Henry Lee Lucas, the Hand of Death, and the CIA

16 min readNov 1, 2023

In 1998 then Texas Governor George W Bush commuted Henry Lee Lucas’ sentence to life, saving him from execution. He was the only man to receive this from a Governor who had presided over 152 executions. [1]

But why would the execution-happy Governor show any mercy to a violent pedophile killer that confessed to raping, cannibalizing, and mutilating his 600+ victims?

The Official Story

By 1998 most of Lucas’ confessions were exposed as hoaxes perpetuated by the Texas Rangers’ “Henry Lee Lucas Task Force”, who set out to close cold-cases and get themselves awards and promotions.[2] [3] [4][5]

Waco District Attorney Vic Feazell and journalist Hugh Aynesworth (more on their sketchy histories later), were central to debunking literally hundreds of Lucas’ fake confessions. They pointed that he confessed to murders that occurred while he was in prison, or happened in different states were it could be proven Lucas was not present. [4][5][6]

Lucas gave conflicting testimony in other cases such as the “orange socks” murder, which had originally earned him the death sentence. And it was found that the Texas Rangers even gave him case files to help him learn details about the victims that only a killer would know. This helped them ‘clear’ around 213 cold cases. [4][8] [9][10][13]

According to Feazell, Lucas was also put on tranquilizers such as Thorazine which would make his mind highly suggestible.[5]

DNA evidence also proved Lucas was not involved in some of the murders. But despite this, Lucas was still considered guilty of at least 11 murders. The numbers eventually dwindled to 3 possible murders, one of which was his own mother. However even the remaining 2 are still in doubt. [8][10][11][12]

Serial Killer or Killer Op?

Henry Lee Lucas captured by the Texas Rangers

It’s hard to peg down who or what Henry Lee Lucas really was. Anyone looking at his story will quickly see that Lucas would confess, then recant, confess again, and repeat. Sometimes the pressure would come from people like Vic Feazell telling him to confess to only killing his mother, and other times from the Texas Rangers telling him to stick to all his confessions. [12][13][21]

According to the official story, Lucas would get special treatment in prison, which included a milkshake, good food, drugs, and outside trips.[14][20] He even had a ‘girlfriend’ while imprisoned, Phyllis Wilcox, to keep him on track with the whole ‘serial killer’ mythos. [15]

Lucas’ background was also a common serial killer one. He had an absent father and an alcoholic prostitute mother who abused him. She even dressed him up as a girl in public to humiliate him. He also said that one of his mother’s boyfriends made him have sex with carcasses of dead animals. Sometimes it’s hard to know how much of what Lucas says was true. But he did kill his mother — so its likely that she was at least abusive. And his eye injury also must of had a negative effect on his antisocial development.[16]

After killing his mother he was taken to a Michigan state prison, but after a few suicide attempts he was sent to Ionia state hospital. He spent 5 years at Ionia and claims that during this period something in him changed and turned him into a killer.[19][48]

At Ionia state hospital, he gave interviews where he said that he enjoyed animal mutilation, was possessed by a demon, and raped dead bodies. But he later recanted some of those claims. [48]

He also said that he would hear his mother’s voice in his head for a time, which is a common theme with serial killers and even mass murderers today. Considering that CIA mind control experiments on the criminally insane went on at the Ionia mental ward, I’ll add that it is entirely possible to bypass hearing and put sound into people’s heads.[49][50][51]

But was Lucas just an accessory the Texas Rangers used to clear cold-cases, or was there more to him? He was released from prison after only serving half the sentence for killing his mother — but was it really due to an overcrowded prison? Or was it the Hands of Death cult, that Lucas and his partner Toole mentioned multiple times, guiding his release and subsequent activities? [8][17]

The Hands of Death

Adolfo Constanzo led the Matamoros Satanic drug trafficking ring. They mutilated their victims in rituals.

