TRANSCRIPT 🔗
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The following program contains subject matter that may be disturbing
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to some audience's viewer discretion advised. You're listening to Descent
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to Depravity, where we investigate the darkest corners of the
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human psyche, one chilling story at.
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A time, and grabbed her bob and neck. I can
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hear her gasping air. It was like, you know, the
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switch was flipped and I was I was choking her.
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And the job murder after murder after murder. Police never
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suspected that all the women were killed by the same man, Viliony.
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And and every years for us, there are some monsters
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who hide an alleys, and then there are monsters who
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sit in your living room.
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In Charlotte, North Carolina, for nearly two years, families buried
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daughters while a predator held their shaking hands and cried
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with them. Henry Lewis Wallace wasn't watching from the shadows.
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He was sitting front row at every funeral. He carried caskets,
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He signed condolence cards. He hugged mothers whose daughters he
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had strangled with his own bare hands hours earlier. Each
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victim had opened the door to him willingly. There was
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no forced entry in any murder, every woman recognized the
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man at her doorstep. They had worked together, serving fried
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chicken at Bojangles, handing tacos through drive through windows at
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Taco bell, washing uniforms stained with grease and exhaustion. Wallace
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knew their schedules, who lived alone, who kept spare keys
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hidden under door mats, And when their bodies were found
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staged in bath tubs, on bedroom floors, or destroyed by
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fire to mimic accidents, Wallace stood beside detectives pretending to grieve.
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One victim's mother later recalled how Wallace helped plan the funeral,
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wiping away tears with the same fingers that had tightened
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around her daughter's throat. Investigators would one day testify them
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that Wallace inserted himself into the aftermath of his own
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crimes so thoroughly that he became the most trusted man
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in the investigation. He didn't stalk strangers. He befriended his victims.
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He ate dinner with them. He baby sat for one
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of their families. He was the man they called when
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their cars wouldn't start. Then when he was inside their homes,
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he attacked with sudden strength, forced them to the floor.
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Or sink or bed and squeezed until they went still.
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When they stopped breathing, he calmly rearranged the room to
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confuse the police. Jewelry boxes left open, bedding stripped from mattresses,
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purses rifled through, or stoves turned on to ignite flames.
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Not once did Charlotte police link these crimes as the
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work of a serial killer. Not after the first murder,
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not after the fifth, not even after the eighth. It
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wasn't until nine women were dead that the truth finally
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broke through the denial. There was a predator circling the
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same social circle of young black women, and he was
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choosing them one at a time. For two years, the
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city had been hunting the wrong monster. The real one
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was already inside the home, holding the grieving together while
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quietly deciding who would be next. Henry Lewis Wallace was
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born on November fourth, nineteen sixty five, in Barnwell, South Carolina,
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a rural town where poverty did not hide. Henry's father
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left the home before he was born. His childhood home
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had no indoor plumbing and no steady security, only long
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days under a strict single mother who enforced discipline with
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objects that were always within reach. Neighbors saw a polite,
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quiet child, but behind closed doors, Wallace endured punishment that
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humiliated as much as it hurt. In classrooms, he sat silent,
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absorbing everything, yet revealing nothing of what was rotting inside him.
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He described the moment he had his first violent fantasy
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during his interrogation. When he was eight, he observed a
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group of male teenagers bring a girl into the woods
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and have their way with her. He claimed he was
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aroused as he watched the situation unfold. Little did he
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know this was the start of his descent to depravity.
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As a teenager, Wallace surprised those who expected him to
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become an outsider. He joined the student council and became
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the only male cheerleader at Barnwell High School, a role
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that allowed him to be seen even admired. Adults described
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him as respectful and well mannered. Girls saw him as charming.
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He smiled easily, but that smile hid a simmering anger
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and a craving for control that had nowhere healthy to go.
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Even then, Wallace knew how to become what people wanted
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to see. After graduation in nineteen eighty three, he tried
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a future that looked promising from the outside. He worked
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briefly as a DJ at the local radio station. He
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took classes at South Carolina State College. He married his
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high school girlfriend, and enlisted in the United States Navy
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in nineteen eighty five. In uniform, he looked like a
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young man rising above the circumstances of his youth, but
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his conduct was already cracking at the edges. He was
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caught stealing from the radio station and dismissed in disgrace,
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and while in the Navy, he began using crack cocaine,
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a habit that swallowed whatever stability the military tried to impose.
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By nineteen eighty eight, his naval career and marriage were
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both in ruins. He returned home with mounting frustration and
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no clear path. Small crimes followed him like a shadow.
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He broke into a hardware store and into the very
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radio station that once employed him, stealing electronics to feed
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his addiction. Police arrested him more than once, but he
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avoided prison through probation. Each time he walked free, he
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learned that consequences were negotiable, and that he could still
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convince those in authority that he was Salvagable. Then, in
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the spring of nineteen ninety, Henry's first victim surfaced. The
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Shonda Bethea was eighteen years old when she crossed paths
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with Henry Lewis Wallace for the final time in Barnwell,
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South Carolina. She knew him, just like nearly every woman
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who would later die at his hands. One evening in
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March nineteen ninety, she vanished from the community without warning.
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There were rumors that she had last been seen with
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Wallace earlier that night. Weeks later, her decomposing body was
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discovered in a small pond outside of town. Her clothing
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had been disturbed, and investigators determined she had died by
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asphyxiation before being weighed down and dumped beneath the surface.
