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Are now listening to True Murder The most shocking killers in true crime history and the authors that have written about them Gasey Bundy, Dahmer, The Night Stalker DTK. Every week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and infamous.
Killers in true crime history.
True Murder with your host journalist and author Dan Zupanski.
Good Evening. Henry Lewis Wallace parries Charlotte, North Carolina from May nineteen ninety two to March nineteen ninety four. Wallace prayed on lower economic class black women between seventy five and thirty five years old. He knew most of his victims. Some threw his job at tuckle Well and gained their trust with his friendly demeanor and gentle nature, concealing a monster fueled by drug abuse and rage against women. A rarity in that he was an African American serial killer.
His murderous rampage spurred controversy throughout the city. Community members accused the local police of ignoring the murders because of the victim's race. Wallace attended the funerals of many of his victims and offered condolences to families. The ensuing investigation became the largest in North Carolina's history. Wallace was eventually found guilty and convicted of nine counts of murder, but
he admitted to more killings while incarcerated. He is potentially responsible from anywhere from twenty to ninety deaths of black women. Wallace continues to appeal and awaits his execution at Central Prison in Raleigh. Bad Henry The Murderous Rampage of the Taco Bell Strangler by Ron Chepsik offers valuable insight into the psychology of serial killers and shed's light on issues
surrounding race and policing. The book that we're featuring this evening is Bad Henry The Murderous Rampage of the Taco Bell Strangler, with my special guest, journalist, author, and filmmaker Ron Chepzier. Welcome to the program, and thank you very much for this interview. Ron Chepziek, Thank you, Ben, I
appreciate it, Thank you so much. Let's talk right away about the bad beginning of Henry Wallace, and you talk about his mother, Lottie, and that Henry's father walked out on Lottie when she was pregnant, and it made her bitter and she would viciously take out her frustrations on her children. Tell us about Lottie and Henry Wallace's childhood upbringing.
Yeah, Lotti was his mother, and she had a pretty tough life, you have to say that for that. She worked in a textile factory. She didn't have much success with men. She had a boyfriend named Parker that actually Henry really liked, but he left her because he was married and he thought that it wasn't After a while, he had second thoughts about having an affair with the woman when he was married, so he walked out on that sort of stuff. And she tended to take her
frustrations and her anger out on her children. Henry had a sister named Evon, and they lived in a really, really incredibly poor I guess you'd call it a building. It was like a shack, right, and there was no indoor plumbing. His mother made her made him harry out buckets of feces which he keptain kept in his bedroom by the way, and she would get frustrated and she would have Henry and Yvonne beat each other up, you know, and she dressed him up in a girl's clothes and
let him go out into the neighborhood. And so, you know, Henry had this incredibly traumatic background and then the top of all of that, he was abused sexually abused by some of the younger girls in the neighborhood. But he ended up going to school and being very normal, like everybody liked him. You know, he ended up on the student counsil. He was a cheerleader. There was like fifteen cheerleaders. I talked with one of them who was shocked when
she found out that Henry was a serial killer. She said he was one of the nicest guys she'd ever met. You know, he drove the bus for the students, and he was a confidant a lot of the cheerleaders, you know, for the cheerleaders, you know, he listened to their complaints about their boyfriends, and he advised them on certain things
in life, and he was very popular. All of this, I guess was building in him, and it was creating a rage within him that eventually it would explode and he would take it out on some of the women that he came in contact with throughout his life.
You talk about his mother and his mother had a maybe for the time, a strange reading the some of the reading material was to be considered strange.
Oh yes, two detective magazines you know, that came up in the trial, the two detective magazine and they mean a lot of that. Of course, not everybody that reads true detective magazines ends up as a serial killer. So that was kind of controversial. But some of the psychologists try to connect it to Henry's problems.
Now you talk about him in school and despite his poverty, you say that and this trauma from his childhood, people didn't see that. And he was a friend and a confidant to people, and he got along and he was considered over and over again as charming.
Yeah, yeah, a very nice guy.
So tell us about his entry into the navy, and more about what happened in high school and the kind of grades he got and his behavior that he exhibited.
Well, he was pretty normal in high school. He was, you know, pretty average. He had good enough grades to get into college. He wanted to go to Winthrop College that ironically, that's the place where I worked as a professor for several years. But his mother didn't want him to go, and so he stayed closer to home on that and he decided to go into the Navy about nineteen nineteen eighty five. And actually his career was pretty good.
