SUSPECT: Michael Lee Lockhart

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nutkin

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I know he has never been linked to any murders in Texas other than the murder of Beaumont Police Officer Paul Hulsey, Jr. on March 22, 1988, which he was executed for in 1997. But, he was convicted of several gruesome murders and sexual assaults. When he was executed in Texas, he was also on death row in Indiana and Florida.

I am kind of confused as to why no one has ever thrown his name into the ring before. I do know that during the time he was in Beaumont, he did attempt to abduct a woman from the Target parking lot, but was unsuccessful.

He may not be responsible for any of the disappearances/murders in the area, but it is worth looking in to.

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/lockhart430.htm
 
nutkin said:
I know he has never been linked to any murders in Texas other than the murder of Beaumont Police Officer Paul Hulsey, Jr. on March 22, 1988, which he was executed for in 1997. But, he was convicted of several gruesome murders and sexual assaults. When he was executed in Texas, he was also on death row in Indiana and Florida.
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BBM
I am kind of confused as to why no one has ever thrown his name into the ring before.
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Lockhart was never listed as a suspect in any of the Texas murders, abductions, or missing persons. Not to say that he didn't commit murders in Texas but the only ones listed here were either named as a suspect, arrested, or conficted of a murder.

I do know that during the time he was in Beaumont, he did attempt to abduct a woman from the Target parking lot, but was unsuccessful
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Do you have a link to an article about the attempted abduction?

Thanks and welcome to WS.
 
Lockhart cetainly fits the bill. The I-45 murders peaked around 1986-87. Lockhart killed the police officer in March, 1988. Police in Texas linked him to the sexual assaults and mutilations of two girls in two different states far removed from Texas that occurred in late 1987/early 1988. Once it was learned that he'd committed those horrible crimes, I'm sure Texas LE considered him a POI. More than once, I've heard, or read, comments by Texas LEO's who expressed frustration over not being able to make an arrest for the I-45 murders even though they knew who was responsible for the killings, but they couldn't find enough evidence to charge him. I recall at least one officer who said the perp was already incarcerated. They could havr been taling about Lockhart.

I'm curious how they made the connection. The red Corvette, I suppose.

Poignant story here about Jennifer's younger brother who found her mutilated body in his bedroom. He was eight years-old. :(

http://www.sptimes.com/News/012300/news_pf/Floridian/In_the_name_of_his_si.shtml
 
I don't have a link to an article. I live in Beaumont and had relatives working at the local paper at the time. It was also reported on the news quite extensively with the woman giving an "anonymous" interview.

Lockhart was a pretty horrific killer, who disemboweled the two victims he was on death row for in FL and IN. I actually found some information about some pretty gruesome murders inside apartments in downtown Houston during the 80s. I haven't found anything where it specifically says the victims were disemboweled, but there is an indication of mutilation. I have to go into work in a little while, but if I get back early enough I will provide links.

My point, though, is there is a confirmed serial killer that has been through the area that killed and sexually assaulted women. If LE has not looked into his involvement, they are really dropped the ball. However, LE has dropped the ball on many occasions in this area, so it wouldn't be surprising.
 
I agree with you on all points, nutkin. I have to go out in a little while, myself, but I'll start looking for links, too, when I get back later this evening.
 
As far as how they linked Lockhart to the murder in FL - it WAS the red Corvette. Police put out an APB for a stolen red Corvette with Missouri tags. When police searched the red Corvette after Officer Hulsey was killed, they found the Missouri tags, although it had Florida tags on the vehicle at the time.

Once Florida officials heard about what happened in Texas, they compared DNA to their crime scene and got a match. I haven't seen or heard it specifically mentioned, but I'd imagine DNA was used to link the murder in IN, as well. Before then, it was linked to the FL murder due to the MO.
 
