Steven Lucas Kills His Mother
(“Step by Step,” Forensic Files)
Note: This post was updated in 2021.
Baker Steven Lucas III had two daughters, shaky finances, and a widowed mother worth $4 million.
So when Bette Lucas turned up dead near the bottom of a staircase in her house in Tyler, Texas, naturally investigators had some questions for her one and only child.
It took two jury trials and six years, but they eventually put her son behind razor wire.
Local princess. For this week, I looked around for an epilogue for the convicted killer, but first here’s a recap of “Step by Step,” the Forensic Files episode about the Bette Lucas case, with additional information from internet research.
Baker Steven Lucas III (known as Steven) was born in 1945, the son of Texas socialite Bette Calvert Lucas and Baker Steven Lucas Jr., who made a fortune in real estate before dying in a car accident in 1985.
Bette Calvert Lucas never remarried after the death of her husband, who in addition to being a businessman had served as mayor of their hometown of Tyler for eight years.
But she stayed active on the party and charity circuits and was known as something of a glamour gal in Tyler, a city of about 70,000 residents in Smith County.
Videocassette-era crime. Steven had some type of career in the oil business, but it wasn’t gushing cash. He was running out of money of his own and had borrowed $350,000 from his mother.
Bette reportedly had grown impatient and wanted repayment, but instead her son asked for another loan.
On June 6. 1988, Steven, age 43, and his daughter Stefani stopped by Bette’s house ostensibly to return a videocassette recorder.
But the VCR ended up damaged and Bette ended up deceased.
Steven claimed they were arguing because Bette insisted on carrying the VCR up the stairs, which connected to a balcony. Worried that the machine was too heavy for Bette, he tried to wrest it away from her, he said.
What’s the rush? As they struggled with the 30-pound VCR, Bette lost her balance and fell over the balcony’s guard rail, then landed on the staircase, Steven alleged. He didn’t explain how she flew through the air laterally to reach the adjacent steps.
Bette was alive but unconscious when the ambulance arrived. Instead of riding to the emergency room with Bette, her son and granddaughter stayed at the house to clean up blood at the scene.
Steven did swing by the hospital later, and directed the medical personnel to remove Bette from life support. He arranged to bury her almost right away, and the community seemed to accept her death as an accident.
But investigators didn’t buy it and put him on trial for murder in 1991 in Tyler, the county seat.
The jury had mixed opinions about the strength of the forensic evidence presented during the six-week trial and couldn’t reach a decision after 22 hours of deliberation. The judge declared a mistrial.
Yes, it’s a circus. The authorities exhumed Bette’s body and made sure not to skimp on the forensics for the second trial. It took place at the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts Building in Dallas in 1994.
The trial attracted more media attention than the first, with Court TV broadcasting the proceedings. (I couldn’t find any video on YouTube, but a commenter on the Injustice Anywhere Forum posted a Court TV transcript.)
The prosecution built a replica of the balcony and demonstrated how a woman of Bette’s height had a center of gravity too low to cause an accidental fall over a 3.5-foot-tall guard rail.
Forensics roll in. There was also the matter of the multiple head wounds, whose size and shape suggested that they were made with a candlestick from Bette’s house.
And Bette had no broken bones, an unlikely outcome for a 66-year-old who took a steep fall.
Not to mention that any intelligent person of her age would know to hold onto a railing when carrying something heavy. A friend of Bette’s who appeared on Forensic Files said it was unlike her to haul anything weighty anywhere in the first place.
Investigators believe Steven argued with his mother over money that day, lost his temper and beat her to death with the candlestick, then staged the scene to look like an accidental fall.
Estate plan. According to the crime show The New Detectives, Stefani admitted that her father and grandmother were arguing over something that day, but said she wasn’t paying attention because the two of them got into disagreements frequently.
Although it’s not clear whether or not Steven knew, Bette reportedly was planning to remove him from her will — an incentive for him to get her out of the way fast.
The second jury came back with a guilty verdict, and Steven began a 35-year sentence.
The next blip out of Steven Lucas came in 2004, when the 5th state Court of Appeals in Dallas rejected his bid for a third trial.