He was involved with petty crime, and when he was out on the West coast in Seattle, he got caught for shoplifting and had a two year suspended sentence, and he had probation officer that sort of supervised him, and he said he never came into the meetings at all. And it was sort of like the lack of accountability in Henry's life, which would follow him and allow him to do a lot of the crimes that he did.
You talk about the college that he wasn't advised to go by his mother, but he did attend college for a time. What happens after college?
He got a job at disc jockey for Barnmore Radio station. He did very good. The woman seemed to like his soft, soothing voice. He went to college, and then he married his high school sweetheart in nineteen eighty five, a woman named Maretta Bradham, who had her own problems. She was raped and had sexual problems. I discussed in the book a little bit in there. And then he went into the Navy, and that's when he started to use drugs, you know, that's when he started to his cocaine. He
had already started to drink. He said in one of his reports for the psychiatrist that he was drinking like sixteen to eighteen beers a day in his teens. But I think it's a little bit overstated. I don't think anybody could drink, drink that much liquor and still be functioning on that sort of thing. But anyways, he began to use drugs and that started to lead to the crime, the petty crime. Yeah, he was involved with several burglaries in around the Seattle metro area and I was arrested.
Of course, like I said, breaking into the hardware start and he played guilty to second degree burglary. I judge sent him for two years supervised probation on that.
Now you talk about his marriage breaking up, and they were separated but never divorced, but they were separated you say by ninety two.
Yeah.
At one point he goes to live with his sister, Yvonne, who he was always close.
With, Yeah, in rock Hill, the city where I'm living right now, Yeah, which is a suburb of Charlotte. It's about the thirty thirty miles from downtown Charlotte are I'm living on that And he already committed his first murder. He committed his first murder in barnwall There was a
woman named Deshanda de Thea. She was eighteen years old and she was a high school student and Wallace had a thing for her, and he kept bugging her about getting together and all that, and they finally ended to get it together, and then he put the move on her and he asked her, you know, he backed off when she got a little frightened, and he asked her if she was going to report in, and she made
a mistake of saying yeah. So he ended up killing her, and he strangled her and threw her body in the water, and should have been he should have been charged because he was one of the last people scene with him. And I talked to a couple of the cops that then investigated that case, and they said they knew he did it, but they had no way of proving it on that. So that was his first escape from the law, so to speak.
That first crime forensic experts right checked his car and they found absolutely nothing.
Yeah, this is he was very smart. He always cleaned up the scene of fingerprints and all that. As he went through life and was killing, his drug used increased and he got more careless later on, and that's what really did him in. They did find his palm prints on a car trunk, which was part of the evidence that they presented against him and actually led to his arrest.
You write about back to a thea that she was found a couple of weeks later in the water, and a detective commented that water does terrible things the DNA. Yeah, yeah, and so Henry Wallace was aware of ways to make sure that he was not apprehended.
Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, he was a born criminal. You know, he really understood the physiologia crime and he knew like you know, for example, later on he killed one woman and he put the temperature down so that it was cooler and that sort of slowed the body from the decomposing, so that would throw off the timing when the crime was committed.
You write about March thirty first, nineteen ninety and that there was a woman named Ertha Brown, a sixteen year old and she's a friend of the Shandapathea and she had reported to police that he had put a gun to her head and tried to rape her. What happens from that report to.
Police, nothing nothing. He was actually suspected of killing a woman in Allendale Conde and tempting rape of another one, and he was also suspected of raping another woman in Barnwall County, and nothing happened. Nothing really happened. And what he did was, he said one stepped ahead of the law. His marriage was failing, he got fired from his job because he was stealing, and he ended up murdering this woman. And so what he did was that that's when he
went to rock Hill, South Carolina. He decided to get out of Dodge and he left the city.
You rite that Charlotte is one of the fastest growing cities in America and with it comes a dramatic increase in crime. You cite some statistics about the difference in three years between murders forty two and three years later over one hundred. So that's what this police department was dealing with in this area. And also you write about the lack of detectives and the lack of people sharing information even at that time.
Yeah, it was a fast growing town, but they still had a small town attitude, and the city government really would increase the police force or give them the resources that they needed. And top it off, there was crack.
Crack was sweeping the country and that was leading to a really surgeon crime and the detectives that they had on the forest, there was like seven detectives that were supposed to handle all of these murders which are increasing, and so it was a perfect background for a guy like Henry Wallace to begin committing his crimes.
You write about May nineteen ninety two and a Sharon Nance, a thirty three year old. Yeah, she has some police record for drugs.
Yeah, that was kind of disputed, but I think it was pretty accurate.
