Tag: The Confession Killer

From IMDb.com

Henry Lee Lucas was known as America’s most prolific serial killer, admitting to hundreds of murders, but, as DNA results contradict his confessions, will they expose the biggest criminal justice hoax in U.S. history?

I have been a fan of true crime for the past few years. My first memory of being fascinated with true crime, was when the Casey Anthony trial was going on in Florida. However, I’ve only been really invested in learning about true crime since the big boom of true crime trending on the Internet. Although I believe the true crime genre has always been a focal point in society ever since the very beginning.

I had never heard of Henry Lee Lucas before I got invested in the genre. After I listened to a few podcasts that discussed his crimes, I just brushed him off as another severely mentally ill individual who murdered whoever crossed his path.

I watched this docuseries while I was at home recovering from a bad cold, and I was shocked at how out of control this story ended up being. Not only do you have another mini-series that is “this is why he’s evil”, and “this is why he’s innocent”, but you get a conspiracy to cover up the Lucas case.

This was a fascinating watch. I was enthralled as they kept showing pictures and videoes Lucas helping the Texas Rangers and other detectives from different areas close these cold cases by “confessing” to them. I was shocked at how many crimes he actually confessed to, and seeing them on a map was stunning. However, when they discuss the timeline of his crimes, and how many contradict each other was impossible to ignore.

I liked how they had various people who both knew Henry Lee Lucas, and have had a part in the case. It was interesting to see how not only were the Texas Rangers the highest power in law enforcement before the FBI fully developed a behavioral analysis unit but for the fact they had the power to make the mistakes they made during the case disappear or become “confidential”.

I can understand how much pressure more rural town police departments have when a murder happens in their town, and they aren’t trained per se, but hearing about a serial killer who is confessing to all of these seemingly mysterious murders would ease their case-load.

The only issue I had with this docuseries is I wish they had discussed more of Lucas’s background. They mention that his mother was physically abusive and was a prostitute. As well as how his father has a severe drinking problem that caused him to get into a train accident where he lost both of his legs. Lucas even discusses this in the clips of the interviews they had with him. However, I kind of wish they went further into his childhood.

Overall, I really enjoyed his mini docuseries. The focus was on the victims’ families and not glorifying what Lucas had done. It was a real deep-dive into an investigation that was corrupted and severely mishandled. Hopefully, we can learn from their mistakes and not repeat these events going forward in the world of crime-solving.

I would recommend this docuseries for fans of true crime, and for anyone looking for a good watch on Netflix.