• September 25: Jeffrey Konen, 18. A student at the University of Texas abducted while hitchhiking from Austin to the Braeswood Place district of Houston. He was buried at High Island Beach.

• December 15: Danny Yates, 14. Lured with his friend James Glass from an evangelical rally by David Brooks to Corll's Yorktown apartment.

• December 15: James Glass, 14. An acquaintance of Corll who also knew David Brooks. He and his friend were strangled before being buried in Corll's boat shed.

1971

• January 30: Donald Waldrop, 15. Vanished on his way to visit a bowling alley. According to Brooks, Donald's father, who was a builder, was working on the apartment next to Corll's at the time that Donald and his brother were murdered.

• January 30: Jerry Waldrop, 13. The youngest of Corll's victims. He and his brother were strangled and buried in Corll's boat shed.

• March 9: Randell Harvey, 15. Disappeared on his way home from his job as a gas station attendant; he was shot in the head and buried in Corll's boat shed. Remains identified October, 2008.

• May 29: David Hilligiest, 13. One of Henley's earliest childhood friends; he was last seen alongside his friend Malley Winkle climbing into a white van.

• May 29: Gregory Malley Winkle, 16. A former employee of Corll Candy Company and boyfriend of Randell Harvey's sister. He disappeared on his way to visit a local swimming pool.

• August 17: Ruben Watson, 17. Left his home to visit the cinema on the afternoon of August 17. Watson later called his mother to tell her he was spending the evening with Brooks. He was gagged, strangled and buried in Corll's boat shed.

1972

• February 9: Willard 'Rusty' Branch, Jr. 17. The son of a Houston Police officer whose father died of a heart attack in the search for him; Branch was castrated before he was shot and buried in Corll's boat shed. Remains identified July, 1985.

• March 24: Frank Aguirre, 18. Aguirre had been engaged to marry Rhonda Williams, whose presence in Corll's house sparked the fatal confrontation between Henley and Corll. He was strangled and buried at High Island Beach.

• April 20: Mark Scott, 17. A friend of both Henley and Brooks who was killed at Corll's Schuler Street address. According to Henley, Scott was strangled and buried at High Island; although his remains have yet to be found.

• May 21: Johnny Delone, 16. A Heights youth who was last seen with his friend walking to a local store. He was shot in the head, then strangled by Henley.

• May 21: Billy Baulch, 17. A former employee of Corll Candy Company. Baulch was strangled by Henley and buried at High Island Beach.

• July 20: Steven Sickman, 17. Sickman was last seen leaving a party held in the Heights. He suffered several fractured ribs before he was strangled with a nylon cord and buried in the boat shed. Remains identified April, 2011.

• October 3: Wally Jay Simoneaux, 14. Abducted while walking to Hamilton Junior High School: Simoneaux attempted to call his mother at Corll's residence before the phone was disconnected. He was strangled and buried in Corll's boat shed.

• October 3: Richard Hembree, 13. Last seen alongside his friend in a white van parked outside a Heights grocery store. He was shot in the mouth and strangled at Corll's Westcott Towers address.

• November 12: Richard Kepner, 19. Vanished on his way to call his fiancee from a pay phone, he was strangled and buried at High Island Beach. Remains identified September, 1983.

1973

• February 1: Joseph Lyles, 17. An acquaintance of Corll who lived on the same street as Brooks. He was seen by Brooks to be "grabbed" by Corll at Wirt Road and was subsequently buried at Jefferson County Beach.

• June 4: Billy Ray Lawrence, 15. A friend of Henley who phoned his father to ask if he could go fishing with "some friends." He was kept alive by Corll for four days before he was killed and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.

• June 15: Ray Blackburn, 20. A married man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who vanished while hitch-hiking from the Heights to see his newborn child. He was strangled at Corll's Lamar Drive residence and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.

• July 7: Homer Garcia, 15. Met Henley while both youths were enrolled at a Bellaire driving school. He was shot in the head and chest and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.

• July 12: John Sellars, 17. An Orange youth killed two days before his 18th birthday. Sellars was shot in the chest and buried at High Island Beach. He was the only victim to be buried fully clothed.

• July 19: Michael 'Tony' Baulch, 15. Corll had killed his older brother, Billy, the previous year. He was strangled and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.

• July 25: Marty Jones, 18. Jones was last seen along with his friend and flatmate, Charles Cobble, walking towards Corll's apartment in the company of Henley.

• July 25: Charles Cary Cobble, 17. A school friend of Henley whose wife was pregnant at the time of his murder. His body, shot twice in the head, was found in the boat shed.

• August 3: James Dreymala, 13. The son of Seven-day Adventists, Dreymala was last seen riding his bike in South Houston. He last called his parents to tell them he was at a "party" across town.

Footnotes

• At Henley's trial in 1974, the Harris County medical examiner raised questions as to whether John Sellars was actually a victim of Dean Corll. Sellars, a U.S. Marine who had been reported missing on July 12, 1973, had been killed by four gunshot wounds to the chest fired from a rifle, whereas all of Corll's other known victims had either been shot with the same pistol that Henley had used to kill Corll or strangled. Moreover, Sellars' car had been found burned-out one week after the youth had disappeared. However, Henley and Brooks had led police to Sellars' grave on High Island Beach, and the youth's body was bound with rope as other victims had been.

• In June 2008, Dr. Sharon Derrick, a forensic anthropologist with the medical examiner's office in Houston, released digital images of Corll's three still-unidentified victims. The unidentified victims were listed as ML73-3349, ML73-3356 and ML73-3378. Two of the unidentified victims were found buried in the boat shed and were estimated to have been killed in 1971 or 1972. ML73-3378 was buried at Lake Sam Rayburn just 10 feet from the body of Homer Garcia, who had disappeared on July 7, 1973. The victim was estimated to be in a slightly more advanced state of decomposition to Garcia, leading investigators to estimate that he had been killed in mid- to late-June 1973.

• On October 17, 2008, ML73-3349 was identified as Randell Lee Harvey, a Heights teenager who had been reported missing on March 11, 1971 - two days after he had disappeared. Harvey, who had been shot through the eye, was wearing a navy blue jacket with red lining, jeans and lace-up boots. A plastic orange pocket comb was also found alongside his body.

