United States of America

WALLACE
Henry Louis

Active from 1990-1994 in South Carolina and North Carolina

DID YOU KNOW...

Grizzly Fact

Wallace would sometimes return to the scene of the crime before it was detected

Funeral Fact

Wallace attended at least 1 victim's funeral

Fire Fact

Wallace set one victim's house on fire in an attempt to cover his crime

THE DISPATCH

The Beginning

Over 21 months, four women who worked at Bojangles in Charlotte, North Carolina, were murdered. They were not the only victims of serial killer Henry Louis Wallace.

The Murders

Tashanda "Shan" Bethea (suspected)

Wallace met Tashanda “Shan” Bethea in 1989. Their mothers worked together in the same factory. In March, 1990, she went missing. She was his first murder victim. Bethea’s body was found by two fishermen on April 1, in a lake. She had been raped and manually strangled. Wallace slashed her wrists after she was dead.

Wallace Arrested

On April 2, Wallace was arrested in a motel room. He was holding a 16-year-old girl at gun point. Wallace was charged with second degree criminal sexual conduct. He was questioned in Bethea’s murder but not charged.

He was out of jail in less than 2 years.

Keeber Lewis (Survivor)

Keeber Lewis accepted a ride to a Rock Hill lounge. The problem was, it was offered by Wallace. Although only acquaintances, Lewis knew and trusted Wallace. She was wrong.

Once in the car, Wallace made his intentions clear. Lewis tried to jump out of the moving car, but Wallace threatened her with a gun. On a dead-end street in the wooded Country Downs neighbourhood, he sexually assaulted her. He then mocked her by showing her his gun was just a BB gun.

He told her to drive the car. She drove erratically, hoping police would pull her over. She drove to a friend’s house and, after exiting the vehicle, took down the license plate number.

Wallace was arrested on February 25, 1992, but was released on his own recognizance. Lewis fled the area after his release.

Sharon Lavette Nance (suspected)

On May 27, 1992, Wallace picked up sex worker Sharon Lavette Nance, but objected when he had to pay. After sex, which Wallace claimed was consensual, he bludgeoned her to death with a rock. He left her body beside Rozzelles Ferry Road. She was the only victim Wallace had not previously known.

Caroline Love

On June 15, 1992, Caroline Love went missing. She had been sharing a place with Wallace’s girlfriend, Sadie McKnight. After getting a ride home from her cousin, Robert Ross, from Bojangles, where she worked. She went into her home and was not seen again until her body was found March 13, 1994.

Wallace had a copy of the key to the house he shared with his then-girlfriend and went to the home that evening. He was at the home before Love arrived. He made sexual advances, which Love rejected.

He choked Love into unconsciousness, bound and gagged her. He sexually assaulted her while she was semi-conscious. He would strangle her into unconsciousness every time she began to wake up. He finally strangled her to death, put her in an orange trash bag and put her in the back seat of his car. He dumped the bag into the woods near Statesville Road.

The next day, Wallace returned to Love’s body to remove the orange bag and throw her into a nearby shallow ravine. After his arrest, Wallace told police where to find Love’s remains.

Kathy Love (Carolina’s sister), McKnight, and Wallace went to the police station and filed a missing person’s report.

Shawna Denise Hawk

Shawna Denise Hawk lived with her mother, attended community college and worked at Taco Bell. Wallace was her manager.

On February 20, 1993, Hawk’s mother was in the house, making dinner. She became concerned. Hawk had missed appointments and her mother found her coat and purse at home. Hawk’s mother contacted Shawna’s boyfriend, Darryl Kirkpatrick, and together, they called police. While Kirkpatrick conducted a thorough search of the house. Hawk’s body was found in a bathtub, in water.

An autopsy indicated blunt trauma and ligature strangulation. Wallace sexually assaulted her, choked her to death and put her in a water-filled bathtub.

