Ottis Toole: Convicted Murders, Suspected Victims, and Confessed Crimes
Early Life and Criminal Development
Ottis Elwood Toole was born on March 5, 1947, in Jacksonville, Florida. He grew up in an unstable and abusive household and later described experiencing severe physical and sexual abuse during childhood. His father reportedly struggled with alcoholism and abandoned the family, while Toole said his mother humiliated and mistreated him. He also claimed that his maternal grandmother exposed him to grave robbing, occult beliefs, and disturbing rituals, although many of his autobiographical claims were never independently verified.
Toole had epilepsy, received little formal education, and was commonly described as having a mild intellectual disability. He repeatedly ran away from home, slept in abandoned buildings, and began setting fires at a young age. As he grew older, he drifted around the United States and supported himself through temporary work, panhandling, theft, and prostitution.
Toole claimed that he committed his first murder at the age of 14, around 1961. According to his account, an unidentified traveling salesman propositioned him for sex, after which Toole ran over the man with the salesman's automobile. No victim was conclusively identified, and the alleged murder was never independently confirmed.
The Suspected Murder of Patricia Webb
While living in Nebraska, Toole became a suspect in the unsolved murder of 24-year-old Patricia Carol Webb. Patricia disappeared from the adult bookstore where she worked in Lincoln, Nebraska, during the early morning hours of April 18, 1974. The telephone cord inside the business had reportedly been cut, suggesting that her abductor had attempted to prevent her from calling for help.
Patricia's body was discovered on April 20, 1974, on rural farmland near Hallam, southeast of Lincoln. She had been shot multiple times, and tape had reportedly been placed across her mouth. Toole was living in Nebraska during the general period of the killing and was considered one of the prime suspects. However, he was never charged, and Patricia's murder remains officially unsolved.
The Suspected Murder of Ellen Holman
After leaving Nebraska, Toole spent time in Colorado and became a suspect in the killing of 31-year-old Ellen Holman. Ellen disappeared while traveling in southern Colorado in October 1974. Her automobile was reportedly located at a highway rest area, while her body was later found near the Colorado-Oklahoma border.
Ellen had been shot several times in the head. Accounts differ regarding whether she was killed on October 14, 1974, or disappeared several days before her body was recovered later that month. Toole was regarded as a prime suspect because he was living in Colorado during that period and left the state amid suspicions surrounding him. He was never prosecuted for Ellen's death.
Association with Henry Lee Lucas
In 1976, Toole met Henry Lee Lucas at a Jacksonville soup kitchen. The two men formed a close relationship and traveled together through different parts of the country. They committed burglaries, thefts, and other offenses while living as drifters. Both men later claimed that they had participated in an extraordinary number of murders.
Toole said he accompanied Lucas during as many as 108 killings. The pair also claimed that some murders were committed on behalf of a secret organization called the Hands of Death. Investigators found no credible evidence that this organization existed. Many of their confessions were later disproved by incarceration records, employment records, travel distances, or evidence identifying other offenders.
Although much of what Toole and Lucas said was false or unverifiable, Toole was ultimately convicted of six murders. He was also officially identified by police as the killer of Adam Walsh and confessed to additional killings for which he was never prosecuted.
The Confessed Murder of David Schallert
On February 6, 1980, the body of 18-year-old Scott David Schallert, whose surname has also appeared in some reports as Schallart, was found beside Interstate 10 near Chipley, Florida. A transportation maintenance crew discovered him approximately 125 feet from the eastbound lanes, about five miles east of Chipley.
Schallert had been shot five times in the left side of the head with a small-caliber firearm. Investigators determined that he had been hitchhiking when he encountered his killer. In 1984, Toole confessed that he had picked Schallert up east of Pensacola and murdered him. The confession was reported as part of Toole's admission to two northwest Florida killings.
Toole was not tried for Schallert's murder. His confession was treated with caution because of his history of making unreliable statements, although his description of the crime was considered significant enough to be investigated. Schallert's death is often listed among the killings Toole confessed to but was not convicted of committing.
The Murder of Jerilyn Peoples
Jerilyn D. Murphy Peoples was an 18-year-old married woman from the Bonifay area of Holmes County, Florida. She was murdered on February 10, 1981, after reportedly returning home from work and interrupting a burglary committed by Toole and Lucas.
Jerilyn was stabbed to death inside or near her home. Her murder was one of several attacks in which Toole and Lucas allegedly entered residences to steal property and then killed occupants who unexpectedly confronted them. Toole eventually pleaded guilty to Jerilyn's murder in 1991 and received a life sentence.