Those are good links, nutkin, especially the last article. If the information is accurate, the timeline makes him a somewhat unlikely suspect for Texas, with only a brief window of 2-3 weeks in March, 1988. I have to believe that LE checked him out as a POI in sexual assaults/murders that occurred in Louisiana and Texas during that time. As far as we know, he had no family connections in either state. He was an outsider from Ohio, and a cop killer, too. I would think local LE would have been all over it, trying to finger him for any crimes that even remotely fit. JMO
 
He confessed to the murder of a 12-year-old girl as far back as 1983, when he was in the Army. There were times when he'd disappear for days or weeks at a time, so he was potentially killing that early on. That alleged victim was never found.

I know LE looked for cases, but they looked for ones that fit the MO/signature of the murders of Windy Gallagher and Jennifer Colhouer, specifically disembowelment. Earlier murders probably wouldn't fit that, however, since it is pretty gruesome and shows more of an evolution as a killer. He was a drifter, so anything is possible.

And even to the end, this guy made excuses. He said he didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him, but if that were the case, he wouldn't have said publicly that if he weren't molested, he never would have killed anyone.

It really sickens me how these monsters want control and power and domination even to the end.
 
Lockhart seemed to progress from petty theft, sexual predator, to murder, to torture, not to mention bank robber. I wouldn't doubt that he left a trail of victims all over the US. If he hadn't been caught for the murder of Officer Paul Hulsey, Jr. he would have killed many more and all would have been more and more gruesome and cruel.

The thing that would make locating other victims difficult is that they were probably skeletal remains like in Texas. That would make it almost impossible to know how he killed them and what was done to them before death and after. moo
 
You're right. The only way to solve most of these earlier murders is with a detailed confession and since he has been executed, there's no way for that to happen.

That, and it seems that the victims that he abducted were actually buried somewhere and not just dumped.

The petty crimes and robberies were for survival, mostly, I think since he was a drifter. But, he sure was a sick man. I need to do some research to see what exactly disembowelment of victims would mean psychologically.
 
Maybe not all of them are buried. Windy Gallagher was found in her bedroom and I believe Jennifer Colhouer was too. Maybe they just haven't linked other murders to him because they are looking for disemboweling and they might not find the victims based on that alone.

moo
 
JeannieC said:
Maybe not all of them are buried. Windy Gallagher was found in her bedroom and I believe Jennifer Colhouer was too. Maybe they just haven't linked other murders to him because they are looking for disemboweling and they might not find the victims based on that alone.

moo
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Just to jump in from a behavioral angle: Disembowelment is normally a mode of mutilation at the end of a long honing time. Basically he ran out of possibilities to do worse. That means:

- earlier victims may will not be disemboweled but mutilated with widespread cuts. In the beginning, those cuts can be all over the body, later, they will more and more concentrate on the abdomen and usually breasts before at some point, he will really open a victim. However, once, he started that, it will most likely become an additional part of his signature together with other minor signatures.

- typically for that type of SK is, that his earlier victims are buried and hidden well (the trophy hunter type) or are found really out in the open or places where discovery is unavoidable (the show type). There is no in between like bad hiding.

- There are also normally in those cases no signs of remorse, staging on the back and there will be no hesitation marks.

- Instead of the usual types of souvenirs, like jewelry or shoes or hairs and most of all photos, some of these guys take inner organs as souvenirs. The choice of organs is significant. But since this kind of souvenirs depends on the possibilities of preservation, the killer has, this happens only in some cases in this category. So it's always nice in disembowelment cases, if the ME counts the organs (I had a look at a case in Europe once, where the moron missed, a kidney and the uterus was missing).

Does that look like Lockhart?
 
That is what I was thinking, the killings with the disembowelments were when he completely evolved as a killer. Earlier murders were likely different.

I haven't read a complete autopsy report of either of those two murders, but there has been no mention of organs missing. I would think it'd be unlikely in his case since he was a drifter, mostly staying in motels as he traveled. That isn't to say he couldn't have discarded them elsewhere.

Windy Gallagher was stabbed 21 times with a large knife; 4 times in the neck and 17 times in the abdomen. There was a large pool of blood and her intestines were hanging out.

