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Inmate Mugshot | |
| Born | November 4, 1965 (age 55) |
|---|---|
| Other names | The Taco Bell Strangler |
| Conviction(s) | Murder Rape |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 11 |
Span of crimes | March 8, 1990–March 8, 1994 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | South Carolina, North Carolina |
| March 13, 1994 | |
Henry Louis Wallace (born November 4, 1965), also known as 'The Taco Bell Strangler', is an Americanserial killer who killed ten women in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is awaiting execution at Central Prison in Raleigh.[1]
Early life[edit]
Henry Louis Wallace was born in Barnwell, South Carolina,[2] son of Lottie Mae Wallace.]. Wallace grew up with his mother working long hours as a textile worker. She was a harsh disciplinarian, constantly criticizing her son for even the smallest mistakes. He attended Barnwell High School, where he was elected to student council and was a cheerleader. After he graduated in 1983, Wallace became a disc jockey for a Barnwell radio station.[2]
Wallace went to several colleges before joining the U.S. Navy in 1985. He married his high school sweetheart, the former Maretta Brabham, that same year.[2] In 1992, Wallace was honorably discharged from the Navy.[2]
Early criminal career[edit]
During his time in the Navy, he began using several drugs, including crack cocaine.[2] In Washington, he was served warrants for several burglaries in and around the Seattle metro area. In January 1988, Wallace was arrested for breaking into a hardware store. That June, he pled guilty to second-degree burglary. A judge sentenced him to two years of supervised probation. According to Probation Officer Patrick Seaburg, Wallace did not show up for most mandatory meetings.[citation needed]
Murders[edit]
On March 8, 1990, he murdered Tashonda Bethea, a Barnwell High School student. He then dumped her body in a lake in his hometown. It was not until several weeks later that her body was discovered. He was questioned by the police regarding her disappearance and death, but was never formally charged in her murder. He was also questioned in connection with the attempted rape of a 16-year-old Barnwell girl, but was never charged for that either. By that time, his marriage had fallen apart, and he was fired from his job as Chemical Operator for Sandoz Chemical Co.
In February 1991, he broke into his old high school and the radio station where he once worked. He stole video and recording equipment and was caught trying to pawn them.
In November 1991, he relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina.[2] He found jobs at several fast-food restaurants in East Charlotte.
In May 1992, he picked up Sharon Nance, a convicted drug dealer and prostitute. When she demanded payment for her services, Wallace beat her to death, then dropped her body by the railroad tracks. She was found a few days later.
In June 1992, he raped and strangled Caroline Love at her apartment,[2] then dumped her body in a wooded area. Love was a friend of Wallace's girlfriend.[2] She worked at Bojangles at the time of the disappearance. After he killed her, he and her sister filed a missing person's report at the police station. It would be almost two years (March 1994) before her body was discovered in a wooded area in Charlotte.
On February 19, 1993, Wallace strangled Shawna Hawk at her home after first having sex with her,[2] and later went to her funeral. Hawk worked at Taco Bell where Wallace was her supervisor.[2] In March 1993, Hawk's mother, Dee Sumpter, and her godmother Judy Williams founded Mothers of Murdered Offspring, a Charlotte-based support group for parents of murdered children.[3]
On June 22, he raped and strangled coworker Audrey Spain.[2] Her body was found two days later.
On August 10, 1993, Wallace raped and strangled Valencia M. Jumper, 21 year old college student from Columbia, S.C. -- a friend of his sister -- then set her on fire to cover up his crime.[2] A few days after her murder, he and his sister went to Valencia's funeral, even sending her family condolences.
A month later, in September 1993, he went to the apartment of Michelle Stinson, a struggling college student and single mother of two sons. Stinson was a friend of his from Taco Bell. He raped her and then some time later strangled and stabbed her in front of her oldest son.[2]
That October, his only child was born.
On February 4, 1994 Wallace was arrested for shoplifting, but police had not made a connection between him and the murders.[2]
On February 20, 1994, Wallace raped and strangled Vanessa Little Mack in her apartment. He knew her through her sister, who was a co-worker of Henry at Taco Bell. Mack had two daughters, aged seven and four months, at the time of her death.
On March 8, 1994, Wallace robbed, raped, and strangled Betty Jean Baucom. Baucom and Wallace's girlfriend were co-workers. She was living in Charlotte for at least six months with her three year old daughter. She was originally from Laurel Hill, N.C. After he murdered her, he took valuables from the house, then left the apartment with her car.[2] He pawned everything except the car, which he left at a local shopping center across the street from the Lake Apartments.
Wallace went back to the same apartment complex on the night of March 8, 1994, knowing that Berness Woods would be at work so he could murder his girlfriend, Brandi June Henderson. Ms. Henderson was a student and a homemaker taking care of her infant son. They lived at The Lake Apartments for one month after moving there in February 1994. Wallace raped Henderson while she held her baby, and then strangled her.[2] He also strangled her son, but he survived.[4] Afterwards, he took some valuables from the apartment and left.