• On September 13, 2010, DNA analysis was able to confirm that the unidentified victim known as ML73-3378 was actually Michael Baulch, who had incorrectly been identified as case file ML73-3333: the second victim unearthed from the boat shed. Michael Baulch had disappeared en route to a barbers on July 19, 1973 - a year after his brother Billy had been murdered by Corll. Henley had stated in his confession to police that he and Corll had "choked" Michael Baulch and buried him at Lake Sam Rayburn. The unidentified victim mistakenly identified as Michael Baulch had been killed by two gunshots to the head and buried inside the boat shed. Three factors had helped lead to the mis-identification of the unidentified victim as being that of Michael Baulch: Michael's parents had previously filed a missing person's report on their son (who had previously left home to search for his older brother) in August 1972 - precisely the same time as the unidentified victim buried in the boat shed is estimated to have been killed. This was the only missing person's report on file for Michael Baulch. In addition, the unidentified victim was of a similar height and age to Baulch and circumstantial dental fractures had also helped incorrectly facilitate the mis-identification of the second body unearthed as that of Michael Baulch. The unidentified body buried in the boat shed and initially mistakenly identified as Michael Baulch is estimated to have been killed on or about August 21, 1972.

• A body found on a beach in Jefferson County in August of 1983 is strongly believed to be a 28th victim of Dean Corll. The body was identified November 11, 2009, through DNA analysis as 17-year-old Joseph Allen Lyles, a Heights teenager who had disappeared on February 1, 1973. Lyles is known to have both visited Corll's apartment and to have lived on the same street as David Brooks. He was listed as a possible victim of Corll after the other murders were discovered in 1973. At the time of his disappearance, Corll resided in an apartment at 1855 Wirt Road, where he lived between January 20 and March 7 of 1973, when he moved to his father's Pasadena bungalow. Brooks had specifically stated Corll had "got one boy by himself" during the time he lived at this address. In addition, at the time that Lyles disappeared, Henley had temporarily moved to Mount Pleasant, which leaves a strong possibility that Corll had killed Lyles without the assistance of Henley.

• In the confession given by Elmer Wayne Henley on August 9, 1973, the youth had stated that victim Mark Scott had been strangled and buried at High Island. David Brooks had also stated in his confession that Scott (who was well known to both of Corll's accomplices) was likely buried at High Island. The body of the fifteenth victim disinterred from the boat shed was mistakenly identified by Dr. Joseph Jachimczyk as being that of Mark Scott in January, 1994. In 2010, Henley disputed the identification of a victim buried in the boat shed as being Mark Scott and reiterated his claim to the interviewer that Scott had been buried at High Island "in the sand: fetal position; head up." As a result of Henley's claims, DNA tests on the body identified as Scott were tested against samples of DNA taken from Scott's family. In March, 2011, DNA analysis confirmed that the victim known as ML73-3355, had also been misidentified and in April, the victim was identified as Steven Sickman, a 17-year-old youth who was last seen walking down West 34th street shortly after midnight on July 20, 1972, and who was murdered at Corll's Westcott Towers address. Sickman's mother had reported her son missing shortly after his disappearance, but police had been unwilling to conduct a search for the youth, telling the mother that the youth was 17-years-old and that unless they found a body, there was nothing they could do to assist her. Had Henley not been adamant in his assertion that the body of Mark Scott had been misidentified, Sickman would have never been conclusively confirmed as a victim of Corll.

• All six bodies directly linked to the Houston Mass Murders found at High Island have been identified. As Henley's claim that the victim known as ML73-3355 was not Mark Scott has been proven to be correct, a strong suspicion remains that the body of Mark Scott remains buried on High Island.

Possible additional victims

Forty-two boys had vanished within the Houston area since 1970. The police were heavily criticized for curtailing the search for further victims once mass killer Juan Corona's macabre record for having the most victims had been surpassed. After finding the 26th and 27th bodies, tied together, at High Island Beach, the search was called off. A curious feature about this final discovery was the presence of two extra bones (an arm bone and a pelvis) in the grave, indicating at least one additional victim awaiting discovery. The search for more bodies at the beach was abandoned on August 13, 1973, despite Henley's insistence that there were two more bodies buried on the beach in 1972.

The two bodies that Henley had insisted were still buried on the beach may have been those of Mark Scott and Joseph Lyles. In light of developments relating to the identifications of victims, the body of Mark Scott still lies undiscovered at High Island and the victim Joseph Lyles was only found by chance in 1983. Had the search for bodies continued, the two victims would have likely been discovered.

Fellow workers at the Corll Candy Company recalled Corll doing a lot of digging in the years leading up to 1968, when his mother's third marriage was deteriorating and the firm was failing. Corll stated he was burying spoiled candy to avoid contamination by insects. He subsequently cemented over the floor. He was also observed digging in waste ground that was later converted into a car park. Former employees also recalled that Corll had rolls of clear plastic of precisely the same type used to bury his victims. The suspicion is that Corll may have begun killing much earlier than 1970, and may also have been abusing youths prior to this date.

During a routine investigation in March, 1975, the Houston police discovered a cache of pornographic pictures and films depicting young boys. Of the sixteen individuals depicted within the films and photos, eleven of the youths appeared to be among the twenty-one victims of Corll who had been identified by this date. The discovery raised a disturbing possibility that the statements Corll had given to both Henley and Brooks prior to his murder that he was associated with an organization based in Dallas that "bought and sold boys" may indeed have held a degree of truth. The discovery of the material in Houston in 1975 subsequently led to the arrest of five individuals in Santa Clara, California. No direct link in these arrests to the Houston Mass Murders was proven, as the Houston authorities declined to pursue any possible link to the serial killings, stating they felt Corll's victims' families had 'suffered enough'.

It should be noted there is still no conclusive evidence to suggest that Corll had ever solicited any of his victims in this manner; not only because the Houston authorities chose not pursue this potential possibility, but also because neither David Brooks nor Wayne Henley have ever mentioned either meeting any individuals from the "organisation" Corll had claimed he was involved with. In addition to these facts, they have never mentioned ever having seen the victims either filmed, photographed or released from Corll's torture board until after their torture and murder. The arrests in Santa Clara do, however, indicate a possible validity into Brooks' statements to police that Corll had informed him that his earliest murder victims had been buried in California.

