Even though they’d been on the road many times, Henry and Becky found it increasingly difficult to get a ride. Many vehicles would slow down some out of curiosity others to openly leer at Becky. Whatever their reason, it seemed that as soon as they saw Henry, they would speed up and leave them in a cloud of dust. Their trek continued until they reached Demon County, Texas, where they decided to find a cheap motel and get some rest before continuing. Hot, tired and filthy, they trudged from one motel to another trying to find a vacant room. Unable to find one, they decided to sleep in an open field on the edge of town.

Lucas later related in a statement to police that, after unpacking their bedrolls, he lay down and started drinking heavily. Becky stripped down to her underwear and lay beside him. As Lucas’s level of intoxication increased he started to abuse Becky for insisting they leave the "House of Prayer." The result was a violent argument with both of them yelling and swearing at each other. Finally, Henry told her that he had made the decision to return to Stoneburg the following morning.

Her response was to hit him on the side of the head. "That was it," Henry recalled. "I just stabbed her with my knife. I just picked it up, brought it around, and hit her right in the chest with it. She sort of set there for a little bit and then dropped on over."

Lucas said that, immediately after the attack, he was shocked that he took the life of someone he loved. His shock couldn’t have lasted long, because, according to his statement, "I took her bra and panties off and had sex with her. That’s one of those things I guess that got to be a part of my life – having sexual intercourse with the dead."

Lucas then removed a ring from her hand and cut her body into pieces and stuffed her remains into three pillow cases and left her in the field while he walked around thinking about what to do next. He remembers that he was overcome with a strange feeling that he couldn’t explain and was unable to rid himself of the feeling that he had destroyed something very special in his life. Even though he had killed many times, the murder of Frieda "Becky" Powell was to be the first time that Henry Lee Lucas would feel guilt and remorse for his actions.