The police increased their patrols in East Charlotte after two bodies of young black women were found at The Lake apartment complex. Even so, Wallace sneaked through to rob and strangle Debra Ann Slaughter, who had been a co-worker of his girlfriend, and stabbed her some 38 times in the stomach and chest.[2] Her body was found on March 12, 1994.
Wallace was arrested on March 13, 1994. For 12 hours, he confessed to the murders of 10 women in Charlotte. He then confessed to an 11th murder he committed before moving to Charlotte. He described in detail, the women's appearances, how he raped, robbed and killed the women, and his crack habit.[2][5]
Aftermath and criticism[edit]
Charlotte's police chief congratulated Wallace's arrest, reassuring the community that the women of East Charlotte were safe. However, many in the area's black community criticized the police's conduct during the investigation, accusing them of neglecting the murders of black women.[6] One woman stated that the police did not care because they viewed the young female murder victims as 'fast girls who hang out a lot'.[citation needed] As Shawna Denise Hawk's mother, Dee Sumpter, said:
- 'The victims weren't prominent people with social-economic status. They weren't special. And they were black.'
Charlotte's police chief, Dennis Nowicki, had said he was not aware of a killer until early March 1994, when three young black women were murdered within four days of each other. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department apologized to its residents for not spotting a link among the murders sooner. However, they said the murder cases varied enough to throw them off Wallace's trail. Until Wallace's murder pace picked up in the early weeks of March 1994, the deaths were sporadic and not entirely similar. It was only in the week of March 9, 1994 that Charlotte Police warned the people in East Charlotte that there was a serial killer on the loose.
Trial[edit]
Over the next two years, Wallace's trial was delayed over choice of venue, DNA evidence from murdered victims, and jury selection. His trial began in September 1996. In the opening arguments, prosecutor Marsha Goodnow argued for the death penalty, while defense attorney Isabel Day asked for a life sentence, arguing that Wallace suffered from mental illness, and that the killings were not first-degree murder because they did not result from 'premeditation and deliberation'.
According to FBI serial murder expert Robert Ressler:
- 'If he elected to become a serial killer, he was going about it in the wrong way... Mr. Wallace always seemed to take one step forward and two steps back. He would take items and put them in the stove to destroy them by burning them and then forget to turn the stove on.'
In 1994 police had asked the FBI for assistance, but the FBI said that the murders were not the work of a serial killer.[2]
Psychologist Faye Sultan testified during the trial that Wallace was a constant victim of physical and mental abuse from his mother since birth and that he suffered from mental illness at the time of the killings. Sultan argued for a life sentence without parole instead of the death penalty.
On January 7, 1997, Wallace was found guilty of nine murders. On January 29, he was sentenced to nine death sentences.
Following his sentencing, Wallace made a statement to his victims' families.
- 'None of these women, none of your daughters, mothers, sisters or family members in any way deserved what they got. They did nothing to me that warranted their death.'
On death row[edit]
On June 5, 1998, Wallace married a former prison nurse, Rebecca Torrijas, in a ceremony next to the execution chamber where he has been sentenced to die.[7]Mecklenburg County public defender Isabel Day served as an official witness and photographer. Also attending was the manager of the Death Row unit at the prison.
Since being sentenced to death in 1997, Wallace has been appealing to the courts to overturn the death sentences, stating that his confessions were coerced and his constitutional rights were violated in the process. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the death sentences in 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2001 denied his appeal. In 2005, Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm rejected Wallace's latest appeal to overturn his convictions and nine death sentences.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Bad Henry: Charlotte serial killer profiled in true crime show'. WCNC. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^ abcdefghijklmnopqrsLapeyre, Jason. 'The Serial Killer the Cops Ignored: The Henry Louis Wallace Murders'. Crime Magazine. Retrieved 19 May 2012. Full content available only to subscribers.
- ^'Background Story'. MOM-O. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^'Man Charged With Slayings In N.C. Sought In Kitsap Case: Investigators Blame Him For 10 Murders Over 20 Months'. The Seattle Times. 14 March 1994. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
- ^Connor, Christina (16 March 1994). 'Sheriff: Wallace Confesses to 11th Killing With AM-Strangulations, Bjt'. AP News. COLUMBIA, S.C.: Associated Press. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^Nolasco, Stephanie (24 July 2018). 'Taco Bell Strangler detective speaks out about infamous case in new documentary: 'There are still wounds''. Fox News. FOX News Network, LLC. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^'N. Carolina Serial Killer Weds Ex-nurse In Prison'. tribunedigital-orlandosentinel. RALEIGH, NC. 7 June 1998. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
Other sources[edit]
- Various Newspaper sources, mainly The Charlotte Observer, The Augusta(GA)Chronicle, New York Times, News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), and USA Today.
- Offender Data Screen. North Carolina Department of Correction. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
External links[edit]
- Geringer, Joseph. 'Henry Louis Wallace'. crimelibrary. truTV. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
- 'Bad Henry'. Investigation Discovery. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
When you think of serial killers you think of the United States. Not only was the term coined in the US but they have produced some of the worst and the most prolific.
