"[196], By May 1974, 21 of Corll's victims had been identified, with all but four of the youths having either lived in or had close connections to Houston Heights. Brooks initially became one of Corll's many youthful close companions, regularly socializing with Corll and various teenage boys who congregated at the rear of the candy factory. Harvey, who had been shot through the eye. There are two suspiciously long gaps between known victims in the chronology of Corll's known murders. You know your boys are runaways. Webdr heavenly sister passed away; jacqueline dalya cause of death; sunningdale golf club membership cost; ultra wideband in phones; gainesville sun obituaries and funeral notices [30] On June 4, Henley and Corll abducted 15-year-old William Ray Lawrence; the youth was last seen alive by his father on 31st Street. One of these three victims, 15-year-old Randell Harvey, was last seen by his family on the afternoon of March 9 cycling towards Oak Forest,[63] where he worked part-time as a gas station attendant. In a 2010 interview, he claimed to have attempted to persuade Corll not to assault and kill Aguirre once Corll and Brooks had bound and gagged the youth. The youths were then forced by Corll to fight each other with the promise that the one who beat the other to death would be allowed to live. [27], In 1965,[28] Corll Candy Company relocated to 22nd Street, directly across the street from Helms Elementary School. His next scheduled parole review date is October of 2025. Henley was brought to trial in San Antonio on July 1, 1974,[207] charged with six murders committed between March 1972 and July 1973. Henley had stated in his confession to police that he and Corll had "choked" Michael Baulch and buried him at Lake Sam Rayburn. [64], As had been the case with parents of other victims of Corll, both sets of parents launched a frantic search for their sons. Their marriage was marred by frequent quarreling and the couple divorced in 1946, four years after the birth of their younger son, Stanley Wayne Corll. [105], On July 6, 1973, Henley began attending classes at the Coaches Driving School in Bellaire,[106] where he became acquainted with 15-year-old Homer Luis Garcia. One of these individuals, 15-year-old John Harmon, had been a Heights teenager reported missing in 1971. The two bodies that Henley had insisted were still buried on the beach may have been those of Scott and Lyles. The prosecution called dozens of witnesses, including Kerley and Ridinger. In 1960, at the request of his mother, Corll moved to Indiana to live with his widowed grandmother. Henley would later claim that although Corll had paid him $200 for the first victim he had lured to his address, Corll never paid him any significant sum of money for any of the subsequent victims he procured. [82] Scottwho was well known to both Henley and Brookswas grabbed by force and fought furiously against attempts by Corll to restrain him, even attempting to stab his attackers with a knife. The other two victims, Charles Cobble and Marty Ray Jones, were abducted together on the afternoon of July 25. Henley himself later buried both youths' bodies in the boat shed. He recounted the events of the previous evening and that morning; explaining that he had shot Corll in self-defense. [13] He and his younger brother were responsible for running the candy-making machines and packing the product, which his stepfather sold on his sales route. 2020 Lamar Drive was demolished in February 2023. [223] He had been indicted for four murders committed between December 1970 and June 1973,[224] but was brought to trial charged only with the June 1973 murder of 15-year-old William Ray Lawrence. [219], Henley appealed his sentence and conviction, contending the jury in his initial trial had not been sequestered, that 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. "[134] As Corll clambered off Kerley, Henley elaborated: "I can't go on any longer! [171] Two additional bodies were found in shallow, lime-soaked graves located close to a dirt road. Production of a film directly based upon the Houston Mass Murders. "[140], Minutes later, a PPD patrol car arrived at 2020 Lamar Drive. Nickname: Junior. September 17, 1953-November 15, 1972", "Relative of Long-lost Murder Vvictim: 'We Pretty Much Lost Hope', "Pruitt Medical Laboratories: Autopsy Report 73-7778-A", "Baton Rouge Man Among Victims in Houston Case", "Henley Gives Statement on Manner of Killings", "Remains Draw More Questions on '70s Corll Killings", "A Body Ruled Out as Victim of Ring; Henley Trial Told Search" Found Unrelated Corpse Trial was Shifted", "More Bodies Unearthed: Mass Murder Victims", "Pathological Diagnosis on the Body of John Manning Sellars", "Joseph A. Jachimczyk Forensic Center: Unidentified Decedent Notice", "Amended Autopsy Report on the Body of Joseph Allen Lyles", "Texas Crime News Interview with Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr", "Efforts Continue to Identify Last Known Victim of Houston Mass Murders", "Houston Authorities Working to ID Candy Man's Last Unknown Victim", "The Last Lost Boy: Can You ID the Final Known Victim of the 1970s Heights Mass Murders? [117][n 6] Brooks was not present at the time. The youth pinned the reward