Moreover, Brooks names Corll's first murder victim as a youth killed at an apartment complex on Judiway Street, where Corll had lived prior to September 1970. The earliest victims Brooks had initially confessed to having known Corll had killed were two teenage boys killed at 3300 Yorktown, an address Corll had moved to after he had moved out of his Judiway Street apartment. The earliest double murder Corll is known to have committed is the double murder of James Glass and Danny Yates in December of 1970. Glass and Yates were actually killed at Corll's Yorktown address, as was Corll's earliest known murder victim, Jeffrey Alan Konen, killed in September of 1970. A possibility exists that the earliest double murder victims were Glass and Yates; however, Brooks specifically named James Glass, a youth he knew, in his confession to police and described the youth as being killed in an altogether separate double murder to the first double murder Corll is known to have committed. In addition, Brooks only knew the location of Konen's body at High Island Beach due to the fact that Corll had shown him the location. It is possible that the initial double murder Brooks had discovered Corll in the process of committing occurred after the murder of Konen and before those of Glass and Yates. These details, alongside the fact two additional bones were found with the 26th and 27th victims discovered, indicate a minimum of two and possibly four more unknown victims.

There are two suspiciously long gaps between known victims in the chronology of Corll's known murders. Corll's last known victim of 1971 was Ruben Watson, who disappeared on August 17. The first victim of 1972 was Willard Karmon Branch, Jr., who disappeared on February 9, meaning no known victims were killed for almost six months. Moreover, Corll is also not known to have killed between February 1 and June 4 of 1973. Of Corll's two confirmed still-unidentified victims; both were in an advanced stage of decomposition at the time of their discovery, leading investigators to deduce each of the victims had likely been killed in 1971 or 1972. One of these victims (the second victim unearthed from the boat shed) is estimated to have been killed on or about August 21, 1972.

The other known unidentified victim, the 16th body found in Corll's boat shed, was found wearing swimming clothing, leading investigators to conclude that he was likely killed in the summer months. The body was found near the entrance to the boat shed between the body of Ruben Watson and the body of Steven Sickman, whereas the bodies of the victims killed between December of 1970 and May of 1971 were found buried at the rear of the shed. It is likely, though not conclusive, that the unidentified 16th victim may have been killed in the late summer or early fall of 1971.

Regardless of the dates when the unidentified victims buried in the boat shed had been killed, there still remains a gap of four months between February and June of 1973 when no known victims had been claimed by Corll. In March of 1973, a Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy had reported to Galveston County authorities that they had observed three men carrying and burying a 'long, wrapped bundle' at Galveston Beach. The couple identified two of the men as Corll and Henley. The third individual had long, blond hair - like Brooks. As the couple watched the trio, one of the men (whom they later identified as Henley) advanced upon the car with such a menacing expression that the couple felt compelled to drive away.

Two women had also observed three men digging at the beach in May of 1973 - one of whom they positively identified as David Brooks. However, police were again unwilling to extend the search.

Indictment

On August 13, a Grand Jury convened in Harris County to hear evidence against Henley and Brooks: the first witnesses to testify were Rhonda Williams and Tim Kerley, who testified to the events of August 7 and 8 leading to the death of Dean Corll, another witness who testified to his experience at the hands of Dean Corll was Billy Ridinger. After listening over 6 hours of testimony from various people, the jury initially indicted Henley on three murder charges and Brooks on one count. Bail was set at $100,000.

The District Attorney did request that Henley undergo a psychiatric examination to deduce whether he was mentally competent to stand trial, but his attorney, Charles Melder, opposed the decision, stating the move would violate Henley's Constitutional rights.

By the time the Grand Jury had completed its investigation, Henley had been indicted for a total of six murders, and Brooks for four murders. Henley was not charged with the death of Dean Corll, which was ruled self-defense.

Trial, conviction and incarceration

Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks were tried separately for their roles in the murders. Henley was brought to trial in San Antonio on July 1, 1974, charged with six murders committed between March of 1972 and July of 1973. The prosecution called dozens of witnesses, including Tim Kerley and a youth named Billy Ridinger, who had been lured to Corll's Schuler Street address by Henley, Brooks and Corll in 1972. Ridinger testified that at Corll's home he was tied to Corll's torture board and assaulted repeatedly by Corll before he was released.

Other incriminating testimony came from police officers who read from Henley's written statements. In one part of his confession, Henley had described his luring of two of the victims for whose murder he had been brought to trial, Charles Cobble and Marty Jones, to Corll's Pasadena house. Henley had confessed that Jones was tied to a board and forced to watch Charles Cobble be assaulted, tortured and shot to death before he himself was raped, tortured and strangled with a venetian blind cord. The two youths were killed on July 27, 1973, two days after they had been reported missing. Several victims' parents had to leave the courtroom to regain their composure as police and medical examiners described how their relatives were tortured and murdered

Throughout the trial, the State introduced a total of eighty-two pieces of evidence, including Corll's torture board and one of the boxes used to transport the victims. Inside the box, police had found hair which examiners had concluded came from Charles Cobble. Upon advice from his defense counsel, Henley did not take the stand to testify. His defense attorney, Will Gray, did cross examine several witnesses but did not call any witnesses or experts for the defense. On July 16, 1974, Henley was sentenced to six consecutive 99-year terms — a total of 594 years — for each of the murders for which he was charged.

Henley appealed against his sentence and conviction, contending the jury in his initial trial had not been sequestered; his attorneys' objections to news media being present in the courtroom had been overruled and citing that his defense team's attempts to present evidence contending that the initial trial should not have been held in San Antonio had also been overruled by the judge. Henley's appeal was upheld and he was awarded a retrial in December of 1978. He was tried again in June of 1979 and was again convicted of six murders on June 27, 1979, and again sentenced to six consecutive 99-year terms.

