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Blood Brothers: The Crimes of Deviant Serial Killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole
Rarely have two individuals come together to form a more ideal team of killers that Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole. Neither one was particularly intelligent nor gifted in any way. In spite of their shortcomings, of which there were many, together they would cut a path of terror and murder across the United States that would cement their place in the annals of crime.
Henry was born on August 23, 1936, to Anderson and Viola Lucas in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. It was evident early on that, although the pair had no trouble reproducing, their parenting skills left a lot to be desired.
In order to feed their hungry brood, Viola worked as a nickel and dime prostitute. Anderson, an alcoholic who had lost his legs in a work-related accident, earned extra money by illegally manufacturing and selling liquor out of their home.
At the age of ten, Henry had accidentally sliced open his left eye with a knife while horsing around with one of his brothers. The wound was so severe that his eye swelled shut. Even though he was clearly suffering, his mother had allowed the injury to go untreated for nearly a week before finally taking him to see a doctor.
After taking one look at the mutilated orb, the practitioner concluded that it was…