Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 15

SUNDAY AUGUST 25 1985 I 1985 FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM 1 5A Lucas writes whodunit on grand gory scaltio' HENRY LEE LUCAS: 1 MURDER MYSTERIES Lucas describes the clothes and jewelry the girl was wearing and her purse lie picks out the area where he turned off the highway onto a dirt road going through the oilfield "Did you ever leave any marks" other than the stab wounds Mallory asks "Oh I cut marks on them" Lucas says giving a shopping list of the ways he says he has mutilated the bodies of his victims lie also runs through a list of things he used to make the marks "She probably had cuts on her arms where she was swinging and fighting" he says The New Mexico law officers on the tape do not tell Lucas what he has gotten right or wrong whether the fifth picture is Begley's They do not tell him that Bill Powell is not the oilfield worker's name r75 0 e00A It jt 44v 1 i'ii4116 4 'F-t'6 Irotegt 4 -i 1 I 0tt 7 5 4 rtost frr4 It 1 4gAl ii: 'y ie (:: ts -14') i -414 '1 -4iti 1 t' owormooo4- iii i 44 's -t( 1::: 4'' I A' le i -'411Y Zo 't1 fel': 1 '''001 I 1 A 1 4 1 I1 Of'Al4tdor i ti 11 4 4 7 1 06 i ty came to Texas to interview Lucas Mallory says that before the videotape was turned on there was a short conversation mainly during which Lucas said he had crossed a yellow cattle guard when he turned on the road into the oilfield Mallory said Lucas was given no information about the case during that off-the-tape talk On tape Mallory and Wrinkle show Lucas a photo lineup of six blond young women "The fifth one looks like her" Lucas says The fifth one was Begley The rest of the tape is an interweaving of correct information provided without prompting by Lucas: incorrect information given by Lucas: and information that Lucas more or less confirms after it is provided by the New Mexico officers Mallory asks Lucas where the girl was picked up Lucas hesitates Was it downtown Mallory asks? Could it have been near a bank? Yes Lucas says it was downtown he's not sure about the bank but later on he has picked up on the suggestion of the bank as the location He gives other general information about the area a restaurant a big clothing store that could have been real recollections or just good guesses Lucas says he stabbed the girl several times and left her clothes nearby lie is uncertain at first about which car he was driving at the time but eventually without any hints says it was a brown Ford LTD Lucas says he doesn't remember the name of the man he stayed with in town but he remembers he worked in the oilfields Could the name have been Bill? Yes "If I told you the name Powell Mallory says "Yeah I knew a Powell" Lucas says lie describes the general location of the house Lucas says that he and Bill drank beer and worked on his Ford and Bill's Chevy at Bill's house mostly on the brakes and engines He says Bill had a small workshed in back of his house April 171982 from a parking lot that llobbs high school kids used as a hangout Her body was found on an oilfield road southwest of town She had been stabbed many times "We talked to a lot of people and turned up nothing" said Sgt Paul Mallory of the Lee County Sheriff's Department Barbara's mother Carol Doran says that a few weeks after her daughter's death "someone said they had seen her in a car with a man with a funny eye" Then in early 1984 two local residents saw Lucas' picture in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and told police that they had seen him in town about the time of Begley's killing They said that they had seen him at the small concrete-block house of an oilfield worker who is now dead at the downtown parking lot from which Barbara Begley had disappeared Shortly after that Fred Dodd then an investigator with the Chambers County Sheriff's Department in South Texas was interviewing Lucas he knew there was an unsolved slaying in Hobbs but did not know details Dodd asked Lucas if he had ever been in Hobbs Lucas said he had that he had killed a girl and left her in an oilfield in an area where he had seen lights like airport searchlights crossing the sky Dodd related that information to Mallory who then called the Rangers and set up an appointment to interview Lucas "I didn't give any information about the case" to the Rangers on the phone he said In May 1984 Mallory and then-Sheriff Ralph Wrinkle of Lee Conn File photo Henry Lucas left is escorted by an Irving police