Dean Corll
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| “ | It's a dog-eat-dog world, man. Are you gonna be one that bites, or are you gonna be the son-of-a-bitch who gets bitten? | „ |
| ~ Corll to Wayne Henley. |
Dean Arnold Corll (December 24, 1939 – August 8, 1973) was an American serial killer who, along with two teenaged accomplices named David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley Jr, abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered at least 28 teenage boys and young men in a series of killings between 1970 and 1973 in Houston, Texas. The crimes, which became known as the Houston Mass Murders, came to light after Henley fatally shot Corll.
Corll's victims were typically lured with an offer of a party or a lift to a succession of addresses in which he resided between 1970 and 1973. They would then be restrained either by force or deception, and each was killed either by strangulation or shooting with a .22-caliber pistol. Corll and his accomplices buried 17 of their victims in a rented boat shed; four other victims were buried in woodland near Lake Sam Rayburn; one victim was buried on a beach in Jefferson County; and at least six victims were buried on a beach on the Bolivar Peninsula. Brooks and Henley confessed to assisting Corll in several abductions and murders; both were sentenced to life imprisonment at their subsequent trials.
Corll was also known as the Candy Man and the Pied Piper, because he and his family had owned and operated a candy factory in Houston Heights, and he had been known to give free candy to local children.
When discovered, the Houston Mass Murders were considered the worst example of serial murder in American history up to that point.
Murders edit
Corll killed his first known victim, an 18-year-old college freshman, Jeffrey Konen, on September 25, 1970. Konen vanished while hitchhiking with another student from the University of Texas to his parents' home in Houston. He was dropped off alone at the corner of Westheimer Road and South Voss Road near the Uptown area of Houston. Corll likely offered Konen a lift to his parents' home, which Konen evidently accepted. At the time of Konen's disappearance, Corll lived in an apartment on Yorktown Street, near the intersection with Westheimer Road.
David Brooks led police to the body of Jeffrey Konen on August 10, 1973. The body was buried at High Island Beach. 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. The body was found buried beneath a large boulder, covered with a layer of lime, wrapped in plastic, naked, and bound hand and foot, suggesting he had been violated.
About the time of Konen's murder, David Brooks interrupted Corll in the act of sexually assaulting two teenage boys whom he (Corll) had strapped to a four-poster bed. Corll promised Brooks a car in return for his silence; Brooks accepted the offer and Corll later bought him a green Chevrolet Corvette. Corll later told Brooks that he had killed the two youths, and offered him $200 for any boy he could lure to Corll's apartment.
On December 13, 1970, Brooks lured two 14-year-old Spring Branch youths named James Glass and Danny Yates away from a religious rally held in the Heights district of Houston to Corll's Yorktown apartment. Glass was an acquaintance of Brooks who, at Brooks' behest, had previously visited Corll's address. 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.
Six weeks after the double murder of Glass and Yates, on January 30, 1971, Brooks and Corll encountered two teenage brothers, Donald and Jerry Waldrop, walking toward their parents' home. The Waldrop brothers had been driven to a friend's home by their father with plans to discuss forming a bowling league, and had begun walking home after learning their friend was not at home. Both boys were enticed into Corll's van and driven to an apartment Corll had rented on Mangum Road, where they were raped, tortured, strangled and subsequently buried in the boat shed.
Between March and May 1971, Corll abducted and killed three victims; all of whom lived in Houston Heights and all of whom were buried toward the rear of the rented boat shed. In each of these abductions, Brooks is known to have been a participant. 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, where he worked part-time as a gas station attendant. Harvey was driven to Corll's Mangum Road apartment, where he was subsequently killed by a single gunshot to the head. 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.
As had been the case with parents of other victims of Corll, both sets of parents launched a frantic search for their sons. One of the youths who voluntarily offered to distribute posters the parents had printed offering a reward for information leading to the boys' whereabouts was 15-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley—a lifelong friend of Hilligiest. The youth pinned the reward posters around the Heights and attempted to reassure Hilligiest's parents that there may be an innocent explanation for the boys' absence.