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The location was remote enough to indicate concealment, but close
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enough to home to suggest the killer felt confident no
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one was looking at him. Barnwell police questioned Wallace almost immediately.
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He cooperated, denied involvement, and went home. Without physical evidence,
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the case remained unsolved. That decision would later become the
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first catastrophic failure in a timeline full of them. Court
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records confirmed that Wallace later confessed to the homicide of
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Tashonda Bethea to.
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Shana, she was eighteen balls what of O?
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It was a non verbal agreement that we were seeing
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each other.
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There was a lot of kissing and touching, but she
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knowed to stop before it got me further. And now
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I thing why she just used me. You know, I'm
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getting anger and I gotta find someplace to put this anger.
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I just got her on the street and all of
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a sudden, I saw along by myself and I picked
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her up, and.
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It was like I felt that rush, and I took
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her ound the city limits and I turned off into
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the Swood area and I got out and went into
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the trunk of the car.
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And got her through fifty seven and order that door
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call to get out. She got my hand and I
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told her to get undressed. She got undressed, and uh
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I laid her on, went in the car and grabbed
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her by her neck. I could to hear her gasping
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for air and knew that it was going to happen,
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but I couldn't prevent from happening. That's when the switch
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was flipped and I just started choking and just choking
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and choking and choking, and she asked him put her
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into the back seat of the car. We drove further
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out of town. When they had a little pawn called
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Henderson's pawn. I had a life.
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And a throw, But in nineteen ninety her death was
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written off as one more tragedy that poverty and geography
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would have to bury. On April second, nineteen ninety, the
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day after Tashanda's body was found, Wallace was booked for
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second degree sexual misconduct after he was found holding a
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sixteen year old at gunpoint and attempting to force himself
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upon her in a motel room. For some reason, the
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charges never stuck. On February twentieth to the twenty first,
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police took Wallace into custody on four charges of larceny
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and burglary. On each of the four charges, he was
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sentenced to ten years suspended to one year in prison
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and three years probation. He was released in three and
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a half months from state prison in Allendale County. On
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February twenty fifth, nineteen ninety two, police booked Wallace on
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charges of criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping. Police stated he
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sexually assaulted a seventeen year old woman, whom police described
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as an acquaintance on a dead end road in rock Hill.
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He was released that same day on a personal recognisance bond.
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On May twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two, the body of
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Sharon LaVette Nance was found off Rozelle's Ferry Road in Charlotte,
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North Carolina. Sharon LaVette Nance was thirty three, moving through
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difficult circumstances known in the area where poverty and drugs
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collided with survival. Wallace met her only briefly, but it
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was enough. He offered her a ride, and she got
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into his car, unaware that her killer had already decided
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how far that ride would go. Sharon did not know him,
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but Wallace already saw an opportunity. Court
records indicate that
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once Wallace drove her to it with secluded location, the
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tone shifted from friendliness to overwhelming force. Sharon resisted, She
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was strong, She tried to flee, but Wallace struck her repeatedly,
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a rage that showed a loss of control. Compared to
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his first homicide, there were no signs of prolonged restraint
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or staging, only violence and panic in those moments. Sharon's
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greatest danger wasn't trusting the wrong man. It was trusting
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that he only wanted what he asked for. A passer
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by discovered her body dumped along Rozelle's Ferry Road, exposed
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with injuries consistent with being beaten to death. There was
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no attempt to hide her this time, no water, no concealment.
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She had been left to be found. This was Wallace
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testing how much attention he could survive. Detectives began canvassing
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the neighborhood where her body was dumped. They worked the case,
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logged the physical evidence that existed, and documented her injuries,
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but there was no immediate link to a suspect. Sharon's
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lifestyle placed her among many victims of random violence in
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Charlotte at the time, a tragic and common reality. Her
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death did not yet raise the alarm that a serial
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predator was beginning to move across the city. During later interrogation,
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Wallace confessed that Sharon Nance was not chosen because of
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personal history. She was chosen because he believed he could
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get away with it. She fought him harder than he expected.
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Her will to live forced him into rapid brutality, revealing
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a growing boldness inside him. Sharon's story shows the moment
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Wallace stopped disposing carefully. He realized the city didn't notice,
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and that realization gave him confidence to hunt again. SHAWNA.
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Hawk was twenty years old, a college student at UNC Charlotte,
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a beloved daughter, and an employee at Taco Bell. Henry
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Lewis Wallace was her manager, her friend, someone she and
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her family trusted enough to welcome into their home. He
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--> 00:12:59.840
had eaten dinner with them, He had smiled in their
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life living room. He had been considered like family. On
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February nineteenth, nineteen ninety three, Wallace stopped by her apartment
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after her shift a friendly, familiar visit. Shauna led him
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inside without hesitation. She had no idea what he had
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already decided. She would not survive. Inside the privacy of
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her home, Wallace turned on her. Shauna fought every second
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she could, but Wallace subdued her, forced her into the bathroom,
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and applied fatal neck compressions. The coroner later confirmed asphyxiation,
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indicating a prolonged struggle. She died knowing who was killing her,
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and she died terrified by the betrayal. Afterward, Wallace placed
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her in the bathtub, turned on the water, and attempted
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to wash away the evidence. It wasn't panic, it was efficiency.
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He then covered her with a shower curtain, a cold
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gesture of pretending order where there had been agony. He
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stole her bank card before leaving, already planning to take more.
