being ‘solved’ because of Lucas opening his mouth and confessing to them.
Lucas was convicted of murdering 11 people in total and sentenced to death for 1 of the cases of an unidentified victim at the time who was later identified as Debra Jackson.
What happened when it was discovered the confessions were false?
An in-depth investigation by the Dallas Times-Herald newspaper discovered that many of the murders Lucas confessed to were just not possible for him to have done. It was a case of an overzealous police force wanting to get unsolved crimes off their books and sacrificing true justice to do so.
Lucas’ death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1998 and he later recanted his confessions, and ended up only confessing to the murder of his mother.
This case led to a big conversation about the effects of false confessions and the particular techniques used by the police in trying to solve crimes. It was discovered that Lucas was given treats to encourage him to confess to murders and was even shown the case files to refresh his memory on the particular murders he was confessing to.
Where is Henry Lee Lucas now?
On the 12th March 2001, Lucas was found dead in his prison cell. He died of congestive heart failure at the age of 64. He is buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery in Huntsville, Texas.
Netflix released a 5 part true crime documentary about the case in 2019 titled The Confession Killer.
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