A Serial Killing Tall Tale: Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole

The Golden Age of Murder: A True Crime Podcast

In 1983 two ragged drifters, Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, were arrested for what was at the time unlawful firearm possession and arson. This would grow into an escalating series of claims on the part of both law enforcement and the men themselves that Lucas and Toole had, while traversing the country by car, committed hundreds if not thousands of murders. Lucas had served time for killing his mother in 1960 but this is the only murder either has been credited with that can be authenticated for certain. While no one knows for sure what Lucas or Toole actually did or didn't do what became clear over time is that they were encouraged by law enforcement especially sheriff Jim Boutwell and the Texas Rangers to confess to murders that had not been solved in order to clear their books and fit an image of a killer they were looking for. In so doing they helped develop and entrench the popular image of the serial killer in the national consciousness, though they if anything muddied the picture of what actually happened