She has found beaten to death, and again the police find little forensic evidence and have no clue. In fact, Sharon Nance's death was never classified as a murder even that's right.
She was found a few days later and he just left her on the side of the road and that was it. You know, nothing ever happened. There was no follow up, no real investigation and all that that of course gave him growing confidence that he could get away with murders. So to speak, and that's what he did. I mean, one of the things that we see is that you know, would he would he would commit a crime, and he realized like how outrageous it was, and he would go home and wait for a report on the news,
on the television news, and nothing happened. There was no report, nothing, and so that sort of encouraged him, you know, made him a little bit overconfident as well that he could get away with murder.
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You say he felt invincible and also a very important thing happens in terms of he moves in with a woman named Sadie McKnight.
That was his girlfriend, and Katie mckknight had a friend called Caroline Love who became his second victim in Charlotte, and he took her body from the house and he dumped it on an abandoned road and it took two
years for her to be discovered on that. And it's interesting because Caroline Love lived with McKnight and they were concerned when Carolin Love disappeared, and Henry was there, you know, he was talking with them, sympathizing, speculating, and they all went down to the police station to file a missing person's report. Henry did that with them on that and it wasn't until he was caught later on that Caroline Love's body was discovered.
You're right that Love was the third woman to go missing in Charlotte.
Yeah, there were a couple other other mystery women and all that, and they found i think one of the other ones. But it was showing that there was a beginning of a crime problem happening in Charlotte, and then the police were really clueless about what was going on.
Now you introduced Seanna Hawk, a twenty year old Her mom d Sumpter and Walter Hawk Junior. They all lived together and she worked at the nearby Taco bell and of course Henry Wallace was the manager. He had hired her. He had known her for five six months, you write, and they became good friends and even dated.
And her mother liked him. Yeah, you know, I interviewed her and she said that, you know, Wallace had completely fooled her and she dated for a while. And yeah, he ended up. He ended up. I think it was an impulse murder. He decided to just kill her, and he did that. He strangled her, put her in the water, washed her body, get rid of the evidence, and left her. And the family was concerned. She was supposed to pick
up an nephew, I believe, and she had disappeared. She left her purse at home, which is not very unusual, the Sumpter said. And they didn't realize that. All the time that they were looking, they were calling everywhere, her body was in the bathroom of their house. And Daryl finally when looking through the house and he discovered the body in the bathtub, her eyes open, and she was naked, and she was dead on that And in this case,
Wallace actually showed up at the funeral. Yes, yeah, he went to the funeral, and he looked kind of weird. Everyone was saying that he was really weird. He was sitting in a you know, just staring ahead. Nobody, of course, knew they had anything to do with her dad.
In fact, D Sumpter considered him possibly a suspect, but then after seeing him at the funeral, Yeah, she thought he looked so concerned, sitting there by himself, overwhelmed, maybe even looking a little weird. Yeah, but also that she had seen him another time and it just in her mind there was no way that Henry was responsible.
Well, she actually saw him at a mall and he walked up to her and said, I'm very very sorry miss Sumter or the death of your daughter. We all liked her and we're very sorry to see her go.
I mean, this guy was incredible, incredible actor. And she suspected that it had to be somebody that knew shown because there was no forced entry, nothing, And so she put all the guys that her daughter knew through her mind, and she came across a Wallace and she sort of said, Wallace, No, Henry, No, sweet Henry, no, and she just sort of put it out of her mind that he would have anything to do with her daughter's murder.
A friend thought D needed a new purpose, and so they formed an organization. Mother mother is a murdered offspring, right, Mamo. Yeah, So she set fourth to be able to do something on behalf of her daughter, this new purpose, to be able to find the killer and to make some changes she felt were necessary in the police force moving forward.
She was really devastated by her daughter. She was really close to her daughter, and she was really devastated and she wasn't getting over it. And it was like a month later and her friend Judy Williams said, you got to get over this, you know, and she talked her into forming this organization to help other people that had offspring murdered. And that began the organization and it's still an operation today and still thriving, although d has stepped aside.
She's not really associated with the organization anymore.
Now you say that, of course, Henry Wallace's crack problem is getting to the point where can't hold down work, but he's also just needs more money and he needs to resort to theft, and he can only think of his friends for a source, some things to steal from. And then you introduced Aubrey Spain, twenty four year old, a manager at Taco Bell and she also hung out with Henry and also SHAWNA Hawk. She was also friends with shawna Hawk as well. Right now, this is June
twenty fourth, nineteen ninety three. He turns up her apartment and they had been friends and they would go out often. What happens at her home? What does he say to her? How does he react?