On August 17, 1971, Corll and Brooks encountered a 17-year-old acquaintance of Brooks named Ruben Watson Haney walking home from a movie theater in Houston. Brooks persuaded Haney to attend a party at an address Corll had moved to on San Felipe Street the previous month. Haney agreed and was taken to Corll's home where he was subsequently strangled and buried in the boat shed.
In September 1971, Corll moved to another apartment in the Heights. 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." In his confession, Brooks stated the youth killed immediately prior to Henley's involvement in the murders was abducted from the Heights and kept alive for approximately four days before his murder. The identity of both of these two victims remains unknown.
No known victims were killed between February 1 and June 4, 1973. Corll is known to have suffered from a hydrocele in early 1973, which may have contributed to this period of inactivity. In addition, around the time of Lyles' murder, Henley had temporarily moved away to Mount Pleasant in an apparent effort to distance himself from Corll.
From June, Corll's rate of killings increased dramatically, and both Henley and Brooks later testified to the increase in the level of brutality of the murders committed while Corll resided at Lamar Drive. 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. 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. After three days of abuse and torture, Lawrence was strangled before being buried at Lake Sam Rayburn. Less than two weeks later, 20-year-old constructor Raymond Stanley Blackburn was abducted, strangled and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.
On August 3, 1973, Corll killed his last victim, a 13-year-old boy from South Houston named James Stanton Dreymala. Dreymala was abducted by Brooks and Corll while riding his bike in Pasadena and driven to Lamar Drive upon the pretense of collecting empty glass bottles to resell. At Corll's home, Dreymala was tied to Corll's torture board, raped, tortured and strangled with a cord before being buried in the boat shed. Brooks later described Dreymala as a "small, blond boy" for whom he had bought a pizza and in whose company he had spent 45 minutes before the youth was attacked.
August 8, 1973 edit
On the night of August 7, 1973, 17-year-old Henley invited a 19-year-old named Timothy Cordell Kerley to attend a party at Corll's house in Pasadena. Kerley, who intended to be Corll's next victim, accepted the offer. David Brooks was not present at the time. The two young men arrived at Corll's home, where they smelled paint smoke and drank alcohol until midnight before leaving the house to buy sandwiches. Henley and Kerley then drove back to Houston Heights, and Kerley parked his vehicle near Henley's home. Henley got out of the vehicle and headed toward the home of Rhonda Williams, a 15-year-old friend of hers, who had been beaten up by her drunken father that night, and who had decided to temporarily leave her home until her father of her getting sober. Henley invited Rhonda to spend the night at Corll's house, which Rhonda accepted and climbed into the backseat of Kerley's Volkswagen.
The trio then drove to Corll's residence in Pasadena. At approximately 3 a.m. on the morning of August 8, 1973, Henley and Kerley returned to the Corll home accompanied by Rhonda Williams. Corll was furious that Henley had brought a girl to his house, privately telling her that she had "ruined everything." Henley explained that Williams had argued with her father that night and that she did not want to go home. Corll seemed to calm down, and offered him the trio of beer and marijuana. The three teens began drinking and smoking marijuana, and Henley and Kerley also smelled paint fumes as Corll watched intently. After about two hours, Henley, Kerley, and Williams passed out. betrayal and death Henley awoke to find himself lying face down and Corll putting handcuffs on his wrists. His mouth had been gagged with duct tape and his ankles had been bound together. Kerley and Williams lay next to Henley, bound tightly with nylon rope, gagged with duct tape, and face down on the floor. Kerley had also been stripped naked. Realizing that Henley had woken up, Corll removed the gag from her mouth. Henley protested Corll's actions to no avail, after which Corll reiterated that he was angry at Henley for bringing a girl into his home and that he was going to kill the three teenagers after he had assaulted and tortured Kerley. He then dragged Henley into his kitchen and placed a .22 caliber pistol against his stomach, threatening to shoot him. Henley calmed Corll down, promising to participate in the torture and murder of both Williams and Kerley if Corll released him.