detective and Bob Prince in the back of the Texas Rangers to an awaiting car during a November 1984 investigation THE INFORMATION ABOUT the oilfield the cattle guard and the airport searchlights was right Ba rbara Begley was stabbed to death and did have wounds on her arms from trying to defend herself Mallory said she was known for being a "real scrapper" Lucas was right about the jewelry she was wearing about half right on her clothes: she was not carrying a purse at the time She was found with her clothes on but her sweater was turned inside out as if someone else had perhaps put the clothes back on her Lucas correctly said that "Bill" was an oilfield worker correctly if vaguely described the location of the house Witnesses said the man they now believe was Lucas did work on the brakes and motors of a brown Ford and an old Chevy that day and that the two men were drinking beer The oilfield worker did have a small shop behind his house Many of the tapes are like that There are sections where the only details Lucas seems to come up with are those suggested by the questions he is asked Then there will be other sections where he provides pertinent information that appears to come from nowhere but his own knowledge The police off jeers of course pick up on those volunteered pieces of information More often than not however when they recount the strong points of a case against Lucas they also say that he told them things that actually they had first suggested to Lucas such as the location of the bank and the existence of the marks on Begley's body According to Dodd and Mallory Lucas could not have gotten information about the Hobbs slaying from the Rangers or from Dodd be cause they did not have the details to give him And of course Lucas could have been given information in off-the-record talks On that score as oh many others the question then becomes which party one chooses to he Carol Doran believes Paul Mallory "I'm satisfied Lucas killed my daughter" she said "People who say Lucas didn't do any (slayings) it makes me really angry" MONDAY MORNING: Tracking the "paper trail" of Lucas Continued from Page 1 longer he stayed oft death row THOSE THINGS MIGHT explain why Lucas gave bogus confessions if they were bogus They don't explain how People such as Bob and Joyce Lemons Vic Feazell and Gary Richardson believe that they have the answer to how The Lemonses have researched Lucas' saga for the past year since they refused to accept the contention of Lubbock police that Lucas had killed their daughter Feazell is the Waco prosecutor who convened a grand jury to study the Henry Lucas phenomenon Gary Richardson is Lucas' newest lawyer They believe that many cases were cleared simply by police who accepted vague error-filled confessions without question They believe Lucas was able to draw out key details from police officers who did not realize that he was getting information from them instead of vice versa Multiple interviews on the same cases helped Lucas get his -facts" straight And the Lemonses and Richardson say and Feazell at least implies that some law officials either local officers or members of the Ranger task force intentionally provided Lucas with information Such accusations infuriate the Rangers and the many law officers who continue to believe despite Lucas' about-face that he killed the hitchhiker or homemaker the elderly store owner or young deputy whose deaths they investigated The local officers don't vouch for 600 killed or even 60 but just for the ones they each investigated Not that there is unanimity in law enforcement ranks about Lucas Many of the officers who are now convinced that Lucas committed a slaying in their territory started out as skeptics believing him to be just another professional confessor Officers who saw Lucas come to their town or county and claim "kills" that he could never substantiate remain unconvinced to this day that he is a mass murderer The Star-Telegram studied about 40 of those cases Some cases in the sampling were chosen randomly and others were described by law officers as being among the stronger cases against Lucas Videotapes audio tapes transcripts of tapes case files pictures and other evidence were examined whenever possible Lucas' work history and public assistance records for welfare food stamps and traveler's aid were checked when available The officers involved were asked what they had told Lucas about the crimes how they asked their questions and what pictures he