Lucas’s last days of freedom were spent robbing convenience stores and killing anyone that resisted or could identify him. He travelled from New Mexico, back to Oklahoma and on through Missouri, Indiana and Illinois.

In October 1982, he reached the town of Decatur, Illinois where, after trying for a job at a construction site, he applied for welfare benefits. With no time to wait for his benefit to be paid, Henry hitched a ride to Missouri and was dropped of at a truck stop. At a nearby gas station, Lucas noticed a woman who seemed to be travelling alone. He waited for his chance and as she was about to get back into her car, he came up from behind her and told her to "get in the car and be quiet."

He ordered the woman to drive south. She did as she was told and they drove for the rest of the day. Some time later, Lucas took over the driving as the woman slept. He later told police, "I was drivin’ and I felt this chill come over me and I knew that she was goin’ to die." Shortly before dawn, just outside the town of Magnolia, Lucas drove off the highway onto a deserted back road and pulled over. Almost as soon as the car had stopped moving, Henry drew his knife and stabbed the woman in the neck. Mortally wounded, the woman grabbed at her throat as Lucas plunged the knife in a second time. Finally she lay still. Lucas then dragged the body from the car, cut the clothing off and had sex with the corpse for some time.

Lucas confesses to murder of clerk

Lucas then stripped the body of valuables and identification and dragged it to a grove of pine trees and left, without even bothering to cover it. Returning to the car, he continued south through Texas until he finally abandoned the vehicle in Fredericksburgh. In a further attempt to cover his tracks, he then hitched a ride back to the north and was eventually dropped of in Bloomington, Indiana. Unfortunately, the town was a university district full of young clean-cut college students. In such surroundings, Lucas, the filthy ragged drifter was far too conspicuous, so decided to move on.

With no money and feeling desperate, Lucas contacted Ruben Moore, at the "House of Prayer" and asked for help. He told Moore that had been travelling trying to find Becky but had run out of money and needed a place to stay. Moore refused but, knowing that the police were looking for Lucas, told him to call back in a couple of days and he would see what he could do. Moore then called Sheriff Conway and was told that, because Lucas was wanted in relation to the deaths of Kate Rich and Becky Powell, it was imperative to get him back to Stoneburg.

Moore agreed to help and, when Lucas called back, made arrangements to send him $100 to pay for his return. Meanwhile, Conway had been scouring Henry’s police files and discovered that he was still wanted for the theft of his brother-in-law’s truck in Maryland. This would be sufficient reason to hold Lucas and question him further.

Several days later, Henry Lee Lucas returned to the ranch and was welcomed by Moore. The next morning, summoned by Moore, Sheriff Conway arrived and arrested Lucas. Conway held Lucas for several weeks, trying in vain, to get Lucas to confess to the murders. Eventually word came back from the Maryland police. They had no intentions of issuing an extradition order for something as petty as car stealing, they told Conway, and suggested that he be released. Not long after, Lucas was to return to the ranch and give Moore the gun that would see him arrested for the final time.