Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
evidence at the crime scene
serial killers and their backgrounds
evidence at the crime scene
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: evidence at the crime scene
Introduction
Henry Lee Lucas is widely regarded as one of the most prolific serial killers in recent history. Since his arrest, Lucas has confessed to killing more than 100 people. Lucas’s killing history is long and complex, starting early in his life, and continuing in a manner that lacked any real pattern. Lucas’s adolescence and early adulthood were riddled with violence, crimes and prison sentences. In 1951, by the age of 15 Lucas reported having already committed his first murder. His victim's name, Laura Burnsley was 17 years old at the time; Lucas killed her due to her refusal of his sexual advances.
A year later, after being arrested for burglary, Lucas was sent to a school for juvenile delinquents. During his stay at the school,
…show more content…
His mother verbally abused him and the drunken fight resulted in Henry killing his mother by stabbing her in the neck after supposedly being hit over the head by her with a broom stick, which broke on impact. Although he pleaded that her death had been due to self-defense, Lucas was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. After ten years of serving his sentence, Lucas was released due to prison overcrowding in 1970. Only one year after being released, Lucas was once again put in prison for attempting the kidnap two young girls; he was released for this offense in …show more content…
After being fired for stealing money, Lucas killed Becky, dismembering her body, storing it in a pillowcase and then scattering her remains in a field. He followed Becky’s murder by killing Rich as well and stuffing her body into a drainage pipe, which he later returned to.
In 1983, Lucas was arrested for the possession of a firearm. During the arrest, evidence of the two murders was found, resulting in two murder charges being brought against him as well. At the time of his arrest, Lucas also began his confession spree, during which time he confessed to more than 3000 murders. However, the truth and accuracy of his confessions have since been questioned, many of the confessions being discredited.
Due to Lucas’s pathological lying and deception, it is very difficult to track the manner in which he killed his victim; he has been quoted, saying, “I killed 'em every way there is except poison. There's been strangulations, there's been knifings, there's been shootings, there's been hit-and-runs…”. However, a common thread among his confirmed kills has been multiple stab wounds and rape, which occurred both before the deaths as well as postmortem. Lucas, after much speculation and investigation into his confessions, including meticulous research into the timelines of the murders, was finally convicted of only 11 murders and sentenced to
The letters, and many other photos found of other victims on Sean’s computer were used at his various trials for first-degree murder. Sean was convicted of murdering Katherine Hall, Johnnie Mae Williams, and Donna Bennett Johnston on July 21, 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison. The following year he was charged with second-degree murder for killing 36-year-old Joyce Williams. Sean currently has only been convicted to seven of eight of his victim
By the age of 14 he was stealing cars. In his teens he took part in stealing tires, running stills, bootlegging, and armed robbery. In 1922, he was committed to a boys home for auto theft. Two years later he was released on parole, but returned in 5 months for a similar charge. He meet Helen Wawzynak in 1928, and later married her. In January of 1931 he robbed a bank in Chicago, Illinois, and was sent to prison for one year to life.
Lucas was convicted of first degree murder of two women and a three year old boy. In all the murders, Lucas used a knife to slash the throats of his victims. He inflicted great bodily pain on all his victims with the knife according to reports. Some of the victims were nearly decapitated.
two murders, but during his incarceration awaiting death row he truly changed for the better
Despite a very confident and relaxed attitude, he was found guilty and sentenced to a one to fifteen jail sentence in the Utah State Prison, on June 30, 1976. Colorado investigators who were not satisfied with the outcome, decided that they gathered enough evidence to have him tried for the murder of Caryn Campbell. Eventually, charges were made against him on October 22, 1976, which led to his extradition to Colorado in April of
...theorize that serial killers have brain damage or other biological abnormalities that contribute to their actions. Damage to areas like the frontal lobe, the hypothalamus and the limbic system can contribute to extreme aggression, loss of control, loss of judgment and violence. Henry Lee Lucas, who was convicted of 11 murders, was shown to have extreme brain damage in these areas, probably the result of childhood abuse, malnutrition and alcoholism. Arthur Shawcross, another 11-time serial killer, was found to have had several brain injuries, including two skull fractures. While in prison, he suffered from headaches and often blacked out. Bobby Joe Long, convicted of nine murders, stated at one point, "After I'm dead, they're going to open up my head and find that just like we've been saying a part of my brain is black and dry and dead" [source: Scott].