It was an impulsive murder. And one of the things that he did he had a technique called the Boston choke where he would put his hands around her neck and strangle them and he waited for them to turn around when they're totally unsuspecting, and then he would apply this technique and that's what he did. He applied that to her, and of course he raped her. I don't
think that the race were essentially less. I think it was rage, you know, against against a woman that he had killed on that and he left the place and got away with it. You know, nothing happened. Yeah, this time, the police were not really connecting any of these cases. All these cases happened within a five mile area, by the way, which is not a large space, you know
where you have these murders being committed. But each of the cases that were happening the police were handling individually and evidently they didn't really make a connection between the various cases. They never talked about it, which sounds incredible, but that's what that was the case. And there was only seven of them. And like I said, the murders were increasing, as you pointed out, you know, they were increasing substantially over the early nineteen nineties.
You're write that nothing had happened to Henry after he had killed his first incredibly five victims in Charlotte, and his arrogance grew. And then you introduce Valencia Jumper. They had been friends. She'd been friends with Henry for over a year and she was came to attend c. Smith College, majoring in computer science.
Yeah, she was very ambitious. Her parents are very proud of her. She came to Charlotte, and for some reason, Henry changes his method of killing. He tried to set her on fire to cover up his crime. And she was also a friend of his sister's and which was really amazing, but anyways, he tried he tried to set her on fire and the coroner misdiagnosed the crime. He said it was accidental fire, which was quite amazing. And so again he got off the hook, you know, no accountability. Yeah,
and again he went to a funeral. He went to Valencia's funeral and he even sent the family condolences. So, you know, no one suspected anything about this guy. You know, this guy was a regular. They all thought he was a regular, nice guy, which is kind of frightening. When I was writing this book, I was saying, Holy Mac, I said, there must be other people out there like this that can that can operate at this level, you know, this this murderous level and get away with it.
Yeah, it takes psychopathic mindset to even a different level. And it's not strangers, it's people you really know and are friends with.
You and asked you.
You introduce Michelle Stone, twenty year old, and it's interesting she talks about or he had experience and met Henry when she was pregnant and he had helped her. He was very helpful, he had taken the child out out of daycare. He was a very helpful person when she needed him most.
And she worked with him at tackle Bell. You know she worked with is another example of the connection to the crimes. You know, like Shawanna Hawk, she worked at tackle Bell and he raped her and then he strangled her and stabbed her in front of her own son, you know, her eldest son, which was quite quite amazing, quite chilling.
What I was going to say, too, is that we didn't gloss over it. But there's all of these cases where these people are killed in their homes. It takes a little bit for people to discover their bodies, and it's usually family members that have to uncover this horrifying scene. It's very interesting when a neighbor comes in sees that Michelle Stinson is on the floor and weirdly enough, her two young sons are calmly just watching the television set.
Yeah. Yeah, and Henry never touched them, which was quite remarkable.
You write that the Charlotte police asked finally the FBI for help. What was the FBI's response.
They weren't really helpful. They didn't think there was a serial killer involved, and a gentleman named Wrestler, very prominent FBI agents said, if you know, if Wallace was trying to be a serial killer, he was going about it all wrong. And they just never really helped. So the Charlotte police were on their own, you know, trying to figure out what was going on.
You write that on February fourth, nineteen ninety four, Wallace is arrested for shoplifting, and it's very close to where the bodies were discovered, the dumb sites.
Yeah, and they never made a connection between him and any of the murders on that. And the thing I found out is that all this information was in a central database. If the cops would have checked the database, they would have found all this stuff on Henry Wallace, suspicion of murder, the shoplifting charge, his crimes in Seattle when he was in the military, on all that, but for some reason they never had. They never checked his database.
You introduce Sergeant Gary McFadden. He's an African American and he is appointed to lead the investigation. So there is some political pressure. There is incredible pressure from the public on the police to do something. Gary McFadden is appointed, and they also wanted to put it seemed a black officer in the head of this to stem the criticism that they weren't doing enough because the victims were black.
And Gary recognized this too. He called himself a skipecoaver, you know. So if the investigation continued to be screwed, out he would get to blame for it, and he was a black officer, so they could say, you know, look we appointed a black guy and nothing has changed
on that, so he can't blame us on that. But it was very confident, and he eventually, you know, he had a lot of conflict would be at first people because she thought a desumpter trying to Hawk's mother because she thought that the police were very slow on the investigation, and she was right, I mean, they weren't doing anything. Really. She told me about an officer that said, look, i'll look, I'll keep you informed and all that sort of stuff, and I'll get in touch with you if we have anything.