Audrey Ann Spain

On June 23, 1993, Audrey Ann Spain failed to show to for work at Taco Bell. He manager drove by her home and noticed her car. He left messages for her and her sister over the next two days. After hearing nothing, he called 911. Police also got no response. It wasn’t until a maintenance worker entered the apartment that Spain was discovered.

She was gagged and strangled with a t-shirt, and a bra was also wrapped around her neck. While unconscious, Wallace raped her. He then dragged her to the shower to remove evidence. He placed her in her bed, strangled her with a t-shirt and bra, and stole a credit card.

Wallace tried to cover his tracks be returning to the apartment. He thought using the dead woman’s phone would make it look like she was alive.

Spain was 24 years old.

Valencia Michele Jumper

Valencia Michele Jumper worked at a fast food restaurant, Food Lion, in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was a senior at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, studying political science.

On August 9, 1993, she made plans with a friend, Zachery Douglas. When he showed up, he saw smoke coming from her apartment. The Fire Department was called, and her body was found in her bedroom in the early morning hours of August 10.

Wallace, who said Jumper was “like a little sister” to him, attacked her. He sexually assaulted her, and put a towel around her neck and choked her until she passed out. He then suffocated her with the towel.

He dragged her to the bed, and poured rum on her. He set a pot on the stove with beans, turned the stove up high, and set Jumper on fire. He even took the battery out of the smoke detector.

The coroner noted there was no soot in her lungs. Jumper’s cause of death was listed as thermal burns. After Wallace confessed, her cause of death was re-listed as strangulation.

Wallace tried to cover his tracks by putting a pot of beans on a hot stove. He doused her body in rum and set it on fire. Wallace returned after 20 minutes, then left the scene again. He pawned her jewelry at a pawn store. Media first reported she died after falling asleep while cooking.

Michelle Denise Stinson

Michelle Denise Stinson lived in Charlotte with her two young sons. A friend, James Mayes, stopped by her home. Her two children said through a window that their mother was sleeping on the kitchen floor. The eldest child brought Mays into the home. He found Stinson dead.

Mayes picked up the phone but realized that the cord had been cut or jerked out of the wall. Mayes took the children to a neighbor’s apartment and called the police.

Wallace had arrived at her home planning to rape and murder her. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted. Stinson was also stabbed 4 times in the back. The eldest child had seen the killer, but had returned to bed. Wallace wiped his fingerprints from the scene and fled.

She was 20 years old.

Vanessa Little Mack

Vanessa Little Mack lived in an apartment in Charlotte with her two young daughters and worked at Carolinas Medical Center.

Barbara Rippy, the grandmother of Mack’s oldest daughter, visited Mack on September 20, 1994. Mack was found dead in the bed of her home. She had been hit and strangled with a long-sleeve pull-over type shirt and a towel.

Wallace had showed up to rob and murder her. He wanted money for cocaine. When Mack turned her back, Wallace pulled out a pillowcase that he had brought with him and placed it around her neck. He sexually assaulted her and strangled her to death. Wallace checked on Mack’s baby and stayed until the baby went to sleep.

Wallace then tried to use her stolen ATM card, but Mack had given him the wrong PIN.

Betty Jean Baucum

Betty Jean Baucum and Brandi June Henderson lived in the same apartment complex. Wallace murdered both women on the same day.

Wallace first went to Henderson’s apartment on the morning of March 9, 1994. Her boyfriend was home, and Wallace left.

Wallace then went to Baucum’s home and murdered her instead. Baucom, an assistant manager at the Bojangles’ restaurant on Central Avenue. When she failed to show up for work, police were notified. On March 10, police found Baucum strangled in her home. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled.

Wallace held Baucum in a choke hold for almost 30 minutes, demanding the combination to the safe at her work. When he finally released her, he admitted he that he was a sick person and that he had hurt many people. Baucom then embraced Wallace, said that she forgave him, and told him he needed help.

He attacked her. She bit and scratched him in the ensuing fight. Wallace sexually assaulted her, killed her, stole items and left.

He returned to wipe fingerprints from the scene, and stole her car. He wiped the car down, but forgot to wipe the trunk lid. That evening, Wallace killed again.

