Reputed Mass Killer Now Says He Slew Only One

Convicted killer Henry Lee Lucas, who once boasted he had slain hundreds of persons nationwide and gave police confessions, told reporters Tuesday that he has killed only one person: his mother.

“I’ve not done these crimes,” he said. “I have killed mother, and that is the only one.”

Lucas, who served a prison term after being convicted of his mother’s killing in 1960, called a news conference at the McLennan County Courthouse where a grand jury is investigating the authenticity of his claims.

Lucas, who has been convicted of 10 slayings in Texas and is charged with killings in five other states, contended that law enforcement officers led him into confessing to crimes he didn’t commit.

‘Wanted Cases Cleared’

“Those are people who wanted cases cleared. Those are people who didn’t believe in honest justice,” he said. “They’re just leaving murderers out there to do what they want to do and this isn’t the way the system is supposed to work.”

He told the Dallas Times Herald this month that he had killed only three persons and on Tuesday changed his story again.

Lucas, who has been sentenced to death for one killing, also said investigators led him to crime scenes, told him how crimes were committed and showed him photographs so he could describe details.

But the one-eyed drifter’s allegations were denied by Texas Ranger Bob Prince, who heads a state task force set up to coordinate interviews with Lucas by law enforcement officials from across the country.

Ranger Won’t Apologize

“We absolutely deny that we would be involved in any kind of feeding of information to clear a case,” Prince said. “We have absolutely nothing to apologize for, to be embarrassed about.

“The question is, do you believe the word of a convicted murderer and habitual liar or do you believe the word of law enforcement officers across the United States? Were they all duped?”

Meanwhile, Texas Atty. Gen. Jim Mattox moved to block in federal court in San Antonio the transfer of Lucas to federal custody, saying it might hamper the state grand jury probe.

Lucas is scheduled to be transferred today from Waco to San Antonio for a federal grand jury hearing into whether his civil rights have been violated.