Most of what is known of this group comes from Lucas himself and his homosexual lover and partner in crime Ottis Toole. Both Toole and Lucas told the story separately and to different interrogators. They said a man who went by Don Meteric invited them into the cult, and that it had connections to the US government. The paramilitary cult was based in the Florida Everglades, and practiced cannibalism. They trained them in killing, arson, and abduction. [18][20]

Lucas says he first joined the cult in 1978 in Maryland. While waiting for a closed bridge to open, another driver began talking to him and Lucas told him he needed work. The man offered him a job as a killer and assured him that “killing people was just fine” thanks to the organization he was part of. He then told him to meet the group at a warehouse in Miami. [34]

Lucas’ first task involved him killing a gay black man who had betrayed an oath to the devil. They cut out his heart, drained his blood, and dismembered him. Afterwards they drank his blood and ate pieces of flesh. The remains were burnt. [18]

Lucas later claimed the cult wanted him to kill President Carter due to him passing laws that were not good for their operation.[34]

Their training camp was attended by hundreds of students and from six different countries. Trainees would be forced to murder a person and mutilate their bodies, which is similar to what Mexican cartels do to train their own. Recreational drug use was also part of training. [18]

Authorities themselves claim they looked for the location of the training camp and found nothing. But they must not have looked hard enough because there was actually a 78-acre training camp west of Miami, composed mostly of Nicaraguan exiles. 800 exiles were estimated to have been at the camp in 1981 according to the New York Times. The FBI and other government agencies were aware of it and did not have a problem with the training camp. [18] [53]

Public reports of the training consist of parachute jumping, weapons training (mainly AR-15s), and urban and guerrilla warfare. Vietnam veterans, and former US Army Rangers were instructors at the camp. It is well known that at the time exiles were being used by the CIA and US military to help ‘regime change’ operations in Latin America. [53]

Lucas also said that El Salvadorian death squads were being used by the Hands of Death out of Miami. [34]

Some of Lucas’ confessed activities with the group were contract killings, and abducting children who would later be sent to a ranch near Juarez Mexico.[19]

In 1985 then-Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox was given a marked map of drug smuggling and Hands of Death ritual killing activity by Sister Clemmie Schroeder, Lucas’ jail minister. Mattox says he discounted it because it was too vague. A mark on the map was correctly placed on Matamoros Mexico, but around 100 miles south of the actual ranch where they actually found ritualistically mutilated bodies. Some locations were marked with labels such as ‘dope drop’, ‘poppy growers’, and ‘child slavery’. The map Lucas says, was drawn in the years he worked for the cult. [19][52]

Years later another burial ground was found in a ranch in Juarez Mexico. Lucas had mentioned Hands of Death activity in in that location as well.[19]

Jeffrey Dahmer, who resided in Florida, was also said to have been part of the Hands of Death. But more on that will be on the Ottis Toole section.[18]

The CIA wing of the Pentecostal Church

Jim Jones, is perhaps the most well known Pentecostal/CIA minister.

Lucas with his 14 year old girlfriend and later alleged victim, Becky Powell (who was also Toole’s niece), found themselves near Stoneburg Texas. There they settled at a Pentecostal commune known as the House of Prayer, which was led by the lay minister Ruben Moore. [22]

Lucas and his biographer Max Call, claimed that those in the commune were connected to the Hands of Death. They named a ‘Kate Smith’ (not Kate Rich) as a cult member, and suggested payment for tasks involving organized crime. [22]

During his time in the commune, Lucas eventually killed his girlfriend Becky Powell. But he claims that he told Moore that Becky got into a truck and left. Lucas then took off to California. [22]

One interesting fact about the Pentecostal church is that it has been used as a Trojan Horse by the CIA in Latin America to help topple governments. Despite this being illegal, the CIA found a loophole to infiltrate and run covert operations by using missionaries.[23][24][25]

Pentecostal ministers were involved with Latin American death squads such as the Contras, and even supported Pinochet’s fascist US-satellite government in Chile. But its worth noting that not all Pentecostal ministers were involved. And those who weren’t CIA were usually killed or exiled.[25][26]

Perhaps the most recognizable name from the Pentecostal church is Jim Jones. Coincidentally Lucas made claims that he took “poison to Jim Jones in Giana”.[5][27]

Agents of the State

Ottis Toole

Toole who was Lucas’ gay lover and alleged murder partner, shares a similar background story to him. He was abused and molested by his older sister and mother who also dressed him up as a little girl. And like Lucas’ own ‘origin story’, Toole’s varies depending on how sensationalist the source is. Some claim his grandmother robbed graves and use the remains for Satanic rituals. [29]

Toole was nearly mentally retarded yet surprisingly also a serial arsonist and killer, that was able to miraculously elude capture since the age of 14. In 1984 Toole was convicted for setting the fire that killed a man. And like Lucas he confessed to hundreds of murders he did not commit, until his death in 1996 due to liver failure while incarcerated in Florida. [29][30]

Toole is said to have introduced Lucas to the Hands of Death cult.[18][31]