David Brooks was brought to trial on February 27, 1975. Brooks had been indicted for four murders committed between December of 1970 and June of 1973, but was brought to trial charged only with the June 1973 murder of 15-year-old Billy Ray Lawrence. Brooks' defense attorney, Jim Skelton, argued that his client had not committed any murders and attempted to portray Corll and, to a lesser degree, Henley as being the active participants in the actual killings. Assistant District Attorney Tommy Dunn dismissed the defenses contention outright, at one point telling the jury: "this defendent was in on this murderous rampage from the very beginning. He attempts to inform you he was a cheerleader if nothing else. That's what he is telling you about his presence. You know he was in on it."

David Brooks' trial lasted less than one week. The jury deliberated for just 90 minutes before they reached a verdict. He was found guilty of Lawrence's murder on March 4, 1975, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He showed no emotion as the sentence was passed, although his wife burst into tears.

Brooks also appealed against his sentence, contending that the signed confessions used against him were taken without his being informed of his legal rights, but his appeal was dismissed in May of 1979.

Both Henley and Brooks are serving life sentences.

Wikipedia.org

Dean Corll - The Candyman

Dean Corll, who was a 33-year-old electrician and a homosexual serial killer, murdered up to 27 boys along with other accomplices in Houston.

On 8 August 1973, 18-year-old Wayne Henley called police to tell them that he had killed Corll in his house at Pasadena.  Corll, a homosexual with sadistic tastes, had been shot 6 times with a .22 pistol.  His house had a torture room in which the furniture consisted of a wooden board with handcuffs fitted at each top corner and rope knots at each bottom corner.

Henley told of Corll’s dope parties, and how he sodomized boys on his torture board before killing them.  Reference to the names of three boys known to be missing led the police to a boat-shed rented by Corll in Houston.  The police found the bodies of seventeen boys under the floor of the boat shed, and ten more were found at other burial sites.

Henley said that Corll, whom he had known for about three years, paid him $200 a head to get potential victims for him.  Corll loved to play with children; he took them for rides in his car and gave them candy.  He was known as ‘a real good neighbour and a real good guy’.

Corll arranged children’s parties to help Henley and his accomplices set up prospective victims for his torture room.  He strangled and shot the boys, whom he sexually abused and mutilated.  But the murders stopped in Pasadena, when Corll lost his domination and was shot dead by Henley.  Henley told how after a dope session with Corll, he woke up on the torture board, he talked his way out and when released, he shot Corll dead.

Wayne Henley, who admitted killing some of the victims, was tried for murder in July 1974.  He was Found guilty and sentenced to six 99-year terms of imprisonment.  His killing of Dean Corll was judged to be a justifiable homicide.

Dean Arnold Corll was born in Waynesdale, Indiana on Christmas Day December 25, 1939 to over-affectionate mother Mary and Arnold, a father who did not like children. Family life at the beginning was not a happy one for Dean and his brother Stanley with their parents constantly arguing.

Arnold Corll was a strict disciplinarian and the boys were always being punished. Arnold and Mary eventually divorced in 1946 and soon after Arnold joined the army. Mary found life without Arnold sad and so she bought a horse-trailer and moved to Tennessee to be closer to the base where Arnold was posted. Dean and Stanley were left with an elderly couple most of the time while Mary went looking for work.

The arguments between the Corlls continued and again they separated.

The two boys were at different poles on the personality scale. Stanley was friendly and outgoing, always playing with other children from the neighbourhood or school. Whereas Dean was always a loner, preferring to stay inside and way from the other children.

By 1950 Mary and Arnold tried again to reconcile, but it did not work and so they eventually gave up on the relationship and in 1950 Mary, with the two boys left Tennessee for Houston.

Around the same time Dean was diagnosed with a congenital heart aliment after a bout of Rheumatic fever and was told that he should avoid sports where possible. But Dean not being a sporting type found this good news.

In 1953 Mary remarried. Her new husband was travelling clock salesman Jake West. Soon after the marriage the couple had a daughter. With both his parents working Dean was extremely protective of his younger siblings always watching out for them and trying to keep them out of trouble.

Dean found himself a hobby in scuba-diving but had to give it up after fainting one day while diving, a symptom of his heart defect. At school he enjoyed music and was a keen trombone player. Teachers remembered him as a quiet and polite student.

After a suggestion from a candy salesman Mary set herself up with a little candy shop to help support the family. Dean was a runner for the candy shop which had it’s humble beginnings in the garage of the family home. Dean often found himself exhausted for running orders to people in town, but never complained.

After high school graduation Dean moved back to Indiana to help look after his stepfather Jake’s elderly mother while the rest of the family moved to Houston.

When Dean moved back to the family home he decided to get a job with the Houston Lighting and Power Company during the day and still help make candies with the family at night. His drive to succeed impressed many of the town’s young women but Dean failed to notice.

In 1964 Dean was drafted into the US Army. Life in the army caused a change in the young man. Dean found himself desiring after fellow officers he shared his quarters with. Dean finally realised he was gay. Until then Dean had known something about life was wrong but until his realisation about his homosexuality he had been unsure about what had been missing.

Returning home after an eleven month assignment in the Army, Dean found his parents arguing and fighting. The Wests had begun to argue over the business. Jake saw Mary as a rival and soon threw her out.

Mary took the children and began running her own lolly shop.

Dean found himself an apartment near his mother and soon started hanging out with teenage boys from the neighbourhood. It was easy to get them to come to his apartment, Dean always had piles of candy around and most of the kids couldn’t resist.

Dean still worked as much as he could for his mother in the candy shop. One day one of the other male workers made a pass at Dean, he had his mother sack the boy. Dean’s reaction to the solicitation was one of mortal horror. Yet at the same time other boys would not want to be in the same room alone with Dean. This confused others about his sexual nature.

Again Dean’s mother decided to marry. This time her husband was a seaman, and soon Mary found flaws in his character. She found him dull company and quite stupid. Yet the marriage survived two divorces until finally on the advice of a psychic Mary left the marriage and Houston and went to Dallas.

Corll decided to stay in Houston, he liked it there and finally found the freedom away from his protective mother to do as he pleased.

Dean’s first attraction to the younger boys was one of an older protective brother. At first he would never say anything or do anything overtly sexual. He just preferred the company of the teen boys who hung around Corll’s apartment. But lurking beneath the kind exterior was a sex maniac waiting to surface, it was just a matter of time.

One day in 1969 Dean had learned that some of the boys would allow oral sex in exchange for money. This is how Corll first mean fourteen-year-old David Brooks.

