Henry Lee Lucas was born on August 23, 1936, in Blacksburg, Virginia. He was the youngest of nine children in a tumultuous household. His father, Anderson Lucas, lost both legs in a train accident, earning the nickname "No Legs" and struggled to support the family by selling pencils. Lucas's mother, Viola, was reportedly abusive, and as a child, Lucas endured severe physical abuse, including a beating that left him in a coma for days. His childhood was marked by neglect and violence, contributing to his troubled development.

At age ten, Lucas lost his left eye after his mother neglected an injury caused by his brother. The abuse extended beyond physical violence; his mother forced him to watch her with clients and made him cross-dress publicly. These experiences left Lucas deeply scarred and socially isolated. His peers ridiculed him, fostering a deep-seated hatred and misanthropy. By his teenage years, Lucas had dropped out of school and begun engaging in criminal activities, leading to his first imprisonment for burglary at the age of eighteen.

Henry Lucas' early life is shrouded in a blend of fact and self-confessed fiction, adding layers to the notorious legend he became. Lucas claimed to have committed his first murder in 1951 by strangling a 17-year-old girl named Laura Everlean Burnsley. Burnsley vanished from a bus stop in Lynchburg, Virginia, in March 1951, and Lucas confessed to her murder many years later, in 1984. According to his confession, Lucas picked Burnsley up near Lynchburg, and when she resisted his advances and his attempted assault, he killed her. He then buried her body in a wooded area near Harrisburg, Virginia. However, Lucas later retracted this confession, a pattern that became typical for him, and Burnsley's body was never found.

In 1959, Lucas moved to Tecumseh, Michigan, to live with his half-sister, Opal Retta Jennings. Around this period, he was engaged to a pen pal named Stella Curtis, whom he had met while incarcerated. The relationship faced disapproval from Lucas' mother, Nellie Viola Lucas, who visited him for Christmas and insisted he return to Virginia to care for her. This led to frequent arguments, culminating in a violent confrontation on January 11, 1960. During one such argument, Lucas' mother struck him with a broom, and in response, he stabbed her in the neck. Lucas fled the scene, and although his mother was found alive by Opal, she soon died from her injuries. The official report noted her death resulted from a heart attack precipitated by the assault, leading to Lucas' arrest and subsequent conviction for second-degree murder.

After his mother's death, Lucas' life spiraled further into violence. He was sentenced to up to 40 years in Jackson State Penitentiary in Michigan, where he attempted suicide multiple times. During his incarceration, he was transferred to the Ionia State Hospital, undergoing electric shock treatments, behavior therapy, and heavy doses of antidepressants. He spent four years in the hospital before returning to prison in 1966. A social worker who met Lucas described him as a deeply inadequate individual with profound feelings of insecurity and inferiority. Due to prison overcrowding, Lucas was released in 1970 after serving just ten years of his sentence.

Lucas' criminal activities resumed soon after his release. In December 1971, he was arrested for attempting to abduct a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint, a crime that violated his parole conditions. While serving his sentence, Lucas formed a relationship with Betty Crawford, a family friend and widow. Upon his release in 1975, he married Crawford and moved to Maryland, where their marriage quickly disintegrated following accusations of molestation against Lucas. He subsequently moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he met Ottis Toole, beginning a partnership that would lead to numerous claimed murders.

Lucas and Toole's alleged killing spree spanned multiple states, targeting hitchhikers, sex workers, and migrants. Lucas claimed that Toole had a penchant for crucifying their victims, followed by barbecuing and eating them. Their crimes were brutal and varied, with Lucas stating that he killed victims through strangulation, stabbing, shooting, and hit-and-runs. Despite the grotesque details of their actions, Lucas later retracted many of these confessions, further complicating the truth behind their claims.

In 1982, Lucas was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm. During his incarceration, he wrote a letter confessing to multiple murders, including those of Becky Powell and Kate Rich. He led police to remains that he claimed were theirs, though forensic evidence was inconclusive. Lucas' confessions sparked the creation of the Lucas Task Force, which aimed to solve numerous cold cases. However, many of his confessions were later discredited, revealing that Lucas had access to case files, allowing him to fabricate details convincingly.

Journalistic investigations, notably by Hugh Aynesworth, exposed the improbability of Lucas' claims. Detailed timelines and reliable sources often contradicted his confessions, leading to widespread skepticism about his involvement in many of the crimes he confessed to. The flawed investigation methods and the preferential treatment Lucas received during his confessions undermined the credibility of the task force and the justice system's handling of his case.

Ultimately, Lucas was convicted of eleven homicides, including those of his mother, Powell, and Rich. He was sentenced to death for the murder of an unidentified woman, later identified as Debra Jackson. However, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1998 by then-Governor George W. Bush, after it was revealed that Lucas had been given access to the case files. Lucas died in prison in 2001 from congestive heart failure, leaving behind a legacy of infamy and controversy over the true extent of his crimes.