Free at last. He exited prison in 2014 and moved to El Paso. (Thank to readers who wrote in to confirm his release.)
In 2019, Legacy listed Steven as having died but gave no other information, except to note that no memorial services had been planned. (Thanks to reader Sean for writing in with the news about the death.)
That’s all for this post. Until next week, cheers. — RR
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Thanks, RR. Sad story of money not buying lasting contentment: one dies in a car accident; the other murdered for it.
I’m surprised, though, that the perp would be out of prison…
I’m surprised, too. Maybe he was a model prisoner?
Relevant here or not, it seems there are a lot of people in small business who simply pay themselves to occupy a desk. If that was the case, it may be hard to get a bank loan to sustain the business. As a frequent viewer of FF, that situation seems common as shoe fly pie in Lancaster County. And if I live to be 100, it will say on the stone, “Don’t let your spouse take out life insurance on you.” Thanks for another great recap!
Definitely better to be worth more alive than dead.
Funny and true. Never will I allow it.
Sounds like maybe someone was paid to give him an early release. I would assume that a reporter or the media could request information on the “missing” prisoner. So one question is: What happened to the millions that Steve Lucas inherited? I would assume that since the first trial resulted in a hung jury, that he inherited, because she didn’t have time to change the will, as she indicated to friends. So, likely, he was in prison with a lot of money.
Carl – I’ll assume you didn’t watch the episode. Her will was shown in it and her son inherited her vehicles and a 5 carat diamond ring. That was it. She gave $200k to some orphanage and it looked like everything else was split between her two granddaughters, Ashley and Stephanie. Though Bette had planned on removing him from her will, I’m going to guess that he didn’t realize that he wouldn’t be inheriting much in the first place…? Hardly enough to pay back his $500k in various debts, that’s for sure!
The update at the end of this episode says, “In 2014, Steven Lucas was paroled from prison after serving 20 years.”
Thanks for writing in — the versions I watched on YouTube and Netflix didn’t have the update.
Well, he deserves to rot… 20 yrs isn’t enough.
Amen.
Here in UK offenders can’t profit from their crime, and the same principle exists in US. Indeed, no legal system permits it, so I doubt the money would’ve been available to him on release. It may have been disbursed to other relatives, or, failing their existence, confiscated by the state or federal gov. I don’t know how in the US the principle of deprivation of ill-gotten gains practically applies – just that it does! Even though he may have inherited one day, that he killed her would, I’m sure, permanently prevent receipt (as we’d expect…)
There’s no way a woman in her sixties could carry a 30 pound VCR upstairs without using both hands to hold it. I am suspicious of the case against him because the word “belief” keeps featuring in the evidence. I wonder what his daughter would say of it now? I don’t think he was proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
She wasn’t carrying a VCR.
You’ve misunderstood. The perp CLAIMED she was doing that: almost certainly a lie. The scene was staged by him, and she was likely beaten with an object such as the suggested candlestick and placed on the stairs as though having fallen.
Of course he got out of prison early. Repeat after me: In America, being white, male and not being poor will usually make your life easier no matter what you do that brings you to prison. (See: Madison Rutherford, Ron Gillette, Michael Peterson, Steven Lucas, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum). This does not apply to white women.
In my opinion, justice is a commodity in the U.S. neither logical nor blind and possessed of deep pockets.
Amen.
LA: I think it most certainly applies to women more than men. The easiest legal ride is being white, female and wealthy: a raft of research shows women to be advantaged. It’s unquestionably statistically established that as far as capital punishment goes, women whose crimes are at least as serious as ‘capitalised’ males are significantly less likely to get it. The only crime possibly treated more harshly on women is infanticide – but I’m speculating.
Ughhh Jeffrey Epstein…
I just read an update about his current appeal and Court docs being misplaced.
I see no expense – and sentiment – was spared on Bette’s gravestone…
Pretty sad huh. And he’s already out 5 years ago. Living life.
Good point, Marcus — Forensic Files portrays murder victims whose impoverished families manage to finance bigger gravestones.
Rebecca: First, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and loved ones! Thanks for the good work and substantial effort for the site (clearly enjoyed by many – and growing).