Brooks enjoyed the older man’s company and looked up to him as a big brother, someone to ask for guidance and for help through the tough and tumultuous teenage years. Soon David became completely emotionally dependant on Dean and spent most of his time with him rather than at home. Brooks actually moved in with Corll for a while.

Dean still worked at the Lighting company and soon hired a storage shed to keep his few possessions in that were not needed in his tiny apartment.

On Christmas Day 1969, Dean Corll turned 30. It was a turning point in his life. He became morose and depressed. He lost his thrill for life and became further introverted. But David Brooks was often around and tried to cheer Corll up. Often it would end with Corll paying Brooks $5 for oral sex.

By Christmas 1970 Corll was a murderer.

University of Texas student Jeffrey Konen left the campus and began to hitchhike home to Houston. Twenty-one year old Jeffrey was last seen on September 25, 1970 trying to get another lift. Instead he was picked up by Corll who took him to his apartment at 3300 Yorktown and there the young man was bound by his hands and feet and gagged. Corll sodomised the student before murdering him and dumping his body.

Being such a wayward area for down and out teens, Corll had his pick of victims. He found that a lot of them were willing to come over for a party. The parties usually included glue and paint-sniffing, pot-smoking and pill-popping.

Some of the boys would allow Corll to perform oral sex on them for $5. Many of the boys Corll chose were usually in trouble or runaways. When they went missing no one really noticed at first.

However Corll was not happy with only oral sex, he wanted penetration, he wanted to perform sodomy on his victims, and when they refused it was then that they found themselves dead.

"He killed them because he wanted sex and they (the boys) didn’t want to", Brooks told police later.

Brooks would later tell a fantastical story to police about the various victims who would live or die at Corll’s whim. One case was when Brooks arrived at Corll’s place one day unannounced in 1970. Corll was wondering around the house naked and when he saw Brooks he was furious, demanding to know why he had arrived without telling him. Brooks thought this was unusual until he saw in Corll’s bedroom to younger boys strapped to home-made torture rack.

Brooks left the apartment confused and dejected. Corll later tried to make it up to his friend by giving him a new Corvette. No doubt it was to buy Brook’s silence about what he had seen. Corll told Brooks that he had killed both of the teens and dumped their bodies.

But the Corvette was another part of Corll’s plans. He saw it as an opportunity to have Brooks with him while they went driving around looking for victims.

One potential victim who went on to become a police officer said

"I was one of the boys that Corll and Brooks tried to abduct. I felt something was wrong and told them to get lost"

Yet others were not so intuitive.

One unnamed victims accepted the offer of pot-smoking back at Corll’s apartment. When the trio arrived at the unit, Corll tied the boy to his torture rack in his bedroom and sodomised the boy. Corll then strangled the boy, all while Brooks watched. No doubt Brooks would have then helped Corll to get rid of the body near Lake Sam Rayburn.

Just before Corll’s 31^st birthday he decided to have another party on December 15, 1970 at his new apartment on Columbia Street Houston. The guests were Brooks, 15 year old Danny Yates and 14 year old James Glass. The two boys were friends from a church social group. Glass had also been to Corll’s apartment previously and found Dean to be a happy and pleasant man to be around.

However this time he would not find Corll so obliging. Both boys were quickly tied to Corll’s bed torture rack and sodomised. Danny and James were then strangled. This time Corll decided not to dumped the bodies but hide them at the boat shed he hired on Silver Bell Street.

On January 27, 1971 Dean Corll decided he needed another double murder to satiate his appetite. He had another new apartment at 3200 Magnum Road, sand wanted to christen it with murder. So out for a drive, Brooks and Corll entice two brothers back to the apartment.

Thirteen year old Jerry and 14 year old Donald Waldrop were to never be seen alive again. Once they were inside Corll’s apartment they were raped and strangled before joining Danny Yates and James Glass’ bodies in the Silver Bell Street Boat Shed. Brooks blandly admits to being there when the bodies were buried.

"I believe I was present when they were buried".

There was another short gap between killings. This time Corll waited four months before murdering two more boys. On May 29, 1971 the victims chosen were 13 year old David Hilligiest and 16 year old George Winkle. The boys had been on his way to the local swimming pool when they accepted a lift from Corll. They were last seen climbing into Corll’s white van.

Later that evening George called his mother to say he had gone to Freeport with some friends and they would be back home soon. But he was never seen alive again.

At Corll's apartment the two boys were once again tied to the bed before being sodomised, tortured and strangled. They were then buried with the others at the boat shed.

George and David’s parents were worried when the boys did not return, they had posters made up and handed them out or stuck them to poles hoping someone may have seen the two teens. A psychic was even brought in to see if he could help in the search. But he only had bad news for the parents. The psychic told them that their sons were dead.

One of David’s best friends tried to comfort the family. Elmer Wayne Henley told the Hilligiests that he was sure that David had just run away and would return soon.

It was not long before another boy disappeared. Seventeen year old Ruben Watson was last seen on his way to the cinema on August 17, 1971.

He was picked up along his route by Brooks and Corll before being taken back to Corll’s apartment where he was brutalised for hours until Corll grew bored of his victim and killed him.

The next victim that Brooks bought to the house for Corll was Henley. Even though Brooks was so emotionally dependent on Corll, he also refused Corll’s offers of anal sex. But on one occasion he found himself a victim of Corll’s though he lived to tell the story.

The first time Corll had met Elmer Wayne Henley through Brooks he arranged a test for the new young man. Henley was made to knock Brooks unconscious which he did without hesitating.

When Brooks woke, he found himself tied to Corll’s bed and was bleeding from his anus. He had been sodomised by Corll while he was unconscious. Yet Brooks did not tell anyone about the incident until after Corll’s death. He also remained true and loyal to his friend.

However now there was another person in the equation, Brooks felt a little in dispose by Henley, it appears that Corll was beginning to fall in love with the younger man and Corll liked Henley’s independence, he was tiring of Brook’s complete emotional reliance.

Also Henley could be bought. He was willing to do almost anything for money, including selling his friends to Corll as sex slaves. Though Henley would later deny it, it is rumoured he was paid $200 per male he brought to Corll. Corll would try and rationalise his behaviour to Brooks and Henley, telling them that the boys were no loss to society, most of them were delinquents and a burden- they were no great loss.