Brandi June Henderson

Henderson and her baby were alone in their apartment in the evening of March 9. Her boyfriend, Verness Lamar Woods, returned home in the evening to find the place in disarray. He found the baby struggling for air, a pair of shorts wrapped around his neck. Woods removed the shorts to save the baby. Then he saw Henderson.

She had been strangled with towels. Although Woods followed 911 operator instructions, it was too late. Henderson was dead.

Wallace stole a TV, stereo, food and some coins. Wallace had raped Henderson while she held her son on her chest.

By March 10, police investigators were connecting the Henderson, Mack and Baucum murders to Wallace. On the 11th, police retrieved a palm print from the trunk of Baucum’s car and matched it to Wallace. Police issued an arrest warrant, but were too late to save his last murder victim.

Debra Ann Slaughter

Debra Ann Slaughter’s mother, Lovey Slaughter, found her daughter dead in the woman’s Charlotte apartment. Wallace sexually assaulted her and shoved a balled-up sock in her mouth. He strangled her with 2 towels, and stabbed her 38 times with a knife she always carried in her purse. He wiped the knife off and returned it to the scattered contents of her purse.

Wallace left Slaughter’s apartment, bought crack cocaine, then returned to smoke it. He took a coat, a baseball hat, and a butcher knife from Slaughter’s apartment but threw everything away.

Arrest & Trial

Wallace Arrested and Confesses

On March 12, after police found Slaughter’s body, they arrested Wallace. He had an outstanding larceny warrant. They were looking at him for multiple murders, and used the outstanding warrant to get him off the streets.

On March 13, 1994, Wallace confessed to all the murders. He was indicted April 4th. After a lot of legal wrangling, the trial against Wallace began on November 20, 1996.

He was tried for the deaths of Love, Hawk, Spain, Jumper, Stinson, Mack, Baucum, Henderson and Slaughter. No trials were held for the murders of Bethea and Nance.

Wallace Guilty in 9 Murders

On January 7, 1997, Wallace was found guilty of 9 murders. He was sentenced to death on January 29th. He also received 10 consecutive life sentences, and 322 years for crimes other than murder.

Wallace’s Location

Henry Louis Wallace is currently housed in Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. His current prison infractions are illegal cloth/linen/sheets, misuse medicine, barter/trade/loan money, weapon possession, assault person w/weapon, fighting, unauthorized funds, fighting.

SIMILAR SERIAL KILLERS

Paul Dennis Reid Jr.

Reid Jr.'s nickname as also related to food. His was the Fast Food Killer

Mark Goudeau

Serial killer Mark Goudeau also received 9 death sentences

Seisaku Nakamura

Nakamura was convicted of 9 murders, but suspected of 11

WHERE IT HAPPENED

A non-interactive map of where things happened. The first map shows the location of all victims.

This second map shows 4 spaced-out murder sites in North Carolina. Below are Love, Nance, Hawk and Mack.

The third and final map shows the cluster of murders that occurred close to Wallace’s home. His location is shown in red.

BOOKS

Books about or including Henry Louis Wallace

Examining Pop Culture: Crime And Criminals In Popular Culture by Andy Koopmans

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Greenhaven; Annotated edition (November 7, 2002)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0737714319

From Jeffrey Dahmer to Hannibal Lecter, from John Gotti to Don Corleone, real and imagined criminals and their crimes are a mainstay of media and entertainment. This volume explores the American criminal obsession. It also looks at how popular culture portrayals of crime and criminals affect perceptions of real crime and of the criminal justice system.

Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Approach by Anthony Walsh and Lee Ellis

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sage Publications; 1st edition (Dec 14 2006)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 518 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1412938402

This unique text offers an interdisciplinary perspective on crime and criminality by integrating the latest theories, concepts, and research from sociology, psychology, and biology. Offering a more complete look at the world of criminology than any other existing text, authors Anthony Walsh and Lee Ellis first present criminological theory and concepts in their traditional form and then show how integrating theory and concepts from the more basic sciences can complement, expand, strengthen, and add coherence to them.