He never did call her, you know, on that then, which led to her frustration, and she became sort of the face of these growing series of crimes. She tried to keep it in the public eye. She wrote an open letter to the killer, which of course Henry Wallace, which appeared in the press, telling him to give himself up, you know, and what he was doing was really wrong and he's missing up a lot of lives and that he should really give himself up. And nothing, of course happened out of that.
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twenty percent off during your first month. Visit ritual dot com slash murder to start Ritual or rat Essential for women eighteen plus to your subscription today. Now this rampage continues. February nineteen ninety four, you introduced Vanessa little Mac and she has two daughters, and she works at the Carolina Medical Center. And Henry had invited her on a date
that went okay. They had a second date July ninety three, and she invited her sister, Leslie, And you write that he became like a brother to to Vanessa Mack.
Yeah, yeah, And of course you know, she didn't suspect anything when he ended up their apartment in West Charlotte, and again unsuspecting he turned around. Now he was a big guy too. He was like six'. One at one point when he was in, prison he weighed three hundred, pounds but he was normally like two hundred and forty. Pounds. Yeah of course these were small, women so he was pretty powerful and he ended up strangling her and then raping her and strangling her and leaving the.
Apartment you write that police and like many of these other crime, scenes they said there was no forced. Entry so, again could police get surmised that the victim knew the? Killer?
Yeah, yeah and you would figure that they would check the backgrounds to find out if there was any, connection and finally they. Did gary mcfatten asked of some of the people in you the, victims like who would she? Invite who would she let into her apartment unsuspectingly on that, then and he asked several, people and the only person that really show up on all the lists Was Henry. Wallace you're.
Right march, ninth nineteen ninety, Four Vernice Lamar woods was in his. Apartment he was friends With Henry, wallace but he also lived with his, Girlfriend Brandy, henderson who was eighteen years, old and they had a ten month old son Named. Tyresse now tell us about this Where henry goes to the apartment And woods is taken care Of, tyresse and how it comes that he Meets Betty buckholm that.
Day what happened was he went to the apartment he was intent on getting. Money he was. Desperate now his, Girlfriend datie McKnight was sped up with him and his drug habits and she kicked him out and he had begged her to come. In he hadn't watched for a. While he had sold all of a lot of his personal possessions and he was really hurting for a, fix you, know for a crack. Fix he was going to. Go
he decided that who did he? Know so he decided That Brandy henderson would be his next, victim and he went to her house And Squeaky woods was there and he didn't expect, that and so that threw him off and he had to, leave make an excuse and leave the. Apartment he just said that he was leading town and he just wanted to come by and say hello to, him take goodbye to him before before he. Left so he left that apartment and he, said, well else did
he know in the. Neighborhood he really needed the money and all, that and he ended up figuring That Betty bocam lived somewhere in that, area and finally he figured out where she lived and he went to see. Her And bacam And wallace's girlfriend were co workers At bojangles where she was an assistant, manager and he thought that she would have some money or she would have access to the to the safe At, bojangles and he put
pressure on her and ended up murdering. Her he took a considerable amount of valuables from her house and then he left the apartment with her, car and he pawned everything except the. Car and that is where it started to get to get, weird because he had HER atm card and he went to THE atm and the car eventually got THE atm videotape and they couldn't See, wallace but you recognize an earring on one of his, years and that was part of the identification which led to his eventual.
Arrest you, say, though that he's in the midst of this. Rampage he's, paranoid he's, desperate he has nowhere to, live nowhere to, go and he goes back to The woods apartment And Brandy, Henderson.
Yeah and then and then he decided for some reason to go, back and of course she was. Unsuspecting he knew That Bert Squeaky Woods Arness woods would be at, work and so he showed up on that and he eventually murdered her too as.
Well you write that he demanded, Money she said she only had fifteen. Dollars she, said CAN i hold my? Son he, said that's not a good idea for what we're going to be. Doing and he told her to take off her, clothes and she start, praying and he said to, her, despicably of Course i'm not going to hurt.
YOU i got WHAT i, wanted And i'm. Leaving and he asked her for a, hug and she, did and, then of, course in his trademark, fashion he goes to the washroom and gets a towel to be able to use to choke, her and so she, asks though she grabs her son at some point and lays him across her chest and turned his head so he couldn't see
what was. Happening and meanwhile he uses his towel around her neck till she her eyes are bulging out and she's red in the, face and he strangles her dead and puts her clothes.