posters around the Heights and attempted to reassure Hilligiest's parents that there might be an innocent explanation for the boys' absence. Article detailing investigators' suspicions as to, This page was last edited on 29 April 2023, at 02:20. In response, Henley shouted: "I don't care who knows about it! In August of 1973, Henley shot and killed Dean. Henley would later recount that as he strangled Scott to death, the teen had repeatedly made tapping gestures to his skull with the extended index finger and thumb of his right hand in the symbol of a gun as a plea to be shot as opposed to strangled. At the time of Konen's disappearance, Corll lived in an apartment on Yorktown Street, near the intersection with Westheimer Road. On September 13, 2010, DNA analysis was able to confirm that the unidentified victim known as ML73-3378 was actually Michael Anthony Baulch, who had incorrectly been identified as case file ML73-3333: the second victim unearthed from the boat shed. [302] 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. [37][20], Between 1970 and 1973, Corll is known to have killed a minimum of 28 victims. One of At 8:24 a.m. on August 8, 1973, Henley placed a call to the PPD. [30] However, Corll refused, informing Henley that he had raped, tortured, and killed the previous victim he had assisted in abducting, and that he intended to do the same with Aguirre. Hilligiest had been reported missing in the summer of 1971; the other two boys had been missing for just two weeks. FactualTV has screened a documentary focusing upon the murders committed by Corll and his accomplices. [22]:3669 Henley was not charged with the death of Corll, which prosecutors ruled on September 18 had been committed in self-defense. [15] In high school, Corll's only major interest was the brass band, in which he played trombone. [81], Henley later claimed that he had not known of Corll's true intentions towards Aguirre when he had persuaded his friend to accompany him to Corll's home. Then, of course, theres Elmer Wayne Henleyquite a bit lesser known than Gacywho was sent to prison in 1974 for the spree of murders he committed alongside Dean Allen Corll. Then theres Monty Wayne Lamb, serving a life sentence for a triple homicide in Dallas. And Alexander Wayne Watson, Jr., convicted of killing multiple victims. [145], When questioned regarding his claim that as Corll had threatened him that morning he had shouted that he had killed several boys,[146] Henley explained that for almost three years, Brooks and he had helped procure teenage boys, some of whom had been their own friends, for Corll, who had raped and murdered them. [22]:3661 A possibility exists that the earliest double murder victims were Glass and Yates; however, Brooks specifically described Glass as being killed in an altogether separate double murder from Corll's first double murder in his confession to police. He was aided by two teenaged accomplices, David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. [22]:3661 He was dropped off alone at the corner of Westheimer Road and South Voss Road near the Uptown area of Houston at approximately 6:15p.m.[50][51] Corll likely offered Konen a lift to his home, which Konen evidently accepted. [201] Another witness who testified to his experience at the hands of Corll was William Ridinger. Elmer Wayne Henley was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. [185] That afternoon, both Henley and Brooks accompanied police to High Island Beach, leading police to the shallow graves of two victims. He was also observed digging in waste ground that was later converted into a parking lot. [181] In reference to the torture board upon which Corll had restrained and tortured his victims, Brooks stated: "Once they were on the board, they were as good as dead; it was all over but the shouting and the crying. 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, undiscovered victim. [301] Corll's earliest double murder, that of Glass and Yates, took place in December 1970; those victims were actually killed at Corll's Yorktown address, as was Corll's earliest known murder victim, Jeffrey Alan Konen, killed in September 1970. The macabre record number of known victims attributed to a single murder case set by Corll and his accomplices was surpassed only in 1978 by John Wayne Gacy, who murdered 33 boys and young men and who admitted to being influenced by press coverage of the Houston Mass Murders to manacle his victims prior to their abuse and murder. He was aided by two teenaged accomplices, David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. The crimes, which became known as the Houston Mass Murders, came to light after Henley fatally shot Corll. Webteenaged accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. Henley remains in prison, as does David Brooks, who also helped lure victims. I just killed a man! Had the search for bodies continued, both victims would have likely been discovered. [222] Henley's attorneys again attempted to have Henley's written statements ruled inadmissible. [20] The same year, one of the teenaged male employees of Corll Candy Company complained to Corll's mother that her son had made sexual advances towards him. How that man was able to go out to that storage shed, time after time, and bury one more dead boy is something I'll never understand. [49], Corll killed his first known victim, an 18-year-old college freshman named Jeffrey Konen, on September 25, 1970. Williams then asked Henley: "Are you going to do anything about it? [200], On August 13, a grand jury convened in Harris County to hear evidence against Henley and Brooks: the first witnesses to testify were Williams and Kerley, who testified to the events of August 7 and 8 leading to the death of Corll. [298] The suspicion is that Corll began killing much earlier than 1970 and had been abusing youths prior to this date.