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Shauna's mother found her the unimaginable apparent, discovering what violence
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did to their child. In court testimony, her mother's words
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cut through the silence. He hugged and kissed me and
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said he was sorry my daughter had been killed. Diana Hawk,
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mother of Shauna Wallace, attended Shawna's funeral, comforting the very
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people whose lives he had destroyed. He watched their suffering,
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and none of them knew his hands had caused it.
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Police responded professionally and thoroughly to the scene. There was
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a homicide, a forensic process, and a standard investigative path,
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but with no direct evidence pointing to Wallace at the
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time and no witness to place him as an attacker,
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his name didn't surface as a suspect in Shawna's death.
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Charlotte had not yet been given a reason to suspect
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a serial killer. That delay was not negligence, It was
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the illusion of normalcy Wallace used as camouflage. When Wallace
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later confessed, the betrayal struck the Hawk family like a
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second murder in open Shauna's mother said, all I can
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say is I wish they could have done something to him.
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I saw their families on TV, and I feel so sad.
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Shauna's death marks the moment Wallace stepped fully into the
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role of a serial killer, with a method, a comfort,
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and a target preference. He now killed women who trusted him,
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and he learned trust was the perfect weapon. Audrey Anne
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Spain's body was found inside her apartment the Glen Hollow
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complex near Central Avenue on June twenty fifth, nineteen ninety three.
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Audrey Spain was twenty four years old, dependable, hard working,
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and proud of her job at Taco Bell. Wallace supervised
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her there. She respected him, joked with him, relied on
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him when shifts got overwhelming. That ordinary work relationship was
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all the permission he needed to cross the threshold into
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her life. Wallace arrived at Glen Hollow apartments, where Audrey
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lived alone. She opened the door fully expecting a normal
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visit from a friendly coworker. Wallace had already decided it
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would end differently. Inside her apartment, Wallace's demeanor changed. He
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advanced on Audrey, forcing her to the floor. When she resisted,
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he wrapped his hands around her throat, applying such pressure
250
00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:16.159
and duration that autopsy findings later concluded she was conscious
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00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.639
during part of the assault. The terror in that moment
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was personal. Audrey knew exactly who stood over her, and
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she understood why she couldn't escape. Once she stopped breathing,
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Wallace redressed her in her Taco bell uniform, an act
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of cold staging designed to confuse investigators about sequence and motive.
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He wrapped her body, wiped surfaces, and scanned the room
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to eliminate each trace of himself. He then took her
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atm card and calmly withdrew her money from a bank machine.
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Audrey's death financed his next few days of freedom. On
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June twenty fifth, nineteen ninety three, co workers, concerned that
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Audrey had not shown up for shifts or returned calls,
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went to her apartment. They discovered her body inside, staged silent,
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deliberately posed as if nothing violent had happened at all.
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There was no sign of forced entry, no disarray. Only
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a young woman left lifeless in her uniform, the job
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she took, pride in becoming the last image she wore
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in death. Detectives noted details consistent with sexual assault in staging.
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They collected clothing, bedding, fingerprints, and fibers. Interviews were conducted
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with co workers, including Henry Wallace. He expressed sorrow, He
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comforted employees. He talked about how kind Audrey had always been.
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There was no direct evidence pointing to him, yet professionally,
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investigators kept the case active and ongoing. During interrogation in
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nineteen ninety four, Wallace calmly described the murder in detail,
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matching the forensic record, the uniform placement, the ATM, theft,
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the staged calm. Every choice showed increasing confidence. Audrey's death
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deepened the horror of Wallace's hunting method. He did not
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stalk strangers at night. He waited until good women opened
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the door for him in daylight. Valencia Jumper was a
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00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:10.480
twenty one year old college student at Johnson Smith University.
280
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She lived in the Lake Apartments complex on Sharon Amity Road,
281
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a modest rental community filled with young black residents, many
282
00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:23.279
working low wage service jobs. Wallace knew her through connections.
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She was a friend of his sister, and by virtue
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of that link, she felt safe. Answering his knock on
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the evening of August tenth, nineteen ninety three, she led
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00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.400
him inside her apartment without hesitation. There was no forced entry,
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no forced climb through windows, just a door opened for
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00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:45.839
someone named Henry, someone she knew trusted. Once inside, the
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00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:49.839
attack was swift and brutal. According to later court records,
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00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:53.839
Wallace forced Valencia into her own kitchen. When she tried
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to resist, he wrapped his hands around her neck and
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squeezed until she was unconscious. After she collapsed, he ignored
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clean up protocol. Instead, he committed a new crime to
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cover the first. He poured flammable liquid over her body
295
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and ignited a fire on the apartment stove, intending to
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00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.440
destroy evidence and make her death appear accidental. The fire raged,
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flames licked the walls, smoke curled from the windows of
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Apartment three B. By the time firefighters arrived, responding to
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frantic nine to one one calls from neighbors who saw
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smoke and heard popping, the apartment was already a blaze.
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Firefighters broke down the door, found the charred remains, and
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00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:38.359
assumed initial cause a cooking accident gone tragically wrong. Fire
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00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:42.480
crews extinguished the blaze, the body was badly burned, the
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00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:45.960
charred skin and smoke damage obscuring many of the telltale
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signs of violent death. Initial medical examination mistakenly ruled the
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cause of death as carbon monoxide inhalation and fire, not homicide.
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00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:59.279
The scene was filed as a tragic apartment fire, no
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00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:04.559
ligature mark, no forensic samples, no homicide alert. Neighbors described
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00:20:04.599 --> 00:20:08.279
responding coughing, choking from the smoke, panic in the hallways.