On then the child started making, noise and he tried to shut up the kid and almost strangled it to death on, that and then he left the.
Apartment, yeah it's it's. Extraordinary he puts the towel around the kid's. Throat the silence the, kid not knowing whether he's going to strangle him to. Death he leaves them. There the door is a, jar and then of Course lamar comes home and has this horrifying so the first thing he sees is his son struggling to, breathe and then of course Discovers brandy on the. Ground credible.
Scene but by this time he was totally out of. Control wallace was and he was desperate because he was killing these people not getting. Money he ended up one last, victim Debrand, slaughter and he was a co worker of his Girlfriend city, McKnight and this shows you how out of control he. Was he ended up stabbing or something like thirty eight times in the stomach and chess on that and he left the. Apartment but by now the police were Intensifizing paroles And. Charlotte they were taking the
case much more. Seriously they got on To wallace with the pomp print And Betty bockham's. Car you, know he had wiped he had wiped everything off except that he had to close the, trunk and he forgot that he didn't have gloves, on and he closed the trunk and that led to a pomp print which police were able to analyze and they connected To. Wallace and then the, police LIKE i, said we're really, understaffed and they had
a backlog of rape. Kits and finally some of the victims were tested FOR dna and they found some of that related To. Wallace on that and they discovered that he had been arrested for shoplifting thirty eight dollars shirt out of a, shop and they use that as the excuse to go out and arrest. Him and then they found him at an apartment of a, friend hiding in the, bathroom and they arrested him and brought him in right.
Away you write about this questioning and right away, detectives Including Nick, fadden they confront them with the evidence they have about all these, women but in particular About Tashanda bathia And Sharon. Nance so they're questioning him and he's resistant and doesn't know anything about. It what happens to make him?
CONFESS i just think that the pressure of the investigation plus all of his, troubles you, know he was under tremendous. Pressure he needed money for drugs and all, that and the weight of all the killings on. HIM i think he just added. Up he just got, tired you, know of playing playing this, role and he just opened. Up and he ended up talking for, hours WHICH i used a large part for my, book which were. Amazing the
trial records themselves were not. AVAILABLE i don't know what happened to, them and which made me kind of really, worried BECAUSE, I i'll, say, well how WAS i going to do this? Book how WAS i going to get into his mind and all? That THEN i discovered, these, uh these transcripts of the of the interviews with, him and that served as the basis for the. Book but he reneged a little bit ways through the interviews and he claimed that he had nothing to do with the
murders and all. That but he, talked he, talked and he really confessed to the. Murders and then they tried to get the interviews thrown out out of court when he went to, trial but the judge didn't go for.
It as you just, mentioned you use these details throughout the book to tell us what, happened of, course for there was no eyewitness Except Henry. Wallace So Henry wallace tells us how he gains their trust how they turned, around how he asked them for a glass of water and then choked them and then out and then raped. Them and so we're going to have. This we're going to have the. Sex and a couple of these friends, cried a couple of people, prayed and there was no
remorse from this person. Whatsoever he wanted to have the. Sex he wanted to have that. Crack in, fact his Last Deborah, slaughter he, left sold some of her items for a certain amount of, money bought, crack and came back and smoke crack right near the body back in that.
Apartment we went back into the bathroom past the, body and he did the. Drugs and it was just quite amazing on that and what made you, know what makes a person like?
This you?
KNOW i finished the. BOOK i had NO i had no. IDEA i just knew that it was one of the most amazing stories THAT i ever. Read AND i, said there's got to be other people out there like that that that we don't know anything. About AND i, said that's the chilling part about.
It you read about how careful he was to DESTROY dna. Evidence, however, afterwards and this seems incredible to the victims'. FAMILIES i would imagine is that the police had used rape kits to collect evidence in all the, murders except the results were missed in a massive backlog of.
Evidence exactly there, was and finally they got around to. It they checked the murders because of, course they gave it a priority because Of wallace's, arrest and they found they found evidence Connecting wallace to the murders on. That, so, yeah so this, guy you, know he got away with it with all of his. Life you, know he's always one step ahead of the. Law it, seemed whether he was,
shoplifting breaking into into a, store or murdering young woman on. That, now all the, VICTIMS i, mean he was black and all the victims were. Black and somebody, ASKED i, mean of course did he do that because on the supposition that the police wouldn't be as interested in investigating the, murders AND i don't think. So you, know they were just the people that he, knew and there was really nothing you, know racial about the murders at.