[299]. As the couple watched the trio, one of the men (whom they later identified as Henley) advanced upon their car with such a menacing expression that the couple felt compelled to drive away. Following Hurricane Ike in 2008, the area of High Island Beach where Corll is known to have buried his victims remains submerged,[30] leaving a strong possibility that Scott's body will never be found. The scattered skeletal remains were discovered within and close to plastic sheeting near an eroding sandbank. Several victims were friends of one or both of Corll's accomplices; others were individuals with whom Corll had himself become acquainted prior to their abduction and murder,[16][38] and two other victims, Billy Baulch and Gregory Malley Winkle, were former employees of Corll Candy Company. [15] Corll, however, reportedly hated military service; he applied for a hardship discharge on the grounds that he was needed in his family's business. to which Henley answered, "Yes." Henley later compared the acceleration in the frequency of killings and the increase in the brutality exhibited by Corll towards his victims to being "like a blood lust", adding that he and Brooks would instinctively know when Corll was to announce that he "needed to do a new boy," due to the fact that he would appear restless, smoking cigarettes and making reflex movements. The individual depicted has been ruled out by the Harris County Medical Examiner as being any of Corll's known victims, including his one remaining known unidentified victim. [203], By the time the grand jury had completed its investigation, Henley had been indicted for six murders, and Brooks for four. [312], There is still no conclusive evidence to suggest that Corll had ever solicited any of his victims in this manner, not only because the HPD chose not to pursue this potential possibility, but also because neither Brooks nor Henley ever mentioned having met any individuals from the "organization" Corll had claimed he was involved with. Corll and his accomplices are known to have killed a minimum of 28 teenagers and young men between September 1970 and August 1973, although it is suspected that the true number of victims is higher. A body found on a beach in Jefferson County on August 4, 1983, is strongly believed a further victim of Corll. [227], Henley is serving his life sentence at the Mark Stiles Unit in Jefferson County, Texas. That afternoon, Henley accompanied police to Lake Sam Rayburn, where he, Brooks, and Corll had buried four victims killed that year. Most victims were abducted from Houston Heights, which was then a low-income neighborhood northwest of downtown Houston. The first victim of 1972 was Frank Aguirre, who disappeared on March 24, meaning no known victims were killed for seven months. [5], Corll's Ford Econoline van parked in the driveway conveyed a similar impression. Henley fired three additional bullets into his lower back and shoulder as Corll slid down the wall in the hallway outside the room where the two other teenagers were bound. On August 8th, 1973, his reign of terror came to an end when he was shot by Henley, when he tried to turn on Henley and murder him. The statements given by Kerley and Williams corroborated Henley's account, and the detective questioning Henley believed he had indeed acted in self-defense. [189], Families of Corll's victims were highly critical of the HPD,[190][191] which had been quick to list the missing boys as runaways who had not been considered worthy of any major investigation. As had been the case in his childhood, Corll was also considered somewhat of a loner, although he is known to have occasionally dated girls in his teenage years. [87], After vacating the Schuler Street residence, Corll moved to an apartment at Westcott Towers, where, in the summer of 1972, he is known to have killed a further two victims. Houston serial killer up for compassionate release From 1970 through 1973, Elmer Wayne Henley helped lured 28 teenage boys to a Pasadena home belonging to Dean Corll, also known as The Candy Man. The bodies were discovered in three different locations in Texas. The family moved to the small town of Vidor, Texas, where Corll's half-sister, Joyce Jeanine (1955-2016), was born. Brooks persuaded Haney to attend a party at an address Corll had moved to on San Felipe Street the previous month. [16], In February 2012, a picture was released to the news media of a likely unknown victim of Corll. The body was buried at High Island Beach. As the first bodies were removed from the boat shed, a visibly distressed Henley informed investigators: "It's all my