The making of a ‘confession killer’
Henry Lee Lucas started his life of crime in rural Virginia
The current Netflix documentary “The Confession Killer” chronicles the life of alleged serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who confessed to about 600 murders committed between his release from Michigan State Penitentiary on August 22, 1975, to his final arrest in Montague County Texas on June 11, 1983.
And while every biography of Lucas states that his horrific life of crime began with a series of burglaries in Richmond, it was actually his May 13, 1954 theft of a 1948 Pontiac from Keiser Motors on West Main Street in Waynesboro, Virginia, that earned him a sentence in the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond, jump-starting his role as either America’s most notorious serial killer or most outrageous liar.
Abusive childhood
Born August 23, 1936 in Montgomery County, Virginia, and the youngest of nine step-siblings, Lucas endured monstrous and unspeakable abuse as a child at the hands of his alcoholic mother, Viola Waugh. His Father (Viola’s second husband), named Anderson but nicknamed “No Legs” because he lost both in a railroad accident, made bootleg whiskey and sold pencils on Blacksburg, Virginia, street corners while Viola turned tricks in their single-bedroom cabin.
