Where is elmer wayne henley now

As viewers learned, a teenage Henley allegedly helped Dean Corll aka "The Candy Man" murder several fellow teenage boys in Houston between and During what became known as the Houston Mass Murders, Corll allegedly raped, tortured, and killed at least 28 young men. Henley was ultimately convicted as an accomplice to six of the murders for his role in procuring the victims.

As he explained in filmmaker Teana Schiefen Porras' documentary, Decisions and Visions per the Houston Chronicle it was allegedly easy to lure the boys to Corll's apartment. Do you want to smoke dope? At that time, it didn't take much," he said in the doc.

According to Texas Monthly , in his and fellow accomplice David Brooks' confessions , the men also admitted to helping Corll carry the bodies to his car or van and helped bury them in one of his private cemeteries. In , at the suggestion of a Louisiana art dealer, Henley began to paint as a hobby, in part as a means of generating income for himself and his mother.

Henley refuses to paint or draw any images of a violent or exploitative nature: many of his works depict serene imagery such as landscapes, buildings and flowers and the majority being created using acrylics and graphite. In interviews, Henley has stated that he suffers from a severe color deficiency in his eyesight that makes it impossible for him to clearly distinguish between reds and greens.

To compensate, any portraits Henley draws of humans are in black and white; with his other works usually being drawn or painted in color. A pen pal with whom Henley has corresponded has also organized several exhibitions of his artwork. This exhibition drew outrage from some victims' relatives. In the city of Houston expressed interest in building a monument to victims of violent crime, which Henley said he would be willing to help pay for with part of the proceeds from a second art show.

It goes without saying that this case is one of the biggest in the history of serial murder. I think that there would be no more than 20 or so that would rank as highly as the case of Dean Corll and co. But that is all in my own opinion I guess. I think that we'll focus on Dean Corll since he's the main guy in this trio. He was a child that was bought up in a broken home and was treated very harshly as a child when it came to discipline.

Following his parents divorce he and his brother Stanley spent more time with babysitters and school teachers than with their parents. Also in childhood he suffered from Rheumatic fever which left him with a heart condition that meant he missed a of school. In Dean did as all proud young americans are told to do, he joined the army.

Life in the army caused a bit of a change in Dean, well it was probably already there, but being around all those men all the time awaken the urge to fuck men in the ass. I reckon he fit in really well with the other troops. In he left that life to live in Houston where he got an okay job with the Lighting and Power company. During this time he also started hanging out with teenage boys. I guess that it didn't seem to strange to these kids that a thirty year old guy wanted to hang out with them.

Eventually he found two guys that he liked a lot, Elmer Henley and David Brooks. He spent quite a bit of time sniffing glue with these two, and I guess that they formed a bit of a bond. If you think really hard about this last sentence you may find one of the worst jokes I've ever come up with So much so that Brooks actually moved in with Corll for a while. Somewhere around early it seems that these three crossed that line between talking shit and acting it out.

The unfortunate victim was University of Texas student Jeffrey Konen. Dean Corll lured the guy back to his house with and I'm only guessing here a promise of drugs and alcohol.

Poor Jeffrey didn't know what hit him. But we all do - it was Dean Corll. So now Dean had crossed the line. No doubt he got off on the murder a little, but it wasn't quite right, he needed something else to spice it up a little. That was where Henley and Brooks came in. One thing that can be proved is that Brooks was given a car by Corll around this time. I guess that these two young guys soon grew tired of just supplying victims for Dean.

They wanted more - they wanted to join in. Over the next two years the trio's kill count would rise to The M. The boys 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. The bodies were disposed of in two different spots, a remote spot near the Sam Rayburn Reservoir or a rented boat shed in southwest Houston.

Then in July Billy's bother Mike Baulch joined the list of victims. There were more victims, too many to mention and I guess everything was going along fine for Dean at this stage.

He had no real problems from police, he had a steady supply of kids coming to his house for slaughter and he had two good mates that seemed ready for anything.