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00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:12.119
Nine one to one dispatch logs publicly referenced in later
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investigations show a call channeled around nine forty two pm
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00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:19.640
reporting an apartment fire at the Lake Apartments, smoke coming
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00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:23.920
out the windows and possible trapped occupant. First Responders arrived
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00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.160
within six minutes. By nine point fifty one pm, the
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00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:31.039
apartment was engulfed, but by then the killer had walked away.
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00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:36.279
The fire response appeared routine, the death appeared accidental. When
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Wallace confessed to the murder. In March nineteen ninety four,
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investigators reevaluated Valencia's death. They entered the site again, exhumed remains,
319
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:51.079
reviewed autopsy photos and noted signs consistent with strangulation prior
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to the fire, damage around the neck, hemorrhaging not consistent
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00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:58.599
with burn trauma, and evidence that the body had been
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placed on the stove after death. Investigators concluded that the
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00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:06.799
fire was a post mortem attempt to destroy evidence. Valencia Jumper,
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00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:10.200
like nearly all his victims, had invited him in the
325
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last moments she would ever be safe. Her death exposed
326
00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.319
the terrifying lengths Wallace would go to hide his crimes.
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00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:21.400
It revealed that fire, water staging, none of the tools
328
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:24.960
designed to erase guilt could fully succeed against determined police
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00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.880
and forensic re examination. But only after continued murders, growing
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public fear, and direct confession, did Valencia's case, once dismissed
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00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:38.920
as just another apartment fire, take its place in a
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00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:42.119
string of at least eleven homicides linked to one man.
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00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:45.960
Michelle Stinson was a twenty year old single mother of
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00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:49.200
two young boys. She worked long hours at a local
335
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store to support her children. On the evening of September fifteenth,
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00:21:54.039 --> 00:21:58.519
nineteen ninety three, Wallace knocked at her apartment door. She
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00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:02.759
knew him he had been inside before. She trusted him
338
00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:04.400
enough to let him in when he asked for a
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glass of water. There was no forced entry. She opened
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00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:12.319
the door for a familiar face. Once inside, Wallace attacked swiftly.
341
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:17.119
According to autopsy records and later confession, he first strangled
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Michelle using a ligature made from fabric a T shirt
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knotted tightly around her neck. The pressure was applied long
344
00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:27.079
enough to cut off her air, but Wallace didn't stop there.
345
00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:30.400
He then retrieved a kitchen knife and stabbed her in
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the back, the blade piercing through ribs and into her
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lungs and heart. The wounds were described by the medical
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examiner as terminal and mortal, the combination of strangulation and
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stabbing leaving no chance for survival. The violence was not quick,
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it was personal, as the last breath left her body.
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Her two small sons, one about three years old, the
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other around one, were in the living room. The older
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child later told a neighbor he thought his mother was
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sleeping on the floor. There was no indication that the
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children saw the attack, but their mother's body was discovered
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00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:10.960
only hours later, staged on the kitchen floor. Apartment door
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00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:15.200
locked from inside as though nothing had happened. Responding neighbors
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00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:18.000
found the door locked, no sign of forced entry or
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00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:21.720
forced exit. When police forced their way in, they found
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00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:24.799
Michelle's body on the kitchen floor, a pool of blood
361
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.440
beneath her, the kitchen knife discarded nearby, and the rest
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00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:34.279
of the apartment untouched. Personal items, children's toys, clothing unaffected,
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00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:38.000
as if life had simply paused. There was no sign
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00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:42.440
of robbery or burglary, no indication of forced entry, only
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00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:47.119
the aftermath of a premeditated, cold targeted killing. The children
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00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:51.119
were unharmed physically, what they lost could never be replaced.
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00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:57.359
Investigators documented the scene meticulously, blood spatter, knife wounds, ligature marks,
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00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:01.279
signs of sexual assault. For any zi evidence was collected.
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00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:05.839
Statements were taken from neighbors, co workers, and relatives. One
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00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:08.960
neighbor remembered seeing Wallace's car parked in the lot earlier
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00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:12.559
that evening. Still in the absence of a definitive link
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00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:16.920
to a suspect, the case slowly cooled. The file sat
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00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:19.559
among many others in a city where homicide rates were
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rising fast and detectives were overworked. When Wallace was arrested
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00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:28.359
in March nineteen ninety four and began to confess Michelle
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Stinson's case was re examined. The evidence matched his confession
377
00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:35.920
in chilling detail, the time, the entry point, the method,
378
00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:40.759
even the location of the discarded knife. Investigators concluded that
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00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:43.640
her murder was part of the broader pattern, not a
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00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:47.079
random violent crime, but one more life taken by a
381
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:50.680
man who moved through neighborhoods with a calm smile before
382
00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:54.400
ripping hope from his victims. Michelle Stinson's death shows the
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00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:59.160
cold escalation of Wallace's spree, from discrete strangulations and staged
384
00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:03.079
fires to brutal, unmasked murder in a home with children present.
385
00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:06.720
It
underscores how dangerous it is when a predator uses
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00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:10.519
familiarity instead of fear. Vanessa little Mac was twenty five.
387
00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:14.720
She had family and friends, simple routines, and she was
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00:25:14.759 --> 00:25:17.920
connected socially to the same circle as Wallace through a
389
00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:22.599
co worker's sibling. On the evening of February twentieth, nineteen
390
00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:26.079
ninety four, she unlocked her apartment door for someone she
391
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:30.000
believed she could trust. That person was Henry Lewis Wallace.