fault because I led those boys straight to Dean. Brooks had also stated in his confession that Scott was likely buried at High Island. [166][167], Accompanied by his father, Brooks presented himself at HPD headquarters on the evening of August 8 and gave a statement in which he denied any participation in the murders,[168] but admitted to having known that Corll had raped and killed two youths in 1970. He was last denied parole in October of 2015. [163] The tongue of the first victim uncovered protruded over one inch beyond the tooth margin;[164] the mouth of the third victim unearthed on August 8 was so agape that all upper and lower teeth were visible, leading investigators to theorize the youth had died screaming. [198] The other youth, Willard Branch,[199] lived in the Oak Forest district of Houston. Some accounts state Branch was abducted in February 1972. [70] However, Corll evidently decided the youth would make a good accomplice[71] and offered him the same fee of $200 for any boy he could lure to his apartment, informing Henley that he was involved in a "white slavery ring" operating from Dallas. [5] Most of the bodies found were wrapped in thick, clear plastic sheeting. Bunton was gagged with a section of Turkish towel and his mouth bound with adhesive tape. [4] Corll's father was strict with his children, whereas his mother was markedly protective of both her sons. As with the two bodies found the previous day, both victims had been tortured and severely beaten, particularly around the head. He was murdered at Corll's Westcott Towers address. Ridinger was tied to the plywood board, tortured, and abused by Corll. [22]:3644. Brooks and Henley confessed to assisting Corll in several abductions and murders; both were sentenced to life imprisonment at their subsequent trials. [273][274] ML73-3378 was buried at Lake Sam Rayburn just 10 feet (3m) from the body of Homer Garcia, who had disappeared on July 7, 1973. [22]:3647, Following the closure of the candy company, Corll took a job as an electrician at the Houston Lighting and Power Company (HL&P),[35] where he tested electrical relay systems. [225] Brooks's 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. His alcoholic father regularly abused him, [39], Corll's victims were usually lured into either one of the two vehicles he owned (a Ford Econoline van and a Plymouth GTX)[30] or a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette[40] he is known to have purchased for Brooks in early 1971. [41] At Corll's residence, the youths would be plied with alcohol or other drugs until they passed out, tricked into donning handcuffs,[42] or simply grabbed by force. He subsequently cemented over the floor. [155] Another wooden crate with air holes drilled in the sides was found in Corll's backyard. Aug 17, 2022 Still image from recent video of Elmer Wayne, Henley, Jr. KFDM 6 News Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr., who in the early 1970s was an accomplice of Baulch had disappeared en route to a barbershop on July 19, 1973a year after his brother, Billy, had been murdered by Corll. [159] Police continued excavating through the earth of the shed, unearthing the remains of more victims in varying stages of decomposition. Later the same year, Brooks moved back to Houston. Elmer Wayne Henley, The Teen Accomplice Of 'Candy Man' Dean [141] After confiscating the pistol and placing Henley, Williams, and Kerley inside the patrol car, the officer entered the bungalow and discovered Corll's body inside the hallway. [148][149] Most victims had been buried in a Southwest Houston boat shed; with others buried at Lake Sam Rayburn and High Island Beach. [307] The color Polaroid image had been found in the personal possessions of Henley, which had been stored by his family since his arrest in 1973. [63] The other two victims, 13-year-old David Hilligiest and 16-year-old Gregory Malley Winkle, were abducted and killed together on the afternoon of May 29, 1971. In the rear of the vehicle, police found a coil of rope, a swatch of beige rug covered in soil stains,[154] and a wooden crate with air holes drilled in the sides. Corll is known to have suffered from a hydrocele[103] in early 1973, which may have contributed to this period of inactivity. In a 2010 interview granted to investigative reporter Barbara Gibson, Henley disputed the 1993 identification of a victim buried in the boat shed as Scott and reiterated his claim that Scott had been buried at High Island "in the sand: As a result of Henley's claims, DNA tests on the body initially identified as Scott were again tested against samples of DNA taken from Scott's family. In 1970, when he was 15, Brooks dropped out of Waltrip High School[30] and moved to Beaumont to live with his mother. Also known as the Houston Mass Murders, at least 28 boys and young men were raped, tortured, and killed by Corll up until In his closing argument to the jury, District Attorney Carol Vance apologized for his not being able to seek the death penalty, adding that the case was the "most extreme example of man's inhumanity to man I have ever seen. [25], Following his honorable discharge from the army, Corll returned to Houston Heights and resumed the position he had held as vice-president of