Another victim was found on February 24, 1972. Frank Aguirre was a little older than most of Corll’s victims being nineteen when he disappeared. He had a girlfriend at the time, fourteen year old Rhonda Williams. She would later be a witness to Corll’s eventual murder.

On May 21, 1972 Dean and his cohorts grab another two victims. This time sixteen year old Johnny Delome and seventeen year old Billy Baulch were taken to the apartment where they were tortured and raped for hours. Johnny was shot dead by Henley. Henley later claimed he had fired the gun up the teen’s nostrils. The two boys were then taken to Corll’s original dumping ground of High Island and buried.

On October 3, 1972 Corll again choses a double murder. The victims are thirteen year old Richard Hembree and fourteen year old Wally Simoneux. Again the teens are taken back to Corll’s apartment on the premise of a party, once there the boys are giving paint to sniff and other substances which renders them unconscious. Once they have passed out, Corll takes the boys to his room where they are strapped to his torture rack. The victims are then repeatedly anally raped. According to Brooks some are kept alive for days of torture.

Once Corll is done with his victims they are strangled and dumped. Wally and Richard were buried at the Boat Shed with many of the other victims.

During November, 1972 Corll victim Billy Baulch’s younger brother, fifteen year old Michael becomes another victim.

The helpless boys were subjected to such torture as having their pubic hairs pulled out one-by-one, having objects inserted into their anus, and having glass rods shoved into their penis.

On June 11, 1973 fifteen year old Billy Lawrence is brought to Corll’s apartment for a party. The boy does not leave alive. He was brutally raped and murdered by Corll.

Fifteen year old Homer Garcia joins the list of sexually tortured and murdered victims of Corll on July 7, 1973.

On July 27, less than three weeks after the last murder 17 year old Charles Cobble and 18 year old Marty Jones are murdered after being tortured by Corll.

The boys were always procured in the same way. Brooks or Henley would lure other boys to Dean's house with the promise of an 'alcohol party'. The victims would then be allowed to drink themselves unconscious. Dean would then tie them up, molest them, then kill them.

There were many more victims, 13 year old James Dreymala had disappeared during the first week of August 1973. Another nine year old boy had disappeared only weeks before. The killings were getting more frequent and more brutal.

But the end was near.

On the afternoon of August 8, 1973 Henley had arrived at Corll’s apartment at 2020 Lamar Street with two victims. He had brought sixteen year old Timothy Kerley for Corll and Rhonda Williams – the girlfriend of one of Corll’s previous victims. Rhonda had decided to run away and confided in Henley. Henley asked her to come with him to a party at Corll’s. Henley had thought it would be okay, but it wasn't. When Corll saw that Henley had brought a girl with him he went into a rage.

After sniffing glue for quite sometime, Henley, Timothy and Rhonda all passed out. Corll saw his opportunity to teach Henley a lesson for bringing a girl.

Corll tied all three of them up. When Henley woke and saw his predictament he begged Corll to let him live. He pleaded to Corll, saying he would rape and kill Rhonda while Corll did the same to Timothy.

Corll took Timothy to the bedroom and stripped him of his clothes, gagged him and tied him to the torture board. Corll then demanded that Henley do the same to Rhonda. So after being untied Henley grabbed Rhonda as Corll looked on, but Henley was unable to get an erection. Corll found this funny and began calling Henley names. Henley was at breaking point he picked up a .22 caliber pistol and aimed it at Corll. Corll egged on the young man, daring him to shoot him. He mocked him with the statement

"Go on Wayne, kill me. Why don’t you?"

As Corll came towards Henley he fired 6 bullets into Corll’s chest killing him instantly.

Then 18-year-old Henley called police to tell them that he had murdered Corll. Henley told police it was in self-defence.

However when police arrived to find the three teenagers on the front steps and the dead body inside they were not to know the amazing story Henley had to tell them.

Henley went on to tell police that Corll's house contained a torture room in which the furniture consisted of a wooden board with handcuffs fitted at each top corner and rope knots at each bottom corner. Henley continued his monotone story of Corll's parties where he would give the teens drugs or glue to sniff usually rendering them unconscious before tying them up and sodomizing them on his torture board before murdering them.

To prove his tale was true the police asked for the names of the victims. The first three that Henley was able to recall were three that police had on their missing persons list. The Henley told the officers where they would probably find the victims. He took them to the Silver Bell street boat-shed rented by Corll in Houston.

Once they located the boat shed, police began to dig. In no time they uncovered lime and the tell-tale smell of decay.

The first body was found. The naked body of the thirteen year old boy was in a plastic bag.

It was time to bring in the crime scene investigators.

As each body was brought out Henley cried more, he said at one point.

"It was all my fault" When asked why he replied

"Because I introduced him to them boys".

Henley then went on to tell police how Dean would ask him to bring boys around for parties.

When police finished searching they found the bodies of seventeen boys under the floor of the boat shed, and ten others found in various other sites.

David Brooks watched news reports as the body count grew and decided it was time to talk to police.

When he arrived at the police station, the officers interviewing Henley told him that Brooks had just turned up. Henley looked relieved and said:

"That’s good, now I can tell you the whole story".

Then Henley admitted to doing some of the murdering himself.

Brooks told police his involvement was far less, but that Henley had taken over when he was introduced to Corll and Corll realised that he had more friends than Brooks and would be a better ally than victim.

"Most of the killings that occurred after Wayne came into the picture involved all three of us … Wayne seemed to enjoy causing pain."

Brooks was tried and sentenced for life for his involvement in at least six murders.

Henley was tried for murder in July 1974. He was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to six 99-year terms of imprisonment. His killing of Dean Corll was judged to be a justifiable homicide.

In December 1978 Henley's conviction was overturned on the grounds that the trial had suffered from pre-trial publicity. He was convicted a second time in June 1979.

Dean Corll (24 December 1939 – 8 August 1973) was an American serial killer who, together with two younger accomplices named David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, committed the Houston Mass Murders in Houston, Texas. The trio is believed to be responsible for the murders of at least 27 boys, the crimes only coming to light when Corll was shot dead by his accomplice Henley.