392
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:33.880
The door opened from the inside, there was no forced entry.
393
00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:37.799
She welcomed him in, likely unaware of any danger inside
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00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.880
the apartment. The assault was ruthless and precise. Vanessa died
395
00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:45.200
the same way as the others. Her murderer applied pressure
396
00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:49.039
around her neck until her breathing stopped. Autopsy and later
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00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:53.960
forensic review confirmed fatal neck compressions, consistent with Wallace's signature method.
398
00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:57.839
There was no staging, There was no attempt to hide
399
00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:02.960
the body. The attack was quick, efficient, and final. Whatever
400
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:06.519
trust Vanessa had when she opened the door evaporated instantly,
401
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.440
replaced by a sudden, sharp betrayal she could neither fathom
402
00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:15.240
nor survive. When police entered her apartment, they found her
403
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:21.640
body inside, undisguised. The room was undisturbed, no signs of burglary,
404
00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:25.319
no forced entry, no robbery aftermath, just a young woman
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00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:29.039
whose lifeless form lay as if asleep. The crime scene
406
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:32.400
was clean enough that initial investigators noted the lack of
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00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.000
forced entry or obvious struggle, the kind of calm that
408
00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:39.839
often hides the worst kinds of horror. Detectives processed the
409
00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:44.799
apartment thoroughly. They documented ligature marks, collected fibers and clothing,
410
00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:49.519
and canvassed the surrounding area for witnesses. They logged everything,
411
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:53.480
but at the time there was no known suspect. Vanessa's
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death was added to a growing file of unsolved homicides.
413
00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:00.440
On paper, the case was yet another tragic young life
414
00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:03.480
cut short, not yet a piece in a larger puzzle.
415
00:27:03.799 --> 00:27:07.559
In hindsight, Vanessa little Max murder was one of the
416
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:10.359
final pieces in the chain of violence that revealed the
417
00:27:10.359 --> 00:27:15.920
predator's pattern. When investigators connected stolen ATM and credit card activity,
418
00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:20.720
pawned items, and other victims cases, Vanessa's death helped confirm
419
00:27:20.759 --> 00:27:24.319
what had been suspected. A single man was targeting women
420
00:27:24.359 --> 00:27:28.200
he knew, using trust and proximity to strike. Her death
421
00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:33.160
like those before hers, underscores how Wallace didn't need darkness, disguise,
422
00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:36.480
or distance. He needed a knock at the door and
423
00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:40.039
a woman willing to trust. Vanessa never saw the danger.
424
00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:43.599
She opened the door, she trusted him, and in that
425
00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:47.960
instant she paid with her life. Betty Jean Balcam was
426
00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:51.599
twenty four, a coworker of Wallace through a mutual connection
427
00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:57.599
at Taco Bell. She was responsible, soft spoken, and trusted him.
428
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:01.160
Late on March eighth, nineteen ninety four, Wallace knocked on
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00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:05.440
her door. Betty Jean answered because she recognized him. She
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00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:08.799
had no reason to fear a man she had worked alongside.
431
00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:11.599
She opened the door fully. There was a moment of
432
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:16.960
ordinary familiarity, and then everything changed. Once inside, Wallace attacked
433
00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:20.359
her without warning. He forced her to the floor, overpowering
434
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:23.920
her with strength and sudden violence. Betty Jean fought back.
435
00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:27.759
The medical examiner later noted defensive wounds consistent with someone
436
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:32.200
resisting fatal neck compressions, clawing and struggling for breath. But
437
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:36.119
Wallace's method, by now was perfected. Hands around the throat
438
00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:39.400
sustained long enough to squeeze the life out of someone.
439
00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:43.720
She died, terrified and betrayed by someone she believed was
440
00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:47.839
a friend. After she was dead, Wallace stole her credit card,
441
00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:51.279
an ATM card, Knowing he could turn her final moments
442
00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:55.039
into his next source of cash. He left her body nude,
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00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:59.279
taking items including her uniform and personal clothing likely to
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00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:03.960
remove fibers and potential evidence. Betty Jane was discovered inside
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00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:08.400
her apartment a controlled crime scene, undisturbed except for the
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00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:12.880
violence that happened directly to her. There were no forced doors,
447
00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:19.519
no smashed
belongings. Everything was clean, quietly wrong. What investigators
448
00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:23.319
found first was stillness, not chaos. And that silence was
449
00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:26.519
the most horrifying part. Her death would eventually be traced
450
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.359
back by receipts and ATM camera logs, a trail left
451
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:34.720
because Wallace believed he had outsmarted everyone. On March ninth,
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00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:37.880
nineteen ninety four, her stolen card was used at a
453
00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:42.519
Wachovia ATM machine surveillance captured Wallace in the act, a
454
00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:46.319
key misstep, tying him directly to this scene. At that time,
455
00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:51.839
detectives had multiple homicides with overlapping connections, workplace links, proximity,
456
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:57.039
and now documented financial motive. Police did not accuse him prematurely.
457
00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:01.519
They were building a case, collecting reds that, once combined,
458
00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:06.000
formed a picture too detailed to ignore. Betty Jean Bacham's
459
00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:08.839
case became one of the central pillars, leading to probable
460
00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:14.160
cause stolen property video evidence, a victim linked socially to
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00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:19.079
multiple other deceased women. Suddenly, the name Henry Louis Wallace
462
00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:23.559
was not just familiar, it was suspicious. This was the
463
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:27.680
moment the mask began to slip, when friendly coworker Henry
464
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:31.200
became the center of a murder investigation unfolding in Charlotte.