Corll Candy Company. After approximately two hours, Henley, Kerley, and Williams each passed out. [5], In several instances, Corll forced his victims to either phone or write to their parents with explanations for their absences in an effort to allay the parents' fears for their sons' safety. After they had spent several hours beating each other, Jones was tied to a board and forced to watch Cobble again be assaulted, tortured, and shot to death before he himself was again raped, tortured, and strangled with a Venetian blind cord. [204], Brooks was brought to trial on February 27, 1975. [7] At the age of seven, he suffered an undiagnosed case of rheumatic fever, which was not recognized until doctors found Corll had a heart murmur in 1950. They would then be restrained either by force or deception, and each was killed either by strangulation or shooting with a .22 caliber pistol. Buried in Houston, Texas, USA. It was the largest of three mass graves where Corll and his helpers buried their victims. He (Henley) started to take a step inside (the boat shed), but then his face just turned ashen, pale, grim he staggered around outside the door. August 10, 2022, 11:21 AM, CDT Elmer Wayne Henley Jr, a gray-haired 66-year-old serving six life sentences for his role in Houstons most notorious serial killings, Bail for each youth was set at $100,000. Konen vanished while hitchhiking with another student from the University of Texas to his parents' home in Houston. [129] After approximately thirty minutes of discussion,[130] Corll agreed and untied Henley, then carried Kerley and Williams into his bedroom and tied them to opposite sides of his torture board: Kerley on his stomach; Williams on her back. 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. [31] Whenever Brooks told Corll he needed cash, Corll gave him money, and the youth began to view Corll as a father figure. Corll stated he was burying spoiled candy to avoid contamination by insects. Corll's victims were typically lured with an offer of a party or a lift to one of the various addresses at which he resided between 1970 and 1973. [55]:2 Corll then ran out of the room, hitting the wall of the hallway. His last known victim of 1971 was Ruben Watson Haney, who disappeared on August 17. After an abusive childhood, Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was sent to school due to his mother's wish that her children at least receive an education. In episode four of Mindhunter real stories, we start to build a profile for the Atlanta murderer and interview In addition, around the time of Lyles's murder, Henley had temporarily moved away to Mount Pleasant in an apparent effort to distance himself from Corll. Forensic scientists subsequently deduced that the youth had died of asphyxiation caused by manual strangulation and a cloth gag that had been placed in his mouth. [72][73], Henley later stated that, for several months, he ignored Corll's offer, although he did maintain an acquaintance with Corll and gradually began to view him as something of a "brother-type person" whose work ethic he admired and in whom he could confide. [5][161][n 10] Cloth rags had also been inserted into the victims' mouths and adhesive tape wound around their faces to muffle their screams. [68] The identities of both of these victims remain unknown. Brooks later stated he had assisted Corll in the abduction and murder of two youths during the time Corll resided at this address, including one youth who was killed "just before Wayne Henley came into the picture." Moreover, the floor of the room where the three teenagers had been tied was covered in thick plastic sheeting. Both youths were tied to opposite sides of Corll's torture board and subsequently raped, strangled, and buried in a boat shed he had rented on November 17. The unidentified victim mistakenly identified as Baulch had been killed by two gunshots to the head and buried inside the boat shed. [n 1] From the earliest days of the business, Corll worked day and night while still attending school. In light of developments relating to the identifications of victims, the body of Scott still lies undiscovered at High Island, while Lyles's remains were only found by chance in 1983. [124], Corll then handed Henley a hunting knife and ordered him to cut away Williams's clothes,[131] insisting that, while he would rape and kill Kerley, Henley would do likewise to Williams. Then, of course, theres Elmer Wayne Henleyquite a bit lesser known than Gacywho was sent to prison in 1974 for the spree of murders he committed alongside Once manacled, the victims would be sexually assaulted, beaten, tortured and, sometimes after several days, killed by strangulation or shooting with a .22 caliber pistol. Upon discovery, it was c Potential association with a national sex ring, Corll's mother would later state the inspiration for her founding a family candy business was a pecan nut salesman calling at her home and observing her baking several pies. [16], By the time Brooks dropped out of high school, Corll's mother and his half-sister, Joyce, had moved to Colorado after the failure of her third marriage and the closure of Corll Candy Company in June 1968.
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