was show If Lucas supposedly took them back to a scene where a body was found they were asked whether they slowed their vehicles at crucial points or did anything Lucas could have interpreted as directions The officers were asked what information if any they had given to the Texas Rangers before interviewing Lucas They were asked whether anyone else had previously interviewed Lucas concerning the same crime The examination showed some unconvincing confessions some instances where Lucas was given large amounts of information and alibis that would seem to make it impossible for Lucas to have committed some of the crimes But those things don't explain away all the cases against him They don't explain away the cases where Lucas or his one-time companion Ottis Toole volunteered information before they were asked They don't explain away the surviving victims who say Lucas attacked or followed them If tapes and transcripts shown to the Star-Telegram are accurate records of what was told to and by Henry Lucas then the evidence against him is still strong in some cases even when it is far from perfect The Star-Telegram found only one instance in which law officers in effect admit that they "gave" the case to Lucas Continued longer he stayed THOSE THIN plain why Lucas' sions if they were explain how People such a Lemons Vic Few Annual August Shop Saturday 10 Ill 9 Browse Sunday noon 'til Spring Aid rerty's )riteriniar Air! il 6 i885-1985 A i Annual August -0- Shop Saturday 10 'til 9 1 611 Browse Sunday noon 'til 6 Illy The South's LARGEST rs (4141: 0 AST) 41 'I''''t '4 it" I 0 NI 'W 1 1i Value and 1 et tri Tif ail A Oite di '0 rIA e--k tr4kJK01047ts: 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'e Anitlek fr7N 1 1 ot -'i Unique pivot hinges allow to pressure giving individ body regardless 01 your we ow victual springs to respond independently support to every part of the weight of shape The special Back Supporter Postur-Custoon foundations grid-loft suspension system contains 109 suspension points that provide unequalled support and durabIlliy Perimeter modules provide 30 firmer edge and maximum sleeping surface JOHN NOYES JR a student at Jackson State University was vacuuming his car on the morning of March 25 1979 at a carwash alongside Interstate 20 in Jackson Miss He was shot to death apparently by someone traveling the interstate Police never were able to establish a motive for the slaying "He lLucas) wanted it (the case) so we just let him have it" said Jackson Detective DF Fondren "We just laid it out for him" But even at that Lucas simply told the Jackson officers that he might have done it but wasn't sure "He couldn't say yes I did it Ile couldn't say it was Sunday morning and we were going from Point A to Point Fondren said In fact Fondren said Lucas simply told them that he and Ottis Toole had been shooting at people through car windows and that it was possible Noyes might have been one of their victims Nevertheless the case was marked as cleared "We weren't going to prosecute anyway" Fondren said because the case wasn't strong But now the case is off the cleared list as it turns out Lucas was been in a Bluefield WVa mental hospital when the killing took place CONTRAST THAT WITH cases such as the one in Hobbs NM Barbara Begley was 17 and sometimes a little wild She disappeared ED BIRD io Camp Wisdom Rd en Mon-Sat 10 til 9 1-3376 tro 263-0773 You're welcome to use Haverty's own convenient re TOWN EAST VALLEY VIEW RED Across Town 5850 LBJ at preston Rd East Mall Open Mon-Sat 10 1119 Open Mon-Sat 239-7174 10 1119 270-7401 3910 Open 298-33' Metro 2 Bac Su porte ajesticP: 4 -PI A itilli (01 9 rvcb I a g1Ill I I I wit Iiittlar S-249 amtqw43 c-bin4cA tlitni) T1 14 99 al- ttVP' 4krit1itti 4 11M i t4 99 -0 You're welcome to use Haverty's own convenient TOWN EAST VALLEY VIEW RED BIRD Across Town 5850 LBJ at preston Rd 3910 Camp Wisdom Rd East Mall Open Mon -Sat 10 'hi 9 Open Mon-Sat 10 III 9 Open Mon -Sat 239-7174 298-3376 10 1119 270-7401 Metro 263-0773 volving charge plan Visa MasterCard or American Express 4 ItZ revolving charge plan Visa kilz 18" SHERMAN 4535 Fjwy 75 North (1mile north of Sher-Den Mall) 1-868-0502 Closed Sun Open Mon -Sat 10 1117 HAvERTyis IRVING 2712 irving Blvd Plymouth Park Open Mon-Sat 10 'tll 9 986-8715 Metro 339-8063 IRVING 2712 Irving Blid Plymouth Park Open Mon-Sat 1 986-8715 Metro 339-8063 ARLINGTON 3415 Cooper St Hwy 157 in Tiffany Park Open Mon-Sat 10 ill 9 468-1133 Metro 467-3280 I 1 'I.