All you're, right do you provide a statistic that was very. INTERESTING i thought that that the black population makes up thirteen percent.
And twenty percent of the back serial killers are.
Black you were saying that actually thirty three percent were. Black where they're popular in the, population they only represent thirteen. Percent, yeah, right, right, right so a thirty three. Percent it's, dramatic especially, given like, you, right the myth that all serial killers are predominantly all serial killers are, white where you say that's not the truth.
Exactly and now there's an interesting. Part you, know they claimed that he was the first serial killer that knew all of his, victims because it's not usual for a serial killer to kill people they, know. Right AND i had a woman on my radio show that had done a book on his serial killer Named Jerry, marcus and he was. There he committed his crimes Before, wallace and he had actually known all the. Victims and they were striking similarities in the cases Between marcus's case And wallace's.
Case they were both gentlemen.
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Details now you write about this, trial and of course because of the nine and actually ten murders that he's charged, for that the death penalty is on the, table and there has been some fight on the constitutionality of the death, penalty but at this, time the death penalty was still available for these.
Murders, yeah everybody thought that he was going to be put. Today he was going to be, executed and the average time was about nine years for somebody to go on death row and go through the. Appeals of, course the alwis, appeal and in this, case he exhausted his appeals by two thousand and. Five but he's still. Alive AND i understand that there was a moratarium put on the death penalty In North carolina because of its, controversy and right,
now no date has ever been. Set AND i, asked you, know, PEOPLE i, said, well you, know when is he going to be put to put to? Death and the answer was who.
Knows you, Know, desumpter you right found out about the arrest from the, news and as Did henry's, Mother Lottie may and his Sister, yvonne and they were.
Shocked, yeah the police never informed, Him AND i don't, KNOW i don't know if that was if you could blame him for, that because you, know there was so much activity going around the murders at that, time but you would think that they would inform the relatives of the dead. People, yeah you would.
Think so you write about how outraged the public was and critical of the police not making a connection through all that time and also not warning, anybody but also they never made a connection to be able to warn.
Anyone, yeah, yeah it. Was it was only like about three days before they Arrested wallace that the cops even alerted the public In East charlotte that there was possibly a serial killer in their. Midst so they're out to lunch right up until the very.
End you talk about that spring soon after mums of mothers of missing offspring asked The Charlotte city to investigate the police, department.
And nothing really ever happened of, that although they the crime and all the controversies around it did help the police to finally get the resources that, needed it got technology that it. Needed the number of police detectives was increased. DRAMATICALLY i understand they're about twenty five now investigating murders and there were only seven at the time on. That and then they implemented some other policies too to better
coordinate activities between law enforcement. Agencies so it had a positive impact in the long run On charlotte.
And also De sumpter's organization that she founded would end up and the police were agreeable with us to work with the police department to help them sensitivity training and also especially in terms of how they would deal with the victims' families during an. Investigation, yeah.
Heartening part of the stories that there was a lot of friction Between garry McFadden and D, sumter but they eventually ended up being friends and according To gary, McFadden he told me, that you, know they talk about once a week on, that but he's very he was a good guy to have in that. Position he was very community oriented and he believed in talking to the people in the, community which was unlike the police in general In charlotte at the. Time and D.
Sumter goes on to have an appearance on the famous talk Show donahue In.
Chicago, yeah, yeah she. Did, yeah the trial, like she did a good job keeping it in the public, eye you know WHAT i. Mean and she's very, articulate very very nice, person and she did a, LOT i, think to publicize the crimes and help with its.
Solution you say that this trial began nineteen ninety six after a two year, delay and of, course because this is a death, penalty there's a public defender and a qualified public defender ready to fight for this person to get off death row and to save them from the death. Penalty and you have a defense Counsel Isabelle day And
Jim coopley And Judge hyatt at that. Time and of course the prosecutor is a person Named Marcia, goodenow and she is tenacious and very determined that this guy get the death penalty for these.
Crimes, right she did her, job and chief are rejective on. That And Isabelle day was a kind of interesting. Woman wallace after he was convicted and he was in Prison Central prison In. Raleigh that that's where he's. Now and he ended up beating a psychiatric nurse at the, prison woman Named Rebecca, perios and evidently, they you, know fell
in love and he married. Her And Isabella day was it was one of the witnesses at the, wedding and she was twenty three years older than, him and she sort of disappeared off the face of the earth because she's not living In raleigh Or, charlotte AND i couldn't find.