Early life

Dean Corll was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana to Mary Robinson and Arnold Edwin Corll.

Corll moved to Pasadena, Texas with his mother and younger brother when he was 11, following the breakdown of his parents' marriage. He was regarded as a good student in school and well behaved, although a heart condition kept him out of physical education. In the 1950s, Corll's mother started a small candy company along with her second husband, operating from the garage of their home, and almost immediately, Corll was working day and night while still attending school.

At age 19, the family moved to the Houston Heights and opened a new shop. Following the breakdown of his mother's second marriage in 1963, she appointed him vice president of the company and he moved into an apartment above the shop. The candy company by now had a small number of staff and Corll often spent a lot of his free time in the company of young boys. He often gave free candy to local children and for this reason, he was given the nickname "The Candy Man" by the media when his crimes were eventually uncovered.

Corll was drafted into the military in 1964, where it is believed he first realized he was homosexual. He was given a military discharge after serving ten months so that he could help his mother run her candy business. He eventually took over the business and invited local children to the store for free candy. A number of local people commented that it was not normal that Corll always seemed to hang around with youngsters, in particular teenaged boys. However, no one made the connection with the rash of missing youths.

Following the failure of her third marriage in 1968, Corll's mother moved to Colorado. Although they often talked on the telephone, she was never to see her son again. The candy company began to fail and, like his father, Dean took a job as an electrician at the Houston Lighting and Power Company. He worked there until the day he was killed by Wayne Henley.

The murders

In early 1970, when he was 30 and training to be an electrician, Corll began to abduct and murder young men and boys, whom he raped, killed and then buried, either in Corll's boatshed or in rural areas around the city.

At some point in 1970, Corll had met a 15-year-old boy named David Brooks, who was once a promising A student but whose grades had recently begun to slip. Corll paid Brooks for sexual favors, and Brooks later claimed that he once found Corll raping two boys he had tied to a bed. Corll offered him a Corvette in return for his silence. Brooks accepted and never saw the two boys again.

Shortly afterwards, Corll made the acquaintance of Elmer Wayne Henley, a local 14-year-old who came from a broken home. He had a drinking problem and soon dropped out of school to work to support his divorced mother and three younger brothers. It was thought that Corll originally planned on adding Henley to his growing list of victims, but decided against it when he realized Henley knew most of the other youths in the area. Henley soon began to help Corll lure victims and even began to take an active part in the murders.

Victims

All of the victims were young males between 13 and 20 years old. Corll's first known victim was 18-year-old college freshman, Jeffrey Konen, who vanished on September 25, 1970, while hitchiking with another student from the University of Texas to his parents' home in Houston.

Konen was dropped off alone at the corner of Westheimer Road and South Voss Road near Uptown District of west Houston. At the time, Corll was living in an apartment on Yorktown Street near the intersection with Westheimer Road. Konen likely accepted an offer by Corll to take him to his parent's home in the Braeswood Place-West University Place area.

Unlike Konen, the majority of victims were in their mid-teens and most had been abducted from Houston Heights, which was then a low-income neighborhood north west of downtown Houston. One of the victims, 15-year-old Homer Garcia, met Henley at his driving school education class and was invited to Corll's for "a party". Many were listed by police as runaways despite the anxious protests of parents who insisted that their boys would not run away from home. Quite often the victims, alone or in pairs, were invited to Corll's parties. Several were friends of either Henley or Brooks and two, Malley Winkle and Billy Baulch, had actually worked for Corll's candy business in the late 1960s.

The known victims, all of whom had been either shot, strangled, or both, that have been identified by police:

September 25, 1970: Jeffrey Konen, 18. Picked up by Corll while hitchhiking to Houston. He was buried at High Island beach.

December 15, 1970: Danny Yates, 15. Was lured with his friend James Glass by David Brooks to Corll's Columbia Street apartment while attending a religious rally.

December 15, 1970: James Glass, 14. Was an acquaintance of Corll. He and his friend were strangled before being buried in Corll's boatshed.

January 30, 1971: Donald Waldrop, 17. Vanished on his way to visit a bowling alley. According to Brooks, Donald's father, who was a builder, was working on the apartment next to Corll's at the time Donald was murdered.

January 30, 1971: Jerry Waldrop, 13. Was strangled along with his brother and buried in Corll's boatshed. Corll placed his I.D. card alongside his body.

March 9, 1971: Randell Lee Harvey, 15. Disappeared on his way home from his job at a Fina gas station, he was shot in the head and buried in Corll's boatshed. Remains identified on October 17, 2008.

May 29, 1971: David Hilligeist, 13. Vanished on his way to a local swimming pool. He was one of Henley's earliest childhood friends.

May 29, 1971: Malley Winkle, 16. Former employee of Corll's candy store and boyfriend of Randell Lee Harvey's sister. Was last seen alongside his friend David Hilligeist climbing into a white van.

August 17, 1971: Ruben Watson, 17. Vanished on his way to the local cinema. Ruben was the final identified victim to vanish before Henley began to participate in the abductions and murders.

March 24, 1972: Frank Aguirre, 18. Was the boyfriend of Rhonda Williams, whose presence in Corll's house sparked the fatal confrontation between Henley and Corll. He was buried at High Island beach.

May 21, 1972: Johnny DeLome, 16. Disappeared on his way to the local store. He was shot in the head, then strangled by Henley.

May 21, 1972: Billy Baulch, 17. Vanished with his friend Johnny DeLome. Had also worked as a candy seller for Corll in the late 60's. He was buried at High Island beach.

October 2, 1972: Wally Jay Simoneaux, 14. Vanished on his way to spend the night with his friend.

October 2, 1972: Richard Hembree, 13. Was last seen with his friend in a white van parked outside a grocery store, he was buried in Corll's boatshed.

December 22, 1972: Mark Scott, 18. Was killed at Corll's Schuler Street address. He was a friend of both Henley and Brooks.

June 4, 1973: Billy Ray Lawrence, 15. Was kept alive by Corll for four days before he was killed and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn. He was a friend of Henley.

June 15, 1973: Ray Blackburn, 20. From Louisiana. He was married and had a child.

July 7, 1973: Homer Garcia, 15. Met Henley at driving school. He was shot and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.

