Bonus Episode 53 - Weird Scenes in Waco pt. 9: the Texas Ranger Task Force Innocence Project, feat. George from CAVDEF (Patreon)

(9 of 9)

The ninth and final episode in conversation with George of CAVDEF discussing Henry Lee Lucas. In this episode, we make the case that Lucas really did kill a number of people. Moreover, we suggest that the Hand of Death connection is precisely why Lucas being a killer has been left in so much doubt.

We start with an examination of the various records that are supposed to alibi Lucas. George walks us through these records, including the time sheets of Southeast Color Coat and scrap metal sales receipts from Commercial Metals. Beyond just casting doubt on the records themselves, we look into the weird connections of the companies responsible for maintaining them. Especially with Southeast Color Coat, its background raises the possibility of it being a front for the criminal organization that Lucas claimed to work for.

George picks apart some notable examples of dubious mainstream reporting accusing the Texas Rangers of corruption in the Lucas case. Then, drawing on the documents sent by Bob Prince, he goes through several of Lucas's confessions which strongly suggest his guilt. Despite the repeated claim that Lucas only knew details which were fed to him by law enforcement, there are a number of cases where Lucas knew details which could not have conceivably been fed to him. And despite the repeated claim that Lucas's confessions have never been independently verified, there is at least one case where two eyewitnesses linked him to the scene of the crime.

All of which is to say that there is reason to doubt the current popular consensus that Lucas killed as few as three victims. Moreover, peeling back the "debunking" of Lucas's confessions offers some of the strongest proof that the Hand of Death is a real organization to which Lucas belonged.

George's Links:

https://twitter.com/CAVDEF_George

http://cavdef.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://blog.cavdef.org/

series art by Dakota

George's Notes:

• Questioning the Southeast Color Coat work records is not to say that I think Lucas was guilty of Debra Jackson's murder. Especially with Boutwell's role in building the case, there is still a decent chance that the conviction was dubious. But the work records are not sufficiently credible proof of innocence by themselves. Plus (and this is the main point), there are instances of far more compelling Lucas confessions which get discounted solely because of the work records, and this shows why it is invalid to do so.
• According to testimony by Bob and Joyce Lemons (the parents of Deborah Sue Williamson) before the McLennan County grand jury, Lucas's relatives told them that he had not even stabbed his mother. This is in direct contradiction to what was reported about the murder of his mother back in the 1950s when it happened. Whether because of family ties or even darker influences, Lucas's family certainly seems to have been providing him with non-credible exonerations.
• The unidentified Livingston County NY girl whose 1979 murder Lucas confessed to was later identified as Tammy Alexander
• Beyond just running an oil industry contractor there, Ned Butler's father was actually the mayor of Hobbs NM from 1950 to 1951

Sources:

Lucas case documents from Bob Prince

Appeal decision re: the "Orange Socks" trial mentioning the Southeast Color Coat witnesses

CAVDEF section on the Barbara Begley murder

Episode 53 Songs:

Abrazos De Una Rosa by Los Hermanos Gutiérrez

Recuerdos by Los Hermanos Gutiérrez

Satan’s Jeweled Crown by the Louvin Brothers

Merch:

https://programmed-to-chill.myshopify.com/