465
00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:35.160
Brandy Henderson was just eighteen years old. She had recently
466
00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:38.799
become a mother, living in the Lake Apartments, the same
467
00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:43.000
complex where Valencia Jumper had been killed months earlier. She
468
00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:47.000
answered her apartment door for Wallace because she recognized him.
469
00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:51.200
There was no alarm, no forced entry, no reason to
470
00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:55.599
think anything dangerous was standing on the other side. Her
471
00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:58.880
infant son was asleep inside the apartment when Wallace stepped
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across the threshold. Once inside, Wallace overpowered Brandy. According to
473
00:31:05.240 --> 00:31:09.000
the medical examiner's testimony, she was strangled with a towel
474
00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:12.640
tightened around her neck. She struggled, using every ounce of
475
00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:15.359
fear and strength left in her to fight off the attack.
476
00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:19.160
Her resistance was evident in multiple defensive wounds noted on
477
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:22.519
her hands and arms. When she went still, Wallace did
478
00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:26.640
not leave immediately. He moved through the apartment, taking his time.
479
00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:30.559
He then turned toward the infant, a baby boy less
480
00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:34.559
than one year old, crying in his crib. Wallace used
481
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.880
a piece of cloth to bind the child's neck just
482
00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:40.359
enough to silence him. The pressure left ligature marks on
483
00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:43.839
the baby's skin. The child survived only because the killer
484
00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:47.039
stopped short of finishing the act. Randy's body was left
485
00:31:47.079 --> 00:31:50.440
inside the apartment. When loved ones could not reach her,
486
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:56.279
a welfare check was requested. Responding officers discovered a quiet horror,
487
00:31:56.839 --> 00:32:00.200
a murdered teenager on the floor, cold to the touch,
488
00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:04.680
and her injured infant sons still alive nearby. For the
489
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:07.400
first time in this series of killings, there was a
490
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:12.319
living witness too young to speak. Investigators processed the scene,
491
00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:16.839
noting that the method of asphyxiation matched multiple unsolved deaths
492
00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:20.119
in Charlotte. This was no longer coincidence or rumor. This
493
00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:24.400
was a recognizable pattern emerging inside the same apartment complex,
494
00:32:25.079 --> 00:32:28.160
women opening their doors to someone they knew and never
495
00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:31.880
leaving their homes again. Atm receipts from Bacham's murder the
496
00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:37.559
night before had already begun narrowing suspects. Brandy's killing intensified
497
00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:43.119
the urgency. Detectives continued interviews, and Henry Wallace's name surfaced again.
498
00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:47.160
When Wallace confessed later he verified every detail of the
499
00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:50.920
attack on Brandy, including the assault on her infant son.
500
00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:55.680
That the child survived, became a chilling benchmark. This was
501
00:32:55.720 --> 00:32:59.440
a killer who had become entirely comfortable entering homes and
502
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:03.960
destroyeding families. One by one, and he was accelerating. Brandy
503
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.720
Henderson's murder marked a shift. There were now two homicides
504
00:33:07.720 --> 00:33:11.119
in two days in the same area. Something had changed
505
00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:16.039
in Wallace, speed, comfort, confidence, and Charlotte police were finally
506
00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:19.839
closing in. Deborah Slaughter was thirty three, living in the
507
00:33:19.880 --> 00:33:23.880
same urban corridor where multiple unsolved murders had already occurred.
508
00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:27.920
Wallace knew her through overlapping friendships and
visits within the
509
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:32.160
apartment complex network. When he arrived, she opened the door
510
00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:37.480
unafraid and unprepared. There was no concern about letting him inside.
511
00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:42.200
He was still just Henry. The violence escalated here. Wallace
512
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:46.240
stabbed Deborah multiple times, in addition to fatal neck compressions.
513
00:33:47.240 --> 00:33:52.240
Court testimony described at least five stab wounds, rapid, forceful,
514
00:33:52.440 --> 00:33:55.680
and delivered. During the struggle, he attacked her with a
515
00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:59.599
level of aggression not present in earlier cases. The rage
516
00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:02.599
evidence in the intensity and angles of the wounds. He
517
00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:05.160
then assaulted her in a sexual manner as she lay
518
00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:10.159
dying or recently deceased. The attack was brutal and prolonged,
519
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:13.000
the kind that leaves a room echoing with terror long
520
00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:16.000
after silence falls. When Deborah did not show up for
521
00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:20.760
scheduled commitments. A welfare check was requested. Officers entered and
522
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:25.159
found a deeply disturbing scene, stab wounds, blood present, and
523
00:34:25.239 --> 00:34:29.280
obvious signs of violent struggle. Not the controlled, quiet crime
524
00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:33.000
scenes from earlier murders. This was not staged, This was
525
00:34:33.039 --> 00:34:37.559
not subtle. This was a killer unraveling. Deborah's murder occurred
526
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:41.039
just seventy two hours after Brandy Henderson's in the same
527
00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:45.159
general area. This forced a shift in law enforcement urgency.