Creating Cultural Monsters: Serial Murder In America by Julie B. Wiest

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (Sept. 30 2020)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0367865870

Serial murderers generate an abundance of public interest, media coverage, and law enforcement attention, yet after decades of studies, serial murder researchers have been unable to answer the most important question: Why? Providing a unique and comprehensive exploration, Creating Cultural Monsters: Serial Murder in America explains connections between American culture and the incidence of serial murder, including reasons why most identified serial murderers are white, male Americans. It describes the omnipresence of serial murder in American media and investigates what it would take to decrease its occurrence.

Presenting empirically supported arguments that have the potential to revolutionize how serial murder is understood, studied, and investigated, this volume:

Places the serial murder phenomenon in a cultural context, promoting qualitative understanding and the potential for reducing its frequency

Includes an illustrated model that explains how people utilize cultural values to construct lines of action according to their cultural competencies

Demonstrates how the American cultural milieu fosters serial murder and the creation of white male serial murderers

Provides a critique of the American mass media’s role in the development and notoriety of serial murder

Describes the framework on which the majority of definitions of serial murder are based

Drawn from years of dedicated research of Dr. Julie B. Wiest, this volume presents a new approach to the study of U.S. serial murder, offers important implications for law enforcement and mass media, and forms a basis for future research on serial murder, murder, and violence in the U.S. and in other nations.

VIDEOS & PODCASTS

Bodies of Evidence from WBTV, about serial killer Henry Louis Wallace (aka The Taco Bell Strangler)

Henry Louis Wallace— True Crime in Charlotte NC?

Killer Stories

Podcast Episode 37:Henry Louis Wallace – The Taco Bell Strangler from Killer Jobs

THE STATS

Years of age when Wallace first killed someone

Years of age when Wallace was finally arrested

Average age of his victims

Killer in a Historical Timeline

Statistical table for Henry Louis Wallace

Killer Name	Wallace, Henry Louis
Killer AKA	The Taco Bell Strangler
Gender	M
Arrest Date	March 12, 1994
Conviction Date	January 7, 1997
Sentence	9 consecutive Death sentences. Also, various sexual offenses with terms of 40 years, life and death and one robbery offense (40 year term).
Birth Location	Barnwell, South Carolina USA
Birth Date	November 4, 1965
Status	Alive or Unknown
School Grade	high school
School Degree	some college
Military Service	yes
Military Service	US Navy
Job Types	Disk jockey
Sexual Preference	Straight
Marital Status	Remarried
Number of Children	1 child
Killer Type	Sexual/Sadistic, Territorial
sk_killer_type2	Territorial
Drug Abuse	cocaine
Fire Setting	Set one victim's house on fire
comment1	Wallace would sometimes return to the scene of the crime before it was detected
comment2	Wallace would often rape victims who were unconscious or semi-conscious
comment3	Wallace generally murdered his victims with items found at the scene (towels, knives, clothing) or his hands
Total Dead Victims	11
Victims (Confessed)	11
Victims (Convicted)	9
Victim Gender	F
Victim Race	Black
Victim Age	32, 18, 25, 24, 35, 18, 20, 21, 24, 20, 20
Victim Type	Fast food workers, family friends, acquaintances
Victim Type 2	Sex worker was only person he had not previously known
Method of Killing	Strangulation, bludgeoning, stabbing, beating
Weapon	Rock, clothing, hands, knife, towel,
Robbery	Yes
Sex Assault	Yes
Overkill	Yes
Binding	Yes
Washing/Water	Yes
Body - Left, Not Hidden	Yes
Body - Moved, Hidden	Yes
Previous Crimes	burglary, break & enter
Prison Problems	Illegal cloth/linen/sheets, misuse medicine, barter/trade/loan money, weapon possession, assault person w/weapon, fighting, unauthorized funds, fighting

Killer Rating

 5/5

RESOURCES

E. Kelly Hemingway | Last updated July 27, 2021