But as with everything in this life it was bound to go sour. On August 8, , Henley broke the cycle. He bought Rhonda Williams, 15, to the house. She had run away from home and needed somewhere to stay so Henley thought it would be okay, but it wasn't. Following a heavy varnish sniffing session Rhonda, Henley and another friend, Timothy Kerley, all passed out.

Corll decided it was time to teach Henley a lesson. He tied all of the kids up. When Henley came back around he really started to freak out, pleading Corll to spare him, even promising to rape and kill Rhonda while Dean did the same to Timothy.

So Corll untied Henley and ordered him to begin raping young Rhonda. Well I guess all the excitement must have got to poor Elmer Wayne Henley because he couldn't perform if you know what I mean.

Dean obviously found his young friends 'problem' very amusing and started to tease him about it, and it must have been very embarrassing for poor Elmer because he picked up a. Well, Dean didn't take to kindly to being ordered, so his taunts just got worse.

Then they ended. Elmer Wayne Henley put 6 bullets into Dean Corll, killing him rather quickly. He then did something very strange - he called the cops and turned himself in, claiming the shooting was in self defense. Later on that day Henley led police to the two dumping grounds where they found a combined 27 bodies.

It was a new record for number of victims in the USA, eclipsing the previous best killer Juan Corona by 2. Since Henley put Brooks into the shit he decided to get some of his own back. He said, "Most of the killings that occurred after Wayne came into the picture involved all three of us.

Following these confessions where the boys 17 and 18 at the time of Corll's death tried to paint themselves as being almost innocent parties, while the others forced them to do it, both were found guilty of six murders each and both were sentenced to life in prison.

In December Henley's conviction was overturned on the grounds that the trial had suffered from pre-trial publicity.

It didn't matter though as he was convicted a second time in June Corll's mother is certain there are many more victims. He worked with her in her candy factory in Texas which is why Corll is sometime referred to as "The Man with the Candy. Following the findings police were flooded with requests from over one hundred parents as to the whereabouts of there missing children.

I guess it's not too impossible an idea to link at least some of these disappearances to Dean Corll, but police didn't seem to interested in any of them as none where found to be linked to Corll and co.

Dean Arnold Corll December 24, — August 8, was an American serial killer, also known as the "Candy Man" , who, together with two youthful accomplices named David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, abducted, tortured and murdered a minimum of 28 boys in a series of killings spanning from to in Houston, Texas.

The crimes, which became known as the Houston Mass Murders, came to light only after Henley shot and killed Corll. At the time, the Houston Mass Murders were considered the worst example of serial murder in American history. Corll's father was strict with his son, whereas his mother was extremely protective of Dean.

The marriage of Corll's parents was marred by frequent quarrelling and the couple divorced four years after the birth of their younger son, Stanley, in Mary Corll subsequently sold the family home and relocated to a trailer home in Memphis, Tennessee, where Arnold Corll had been drafted into the Air Force after the couple had divorced, in order that her sons could retain contact with their father.

Corll's parents subsequently attempted reconciliation. Corll was a shy, serious child who seldom socialized with other children and had a tendency to display concern for the wellbeing of others. At the age of seven, he suffered an undiagnosed case of rheumatic fever, which was only noted in , when doctors found Corll had a heart condition, and he was ordered to avoid P.

In , Corll's parents remarried and moved to Pasadena, but the reconciliation was short lived and, in , the couple once again divorced, with the mother again retaining custody of her sons. The divorce was on amicable grounds and both boys maintained contact with their father.

Following the second divorce of Corll's parents, his mother married a travelling salesman named Jake West and the family moved to the small town of Vidor, where Corll's half-sister, Joyce, was born in In Vidor, Corll's mother and stepfather started a small candy company, operating from the garage of their home, and almost immediately, Corll was working day and night while still attending school.

As had been the case in his childhood, Corll remained somewhat of a loner in his teenage years. During his years at Vidor High School, his only major interest was the high school brass band, in which he played trombone. At Vidor High School, Corll was regarded as a well-behaved student who achieved satisfactory grades prior to his graduation.