The Murder of Adam Walsh
Six-year-old Adam John Walsh disappeared from the Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, on July 27, 1981. Adam's mother had left him near a video-game display while she briefly shopped in another department. During that time, a security guard ordered a group of boys away from the display and out of the store. Adam may have been mistakenly sent outside with the older children.
A large search began after Adam's mother discovered that he was missing. On August 10, 1981, Adam's severed head was found in a drainage canal beside Florida State Road 60 in Indian River County. The rest of his body was never recovered.
On October 21, 1983, Toole confessed to abducting and murdering Adam. He said he approached the child outside the mall and persuaded him to enter a white Cadillac by offering candy and toys. According to Toole, Adam became frightened and began crying during the drive. Toole said he struck the boy repeatedly, drove to an isolated location, and decapitated him with a machete.
Toole claimed that he drove with Adam's head in the vehicle before throwing it into a canal. Henry Lee Lucas later claimed that Toole had shown him the severed head, although Lucas was himself notorious for false confessions and unreliable statements.
Investigators found bloodstained carpeting in Toole's Cadillac, but forensic testing available during the early 1980s could not determine whether the blood belonged to Adam. Police later lost Toole's impounded vehicle, the carpeting, and a machete associated with the investigation, eliminating the possibility of subjecting those items to modern DNA testing.
Toole repeatedly confessed and recanted, and prosecutors never charged him with Adam's murder. On December 16, 2008, the Hollywood Police Department formally announced that Toole was responsible and closed the case. Police acknowledged that no new DNA evidence had been discovered but concluded that the accumulated circumstantial evidence and Toole's detailed statements identified him as the killer.
The Murder of George Sonnenberg
On January 4, 1982, Toole deliberately set fire to a Jacksonville boarding house occupied by 65-year-old George Sonnenberg. Toole had worked as a handyman for the property's owner and was familiar with the building. He later signed a confession stating that he and Sonnenberg had been involved in a sexual relationship and had argued before the fire.
According to the prosecution, Toole barricaded Sonnenberg inside the building and set the structure ablaze. Sonnenberg suffered severe burns and died approximately one week later from his injuries.
Toole was arrested in April 1983 for an unrelated Jacksonville arson and eventually became connected to the Sonnenberg fire. During his murder trial, he denied killing Sonnenberg and claimed that he had confessed only because he wanted authorities to transport him back to Jacksonville.
A jury convicted Toole of first-degree murder on April 28, 1984. He was sentenced to death, although the sentence was overturned on appeal and ultimately replaced with life imprisonment.
The Murder of Ada Johnson
Ada Johnson was a 19-year-old woman abducted from a Tallahassee nightclub in February 1983. Toole gave differing descriptions of the killing. Some accounts of his prosecution described Ada as having been strangled, while another confession attributed to him stated that he kidnapped her at gunpoint and shot her in the head on a road outside Fort Walton Beach.
Toole was convicted of Ada's murder later in 1984 and received his second death sentence. Like the sentence imposed for George Sonnenberg's murder, it was eventually commuted to life imprisonment.
The exact date of Ada's death was not conclusively established in the available records. Her killing is one of the six murders for which Toole received a criminal conviction.
The Murders of John McDaniel, Brenda Burton, and Ruby McCary
After he had already been imprisoned for the murders of George Sonnenberg and Ada Johnson, Toole admitted responsibility for four additional Florida killings. In 1991, he pleaded guilty to murdering John McDaniel, Jerilyn Peoples, Brenda Burton, and Ruby McCary.
John McDaniel was killed in Florida during the period between 1980 and 1983. Public accounts provide relatively little information about the precise circumstances of his death. Toole's guilty plea resulted in another life sentence, but a consistently documented exact date of death is not readily available.
Brenda Burton was 23 years old when she was killed. She reportedly encountered Toole and Lucas while they were burglarizing her home and was stabbed to death. Toole pleaded guilty to her murder in 1991. The killing occurred in Florida between 1980 and 1983, but an exact date is not consistently reported in publicly available summaries.
Ruby McCary was a 71-year-old woman who was shot and killed inside her Florida home during a burglary. Toole also pleaded guilty to her murder in 1991. Her exact date of death is not consistently documented in readily available public accounts.
Known, Suspected, and Confessed Victims
- Unidentified traveling salesman — Toole claimed that he killed the man by running over him with the man's automobile when Toole was approximately 14 years old, around 1961. The story was never verified, and no victim was conclusively identified.
- Patricia Carol Webb — Age 24; disappeared from Lincoln, Nebraska, on April 18, 1974, and was found shot to death near Hallam on April 20, 1974. Toole was considered a prime suspect but was never charged.
