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Thread: Dean Corll and the Houston Mass Murders

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    Dean Corll and the Houston Mass Murders




    Dean Corll:


    Dean Corll 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. The Houston Mass Murders, as the case was later called, became one of the most horrific series of murders in U.S. history.

    The Early Years:

    Dean Corll (December 24, 1939 - August 8, 1973) was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Mary Robinson and Arnold Corll. After his parents divorced, Dean and his brother Stanley moved with their mother to Houston, Texas. Dean seemed to adjust to the change, kept a good grade average and was described by teachers as being polite and well-behaved.

    The Candy Man:

    In 1964, Corll was drafted into the military, but was released on a hardship discharge a year later so he could return home to help his mother with her growing candy business. It was there that he earned the name, The Candy Man, because often he would treat children to free candy. After the business closed his mother moved to Colorado and Dean began training to become an electrician.

    An Odd Trio:

    There was nothing remarkable about Corll except for his odd choice of friends, who were mostly young male teens. Two, who were particularly close to Corll, 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 Corll's house or driving with him in his van. That was until August 8, 1973, when Henley shot and killed Corll at his home. When police interviewed Henley about the shooting and searched Corll's home for evidence, a bizarre and brutal story of torture, rape and murder began to unfold.

    $200 Per Head:

    While in police custody, Henley began to tell about his relationship with Corll. He said Corll paid him $200 or more "per head" to lure young boys to his house. Most of the boys were from low-income Houston neighborhoods and were easily persuaded to come to a party where there would be free alcohol and drugs. Many were also childhood friends of Henley and had no reason to distrust his intentions. But once inside Corll's home, they would soon become victims of his sadistic and murderous obsessions.

    The Torture Chamber:

    Police skepticism towards Henley's story turned after searching Corll's house. Inside they discovered a bedroom that looked as if it was designed for torture and murder. There was a board with handcuffs attached, ropes, a large dildo and plastic covering the carpeted floor. There was also an odd wooden crate with what appeared to be airholes cut into it.

    Henley Talks:

    When Henley described what had happened before shooting Corll, the items in the room corroborated his story. According to Henley, he made Corll furious when he brought his young girlfriend over to the house with another friend, Tim Kerley. The group drank and did drugs and each fell asleep. When Henley awoke, his feet were bound and Corll was handcuffing him to his "torture" board. His girlfriend and Tim were also bound with electrical tape over their mouths. Henley was fully aware of what was to follow, having witnessed this same scenario before.

    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 young woman. 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.

    Burial Grounds:

    Over the next few days, Henley readily talked about his part in the murderous 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. 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.

    Brutal Torture and Murder:

    An examination of the victims determined that some of the boys had been shot, others strangled to death. Signs of torture were visible, including castration, objects inserted into the victim's rectums and glass rods pushed and into their urethras. All had been sodomized.

    Did Houston Police Fail?

    There was much criticism launched at the Houston police department for failing to investigate the many missing person's reports filed by the parents of the dead boys. The police viewed most reports as probable runaway cases although many of them came from the same area or neighborhood.

    The Victims

    The ages of the young victims ranged from ages nine to age 21, however most were in their teens. Two of the families suffered losing two sons to Corll's deadly rage. Henley confessed to knowing about Corll's brutal crimes and also to participating in murdering one of the boys. Brooks, although closer to Corll than Henley, told police that he had no knowledge of the crimes.

    After the investigation ended, Henley insisted there were three more boys who had been murdered, but their bodies were never found.

    The Trial

    In a highly publisized trial, 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. He was not convicted of killing Corll because it was judged as an act of self-defense.

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    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    Surviving a serial killer

    HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Thirty-five years ago Friday, detectives were just starting to unearth the 27 victims of the worst serial killer in Houston's history.

    Only one man walked away from Dean Corll's torture chamber, and he's never told his story. But now, for the first time, Tim Kerley is speaking out, hoping to bring peace to victims' families and encourage young people to listen to loved ones about danger.