Corll agreed and untied Henley, then brought Kerley and Williams into his room and strapped them to opposite sides of his torture board: Kerley face down; Williams on her back. Corll then handed Henley a hunting knife and ordered him to cut off Williams' clothing, insisting that while he raped and killed Kerley, Henley would do the same to Williams. Henley began cutting Williams' clothing as Corll undressed and began assaulting and torturing Kerley. Both Kerley and Williams had woken up at this point. Kerley began to writhe and scream as Williams, whose gag Henley had removed, raised her head and asked Henley, "Is this real?" to which Henley replied, "Yes." Williams then asked Henley, "Are you going to do something about it?" Henley asked Corll if he could take Rhonda into another room. Corll ignored him and Henley then grabbed Corll's gun, yelling, "You've gone far enough, Dean!" 3 Henley said, "I can't go on anymore! I can't make you kill all my friends!" Corll walked over to Henley and said, "Kill me, Wayne!" Henley took a few steps back as Corll continued toward him, yelling, "You won't!" Henley shot Corll, hitting him in the forehead (the bullet did not fully penetrate Corll's skull). Corll continued to lurch towards Henley, after which the young man fired two more bullets, hitting Corll in the left shoulder, Corll turned and staggered out of the room, hitting the corridor wall. Henley fired three additional bullets into his back and shoulder as Corll slid down the wall in agony in the hallway outside the room where the other two teens were tied up.
Corll bled to death where he fell, his naked body lying face down against the wall. 456 Henley would later recall that, after he had shot Corll, the only dominant thought in his mind in the moments immediately following was that Corll would have been proud of the way he had reacted to the confrontation, adding that Corll had been training him. to react quickly and react a lot, and that's what he did. Police Call At 8:24 a.m. on August 8, 1973, Henley called the Pasadena Police. His call was
All of the victims found had been sodomized and most victims found bore evidence of sexual torture: pubic hairs had been plucked out, genitals had been chewed, objects had been inserted into their rectums, and glass rods had been inserted into their urethrae and smashed.Cloth rags had also been inserted into the victims' mouths and adhesive tape wound around their faces to muffle their screams. The tongue of the first victim uncovered protruded over one inch beyond the tooth margin; 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 with a scream on his lips.After the recovery of the eighth body from the boat shed was completed at 11:55 p.m., the investigation was discontinued until the next day.
Connection to John Norman edit
John Norman was a American pedophile, sex offender and sex trafficker. Corll told both Brooks and Henley that he sold boys to a Sex Trafficking Ring in Dallas, where Norman operated. Norman is also believed to have had connections to serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Confirmed victims edit
- Jeffrey Alan Konen, 18
- James Eugene Glass, 14
- Danny Michael Yates, 14
- Donald Wayne Waldrop, 15
- Jerry Lynn Waldrop, 13
- Randell Lee Harvey, 15
- David William Hilligiest, 13
- Gregory Malley Winkle, 16
- Ruben Willfard Watson Haney, 17
- Willard Karmon Branch, Jr. 17
- Frank Anthony Aguirre, 18
- Mark Steven Scott, 17
- Johnny Ray Delome, 16
- Billy Gene Baulch Jr., 17
- Steven Kent Sickman, 17
- Roy Eugene Bunton, 19
- Wally Jay Simoneaux, 14
- Richard Edward Hembree, 13
- Richard Alan Kepner, 19
- Joseph Allen Lyles, 17
- William Ray Lawrence, 15
- Raymond Stanley Blackburn, 20
- Homer Luis Garcia, 15
- John Manning Sellars, 17
- Michael Anthony Baulch, 15
- Marty Ray Jones, 18
- Charles Cary Cobble, 17
- James Stanton Dreymala, 13