July 19, 1973: Tony Baulch, 15. Corll had killed his older brother Billy the previous year. He was buried in Corll's boatshed.

July 25, 1973: Marty Jones, 18. Was last seen along with his friend, Charles Cobble, in the company of Henley.

July 25, 1973: Charles Cary Cobble, 17. A school friend of Wayne Henley. His body, shot twice in the head, was found in the boatshed.

August 3, 1973: James Dreymala, 13. Was Corll's last victim and was lured to Corll's Pasadena apartment on the pretext of collecting empty coke bottles to re-sell.

More victims

Forty-two boys had vanished within the Houston area since 1970. The police were heavily criticized for curtailing the search for further victims once mass killer Juan Corona's macabre record for most victims had been surpassed. After finding the 26th and 27th bodies, tied together, at High Island beach, the search was called off. A curious feature about this final discovery was the presence of two extra bones (an arm bone and a pelvis) in the grave, indicating at least one further victim awaiting discovery. The search for further bodies at the beach was abandoned on August 13, 1973, despite Wayne Henley's insistence there were a further two bodies buried on the beach in 1972.

Fellow workers at the Corll candy company recalled Dean doing a lot of digging in the years leading up to 1968, when Dean's mother's third marriage was deteriorating and the firm was failing. Corll stated he was burying spoiled candy to avoid contamination by insects. Dean subsequently cemented over the floor. He was also observed to dig in waste ground later converted into a car park.

Former employees also recalled that Corll had rolls of clear plastic of precisely the same type used to bury his victims. The suspicion is that Corll may have begun killing much earlier than 1970. A five and a half month gap between the killings of Mark Scott and Billy Ray Lawrence is extremely unusual for a serial killer. Police in nearby Galveston County had received reports of three men observed digging on the beach in March 1973. However, police were again unwilling to extend the search.

Discovery

At approximately 3 a.m. on 8 August 1973, Henley, then aged 17, went to Corll's house accompanied by a boy named Tim Kerley, who was supposed to be the next victim. Also with them was Rhonda Williams, 15, who was Henley's girlfriend. Brooks was not present at the time.

Corll was furious that Henley had brought a girl along, but eventually he calmed down and the four of them started sniffing glue and drinking. Soon Henley, Kerley and Williams all passed out and awoke to find themselves tied up and Corll waving a .22-caliber pistol around, angrily threatening to kill them all.

Henley calmed Corll, and the older man eventually put down the gun and released Henley. Corll then insisted that, while he would rape and kill Kerley, Henley would do likewise to Rhonda Williams. Henley refused and soon a row broke out between him and Corll. It ended when Henley grabbed the pistol and shot Corll six times, killing him instantly.

After releasing the other two youngsters, Henley called the police. While they all waited outside the house, Henley told Kerley that “I could have gotten $200 for you”, this apparently being the fee he was paid by Corll to recruit victims. In custody, Henley explained that he and Brooks had helped procure boys for Corll, who had raped and murdered them. Police were a little skeptical at first, as they assumed they were just dealing with the one homicide — of Corll — as a result of a drug-fuelled row that had turned deadly.

Henley was quite insistent, however, and police soon accepted that there was something to his claims, especially when they found a torture board at Corll's house, consisting of a large wooden board with handcuffs in each corner. There were also a number of dildos and lengths of rope, as well as an ominous looking wooden crate with what appeared to be airholes. (Human hair was found inside the crate.)

Later that day, accompanied by his father, Brooks presented himself at the police station, and he was promptly questioned concerning the allegations Henley was busy making.

The police went to the boatshed located in Northwest Houston where Corll had rented for several years where Henley said that bodies of most of the victims could be found. They began digging through the soft earth and soon uncovered the body of a teenaged boy. They continued excavating, and the remains of more dead boys were uncovered, several wrapped in plastic.

Some had been shot, others strangled, the ligature still wrapped tightly around their necks. Some had been castrated. Their pubic hairs were plucked out one at a time. Objects were inserted into their rectums, and glass rods were shoved into their urethrae and smashed. Genitals were removed, and all were anally penetrated. Eventually, 17 corpses were uncovered at the shed.

Following Henley's directions, police excavated a number of other locations, including Crystal Beach, Texas. The remains of 10 more bodies were uncovered, making a total of 27 victims. Henley insisted that there were three more bodies yet to be found, but these were never located.

At the time it was the worst case of serial murder (in terms of number of victims) in the U.S., exceeding the 25 murders attributed to Juan Corona from California. The Houston Mass Murders, as they became known, hit the headlines all over the world, and even the Pope commented on the atrocious nature of the crimes and offered sympathy to relatives of those who had died.

Families of the victims — including two who had lost two sons each to Corll — were highly critical of the Houston Police Department, which had been so quick to list the missing boys as runaways and not worthy of investigation.

Trials

Brooks was quite insistent that he had no knowledge of the crimes, while Henley was the opposite, cooperative to the point of not only detailing the murders but soon admitting that on one occasion he had personally shot and killed one of the victims.

Henley was charged with the murders of six of the boys, and in 1974, he was convicted and sentenced to six 99-year terms of imprisonment. He was not charged with killing Corll as this was judged to have been self-defense.

Brooks was convicted of one murder and sentenced to life in prison.

As of 2006, both are in their late 40s and still behind bars. Their parole applications, which take place every three years, have all been rejected so far.

Like a number of other convicted killers, Henley has taken up painting since his incarceration. There was an outcry when he recently auctioned some of his pictures on eBay.

References

The Man With The Candy, Jack Olsen, 1975, Simon & Schuster ISBN: 0743212835

The New Encyclopedia Of Serial Killers, Brian Lane and Wilfred Gregg, (Revised Edition 1996) Headline Book Publishing ISBN 0747253617

Dean Corll: The Sex, Sadism and Slaughter of Houston's Candy Man

by Marilyn Bardsley

The Party

- The Serial Killers: Colin Wilson and Donald Seaman, True Crime Books

- John Gurwell: Mass Murder in Houston (1974).

- Murder Casebook núm. 102: The Candy Man, Dean Corll (1991).

- Jack Olsen: The man with the Candy (1974).

- D. Reid y John Gurwell: Eyewitness (1973).