    Three and a half decades ago, Kerley walked out of a Pasadena house with memories no one should have. He was tied to a torture board inside, and rescued just moments before he was sexually tortured and likely killed. Kerley's never told his story publicly.

    "It was one day of my life," he told us. "I have two choices -- either accept it and move on or kill myself."

    Kerley is the only known male survivor of a Houston killing spree that took the lives of 27 teenage boys in the early 70s. For three years, Corll, David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley targeted boys, lured them to parties and when they got high and passed out, Corll would tape their mouths shut, bound their hands and feet to a board and leave them tied face down to be tortured for days until they we're eventually killed.

    "When someone ties you to a board, the odds are pretty good that you're not going to walk out of there," said Kerley.

    Kerley was likely marked as the 28th victim. He was friends with Henley, who for more than a year scouted good looking boys for Corll. In early August 1973, Corll told Henley to bring Kerley over for a party.

    "He placed an order and Henley delivered," said retired Pasadena PD Detective David Mullican.

    Henley brought a woman there that night. In all the other killings there was never a woman, and her presence enraged Corll. Corll, though, was interested in Kerley and while Kerley lay naked, bound face down on the torture board, he asked God for help.

    Kerley described it as absolute madness, terror while Corll threatening to cut off Kerley's arm and prepared to rape Kerley.

    Henley was focused on the girl. He untaped her mouth and after years of luring and torturing and killing teenagers, that woman broke through to him.

    "Rhonda asked me is this for real and I told her yes, and she said, 'Are you going to do anything about it?'" said Henley, when we spoke with him in prison.

    That was enough. Henley, who earlier that night had been tied up himself, grabbed Corll's pistol and told Corll it had gone far enough.

    "Dean stood up and I saw him change into a different person," Kerley said. "There was somebody inside him and it wasn't him. It was a spirit from hell."

    Henley walked towards Corll and killed him.

    "He emptied the gun in him," said Kerley.

    With Corll lying dead in the house, Henley freed the others and called police. Over the next three days, Henley led police on a grisly tour of burial sites.

    Kerley retreated. He's never reached out to the public or Henley in prison, uncertain of what he would say.

    "I don't know if I would shake his hand and say thank you or beat the (expletive) out of him," said Kerley. "Thirty-five years, I still don't know."

    And now, 35 years to the day that Corll was killed and Kerley was freed, Kerley is speaking out because 27 other young boys can't.

    "There was a battle going on between good and evil in that room," said Kerley. "And good won. Maybe the victims' families can find some solace. We got him. You know, he's dead. He's dead and the other one is the penitentiary forever."

    Kerley tells us he finally agreed to speak out after 35 years to offer some peace to victims families, so they know someone survived Corll's wrath.

    Of the 27 bodies police found in 1973, 24 have been identified. The Harris County medical examiner's office still has the remains of 3 young men and the clothes found on those remains. The medical examiner has created computer images of what the boys may have looked like. In a few weeks, investigators should get DNA results back from a Heights family which may be a possible match.

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    A look at Houston's most notorious serial killers, 44 years later

    HOUSTON (KTRK) -- More than four decades have passed, but the horror, shock and grief over the events that unfolded in Houston in 1973 have not diminished.

    It all started on the morning of August 8th, 1973, when the Pasadena Police Department received a call from Elmer Wayne Henley, who told police he had just shot a man.

    Pasadena police detective David Mullican, responded to the scene, "it started out as any other homicide", said Mullican. But it soon turned into the worst serial killer case in Houston history. The man Henley shot was Dean Corll. Henley told police Corll had tortured and murdered six teenagers at Corll's home.

    Later that day, Henley led police to a boat storage shed in southwest Houston on Silver Bell St., where police dug up eight bodies. The next day police uncovered nine more bodies at the shed. Henley also led authorities to a location near Lake Sam Rayburn where four bodies were uncovered.

    The day after Henley's arrest, another man, David Brooks turned himself into police, for his role in the deaths. Both Henley and Brooks then led police to a location on High Island where six bodies were discovered.

