The Candyman – Dean Corll and the Houston Mass Murders

Dean Coril was a 33-year-old electrician living in Houston, Texas, who with two teen accomplices was responsible for kidnapping, torturing, raping and murdering at least 27 young boys in Houston in the early 1970s. Dean Corll was an electrician for Houston Power and Light, but most of Henley's friends knew him as the Candy Man, so named because he had labored for years in the candy manufacturing plant that he and his mother had once owned.

Corll was famous for giving away candy to the kids. Coril had an odd choice of friends, who were mostly young male teens. Two, who were particularly close to Coril, was a 14-year-old boy named Elmer Wayne Henley and a 15-year-old boy named David Brooks. The three spent much time hanging around at Coril's house or driving with him in his van. That was until August 8, 1973, when Henley shot and killed Coril at his home. While in police custody, Henley began to tell about his relationship with Coril. He said Coril paid him $200 or more for each boy that he could lure to Coril’s house.

After searching Coril's house, the police discovered a bedroom that looked as if it was designed for torture and murder. There was a board with handcuffs attached, ropes, sex toys and plastic covering the carpeted floor. Coril was furious when Henly brought his young girlfriend, Rhonda Williams over to the house with another friend, Tim Kerley. The group drank and did drugs until they fell asleep. When Henley awoke, his feet were bound and Coril was handcuffing him to his torture board. His girlfriend and Tim were also bound with electrical tape over their mouths.

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He managed to convince Corll to free him by promising to participate in the torture and murder of his friends. Once free, he went along with some of Corll's instructions, including attempting to rape the Rhonda Williams. Corll meanwhile, was trying to rape Tim, but the young boy fought so much Corll, frustrated, left the room. Henley immediately went for Corll's gun which he left behind. When Corll returned, Henley shot him six times, killing him. Over the next few days, Henley readily talked about his part in the deadly activity in Corll's house.

He led the police to where many of the victims were buried. The first location was a boatshed Corll rented in southwest Houston, stall # 11. There police uncovered the remains of 17 of the boys Corll had murdered. Ten more bodies were found at various other burial sites in or near Houston. Altogether there were 27 bodies recovered. Henley confessed to knowing about Corll's brutal crimes and also participating in murdering one of the boys. Brooks told police that he had no knowledge of the crimes. When tried, Brooks was found guilty of one murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Henley was convicted of six of the murders and sentenced to six 99-year-terms. Because Henley acted in self-defense, he was not convicted of killing Corll. The Crime Scene: Around 8:30 a. m. that Wednesday morning, the Pasadena, TX, police department got a telephone call from a hysterical Wayne Henley. Patrolman A. B. Jamison raced over to the address, 2020 Lamar Drive, a green and white frame house. Three teenagers, two boys and a girl stood in front of the house when Jamison responded to the call. The officer noted the . 22 caliber pistol on the driveway near the trio.

Henley informed the officer that he was the individual who had made the call and indicated that Corll was lying dead inside the house. After confiscating the pistol and placing Henley, Williams and Kerley inside the patrol car, the officer entered the bungalow and discovered Corll's dead body inside the hallway. In custody, Henley explained that, for almost three years, he and David Brooks had helped procure teenage boys some of whom were their own friends for Corll, who had raped and murdered them. Corll had paid $200 for each victim he or Brooks were able to lure to his apartment.

Henley gave a statement admitting he had assisted Corll in several abductions and murders of teenage boys, informing police that Corll had buried most of his victims in a boat shed in Southwest Houston, and others at Lake Sam Rayburn and High Island Beach. Henley agreed to accompany police to Corll's boat shed in Southwest Houston, where he claimed the bodies of most of the victims could be found. Inside Corll's boat shed, police found a half-stripped car, which turned out to have been stolen from a used car lot in March, a child's bike, empty bags of lime, and a box full of teenage boys' clothing.

Police begin to excavate Corll's boat shed on August 8, 1973. Police began digging through the soft, shell-crushed earth of the boat shed and soon uncovered the body of a young blond-haired teenage boy, lying face up and encased in clear plastic, buried beneath a layer of lime. Police continued digging through the earth of the shed, discovering the remains of more victims in varying stages of decomposition. Most of the bodies found were wrapped in thick, clear plastic sheeting. Some victims had been shot; others strangled the chords and ropes still wrapped tightly around their necks.

All of the victims found had been sodomized and most victims found bore evidence of sexual torture. On August 8, 1973, a total of eight corpses were uncovered at the boat shed. David Brooks presented himself at the Houston Police Station on the evening of August 8, 1973, and gave a statement denying any participation in the murders, but admitting to having known that Corll had raped and killed two youths in 1970. On August 9, 1973, police accompanied Henley to Lake Sam Rayburn in San Augustine County, where Henley had told police that Corll had buried four victims he had killed that year.

Two additional bodies were found in shallow graves. Police found nine additional bodies in the boat shed on August 9, 1973. David Brooks gave a full confession that evening, admitting to being present at several killings and assisting in several burials, although he continued to deny any direct participation in the murders. He agreed to accompany police to High Island Beach to assist in the search for the bodies of the victims. On August 13, 1973, both Henley and Brooks again accompanied the police to High Island Beach, where four more bodies were found, making a total of twenty-seven known victims.

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