US killers have included everyone from H. H. Holmes to Jeffrey Dahmer and clown serial killer John Wayne Gacy. But while there are many American serial killers, there are other countries that come very close to matching them and some that even seem to pass them. One such country is South Africa and in this guide we will look at the worst South African serial killers of them all.
Moses Sithole
This South African serial killer earned himself a place on our list of the Worst Serial Killers. Callous, cold and evil, Sithole is known to have killed 38 women but is suspected of killing many more. He was active between 1994 and 1995, a very short time considering how many people fell victim to his attacks.
Born in 1964, Sithole killed in Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland, all suburbs of Johannesburg, He earned the nickname “The ABC Killer” and after his arrest he claimed to have killed over 70 victims, not all of which could be confirmed. As well as multiple murders, Sithole was also a serial rapist and had been arrested and sentenced for rape prior to beginning his murder spree.
Capital punishment had been abolished by the time he was arrested and sent to prison, leading the judge to comment that if that had not been the case, he would have sent him to his death. Instead he remains incarcerated and will never see the light of day.
Norman Afzal Simons
From the years 1986 to 1994, the “Station Strangler” as he was known, raped and killed a number of young children. He was initially arrested and charged with the murder of a single boy, who was 10 at the time of his death. Many more victims are suspected, but it is that single death that he was charged for and remains incarcerated for.
He is currently serving a life sentence, 25 years of which is for murder with 10 years being for rape, both for the same victim.
Norman Simons is said to have been a very bright child. He was a gifted musician and he spoke 7 languages, skills that led him into the teaching profession where he allowed his sadistic urges to get the better of him.
Sipho Thwala
South Africa Strange Facts
This South African serial killer earned himself the name the “Phoenix Strangler”, owing to the name of the town in which he committed 10 rapes and 16 murders. All of his victims were female and all of the crimes took place between 1996 and 1997, giving it the feel of a frenzied spree as opposed to a succession of murders.
The only reason his murderous spree stopped was because police were able to match his DNA and link him to the crimes. He had been arrested three years prior to his first murder, when he had his DNA taken during a rape case that he was later acquitted of. He may have gotten away with a crime back then, but it was thanks to this arrest that police were able to put a stop to his spree and to save the lives of potentially dozens of women.
Stewart Wilken
Wilken was a South African that was active in the Port Elizabeth region of the country. He took the lives of at least 10 victims between the years of 1990 and 1997, raping and abusing his victims prior to murdering them.
Wilkes also killed his own daughter. He claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by her step father and that he was merely releasing her tortured soul to God. He also killed one of his own step-sons and raped the body as it was decomposing.
Wilkes is said to have indulged in cannibalism as well.
Jack Mogale
If there is any one decade where serial killers flourished in South Africa it was the 1990s. This was obviously a troubled time for the country and one in which it experienced a lot of growth, but it was also one where many serial killers strolled the streets and took the lives hundreds of innocent women, children and men.
Jack Mogale came a little later in 2008 and 2009, but his crimes were just as disturbing and when the stories broke South Africans recalled all of those horrible crime sprees that happened a decade previous.
His crimes have some similarities to those other sprees, including the fact that they all took place within a short time. He killed 16 people between 2008 and 2009, adding rape and kidnapping to brutal murder and announcing to some of his victims that he was a prophet.
Other Serial Killers from South Africa
As mentioned at the outset of this guide, there are a huge number of South African serial killers. It’s actually frightening to think how many this country has produced. What’s more, many of them have been after 1950 and a huge number have been white, despite this being a predominantly black country (see Black vs White and Murder Rates by Race to see how these differences match up elsewhere).
South African Strangler Trees
It is a troubled country, a poor country and a big country, all of which are major factors in producing these South African serial killers:
Sibusiso Duma
Born in May 1984 (a popular month for serial killer birthdays), Duma worked as a taxi driver and he used his job and his car to pickup his victims and even to kill them. In total he killed 7 people in the space of just 6 weeks beginning in the beginning of September 2007. When he was sentenced to multiple life terms the judge declared that he should never enter society ever again, such was his callousness.
Jimmy Maketta
Like Duma, Maketta was a psychopath that killed in the first decade of the 21st century. Also like Duma, he was active over a short period of time, killing over the space of 6 months beginning in April 2005. He was charged with 19 counts of rape and 16 counts of murder in 2007.
Samuel Sidyno
This South African serial killer went by the name the “Capital Hill Serial Killer” and was convicted of killing 7 people in Pretoria between 1998 and 1999. Described as a sadist and psychopath, Sidyno was sentenced to multiple life terms.
Christopher Mhlengwa Zikode
Another rapist serial killer from South Africa, Zikode, like many of the ones mentioned already, was active during the mid 1990s. He is linked to as many as 18 deaths but was charged with 8, as well as multiple cases of rape, indecent assault and attempted murder.