Her it was a hard time trying to find. Her you talk about his life in. Prison he didn't just stay quiet in, prison did. He there was some disciplinary.
Problems, yeah he played with a guard locked him into a D l. Cell Caroline love's, brother who was up on a drug charge at the, time knowing that he had murdered his, sister picked a fight with him and there was an altercation there and there was supposed to be a fire in his cell that they thought that That wallace was involved. With so, yeah so you, know he did cause some serious problems on, that but he sort of. Disappeared he doesn't really want to talk with
anybody about. IT i talked with THE abc. Producer they did a special on the on the case FOR, abc The news, network AND i talked with the producer of that show and she, SAID i, said why didn't you Get henry to? Interview and he, said we, tried but he didn't want to talk to. Us SO i, REALIZED i, said, well if he's not going to talk to, her he's not going to talk to. Me AND i, SAID i
make better use of my. Time SO i decided not to pursue trying to get an interview with him because it would have been two time consuming AND i didn't think the chances were that good of getting.
It it's a foregone. Conclusion but was the actual Sentence january, second nineteen ninety.
Seven, well he got convicted of all the, murder the murder charges and the rape, charges but the most important part is that he got the death. Sentence you, know all that other stuff was gravy.
Now as it is with many of these serial. Killers did he gain notoriety behind prison? Walls were there are people interested in him as a?
Celebrity, WELL i understand that he's living in solitary pretty well most of the, time and he's protected like most prisoners like, That AND i have not heard of any attempts on his life or any attempts to harm him at, All so he sort of like.
Disappeared, Interesting and what did you get from this that you haven't gotten from many other true crime books and other books that you've. Written you've written so many so, far and you've done your podcast for years Now True Crime. Podcast tell us what you got from this that was that you didn't find out or didn't determine something of value from this investigation in this.
Book, well this is the first BOOK i did about a serial, killer which was kind of. DIFFERENT i usually the Books i've done are on drug, traffickers you, know organized crime figures and stuff like. This it was quite a. Different BUT i just couldn't have believe that a guy like this could operate in society and for two years
end up killing ten women and, nothing nothing. HAPPENS i, mean he just gets away with, it you, know the police don't catch on and all, That and it just makes me wonder how many other guys are out there like that that are operating, now that are actually smarter Than, wallace that didn't have a drug, problem didn't have his psychiatric, problems but are out, there you, know murdering. Woman and then when you look at the number of people that have, disappeared,
right there's thousands of. People you, see the odds that happening are pretty.
Good you talk about that well in the, introduction we said that he's potentially responsible from anywhere from twenty to ninety deaths of black. Women they never proved.
THAT i talked With gary mcfatten and he said That wallace held that. Up he sort of dangled that that if he got a better sentence and maybe he would expose some of these. Crimes BUT i don't know if that's true or. NOT i don't know If wallace ended up murdering a lot of because they've done some, checking you, know in The seattle area where he, operated he was doing those crimes and all, that and they really haven't
found anything that connects him to. THAT i mentioned the murders In, allendale one woman Named, riddle she was murdering her. Apartment they thought that he may have something to do with, that but they never worked out, out you, know the any we are able to prove anything on. That SO i don't know if if there are that many murders that he, committed like twenty to. NINETY i don't think.
So to, me it would seem like very difficult to get away with, it you, know to do that many murders and get away with, it especially when they know that you've killed ten women, already you, know and they're looking for for other. Cases, yes.
ABSOLUTELY i want to thank you very much Ron chepsick for coming on and talking about your latest Bad henry the murderous rampage of The Taco Bell. Strangler for those that might want to find out more about your other, work do you have a website and do social?
Media, YEAH i got the. Website it's www dot Ron CHEPSICK C H e P e si uk dot.
Com also tell us about your podcast and what's new for you in.
Writing, yeah the podcast is Crime beat In operations in twenty. Eleven we deal with all kinds of crime on. That we've had over six hundred and forty shows since our. Beginning and as far as personal, Stuff i'm working on a book On Dallas khnman in the oil and gas industry with a fellow, producer a film, producer and we're hoping To we got the book. Contract wild repressed for, that and then once we finished the, book we're going to write a screenplay on it and it'll be something
like The wolf Of Wall. Street very very.
Interesting, yeah we'll look forward to. That thank you so, much Ron chepsick Or Bad Henry The Murderous rampage of The Taco Bell. Strangler thank you so much for this, interview and you have a great. Evening good.
Night thank, You, DAN i appreciate. It thank.
You