528
00:34:45.639 --> 00:34:49.320
A serial killer was now considered likely. Victim connections were
529
00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:54.519
actively mapped, and Wallace's name reappeared in multiple interviews. Detectives
530
00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:59.480
began verifying atm withdrawls tied to Bachum's stolen card. Surveillance
531
00:34:59.480 --> 00:35:03.239
photos were being reviewed. It was Wallace for the first
532
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:06.679
time he was actively sought for questioning. Airline Love was
533
00:35:06.679 --> 00:35:10.800
twenty years old, young, hopeful, and among friends in the
534
00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:14.079
same apartment communities Wallace frequented. She was part of a
535
00:35:14.119 --> 00:35:17.400
network of acquaintances he'd already exploited. She knew him just
536
00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:20.320
well enough to open her door. Wallace struck just hours
537
00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:24.199
after killing Deborah Slaughter. He was no longer stalking. He
538
00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:28.280
was spiraling Caroline had no warning, no chance to prepare.
539
00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:31.840
She simply recognized the
man at the door, and she
540
00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:36.679
trusted him inside her apartment. Wallace's violence was direct and practiced.
541
00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:40.039
He took her life her using a ligature, the same
542
00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:44.840
deadly method refined through earlier murders. Court records confirmed she
543
00:35:44.920 --> 00:35:48.199
fought back. Her body showed clear defensive wounds on her
544
00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:51.119
hands and arms. She tried to hold on to life,
545
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:54.480
knowing she wouldn't win. He then desecrated her after death,
546
00:35:55.039 --> 00:36:00.519
ritualistic possession fueled by control, not chaos. Wallace laid admitted
547
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:04.280
this to investigators during his multi day confession. The attack
548
00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:08.960
was swift, the brutality was familiar, and yet this time
549
00:36:09.400 --> 00:36:12.880
a mistake hovered at every step. Within hours of this
550
00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:17.960
final murder, Charlotte Mecklenburg police had crossmatched ATM surveillance from
551
00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:21.519
Baucham's stolen card. They observed him using one of the
552
00:36:21.559 --> 00:36:26.039
victim's ATM cards on surveillance footage. They noted victim to
553
00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:30.920
suspect social overlap. They ran Wallace's name through active cases.
554
00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:35.599
They mapped crime scenes concentrated near Sharon Amity Road, and
555
00:36:35.719 --> 00:36:39.199
they identified Wallace as a prime suspect who needed to
556
00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:44.039
be located immediately. Detectives now had probable cause. Wallace had
557
00:36:44.119 --> 00:36:47.119
kept Pace with police for nearly four years, but the
558
00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:51.079
faster he killed, the faster investigators closed the gap. On
559
00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:55.639
March thirteenth, nineteen ninety four, detectives moved in. They located
560
00:36:55.639 --> 00:36:58.199
Wallace at a friend's apartment, not far from several of
561
00:36:58.239 --> 00:37:02.559
the murder scenes. The erasest was executed calmly and without incident.
562
00:37:03.159 --> 00:37:06.599
Wallace did not resist. He simply asked officers why they
563
00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:09.840
wanted to talk to him. His demeanor during the transport
564
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:13.639
back to police headquarters was controlled and cooperative, as if
565
00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:16.239
he expected he could talk his way through whatever questions
566
00:37:16.280 --> 00:37:20.480
came next. When officers placed Wallace inside an interview room
567
00:37:20.519 --> 00:37:24.760
at CMPD headquarters, they did not restrain him. He sat
568
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:27.840
in a standard plastic chair angled away from the table.
569
00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:34.400
The detectives positioned themselves with professional neutrality, avoiding aggression or intimidation.
570
00:37:35.320 --> 00:37:40.000
Wallace was offered comfort, water, a cigarette break when requested,
571
00:37:40.719 --> 00:37:44.000
and the reassurance that investigators simply needed his help to
572
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:47.360
understand what had happened. That was the entry point of
573
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:51.760
the strategy. In the opening phase of the questioning, detectives
574
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:56.639
focused solely on rapport. They avoided accusations and allowed Wallace
575
00:37:56.679 --> 00:37:59.719
to speak freely about his job, his personal life, and
576
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:03.920
the peer people he knew. The conversation felt casual, even friendly.
577
00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:09.079
He was cooperative, answering questions without hesitation. The detectives were
578
00:38:09.159 --> 00:38:13.000
creating trust, understanding that a suspect who believed he was
579
00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:16.280
in control would speak more openly. Once rapport had been
580
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:21.599
firmly established, the tone shifted. Detectives gradually introduced evidence linking
581
00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:25.880
Wallace to multiple homicide victims. They asked him to explain
582
00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:28.960
why he appeared on surveillance video with drawing money from
583
00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:32.320
an ATM belonging to one of the deceased women. They
584
00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:35.320
laid out timelines confirming that he had been seen with
585
00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:39.679
victims shortly before their deaths. Wallace reacted by pausing more
586
00:38:39.679 --> 00:38:43.760
often and choosing his words carefully. He still attempted to
587
00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:47.440
maintain composure, but the psychological weight of the evidence was
588
00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:51.199
beginning to take hold. Investigators then used silence as a tool.
589
00:38:51.800 --> 00:38:54.320
When Wallace fell quiet, they did not rush to fill
590
00:38:54.360 --> 00:38:58.119
the space. They simply waited. The silence forced him to
591
00:38:58.159 --> 00:39:02.280
confront the reality that explanations were running out. He requested
592
00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:07.079
another cigarette break. Detectives granted it, reinforcing the illusion that
593
00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:10.639
he still controlled the situation. When he returned to the room,
594
00:39:11.159 --> 00:39:14.320
they focused their questions on the victims rather than the crimes.
