Henry Louis Wallace
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Henry Louis Wallace(1965- ) was a serial killer who killed at least nine young Black Charlottean women between June 1992 and March 1994. His crimes were heinous and brutal. He was considered "gentlemanly" by many who knew him at the time of the murders. However, he has a dark, evil side to him that was revealed to his victims when alone at night. The slain women trusted him enough to let him in their homes at night. He killed Caroline Love in June of 1992 and filed a missing person report after a day with the victim's sister and his girlfriend accompanied him to the police station. Mr. Wallace left 20-year old Shawna D. Hawk in the tub of water after strangling her at her home on February 19,1993. He strangled 21-year old Valencia M. Jumper at her apartment in August 10, 1993. He then set it on fire to cover up his vicious crime. Other victims were strangled or stabbed during his two-year reign of terror in East Charlotte.
He was arrested on March 13, 1994 after the bodies of three young women were found in East Charlotte. During his arrest, he confessed to murdering 10 young Black women in Charlotte, N.C. between 1992 and 1994. He was arraigned on March 16, 1994. Some community leaders and activists as well as victims' rights groups such as Mothers of Murdered Offspring complained to the press that Charlotte Police Department didn't do much to solve the murders because the women were African American.
As Ms. Hawk's mother, Dee Sumpter said:
that the victims "weren't prominent people with social-economic status. They weren't special. And they were black.
Charlotte's police chief was stumped by a serial killer in their midst and wasn't aware of it.
[edit] Inside The Trial
On September 1996, his trial began after a long wait. Such delay placed a strain upon the victims' families and loved ones.
According to serial killer crime expert Robert Ressler:
"'If he elected to become a serial killer, he was going about it in the wrong way,' said Robert Ressler, one of the "Mr. Wallace always seemed to take one step forward and two steps back," Ressler testified. 'He would take items and put them in the stove to destroy them by burning them and then forget to turn the stove on.'"
On January 7, 1997, he was found guilty of nine murders and on January 29, 1997, he was sentenced to nine consecutive death sentences. No execution date is set as yet.
[edit] The Victims
The victims described in news reports, Mr. Wallace, and the victims' families were young, beautiful Black women between the ages of 18 and 35. Majority of Mr. Wallace's Black female victims were petite as well. Some were mothers of young children, others were pretty young college students.
The victims:
Caroline Love
Shawna D. Hawk
Audrey Ann Spain
Valencia M. Jumper
Michelle Stinson
Vanessa Little Mack
Betty Jean Baucom
Brandi June Henderson
Deborah Slaughter
