CHARLOTTE — A serial killer terrorized Charlotte for years, murdering several young Black women. He is known as the “Taco Bell Strangler.”
For the first time in the 25 years since his conviction, we look inside the mind of a cold-blooded killer.
For two years, Henry Louis Wallace went undetected befriending neighbors and coworkers before taking their lives. That’s what put the victims in danger.
From 1991 through 1994, Wallace murdered 10 Charlotte women: Sharon Nance, Caroline Love, Shawna Hawk, Audrey Spain, Valencia Jumper, Michelle Stinson, Vanessa Mack, Betty Jean Baucom, Brandi Henderson and Debra Slaughter.
On Friday, a special episode of ABC’s “20/20″ examined a jailhouse interview with the killer. In never-before-broadcasted footage, legendary criminal profiler and psychiatric nurse Ann Burgess interviews Wallace.
(Watch the video below: Interview: Sister of last known victim killed by Charlotte serial killer Henry Wallace)
The program also features an exclusive interview with Tyrece Woods on his life today after surviving an attack from Wallace when he was just 10 months old.
(Watch the video below: Mothers of Murdered Offspring started in wake of Henry Wallace’s murder spree)
A woman who lost her daughter to the horrific crimes found a way to support others.
Dee Sumpter and two others started Mothers of Murdered Offspring.
MOMO provides support to families affected by violence.
Dee Sumpter’s daughter, Shawna Denise Hawk, was Wallace’s friend and third victim.
MOMO aims to prevent violence in the community.
Man reunites with uncle almost 30 years after surviving Wallace’s attack as a baby
Channel 9′s veteran crime reporter Glenn Counts shares the emotional story of a man who lost his mother in Henry Wallace’s crime spree -- who’s lucky to be alive himself.
The Lake Apartments off Albemarle Road was the beginning of the end of Henry Wallace’s killing spree. In 1994, he murdered two women on the same day. He knew both of them, and both lived at the complex. The only survivor was a 10-month-old boy, Tyrese Woods.
“All of that happened in this spot,” Woods said.
A few weeks ago, 20/20 was there as Woods returned to the apartments for the first time since his mother’s murder.
“I’m still here, it’s like I’m a survivor,” Woods said.
Woods was found with a ligature wrapped around his neck. His breathing was labored and he barely survived. His mother, Brandi Henderson, was in the same bedroom, murdered -- strangled to death.
(Watch the video above: Man reunites with uncle almost 30 years after surviving Wallace’s attack as a baby)
“After he got out of the hospital, his father took him to Chicago and when Tyrece was five, his father passed away,” said George Burrell.
Burrell is Tyrece’s uncle and Henderson’s cousin.
“She was such a great mother, she would have done anything at all for him,” Burrell said. “Brandi told me when she had Tyrece that she felt like her life was complete.”
Burrell and Woods lost touch, but they were reunited in Charlotte a few weeks ago.
Burrell has carried a burden for 28 years and that’s one of the reasons he had been hesitant to see Woods. On the night of her murder, Henderson asked him to come over. Burrell declined, but he wonders if that would have saved her life.
“The guilt, you know, when she told me ‘come over and see me’ that night and I didn’t go, and then he came and killed her,” Burrell said, crying.
“As Brandi’s son, listen now, you’re not responsible for anything that happened to her,” Woods told him.
Woods is now 29 years old with a family of his own. His close brush with death at just 10 months has molded him as a man.
“They tell me she was a great person, they say she wanted the best for me,” Woods said. “They are like, ‘I was her masterpiece.’”
Woods now lives in Florida with his wife and three kids and works for a uniform company in the Tampa area.
‘There was no way I could stop’: Wallace confesses to murders in jailhouse interviews
(Watch the video above: ‘There was no way I could stop’: Wallace confesses to murders in jailhouse interviews)
Henry Louis Wallace terrorized east Charlotte for more than two years. He was nicknamed the “Taco Bell Strangler” because he worked with most of his victims in fast food restaurants. From 1992 to 1994, Wallace killed 10 women.
“Once I touched them, it was over, there was no way I could stop,” Wallace said in his jailhouse interview.
On Friday, “20/20″ is showing video they obtained from the case -- never-before-seen footage of a jailhouse interview conducted by the profilers who worked with his defense team.
“The only time the police were concerned was two murders occurred on the same day, Baucom and Henderson,” Wallace said in the recording. “All of a sudden, they started seeing connections in things that had happened 20 months ago.”
Wallace managed to stay one step ahead of an overworked and understaffed homicide unit for most of his murder spree. He is believed to be the first documented serial killer who knew all of his victims.
“Within this shell there are two people,” Wallace had said. “One person being a chameleon, he will adapt to anything, any environment, any situation, he’s very well respected, very well-liked person, he almost lures the women in for the other person.”
At one time, Wallace was married. He never harmed his wife but thought about it, saying he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“I think the majority of the victims remind me of her in some way,” Wallace said. “When the murder and rape was taking place, who I was seeing was her and not the victim.”
Wallace eventually got sloppy and police caught him. He has been on death row for more than 20 years.
(WATCH BELOW: ‘He had nowhere to go’: Accused killer captured in SC after weeklong manhunt)
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