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The Hillside Strangler case only
one of the several Team Killer cases in criminal history. In
this section of the site, we will look at three other situations in
which serial murder was committed by more than one individual.
Due to the
sociopathic nature of the serial killer, it is unusual for him to have
accomplices. When the serial killer chooses to pair up with
someone else to commit serial murder, he tends to select a person who
will complement him, or do his dirty work. Sometimes, the
partner is coerced by the "alpha", or dominant killer due to
circumstantial association; the partner may be a lover, wife,
relative, or simply an individual who was at the wrong place at the
wrong time and grew into it. This is not to be confused with the
"Stockholm Syndrome", in which the victim of a kidnapping eventually
learns to identify with his or her captor. Rest assured that anyone
who is a witness to torture and murder and decides to join in the fun
is already predisposed to criminal behavior, in which case, the
situation acts as a catalyst.
Sometimes,
murderers meet by chance, and join forces, but one is always the
leader, a mentor of sorts to his apprentice.
 Henry
Lee Lucas and Ottis Elwood Toole: Henry Lee Lucas
is one of the most notorious serial killers to have terrorized the
US. He has been linked to between 300 to 1000 murders.
While many of his stories are outlandish, such as the ones documenting
his involvement in a mysterious murder for hire organization called
"The Hand of Death", and his stories of abducting teenaged girls for
use in snuff films also raised a few eyebrows. But long period
of time near the end of his serial killing days, Henry had found his
soulmate in the person of Ottis Toole, a dirty, mildly retarded,
unattractive man from Florida who had about as many IQ points as he
had teeth. |
Henry taught
Ottis everything he knew, how to dispose of victims, how to elude
police by changing MOs, and most importantly, how to kill. It wasn't
long until Ottis had developed some of his own kinks, which included
cross-dressing, ghoulism, performing sexual acts on a dead body,
usually followed by consumption of the flesh; there are several of
Ottis Toole's recipes for BBQ sauce still floating around, including
detailed instructions on the preparation of "long pig". But while they
were together, Henry and Ottis would often murder for the thrill of
it, embarking on "spree killing" sessions, often robbing mom and pop
stores and raping and killing hitchhikers.
It is estimated
that over 200 of the murders Henry has confessed to were done with
Ottis. Henry even claimed they had been the ones who brought the
cyanide laced Kool-Aid to their friend, Reverend Jim Jones in Guyana. They eventually split up over a disagreement, but nonetheless
continued killing on their own until the authorities caught up with
them. One famous Ottis Toole related case was that of the murder
of Adam Walsh, the son of John Walsh, who went on to create the highly
popular and successful Fox TV show, America's Most Wanted.
Ottis Toole died
of of cirrhosis of the liver in the Florida State Penitentiary in
1996, while Lucas later died of heart failure Huntsville, Texas
prison's infirmary in the winter of 2001. Both men were sitting
on death row. Incidentally, Henry Lee Lucas had been granted a
stay of execution in 1998, by (then) Governor George W. Bush.
What we have
learned from the Lucas-Toole pair up is that there is always a teacher
and a student.
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