595
00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:17.760
They spoke about the lives these women had and the
596
00:39:17.800 --> 00:39:21.840
people who loved them. Wallace was confronted not with accusation,
597
00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:26.559
but human consequence. That was the moment the wall broke.
598
00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:29.840
Wallace lowered his gaze to the floor and admitted that
599
00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:33.360
he had lied. He requested assurance that the detectives would
600
00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:37.440
listen to his whole story if he
continued. When they nodded,
601
00:39:37.800 --> 00:39:40.480
he took a breath and quietly said that he would
602
00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:43.480
tell them about all of them. With those words, the
603
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:48.519
confession began. For hours. Wallace described each attack in methodical detail.
604
00:39:49.159 --> 00:39:52.760
He explained how he entered homes, how he subdued his victims,
605
00:39:53.239 --> 00:39:55.960
and how he took steps to remove evidence when necessary.
606
00:39:56.679 --> 00:40:00.119
He identified personal items he had stolen and the location
607
00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:04.079
where they might still be found. Detectives paused the interview
608
00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:07.840
at appropriate intervals, again advising Wallace of his rights to
609
00:40:07.960 --> 00:40:11.639
establish the voluntariness of his statements. He never asked for
610
00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:16.599
an attorney. He never recanted. He simply continued talking crime
611
00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:20.519
by crime, death by death. By the end of the interrogation,
612
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:24.440
police had verified confessions for eleven murders committed over a
613
00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:28.239
nearly three year period in Charlotte and South Carolina. The
614
00:40:28.280 --> 00:40:33.119
behaviors he described matched autopsy findings, his timelines matched missing
615
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:36.840
person reports. His admissions provided the final pieces in a
616
00:40:36.880 --> 00:40:40.840
puzzle that investigators had been assembling under mounting pressure from
617
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:46.400
a terrified city. Wallace displayed no outward remorse during the disclosures.
618
00:40:47.039 --> 00:40:50.079
His tone was calm and factual, as though he were
619
00:40:50.199 --> 00:40:53.920
narrating the routine events of a normal week. The brutal
620
00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:57.920
truth became impossible to deny. Every woman who died had
621
00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:01.119
trusted him enough to open the door. The trial of
622
00:41:01.159 --> 00:41:04.840
Henry Lewis Wallace began in September nineteen ninety six in
623
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:10.079
Mecklenburg County Superior Court. Prosecutors presented the jury with Wallace's
624
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:14.719
own detailed confessions, forensic evidence tying him to multiple crime scenes,
625
00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:18.400
and financial records showing his use of victims bank cards
626
00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:22.679
and valuables both before and after the murders. The prosecution
627
00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:26.039
argued that Wallace deliberately exploited the trust of women within
628
00:41:26.119 --> 00:41:29.880
his own social and work circles, gaining entry without force
629
00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:32.280
and killing them in the places where they should have
630
00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:36.719
been safest. The defense attempted to redirect focus toward Wallace's
631
00:41:36.719 --> 00:41:41.119
alleged struggles with addiction and personal trauma, claiming his judgment
632
00:41:41.119 --> 00:41:45.119
had been impaired, but the jury remained unmoved by arguments
633
00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:48.440
that sought to soften his intent. Family members sat through
634
00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:52.960
testimony describing the final moments of their daughters, sisters, and mothers,
635
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:56.519
each account confirming that Wallace had been welcomed into their
636
00:41:56.559 --> 00:42:00.000
homes before he committed acts of violence. During the use
637
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.639
the emotional phase of victim impact statements, several relatives confronted
638
00:42:04.679 --> 00:42:09.079
Wallace directly. One mother, whose voice shook with grief, said
639
00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:11.599
she would never understand how a man who once shared
640
00:42:11.639 --> 00:42:15.119
meals in her house could later take her child's life.
641
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:19.159
Victim's families expressed heartbreak not only over the murders, but
642
00:42:19.199 --> 00:42:21.760
over the betrayal of trust at the core of every crime.
643
00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:26.719
On January seventh, nineteen ninety seven, the jury delivered its verdict.
644
00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:30.559
Wallace was convicted of nine counts of first degree murder.
645
00:42:30.800 --> 00:42:35.519
Along with multiple related charges, including rape and robbery. During
646
00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:39.840
the sentencing hearing, the prosecution emphasized the ongoing danger Wallace
647
00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:43.079
would pose to others if ever given the chance to
648
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:47.280
leave prison. The judge agreed. Wallace was sentenced to nine
649
00:42:47.280 --> 00:42:52.159
death sentences plus additional consecutive terms, totaling life imprisonment. He
650
00:42:52.239 --> 00:42:55.119
showed little visible emotion as his future was read aloud
651
00:42:55.159 --> 00:42:59.320
and secured. As of today, Henry Louis Wallace remains on
652
00:42:59.400 --> 00:43:02.800
death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. There
653
00:43:02.840 --> 00:43:06.599
have been appeals, hearings, and reviews of procedural elements, but
654
00:43:06.760 --> 00:43:10.079
none have undone the jury's decision. The women he murdered
655
00:43:10.119 --> 00:43:13.960
were ordinary people, living ordinary lives until the moment they
656
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:18.360
trusted the wrong man. Wallace's trial ensured that the extraordinary
657
00:43:18.400 --> 00:43:21.360
horror he created would never escape accountability.