    Elmer Wayne Henley was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He was last denied parole in October of 2015. His next scheduled parole review date is October of 2025. David Brooks was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence, he was last denied parole in January of 2015. His next parole review date is set for December of 2017.

    http://abc13.com/1218667/

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    Family of victim fights against serial killer up for parole

    By Grace White
    KHOU News

    HOUSTON - One of the men behind Houston's mass murders of 28 boys in the 1970s is up for parole on Thursday.

    Thursday morning, the last surviving parents of one of the victims is fighting to keep David Owen Brooks behind bars.

    "It all comes flooding back and it's like it was yesterday again," said Elaine Dreymala, whose son was murdered.

    For this mom and dad, no matter how much time passes, they can't talk about their young son without reliving the pain.

    "We felt as though he shouldn't have been the last one," said James Dreymala, his father.

    Stanton Dreymala, 13, was the last victim of serial killer Dean Corll, known as the "Candy Man." It was 1973 and these parents will never forget their son's last words.

    "He said 'Mom, I want to go ride my bike for a little while, I won't be gone long," she said.

    Corll was killed by accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley. Then Henley and David Owen Brooks, another accomplice, went to prison. Every three years since, this family has had to fight their parole.

    "A serial killer and being eligible for parole are just oxymoronic terms first of all to begin with," said Andy Kahan, a victim's advocate.

    In 2015, the case was the driving force behind a new law in Texas. A law that gives parole boards the authority to push back parole hearing to up to ten years. In fact, the first person to get the set back was Henley. He spoke to KHOU 11 last year from prison.

    "When people ask me about the crimes, most of what they recite are Dean Corll's crimes - not mine. I was a boy who was caught," said Elmer Wayne Henley while inside a T.D.C.J. prison.

    "Elmer Wayne Henley should first of all be lucky he breathes air, in any day and age, timing is everything, more than likely he would have been given the death penalty, as well as David Brooks," said Kahan.

    But even with the new law, the parole board still gets to decide. Will it be just 3 or as many as 10 years? This mom says just imagine if it was your son.

    "We just want them to understand, how difficult it is for the families that are left behind to go through this, so often, I mean have a heart," said his mother.

    Surprisingly, Kahan told us since the law went into effect, it's rarely used. He says less than 2 percent of eligible offenders get the 10-year sentence. This family hopes Thursday morning they will have a better outcome.

    http://www.khou.com/news/family-of-v...role/504608780
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Notorious Houston killer David Owen Brooks dies in Galveston hospital

    KHOU 11

    One of the Houston area’s most notorious killers has died in Galveston.

    TDCJ confirms that David Owen Brooks died at a Galveston hospital Thursday. Brooks was an accomplice in the 'Houston Mass Murders.' He helped lure more than two dozen young boys to their torture and death.

    At this point, we don’t know Brooks' cause of death. He had served 46 years of a life sentence.

    Brooks, Dean Corll, who was known as the ‘Candy Man,’ and Elmer Wayne Henley were responsible for killing dozens of boys in the 1970s and burying their bodies across the Houston area.

    Most of their victims lived in or had connections to the Heights, one of Houston’s most coveted neighborhoods. Henley and Brooks would lure the boys for Corll, who earned his nickname because of his family’s candy shop that sat across from a school, with the promise of parties and rides.

    Corll was killed by Henley on August 8, 1973.

    https://www.khou.com/article/news/lo...e-a410c7406e3d
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  6. #6
    Sue10
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    June 10, 2020

    David Brooks, accomplice in Houston Mass Murders, dies at 65 of COVID-19

    By Julian Gill
    The Houston Chronicle

    An imprisoned accomplice of notorious Houston serial killer Dean Corll, who lured at least 28 boys to their death from 1970 to 1973 in what became known as the Houston Mass Murders, has died in custody from COVID-19, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced Tuesday.

    David Brooks, 65, was assigned to the Polunsky Unit in Livingston when he was hospitalized May 12 with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. He tested positive for the virus at Hospital Galveston before he died May 28. He had multiple pre-existing conditions at the time of his death, according to TDCJ, but preliminary autopsy results indicate COVID-19 was a contributing factor.