Less is often more when it comes to memorials – but this was starkly austere and mean (maybe how he viewed his mum’s disposition to him…).
Many thanks, Marcus — and hope you have a wonderful 2020 across the pond!
None of the markers were extravagant- not Bette’s, not her husband’s and not the main family stone. The episode seemed to allude to the fact that while the Lucas family had plenty of money, they weren’t over the top with it. Maybe the low key design of their burial markers was Bette’s decision when her husband passed…?
Apparently FF states he was paroled in 2014 after 20 years’ imprisonment. This is consistent with what RR’s found on the web. With a 35-year sentence, he did pretty well to get out then and alive (given the age he’d be after 15 more years).
PS: Should have added Happy New Year and Every Blessing to all readers and posters! Some posters were connected with the tragedy some of these FF cases were about, and others, perhaps, similar loss and suffering. To them, may they know both God’s comfort, care and peace, and the love of others around them.
And may those guilty of suffering and loss inflicted feel the hand of justice, and those suffering miscarriage of justice that they are freed by that hand.
Marcus x
I hate when I walked by a staircase and FLY over the railing! As far as carrying a 30 lb VCR, my mom is 88 and I have to hide any ladders from her! Ppl do not like to be or appear to others as “dependent.” Just hearing about the rail at the beginning teaser I knew son did it…
Does anyone anyone know in which cemetery Bette Lucas is buried?
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101893789/bette-calvert-lucas
Looks like he died in November 2019. There was an obituary in el paso times but I cannot find any more details. It has to be him, the obit says Baker Steven Lucas III
First of all, she was an evil old biatch of a mother who treated her son like crap. He certainly shouldn’t have killed her, if he did, but maybe if she was a good mother early on, then her son would’ve taken care of her in her old age.
Second, VCRs don’t, and didn’t weigh 30-35 pounds, as stated in the comments here.
Third, the gravestone is not anything all that impressive to me. My family is certainly not wealthy and our family plot is as nice if not nicer than that one.
Just my opinion. I personally don’t think that he did it. He would not have killed is mother with his daughter right there in the house. I don’t believe it. Just my opinion.
Se
“First of all, she was an evil old biatch of a mother who treated her son like crap.” You knew them, then?
You seem unable to do 10 seconds of research on early VCRs. The original ones were near 60 lbs, and once they became more “affordable”, they still necessitated a strap which would assist you with transporting it. So yes, a 30-some pound VHS player is absolutely possible!
Lastly, if his daughters were ANYTHING like their father then it’s quite possible that he murdered his mother and his daughter kept her mouth shut because she knew she’d be inheriting essentially half of what grandma had. (Bette’s will is shown in the episode and one granddaughter inherits basically half of Bette’s estate and the other granddaughter gets the other half…while their dad ended up with Bette’s vehicles and a 5 carat diamond ring lol) It is also possible that she was elsewhere in the house when her father did his mother in and she was none the wiser to what ACTUALLY happened. I do find it odd that Bette’s son, granddaughter and I believe one other person stayed there to clean up the crime scene while the ambulance took Bette to the hospital. None of them went with, or followed, the ambulance! Supposedly the medics made note of that fact and commented on how strange it was. Believe what you want…but money will make anyone do some strange things! This dude has empty, hollow, dark, creepy eyes…he was born without a soul.
That’s what your mouth say.
Opinions are like holes. They all STINK.
The show does NOT indicate in any way that he was paroled. In several repeats of this specific episode that I have watched, there is no mention of it from beginning to end in print, audio or video. (Can you tell I’m a fan?)
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/elpasotimes/name/baker-lucas-obituary?id=38989587
Per article it seems as if he was paroled (in ’14?), living in El Paso — which is consistent with this death report. He’d be approaching 70 in ’14 so an ‘aged’ parole is plausible, and he’d have served c 20 yrs.
On FF it says that but if you see FF on a different channel they cut out the 3 second comments to the end of episodes.
Yes, there are short written epilogues that aren’t always added to the episodes. I think it depends on whether the episode is shown on regular cable TV or streamed.
What a POS!
Yes, he died in 2019. What a POS he was to kill his own mother…and I really hope that he didn’t get a single penny; he didn’t deserve anything!