He was posthumously accused by police in December 2008, of killing Adam Walsh, the son of John Walsh who was the host of America’s Most Wanted. Keep in mind that this high-profile case was cold for 2 decades, and even the Walsh family considered it a botched investigation.[30]

Coincidentally, Lucas, Toole and Jeffrey Dahmer were in Miami Beach at the time Adam Walsh was murdered. Two eyewitnesses claim they saw Dahmer throw the 6 year old into a blue van at a Hollywood mall in FL. Dahmer himself denied this however and at that point he had nothing to lose. Toole on his end confessed to the murder but later recanted.[18][32]

There is the claim that Ottis’ sentence was commuted by Jeb Bush, but I can’t find any corroborating sources. Also Jeb Bush had not become FL governor until 3 years after Ottis’ death. [19][47]

Jack Smart

Before settling with James Moore, Lucas and his ‘child bride’ Becky Powell were hitchhiking through California and were eventually picked up by Jack Smart, the owner of an antique shop. He claims he felt sorry for them and let them stay at his house with his wife Obera Smart. Lucas was allowed to stay as long as he helped Smart out at the store and did some repairs at his house.[33]

According to Lucas, Smart was also part of the Hands of Death and he assisted him in various murders in 1979. The murders took place in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and in an Indian reservation near Beaumont, California. However California authorities said they could not find the bodies. Lucas also said that Smart asked him to transport drugs for the Hands of Death, such as marijuana, cocaine and angel dust. [34]

During this time relatives of Mrs Smart called looking for someone to take care of their 82 year old mother Kate Rich (who was also Mrs Smart’s mother), and they decided to send Lucas and Becky to her home in Ringgold Texas.[33]

During his stay at Kate’s house Lucas would buy groceries at a general store. A clerk became suspicious when began ordering large stocks of items that Kate would never order. Also checks Lucas would use to pay looked suspicious, and the clerk contacted Kate’s family in Oklahoma to tell them that she was probably being taken advantage of. The family visited the house and saw that it was a filthy mess so they kicked out Lucas and Becky. Lucas then made his way to the post office to pick up money that Jack Smart mailed him to ‘help with Kate’s house’, but it had not been sent. [33]

Three weeks later Kate Rich was murdered. Lucas was a suspect and was made to take a polygraph test which he passed. Lucas later confessed to the killing of Jack Smart’s mother-in-law, but it is unknown if this a real or false confession. During this time Lucas was still around Stoneburg Texas, while Kate’s house was only 12 miles away in Ringgold Texas. [35]

Hugh Aynesworth

He had his doubts while listening to Henry during his trial, and teamed up with District Attorney Vic Feazell to debunk most of Lucas’ confessions. [4][5] Hugh Aynesworth’s original article can be found on source [6]. They even gave him a Pulitzer Prize for his work.

Aynesworth is not your average journalist. At one point he was called the journalist to have “broken almost every major assassination story”, and was even in the area where John F Kennedy was assassinated. He is also a strong proponent of the official JFK story but has himself knowingly spread disinformation. [36] [37][38]

Such a ‘lucky’ journalist Aynesworth was that he also witnessed Oswald being arrested, and Jack Ruby’s subsequent killing of Oswald. It’s like someone wanted their guy in there to control the story. [37]

Aynesworth also witnessed the siege at Waco, played basketball with Fidel Castro, and even tracked down James Earl Ray, the man accused of killing Martin Luther King Jr. [39]

In 1989 he co-wrote Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer. In contrast with his work on Lucas, his books on Bundy actually push the narrative that Bundy committed the murders which he had denied committing.[40]

His illustrious career definitely shows that he worked for the intelligence apparatus. But also a Dallas field office CIA memo shows that Aynesworth was in contact with the CIA and had “offered his services” himself. [41]

Vic Feazell

In 1982 he became the Waco, Mclennan county Disctrict Attorney, and got involved in the Henry Lee Lucas case in 1984. The ordained Baptist Minister has a podcast series where he talks about his involvement in the case which you can find on source [4].

