COVINGTON, La. -- A death row inmate has recanted his confession in the 1978 death of a deputy, and admitted mass murderers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole have given officials statements about the slaying.
Robert Lee Willie, sentenced to die in the 1980 rape-slaying of a teenager, recanted his confession after he was told of statements made by Lucas and Toole, St. Tammany Parish Chief Deputy Wallace Laird said Tuesday.
Willie, who was sentenced to life in prison for the deputy's slaying, confessed as part of a plan to escape from jail, Laird said.
Prosecutors were trying to determine whether charges would be filed against Lucas and Toole in the June 3, 1978, shooting of off-duty deputy Louis Wagner, 25. His body was found along Louisiana 21 south of Covington with a bullet wound in the back.
'I can't divulge what he said,' Laird said of Lucas' statement.
Bill Alford, St. Tammany assistant district attorney, declined comment on the case.
Willie confessed to the deputy's slaying while he was serving time at a federal prison in Marion, Ill., because he believed he could escape from the St. Tammany Parish jail while awaiting sentencing, Laird said.
'He has recanted his confession to several of our investigators,' the officer said. 'He has not done so before a court as yet. The only reason he gave for confessing was that he was trying to get some time in a local jail to enable him to escape from authorities.'
Deputies tied Lucas to the case about two months ago, Laird said, but did not talk with the former mental patient until three weeks ago. Investigators also interviewed Toole in a Florida prison where he is serving a term for arson.
Lucas has told police he killed 360 people while traveling across the country. He was accompanied in some instances by Toole, who faces a possible death sentence for the 1982 death of an elderly man in a Jacksonville, Fla., fire.
Lucas has been sentenced to death, along with prison terms of life and 75 years, for Texas murders. He also has been charged with slayings in several other states.
An attorney in Little Rock, Ark., charged last week that Lucas also had confessed to an Arkansas slaying for which a retired state trooper's son was convicted. A June 11 hearing has been set in the case.
