Serial Killers Ottis Toole and Henry Lee Lucas (Crime Documentary)
- 5 years ago
Ottis Elwood Toole was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1947. His mother was an abusive religious fanatic. He claimed that he had been sexually abused by his own family after coming out as gay at a young age. He also claimed that his grandmother had been a Satanist who had taught him self-mutilation and grave-robbing. He had an estimated IQ of only 75 and was also diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. He frequently ran away and was a serial arsonist at a young age, being a pyromaniac. It is uncertain how he got around between 1966 and 1973, but it's believed he made a living through panhandling and prostitution. As he hitchhiked around the American South, he was a prime murder suspect on different occasions but was never arrested. After Lucas left with Becky Powell, Toole allegedly began his career as a serial killer.
On January 12, 1982, he locked in a man named George Sonnenberg in his house and set the building on fire, killing him. After being arrested on April 1984, he confessed to more murders and was convicted of six or three (sources vary on how many actual convictions he had), including the death of Sonnenberg. Another murder for which he was convicted was the shooting of Ada Johnson, 19, in Florida. One murder he claimed responsibility for was an attack on a massage parlor during which two women, one of whom died, were stabbed and set on fire. Because another man had been convicted of the murder, the prosecutors didn't accept his claim and Toole withdrew his confession: ""Okay, if you say I didn't kill her, maybe I didn't."" Among his alleged victims was six-year-old Adam Walsh, who was asphyxiated to death in Hollywood, Florida in 1981 after disappearing from a mall. Only the head of the body was recovered. Though Toole, according to his niece, claimed responsibility for the murder on his deathbed in 1996, he was never tried for it. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who was living in Miami Beach at the time and later became known for sexual crimes against children and for decapitating his victims, also became a suspect. In 2008, Toole was officially named the killer by Florida police, though his confession has been met with some skepticism since Toole and Lucas claimed responsibility for so many other murders that weren't linked to them.
Henry Lee Lucas, a.k.a. ""The Confession Killer"", was a serial killer who claimed responsibility for over 3,000 murders.
Lucas was born in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1936. His father, Anderson ""No Legs"" Lucas, had lost his legs in a workplace accident by a railroad, forcing him to make a living by manufacturing alcohol illegally, and was an alcoholic. He also introduced Henry to alcohol at a young age. Henry's mother, Viola Dixon Lucas (née Waugh) was a prostitute as well as an alcoholic and ruled the household, a one-room log cabin. Henry was the youngest of their nine children and often suffered Viola's rage, as would his father and brother.
On January 12, 1982, he locked in a man named George Sonnenberg in his house and set the building on fire, killing him. After being arrested on April 1984, he confessed to more murders and was convicted of six or three (sources vary on how many actual convictions he had), including the death of Sonnenberg. Another murder for which he was convicted was the shooting of Ada Johnson, 19, in Florida. One murder he claimed responsibility for was an attack on a massage parlor during which two women, one of whom died, were stabbed and set on fire. Because another man had been convicted of the murder, the prosecutors didn't accept his claim and Toole withdrew his confession: ""Okay, if you say I didn't kill her, maybe I didn't."" Among his alleged victims was six-year-old Adam Walsh, who was asphyxiated to death in Hollywood, Florida in 1981 after disappearing from a mall. Only the head of the body was recovered. Though Toole, according to his niece, claimed responsibility for the murder on his deathbed in 1996, he was never tried for it. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who was living in Miami Beach at the time and later became known for sexual crimes against children and for decapitating his victims, also became a suspect. In 2008, Toole was officially named the killer by Florida police, though his confession has been met with some skepticism since Toole and Lucas claimed responsibility for so many other murders that weren't linked to them.
Henry Lee Lucas, a.k.a. ""The Confession Killer"", was a serial killer who claimed responsibility for over 3,000 murders.
Lucas was born in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1936. His father, Anderson ""No Legs"" Lucas, had lost his legs in a workplace accident by a railroad, forcing him to make a living by manufacturing alcohol illegally, and was an alcoholic. He also introduced Henry to alcohol at a young age. Henry's mother, Viola Dixon Lucas (née Waugh) was a prostitute as well as an alcoholic and ruled the household, a one-room log cabin. Henry was the youngest of their nine children and often suffered Viola's rage, as would his father and brother.