Missing from her room was a photo of her and a small purse. (The purse was found inside the purse of a woman he had mugged in Chicago the day before.)

I think that is some pretty major psychological torture. He robbed the woman in Chicago at knife point and then allows her purse to be recovered three days later with the purse of a girl who was brutally murdered inside. Kind of like saying, "I can do it to you too, if I want."

Jennifer Colhouer was raped and strangled. Then he got an 11-inch knife from the kitchen and opened her from sternum to stomach.
 
nutkin said:
That is what I was thinking, the killings with the disembowelments were when he completely evolved as a killer. Earlier murders were likely different.

I haven't read a complete autopsy report of either of those two murders, but there has been no mention of organs missing. I would think it'd be unlikely in his case since he was a drifter, mostly staying in motels as he traveled. That isn't to say he couldn't have discarded them elsewhere.

Windy Gallagher was stabbed 21 times with a large knife; 4 times in the neck and 17 times in the abdomen. There was a large pool of blood and her intestines were hanging out.

Missing from her room was a photo of her and a small purse. (The purse was found inside the purse of a woman he had mugged in Chicago the day before.)

I think that is some pretty major psychological torture. He robbed the woman in Chicago at knife point and then allows her purse to be recovered three days later with the purse of a girl who was brutally murdered inside. Kind of like saying, "I can do it to you too, if I want."

Jennifer Colhouer was raped and strangled. Then he got an 11-inch knife from the kitchen and opened her from sternum to stomach.
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Kind of transient -> no means of preserving and keeping organs
lower IQ -> lower degree of organization (also indicated by use of weapon/tool of convenience)
So looks like you're on track with that guy. Problem is, we can't link him to concrete cases in TX, mostly because it was serial killer's paradise since the 70s and every monster had at least some guest appearances there. So for some it's not even the question, were they killed by an SK but by which one.
 
The thing that bothers me about the disembowelment is that, to me, it just doesn't seem to fit his behavior. He seemed to be a criminal of opportunity. He even states that he chose Jennifer Colhouer because he saw her alone outside her home. It wasn't pre-planned. He didn't stalk his victims.

Maybe I am wrong, but mutilation to that degree seems like it would be the work of someone a bit more organized; not someone just taking advantage of whatever came his way.

He obviously did the crimes. I just wonder why.
 
Its like you said, He was evolving. He displayed his victims, he was more enthralled with the deed, the act of killing, possibly even the shock when people found them. They didn't matter to him. He was an opportunist. He didn't appear to have a preferred type other than young and pretty.

Its sorta like, I came, I saw, I conquered. If he hadn't been caught he would have gotten even better at it and probably killed a lot more girls.
 
nutkin said:
The thing that bothers me about the disembowelment is that, to me, it just doesn't seem to fit his behavior. He seemed to be a criminal of opportunity. He even states that he chose Jennifer Colhouer because he saw her alone outside her home. It wasn't pre-planned. He didn't stalk his victims.

Maybe I am wrong, but mutilation to that degree seems like it would be the work of someone a bit more organized; not someone just taking advantage of whatever came his way.

He obviously did the crimes. I just wonder why.
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That's a typical low level organized psychopath, it's nearly text book:
- victims of convenience
- spending short time with them
- relative quick honing to extreme mutilation
- mutilation is postmortem
- no forensic countermeasure or on a very low level
- no hesitation marks
- blitz-attacker

After they are caught, they usually tell one of the following stories:
- it's all the victims fault (short skirt, just looking like a victim
- they were molested, therefore it's not their fault
- they were not molested, therefore it's not their fault
- they have MOA-A, the warrior gene (that's the newest one in the repertoire)
- they had always this dark urges and nobody heard their call for help.

The simple truth is, they know right from wrong, they only don't care. And killing is for them natural because it allows them to get their own replacement for real emotions, and that is an adrenaline rush together with the feeling of power. Just keep in mind, power is not the same thing as control. Power is the prove, they can do it, they are strong, tough, whatever. It's prove to themselves. Only as next step comes control (over others, especially the victim).
 
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