Henry Louis Wallace

Henry Louis Wallace (born November 4, 1965), also known as the “Taco Bell Strangler”, is an American serial killer who killed eleven black women in South Carolina and North Carolina from March 1990 to March 1994.

He is currently awaiting execution at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Henry Louis Wallace was born in Barnwell, South Carolina, the son of Lottie Mae Wallace.

Wallace grew up with his mother working long hours as a textile worker.

She was verbally abusive, criticizing her son for even the smallest mistakes.

He attended Barnwell High School, where he was elected to the student council and was a cheerleader.

After he graduated in 1983, Wallace became a disc jockey for a Barnwell radio station.

Wallace went to several colleges before joining the U.S. Navy in 1985.

That same year, he married his high school sweetheart, the former Maretta Brabham in 1987.

In 1988, Wallace was honorably discharged from the Navy.

During his time in the Navy, Wallace began using several drugs, including crack cocaine.

In Washington, he was served warrants for several burglaries in and around the Seattle metro area.

In January 1988, Wallace was arrested for breaking into a hardware store.

That June, he pled guilty to second-degree burglary.

A judge sentenced him to two years of supervised probation.

According to probation officer Patrick Seaburg, Wallace did not show up for most mandatory meetings.

On March 8, 1990, Wallace murdered 18-year-old Tashanda Bethea, a Barnwell High School student.

He then dumped her body in a lake in his hometown.

It was not until several weeks later that her corpse was discovered.

Wallace was questioned by the police regarding her disappearance and death but was never formally charged with her murder.

He was also questioned about the attempted rape of a 16-year-old Barnwell girl but was never charged for that.

By that time, his marriage to Maretta had fallen apart.

He was later fired from working as a Chemical Operator for Sandoz Chemical Co.

In February 1991, Wallace broke into Barnwell High School and the radio station where he once worked as a disc jockey.

He stole valuable video and recording equipment and was caught trying to pawn them.

In November 1991, Wallace relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina.

He found jobs at several fast-food restaurants in East Charlotte before becoming a manager at a Taco Bell near the now-defunct Eastland Mall.

In May 1992, Wallace picked up 33-year-old Sharon Nance, a convicted drug dealer and prostitute.

Wallace beat her to death when she asked for payment for her services, then dropped her body by railroad tracks.

She was found a few days later.

In June 1992, Wallace raped and strangled Caroline Love, 20, at her apartment, then dumped her body in a wooded area.

Love was a friend of Wallace's girlfriend.

She was also his girlfriend's roommate and a college student.

She had worked at a Bojangles at the time of the disappearance.

After he killed her, Wallace, his girlfriend, and her sister filed a missing person's report at the police station.

On February 19, 1993, Wallace strangled 20-year-old Shawna Hawk, a college student, at her home after first raping her and later went to her funeral.

Hawk had worked at Taco Bell where Wallace was her supervisor.

On June 22, Wallace raped and strangled his Taco Bell co-worker and manager, Audrey Spain, 24.

Her body was found on June 25.

It would be almost two years (March 1994) before her body was discovered in a wooded area in Charlotte.