He entered the home of Evelyn Miroth. She was babysitting her infant nephew, David, and her son, Jason. Also in the home was Dan Meredith who was watching the children while Evelyn took a bath. On his way inside, he shot and killed Dan and proceeded to steal his wallet and car keys. He then followed Jason under his mother’s bed to shoot and kill him as well. He also shot and killed David on his way to kill Jason. He then found Evelyn in the bathtub and shot her in the head. He drug her body onto a bed and raped the corpse while drinking blood from cuts he placed on her neck. He then ejaculated an unusual amount of times on her and then stabbed her anus several times. All of her blood was drained into a bucket and he drank all of it. A girl knocked on the door, supposedly on a play date with Jason, and startled Richard. He fled the scene in Dan’s car and left trails of shoe and hand prints to his home. He even took Dan’s body with him to consume later.
... to 52 killings. He was brought into custody one final time when suspicious investigators checked his whereabouts on a day of a killing in the city of Ilovaisk. He had been there on business.
Taking the life of another person is one of the worst infractions of the law to commit. The Bureau of Justice defines serial killing as “[involving] the killing of several victims in three or more separate events” (“Michigan” 1). Serial killers often commit extremely violent crimes; they usually become infamous for these crimes. The first recorded serial killers are probably Jack the Ripper in 1888 and Fritz Haarmann in 1924 (“Michigan” 1). Jack the Ripper is also one of the most well-known criminals, almost everyone knows who he is or has at least heard of him. Most people know what he is famous for and associate him with being a bad person. Serial killers are typically sadistic and sociopathic, meaning that they are unable to feel empathy for people who are suffering (“Michigan” 1). Whimsical sociopaths who have sadistic tendencies are very dangerous. They inflict pain because they do not care that someone else is suffering, they only care that it makes t...
Ever wondered if there is a serial killer in your community? The characteristics of a serial killer may shock you or be surprisingly familiar to some of you. It is important for society to get informed about the various types of serial killers that are out there. It is essential for families to educate their children about strangers, to be careful with everyone they encounter on the streets, store, and even in their neighborhoods. A serial killer is defined as a person who murders three or more people in at least three separate events, with a "cooling-off period" between the kills. The big question is, what makes a person do these atrocious killings? We will analyze personal histories, categorized serial killers,
Serial killers commonly attack a single target at a time one on one. There also tends to be no or very little relation between the person being killed and the killer (murder 1). “The nature of this drive has been heavily debated, but there is a consensus on some points (Anderson 1).” Many researchers have noted sexual behavior in the murder.
As a act of revenge, Stryker plants heroin In Lucas’s apartment and tips off the police. Lucas is later arrested and sent to prison, where contact with his family is scanty due to the resentment of his brother James Jr, who intercepts Lucas’s letters to his father leading both Lucas and his father to believe they were both dead. Consumed by rage by the fact of betrayal of Stryker and the supposed death of his father, Lucas engages in many brawls and escape attempts. Eventually he is transferred to Seagate Prison in Georgia. Becoming a main target of a racist correction officer Albert “Billy Bob” Rackham, whose cruel brutality leads to a demotion he blames on Lucas. Lucas is then recruited for a cellular regeneration experiment as a volunteer by research scientist Dr. Noah Burstein. Burstein immerses Lucas in an electrical field conducted
One of Lajoe's sisters was found strangled in the family's bathtub. Then, upon hearing the news of his sisters death, one of Lajoe's brothers had a heart attack and died. LaJoe's parents packed up soon ...
When it come to the wrongdoing of serial murders the first thing people think of is that the offender is psychotic, white, abused as a child and experimented with animals. However that is not true, serial killers have different alternatives, motives and desires. Some are sexual sadist, act in necrophilia and are mission base serial killers. However people do not know that African-Americans consist of the largest racial minority group among serial killers, representing approximately 20 percent of the total amount of serial killers in America. (Bonn) Most believe that serial killers are white and other races are not likely to partake in that type of crimes. However two notorious well known black serial killers are Lemuel Smith & John Floyd
The night of September 13, 1986, Jonathan Nobles was consumed with a combination of drugs and alcohol when he broke into the house of Mitzi Johnson-Nalley and Kelly Farquar. Nobles brutally stabbed both Nalley and Farquar more than 20 times to death. He severely wounded Nalley’s date, Ron Ross, who barely survived with a lost eye and 19 stab wounds. During the time of the attack, Nobles was on parole for about 4 months. He was also employed by the Central Texas Crime Prevention Association of Round Rock. A week after he escaped the night of the murder scene, the police had enough physical evidence to put him in custody. That is when he confessed and showed all the evidence he had hidden. He said he did not remember everything that happened the night of the murders because of his impairment from drugs and alcohol. In 1987, Nobles was found guilty and placed on death row for the murder of Nalley and Farquer. Nobles was not rehabilitated. He knew right from wrong given that he was on parole for theft and employed at a crime prevention association, he showed no remorse when he plead insanity at his trial, and he used the media to convince the public that he changed.