Laura Everline Burnley was a teenage girl who disappeared from Lynchburg, Virginia in March 1951. On February 15, 1984, Henry Lee Lucas confessed to killing her, although he later recanted.
Case[]
Laura Burnley was born on April 26, 1933 in Buckingham, Virginia. Laura Burnley disappeared from Lynchburg in March 1951. The specific date is unknown, and few details of her disappearance are available.
After being convicted for killing Becky Powell and Kate Rich in 1983, Henry Lee Lucas confessed to Laura's disappearance on February 15, 1984. Lucas, who was 15 when she disappeared, picked her up near Lynchburg. When she refused his sexual advances, he killed her and buried her body in the woods near Harrisburg, Virginia.
While in custody, Lucas, and his partner Otis Toole, confessed to killing over hundreds of people with the Lucas Task Force, headed by the Texas Rangers, closing 213 murder cases. However, it was eventually determined Lucas falsely confessed to most of the cases, with authorities greatly enabling him by bribing him with privileges or letting him read cold case files to confess. Lucas would recant all of his confessions, including this confession. Eventually, he was convicted of eleven murders, suspected of more, and died on March 12, 2001.
Other victims Lucas and Toole (falsely) confessed to or his suspected of can be found here.
Sources[]
- Laura Burnley at Find a Grave
- The Lucas Report (Page 60)
- Murderpedia
- Henry Lee Lucas on Wikipedia
- Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia, Births, 1864-2015