    Brooks served 45 years of a life sentence. The grisly killings — orchestrated by Corll with the help of Brooks and accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley — were described in a 1973 New York Times article as “the largest multiple murder case in United States history.” The trio would lure unsuspecting young boys to Corll, who tortured and sexually brutalized them.

    Andy Kahan, a victim advocate at Crime Stoppers of Houston, has personally followed the case for nearly 30 years. He has accompanied victims’ families since the 1990s to parole hearings for Henley and Brooks.

    For the mother and father of Stanton Dreymala — the last surviving parents of all Corll’s known victims — Brooks’ death means they no longer have to go through the agonizing ritual of attending his parole hearings, Kahan said. Each time, the hearings force them to relive their son’s death and disappearance.

    “That’s one less we have to deal with in the future, in terms of parole scenarios,” he said.

    According to Kahan, convicted killers like Brooks and Henley were a key reason advocates in 2015 lobbied for state legislation that allowed for more time between parole reviews. Under the new law, Brooks would not have been eligible for parole until 2028.

    At the time of the slayings, Brooks and Henley, both teenagers, agreed to help lure the boys to Corll for $10 to $200 per child. In some cases, they helped with the torture, killing and burial.

    The murders first came to light in 1973, when Henley called police saying he shot Corll in the Pasadena home where Corll was staying. He said Corll threatened to rape and kill him and two other teens during a party.

    After that confession, he led police to a boat storage facility where officers uncovered the bodies of 17 slain and tortured boys buried under the dirt floor. Police found at least 11 additional victims at two other burial sites.

    Corll became known as the “Candy Man killer” because his family had owned a candy store in the Heights in Houston. Many of Corll’s victims shared a connection to that neighborhood.

    “The crimes that Brooks, Henley and Corll committed are considered to be one of the most insidious and sadistic serial killings not just in Houston but nationally, when you considered that they lured young boys to a horrific death, knowing what was going to happen to them,” Kahan said. “It’s unconscionable what Brooks was responsible for.”

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...n-15331112.php

  7. #7
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Elmer Wayne Henley


    James Stanton Dreymala


    Houston serial killer’s compassionate release consideration sparks protest from victim’s family

    Elmer Wayne Henley helped lure nearly 30 teenage boys to the home of Dean Corll in the early 1970s

    By Bradford Betz
    Fox News

    The family of a 13-year-old boy who was sexually tortured and murdered with the complicity of Elmer Wayne Henley is protesting his consideration for compassionate release by the parole board.

    Henley, who along with co-conspirator David Owen Brooks, lured nearly 30 teenage boys to the Houston-area home of Dean Corll, known as "The Candy Man," between 1970 and 1973.

    Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers told FOX 26 that Henley was directly responsible for at least six of those deaths.

    "It was the largest serial killing in the country’s history up until John Wayne Gacey appeared," Kahan said. "[Henley] took people he knew, and he got them over to ‘The Candy Man’s’ house, knowing full well they would never walk out those doors again."

    Kahan said the victims died the most horrific deaths as they were "sexually tortured" and "strapped to boards," suffering tremendously.

    Parole officials say Henley is terminally ill and requires long-term care. But the parents of 13-year-old Stanton Dreymala, Henley’s last known victim, are fighting his release from prison.

    "There’s not a day that goes by where they don’t think of their 13-year-old son who was just simply riding his bike in the neighborhood collecting soda bottles, so he could turn them in for money to take a girl out to the movie," he said.

    Henley is serving six life sentences.

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/houston-s...victims-family
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Tbh I’m not sure how to feel about this case.
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

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    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
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    How old was Henley at the time of those murders?

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    He was born in 56' so he would have been 16 - 17 years old while committing these crimes in 72' and 73'.

    The only reason he shot and killed Corll was because he found himself tied to the torture board. Corll was mad because he brought a girl to his house, and he only wanted boys. He managed to talk his way out of it by agreeing to participate in killing the young couple who were also tied up.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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