-Caveat Lector- > http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20010313/tCB00V2866.html > > Tuesday, March 13, 2001 > > Convicted Texas Murderer Dies > > HUNTSVILLE, Texas--Henry Lee Lucas, the convicted killer who 18 years > ago made and then recanted confessions to hundreds of unsolved murder > cases, has died in prison. > > Lucas, who claimed he made fake confessions to make police "look > stupid," was found dead in his bed Monday night at the Ellis I prison > unit where he was serving sentences for nine murders, the Texas > Department of Criminal Justice said. He was 64. > > The one-eyed ex-drifter was narrowly saved from execution three years > ago when then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted a death sentence to life in > prison because of flimsy evidence in his capital case. After the > commutation, Lucas had predicted an "80 percent chance" he would walk > free someday. > > Lucas had recently complained of breathing problems and spent a night > or two in a prison hospital a few months ago, said Larry Todd, a > prison system spokesman. Todd would not be more specific on the cause > of death, although Lucas also had a history of heart problems. > > There was no immediate word if any relatives might claim his remains. > If Lucas' body is not claimed, the state will bury him in an inmates > cemetery in Huntsville. > > Bush in 1998 commuted Lucas' death sentence of Lucas four days before > the death row inmate was scheduled for lethal injection in the 1979 > slaying in Williamson County of an unidentified woman known only as > "Orange Socks." > > The victim was so named because the socks were all she was wearing > when her body was found in 1979 in a ditch off Interstate 35 near > Georgetown, north of Austin. > > Lucas was arrested in June 1983 for the slaying of a 75 -year-old > Montague County woman. During a court proceeding there shortly after > his arrest, he confessed to the murders of hundreds of women. > > Lucas' highly publicized confession spree prompted authorities to > clear their books of more than 600 unsolved killings. He later > recanted but many of those murder cases were never reopened. > > In recent years, Lucas insisted he committed just one murder, killing > his mother in Michigan in 1960 -a crime for which he served time in > prison and a Michigan mental hospital. Besides the life term for the > Orange Socks killing, Lucas had six other life sentences and 210 years > in prison for three other slayings. > > In 1999, he told reporters he had become fascinated by Rafael > Resendez-Ramirez, who has been connected to at least eight slayings in > Texas, Kentucky and Illinois. > > "If this was 1983, I'd claim these murders, too," Lucas told the > Houston Chronicle at the time. "I made the police look stupid. I was > out to wreck Texas law enforcement." > > Another prison spokesman, Larry Fitzgerald, said Lucas had spent most > of his time in state custody since 1985 as a sewing machine operator, > working in a prison garment factory that produces guard uniforms. > > "He was our best," Fitzgerald said. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