- Ellen Holman — Age 31; murdered in Colorado in October 1974. She had been shot multiple times in the head and left near the Colorado-Oklahoma border. Toole was considered a prime suspect but was never charged.
- Scott David Schallert — Age 18; found murdered beside Interstate 10 near Chipley, Florida, on February 6, 1980. He had been shot five times in the head. Toole confessed but was not prosecuted.
- John McDaniel — Killed in Florida between 1980 and 1983. Toole pleaded guilty to his murder in 1991. A reliably documented exact date of death is not readily available.
- Jerilyn D. Murphy Peoples — Age 18; stabbed to death in the Bonifay area of Florida on February 10, 1981, after reportedly interrupting a burglary. Toole pleaded guilty in 1991.
- Adam John Walsh — Age 6; abducted in Hollywood, Florida, on July 27, 1981. His severed head was found in Indian River County on August 10, 1981. Toole confessed but was never prosecuted. Police officially identified him as Adam's killer in 2008.
- Brenda Burton — Age 23; stabbed during a residential burglary in Florida between 1980 and 1983. Toole pleaded guilty to her murder in 1991, but the precise date is not consistently documented.
- Ruby McCary — Age 71; shot inside her Florida home during a burglary between 1980 and 1983. Toole pleaded guilty in 1991. A verified exact date is not consistently available.
- George Sonnenberg — Age 65; trapped in a Jacksonville boarding house that Toole set on fire on January 4, 1982. Sonnenberg died from his injuries approximately one week later. Toole was convicted of first-degree murder.
- Ada Johnson — Age 19; abducted and murdered in Florida in February 1983. Toole was convicted of her murder and initially sentenced to death. Her exact date of death was not conclusively established.
Confessions to Numerous Additional Murders
Toole claimed responsibility for scores of other killings committed across the United States. At various times, he asserted that he had personally killed more than 100 people or had participated with Henry Lee Lucas in 108 murders. Some of the alleged crimes involved shootings, strangulations, stabbings, arson, mutilation, and sexual assault.
He also described acts of cannibalism and claimed that he and Lucas sometimes killed victims on instructions from the supposed Hands of Death cult. Investigators were unable to find evidence that the group existed. The stories appeared to combine fantasy, details learned from investigators, information from news reports, and occasional facts that may have come from actual crimes.
Toole frequently confessed to a murder and later withdrew the statement. He sometimes changed the victim's identity, the weapon used, the location, or the manner of death. Lucas supported many of Toole's claims, while Toole supported many of Lucas's confessions. This created the appearance that their accounts corroborated one another even when independent evidence did not.
Investigators later established that Lucas and Toole could not have committed many of the murders attributed to them. In some cases, one or both men were imprisoned, documented in another state, or physically incapable of traveling the required distance. Other cases were eventually solved through DNA evidence or confessions from different offenders.
Arrest, Convictions, and Sentences
Toole was arrested in Jacksonville in April 1983 following an unrelated arson. He received a 20-year sentence for arson and was subsequently prosecuted for the murders of George Sonnenberg and Ada Johnson.
He received death sentences in both cases, but appellate proceedings resulted in the sentences being overturned or commuted to life imprisonment. In 1991, Toole pleaded guilty to the murders of John McDaniel, Jerilyn Peoples, Brenda Burton, and Ruby McCary, receiving four additional life sentences.
His final record consisted of six murder convictions and an arson conviction. Adam Walsh was officially considered a seventh victim by the Hollywood Police Department, although Toole was never charged or convicted in that case. Patricia Webb, Ellen Holman, and David Schallert remain among the named victims suspected or confessed to have been killed by him.
Death and Continuing Controversy
Ottis Toole died from cirrhosis at Florida State Prison on September 15, 1996. He was 49 years old. His body went unclaimed and was buried in the Florida State Prison cemetery near Starke, Florida.
Toole's criminal history remains difficult to evaluate because it contains a mixture of proven murders, credible suspicions, unsupported confessions, recanted statements, and demonstrably false claims. His six convictions establish that he was a violent murderer, while the official conclusion in the Adam Walsh case indicates that authorities believed he had killed at least one additional victim.
At the same time, the hundreds of murders claimed by Toole and Lucas cannot be accepted as established fact. Their cases exposed serious investigative failures, including officers revealing evidence to suspects, accepting confessions without independent corroboration, and prematurely closing unsolved cases.
The most responsible account of Toole's crimes distinguishes between people he was convicted of murdering, victims whose deaths police attributed to him, people he was suspected of killing, and those mentioned only in unverified confessions. Behind each category were real victims and families whose suffering was often worsened by uncertainty, lost evidence, false claims, and years without dependable answers.
