The best case for a murder committed by Lucas was for the Michigan murder of his mother, Viola Lucas, a prostitute who had forced him to dress up like a girl to go to school, and watch as she serviced her customers, as well as repeated beatings and other abuse. They argued frequently, especially over Lucas' proposed marraige to a woman Viola did not approve of. According to documents, during one of these arguments, he struck her on the neck and she fell, unconscious, but was not, in fact dead when discovered later by Lucas's sister Opal. Official police reports state that the cause of death was a heart attack precipitated by the assault. Lucas was repeatedly raped and brutalized in prison, and after serving 10 years, he was released. This is the only case where there is reasonable proof of Lucas' involvement in a murder.
Lucas was next arrested in 1983 for the alledged murder of 83 year old Kate Rich, and his traveling companion Frieda Powell, and detained by Texas authorities in a freezing cell without clothes, bedding, little food, no access to a lawyer or any communication with the outside world. There was little or no evidence that he had anything to do with the crimes, but he was told that if he confessed, they would get him a lawyer. After two weeks of this treatment, Lucas confessed, though he had no information as to details of the crimes. Texas authorities fed him certain specifics, and Lucas parroted them back to them. Lucas did learn, however, that the more he co-operated with officials, the better his treatment became. Soon he was confessing to any crime Texas law enforcement put in front of him. Officials from across the state, and eventually from across the country came to Texas to clear their books of unsolved murders, and he was given access to records and reports from crime scenes so that he could provide details while under questioning. As details of the alleged hundreds of murders became public, the book deals and the newspaper stories started streaming in, and his captors began jockeying for publicity, receiving numerous awards and citations as the men who brought this "monster" to justice. The more his fame grew, the more cases Texas officials were able to pin on him, the better treatment he received. He was given the finest food, the security access codes to the jail, and freedom to come and go as he pleased,privileges that no Texas inmate would get. He was indulged in the extreme- videos show him palling around with his captors, unshackled, in fancy resteraunts, and public events, and he was once left at an airport and told to just wait here, while law enforcement would be along to pick him up. When asked by reporters why he didn't just run he answered "Where am I gonna go? They're treating me great." He eventually developed into somewhat of a diva- demanding certain favorite foods, and having parties thrown for him at the local Holiday Inn by Texas rangers featuring booze and hookers.He was the center of attention for the first time in his life and a national celebrity, and as long as he kept confessing, the royal treatment would continue. Texas was clearing their murder cases at a record pace. The common toll is that he killed over 350 people. Actually, he confessed to over 3,000 murders.
Meanwhile, actual evidence of Lucas' involvement in these killings was scant to non-existent. He was fed crime reports and simply fed officials the details they wanted to hear. When a sober investigation was finally conducted into the veracity of Lucas' claims, the truth appeared to be that none of them could be confirmed. There is nothing that verifys his confessions, and plenty of evidence against them. Texas Attorney General Jim Maddox: "Of all the people he theoretically killed, he never once led police to a body or a crime scene that had not been previously found, they never tied him to a single gun, they never found a footprint or fingerprint...there was nothing that ever caused me to believe that he was the guy that committed any of these crimes.
Many of the murders would have been physically impossible for Lucas to have perpetrated. Record show him in other states, in a hospital, being married and even incarcerated when the crimes were committed. In an investigative report by Texas Daily Herald reporter Hugh Aynesworth, it was calculated that Lucas woul have had to travel 11,000 miles in one month in his 13-year old Ford to commit several of the crimes he confessed to.Lucas claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa, provided the poison to Jim Jones, and stalked Jimmy Carter. He also confessed to hundreds of rapes, even though a stabbing in prison had left him "functionally impotent"
After spending some time on death row, and as his execution date approached, Lucas finally recanted his confessions. "I never killed nobody", he said. The press eventually began treating the whole thing as a joke, lampooning Texas authorities.
A special commission was eventually formed to look into how Texas had miraculously cleared it's murder caseload by putting all on one guy. After numerous investigations, studies and hearings, the Texas (Texas!) Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to commute his death sentence, and three days later, Governor George W. Bush granted him clemency. Judge Moore: "As you look at all the evidence in each case that comes up, you begin to see a state agency making a serial killer out of a person that may not have killed anybody."
Why is this important? First off, those thousands of murders were committed by somebody, somebody who has gone free. None of the cases Lucas confessed to were reopened and remained unsolved, leaving frustrated victims families, and an unsatisfied public. Secondly, it illustrates that what matters to law enforcement is the all-important conviction rate, and the promoting of the image of law enforcement protecting us all from the "monsters among us." Texas police had a good thing going with Henry Lee, and he played it for all it was worth. But similar tactics, fabricating evidence, coorceing confessions, brutal interrogation techniques and enticements, are used every day on a smaller scale to get the desired results.
A main source for this post was "Henry: Fabrication of a Serial Killer" by Brad Shellady, who had unparallelled access to thousands of primary documents and most of the principals of the case. Other sources include "Bloodletters and Badmen", by James Nash, Wikipedia, and "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of True Crime".
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