Feazell says that when him and Aynesworth began to debunk Lucas’ hundreds of confessions, the Texas Rangers and the FBI retaliated against him for “betraying the law enforcement brotherhood”. They harassed him and tried to prevent him from investigating by blocking his use of public records databases, blocking access to Lucas’ jail cell, raiding his office, putting a grand jury investigation on both him and Aynesworth, and accused him of bribes. [4][7]

According to Feazell, some of the prostitute murders Lucas confessed to were done by Joe Leeming, who “looked like a vampire”. One victims had actually escaped Leeming. [42]

In 1985 during the controversial Lake Waco murders case, there were accusations that Feazell was aiming to become either President of the US or head of the CIA, to the point that he would put an innocent in jail. He was also accused of being lax on drug related cases. [43]

In the Lake Waco murders case, Feazell and his team locked sights on David Wayne Spence, Gilbert and Anthony Melendez, and Muneer Deeb, a Jordanian. Deeb was found not guilty, but Feazell was successful in not only putting Spence and the Melendez brothers in jail, but also getting them executed. [44]

The Melendez brothers ended up confessing to the killings — allegedly under pressure — but later then recanted. However there are claims that Feazell’s lacky Waco police seargent Truman Simons, was bribing ‘jailhouse snitches’ with special favors to control their testimonies regarding supposed confessions by the Melendez. They were said to have also been given insider information on the case by Simons. The ‘snitches’ were Feazell’s main form of evidence, but some of them also recanted their testimony. [44][45]

Over the years the Lake Waco murders case has come under much scrutiny. But Feazell still defends his work. However there is the argument that the real murderer was Tab Harper who according to witnesses had bragged about killing 3 people. He was also seen at the park that night. Perhaps he was involved to a much larger group connected to the CIA? [43] [45][46]

According to police reports, Harper himself was likely a drug dealer to victim Kenneth Franks. And Harper went to collect a debt which ended in the murder of the 3. [54]

Another interesting thing about both Aynesworth and Feazell is Sister Clemmie Schroeder’s interview meeting with them. Schroeder was the McLennan County Jail minister who Lucas would confess to. She believed that Lucas had committed the murders, and suspects that Lucas was being drugged and pressured to admit only to killing his mother — which he eventually did. [13]

Feazell also never denied involvement with the “cult”, when questioned about it:

“[Schroeder to Feazell:] how do I know that you aren’t a cult member and that you aren’t trying to get Henry to confess something to just remove him so he can’t be telling all of that stuff about kids in Mexico and everything? [… Feazell:] well, you don’t”. [13]

According to Schroeder, Feazell told Lucas that he would be sent to a “nice Federal prison”, but also seemed to be afraid of Feazell and Aynesworth. [13]

The Hands of Death were the CIA

My perspective on Henry Lee Lucas’ story boils down to this:

After killing his mother, the already mentally unstable Lucas was put at the Ionia mental hospital, where CIA mind control experiments were ongoing on the criminally insane. He was later released and him and Ottis Toole were recruited into the Hands of Death cult, which in reality was the CIA or some form of multi-agency underground network (I’ll refer to it as just the “CIA” for simplicity’s sake). The CIA began to groom him through experiments at least since the Ionia mental ward years, so they knew who to look for.

Lucas and Toole were never told that the CIA were the Hands of Death, but they had at least heard of a government connection. They trained with Latin American exiles in Miami used by the US government to illegally help topple governments for neocolonialist agendas. Cannibalistic and ritualistic activities were likely taught to a few, and in the spirit of the US government’s Phoenix Program in Vietnam. The goal was to create brutal killers who mutilated their victims to intimidate the enemy.

During his time as an unwitting CIA asset Lucas trafficked children, drugs, and took on a few contract killings. He also dealt Mexican drug cartels who were connected to this underground spy network, such as the Satanic sect in Matamoros.

Lucas took on various CIA asset jobs with other undercover agents such as Jack Smart, and Pentecostal minister James Moore. And him and Toole likely even met with Jeffrey Dahmer, another possible CIA asset.

After various mistakes such as the murder of Becky Powell, which was not a contract kill but a personal one, the Hands of Death deemed him too out-of-control and he was arrested and no longer protected. The Texas Rangers decided to use him for their own benefit, but Lucas began to talk too much and mentioned the training camp in Miami, and named various individuals and their connections to the CIA cult.

This is were CIA journalist Hugh Aynesworth and Vic Feazell are sent in. Both were willing to go to war with the FBI and Texas Rangers in an operation to discredit everything Lucas had confessed to, along with the real confessions. Sure Lucas lied in hundreds of his confessions, but he also confessed to verifiable truths. Ironically the more legitimate ones are the ones exposing the activities of the CIA, aka the Hands of Death.

Bush being the son of a former CIA director commuted the sentence of one of his own.

Fortunately for the CIA, Feazell and Aynesworth had the work cut out for them thanks to the Texas Ranger’s greed. And now when you hear about Lucas on TV you hear a conspiracy theory, but not the complete one.