Henry the serial killer

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Henry is the protagonist of the 1986 cult horror film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Henry is the brain child of John McNaughton and is based on real serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. In the first film Henry is portrayed by Michael Rooker.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Transition to Murder 3 Chicago 1983 4 Ottis 5 Becky 6 Modus Operandi 7 Selecting Victims 8 See also

[edit] Early life

Henry was born into poverty in Blacksburg, Virginia in August 24, 1936. The son of an alcoholic prostitute and her husband who worked as a truck driver until he lost his legs in an accident on the railway track. Then he became bound to a home made cart with wheels attached to it. Henry had two half-brothers one who was born deformed due to a bone disorder and later died. The other Henry never got on with and the pair were constantly fighting. Henry also had a half-sister called Opal. Henry was constantly beaten and sexually abused by his drunken mother, who forced her son to watch her having sexual intercourse with her clients. Henry was scarred for life. His mother sometimes sent him to school dressed as a girl.

[edit] Transition to Murder

In 1949 he was introduced to bestiality and zoosadism by his uncle. In his teens he was constantly arrested for petty theft and burglary. Henry damaged his eye during a fight with his one surviving half-brother. His mother ignored the injury for three days, and subsequently the eye grew infected and had to be replaced by a glass eye.

In 1950 Henry strangled a girl to death for resisting his clumsy advances. Later that year on his 14th birthday Henry got in a fight with his mother. She hit him with a whiskey bottle and he hacked her to death, before engaging in necrophilia with her corpse. He received a life sentence.

In 1959 Henry escaped from prison and was recaptured, he was later transferred to a mental institution in 1965. In 1975 Henry was released. Henry soon began his killing spree. Henry studied the methods used by the police and FBI to tackle serial murder. Henry was soon using his own techniques to evade the law and go on killing.

[edit] Chicago 1983

Henry was residing in Chicago in 1983 by then he had killed around 6 people in the City and was stalking his next victims. A friend from prison Ottis moves in with Henry along with his sister Becky, who was recently divorced and is unemployed. Henry gives his old friend Ottis a guitar, which he stole from his last victim. Henry got work as an exterminator which he uses to take his seventh victim. Henry introduced Ottis to his world of serial murder not long after Ottis's release from prison. Henry and Ottis picked up a pair of prostitutes, Henry however got bored of his prostitute and broke her neck. He then murdered the second prostitute in front of Ottis. Ottis later participated with Henry in the murder of a fence. Ottis and Henry then robbed the man and left. Henry later took Ottis on his first murder. That night they lured a man over to their car. Henry then watched as Ottis shot the man to death. Henry began to school Ottis in how to avoid detection and kill countless victims. Henry then took Ottis to the home of a family he had been stalking for a few months. They filmed the murders of the family and then left. They relived the experience by watching the footage repeatedly.

Henry gradually became more and more annoyed with Ottis as his behaviour became more and more depraved. Henry took Becky to dinner one night and returned. Ottis interrupted Henry and Becky just before they were going to have sex. Henry feeling uncomfortable went out to get a beer. He returned to find Ottis raping Becky. Henry fought Ottis off of Becky. Ottis smashed a beer bottle over Henry's head and Becky stabbed Ottis in the eye with the end of a comb. Henry then hacked Ottis to death on the livingroom floor and then dismembered him in the bath tub. Henry and Becky drove out of Chicago. Henry then dumped the remains of Ottis off of a bridge into a river. Henry then spent the night at a motel with Becky. The next day Henry murdered her and dismembered her corpse. He then dumped her body out on the side of the road on his way out of the State. Henry most likely fled to his sister's horse ranch or to California.

[edit] Ottis

Ottis was born inJacksonville, Florida on March 5, 1947. His father left the family when Ottis was young. He claimed his mother was a religious fanatic, and that his sister dressed him in girl's clothes. Ottis had repressed incestuous desires for his sister Becky from a young age. Ottis also claimed his grandmother was a satanist who exposed him to various practices and rituals in his youth. Ottis ran away from home repeatedly. He started fires in abandoned homes from a young age. Ottis committed his first murder at the age of 14. After being propositioned for sex by a traveling salesman, he ran over the salesman with his own car. Ottis' first arrest as an adult was in 1964, on a charge of loitering.

Ottis met Henry, whilst the two of them were sharing a cell in prison in 1970 until 1975. Ottis was serving 15 years for manslaughter and armed robbery. Upon his release he got work pumping gas and soon began dealing drugs. Ottis joined Henry on his murderous rampage in Chicago, 1983. Ottis and Henry went out and picked up a pair of prostitutes. Henry murdered both of them. Henry later persuaded Ottis to join him on his rampage. Ottis later kicked in the TV in Henry's apartment and Henry took him "shopping". Ottis and Henry murdered a fence and then robbed him. Ottis later shot a man to death after a botched drug deal with a teenager, and from that moment on embraced Henry's world.

That same night Ottis took part in an home invasion, they both took part in the grisly murders of a family and filmed it on a stolen camcorder. Ottis later became obsessed with the footage captured. Ottis later lost the camcorder. Henry gradually became more abusive towards Ottis. One night Ottis interrupted Henry before he could have sex with Becky. Henry later left the apartment. Henry interrupted Ottis whilst he was raping Becky. A fight ensued. Ottis smashed a beer bottle over Henry's head and attempted to slash him with it, when Becky stabbed him in the eye with a comb. Henry then hacked him to death and dismembered him in the bath tub.

[edit] Becky

Becky was sexually abused by her father, she later worked as a stripper and later married a man by the name of LeRoy just to escape from her father. LeRoy forced her to give up her job as a stripper. Becky began working as a shampoo girl. She later divorced LeRoy in 1983 and went to pick up her older brother who had been recently released from prison. Becky bean living with Ottis and his friend Henry in Chicago. There she got a job as a shampoo girl. In Chicago she was constantly sexually harassed by her perverted brother Ottis. Becky became fascinated by Henry, who saved her from her brother's advances on many occasions. Becky later heard that LeRoy was in prison for murde and his bail was $1,000,000.

Becky went to dinner with Henry, later that night Becky and Henry were interrupted in her bedroom by her brother Ottis. Henry went to get a beer and returned to find Ottis raping Becky. Henry struggled with Ottis, before bing overpowered and almost killed, when Becky saved his life by stabbing Ottis in the eye. Henry then finished off Ottis calmed down Becky and then dismembered the body. The two of them then left the apartment and spent the night in a motel. At some point in the night Henry murdered Becky and then disappeared.

[edit] Modus Operandi

Unlike most serial killers Henry had no specific modus operandi this was most likely by choice to avoid detection by the police and FBI, but ultimately to evade capture and to continue his killing spree. Henry used a variety of weapons but preferred knives.

[edit] Selecting Victims

Henry used a variety of ways to select a victim. Sometimes he would stalk a victim for weeks learning their routines, searching for a weak spot in their daily activities. Henry would sometimes simply pick up a prostitute or hitchhiker between road trips or due to a lack of other victims. Henry's simplest method of selecting a victim would be luring a victim to a location where he would have the opportunity to murder them.

[edit] See also

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Henry Lee Lucas
Ottis Toole
Serial Killer
Necrophilia
Zoophilia
Cannibalism
Modus Operandi