Following his graduation from Vidor High School in , the family moved to the Heights district of Houston and opened a new shop, which they named "Pecan Prince. He stayed in Indiana for almost two years, even forming a close relationship with a local girl, but returned to Houston in to help with his family's candy business. He later moved into an apartment of his own above the shop.

Corll's mother divorced Jake West in and appointed Dean as vice-president of the candy company. The same year, one of the teenage male employees of the candy company complained to Corll's mother that Corll had made sexual advances towards him. In response, Mary West simply fired the youth. He was later assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, before his permanent assignment at Fort Hood, Texas as a radio repairman.

Corll reportedly hated military service; he applied for a hardship discharge on the grounds that he was needed within his family's business. The Army granted his request and he was given an honorable military discharge on June 11, , after ten months of service.

Following his honorable discharge from the army, Corll returned to Houston and resumed the position he had held as vice-president of his family's candy business. In , shortly after Corll completed his military service, the Corll Candy Company moved across the street from a Heights elementary school. He was known to give free candy to local children, in particular teenaged boys.

The family company also employed a small workforce, and he was seen to behave flirtatiously towards several teenage male employees; he even installed a pool table at the rear of the factory where employees and local youths would congregate. In , he befriended year-old David Brooks, then a sixth grade student and one of the many children to whom he gave free candy.

Brooks initially became one of Corll's many youthful close companions; the youth regularly socialized with Corll and the youths who congregated at the rear of the candy company. He also joined Corll on the regular trips he took to south Texas' beaches in the company of various youths and was also given motorcycle rides by Corll and allowed to ride the bike himself. Whenever Brooks told Corll he was in need of cash, he was given money. Brooks' parents were divorced: his father lived in Houston and his mother had relocated to Beaumont, a city 85 miles east of Houston.

In , when he was 15, Brooks dropped out of high school and moved to Beaumont to live with his mother. Whenever he visited his father in Houston, he also visited Corll, who allowed him to stay at his apartment if he wished to do so.

Upon Corll's urging, a sexual relationship gradually developed between the two: Corll paid Brooks to allow him to perform fellatio on the youth and the same year, he moved back to Houston and, by his own later admission, began regarding Corll's apartment as his second home.

By the time Brooks dropped out of high school, Corll's mother and half-sister, Joyce, had moved to Colorado after the failure of her third marriage and the closure of the family candy company in June Although she often talked to her eldest son on the telephone, she never saw him again.

Following the closure of the candy company, Corll took a job as an electrician at the Houston Lighting and Power Company, where he tested electrical relay systems. He worked in this employment until the day he was killed by Elmer Wayne Henley. From to , Corll killed at least 28 persons. All of his victims were males aged thirteen to twenty, the majority of whom were in their mid teens.

Most victims were abducted from Houston Heights, which was then a low-income neighborhood northwest of downtown Houston. With most abductions, he was assisted by one or both of his teenaged accomplices, Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks. Several victims were friends of one or the other of his accomplices; and two other victims, Billy Baulch and Malley Winkle, were former employees of the Corll Candy Company. Corll's victims were typically lured into his van with an offer of a party or a lift and driven to his house.

There, they were either plied with alcohol or drugs until they passed out, tricked into putting on handcuffs, or simply grabbed by force. They then were stripped naked and tied to either Corll's bed or, usually, a plywood torture board, where they were sexually assaulted, tortured, and—sometimes after several days—killed by strangulation or shooting with a.

Their bodies then were tied in plastic sheeting and buried in any one of four places: a rented boat shed; a beach on the Bolivar Peninsula; a woodland near Lake Sam Rayburn where his family owned a lakeside log cabin ; and a beach in Jefferson County. In several instances, Corll forced his victims to phone or write to their parents with explanations for their absences in an effort to allay the parents' fears for their sons' safety.

Corll is also known to have retained keepsakes—usually keys—from his victims. During the years in which he abducted and murdered young men, Corll often changed addresses. However, until he moved to Pasadena in the spring of , he always lived in or close to Houston Heights.

Corll killed his first known victim, an year-old college freshman, Jeffrey Konen, on September 25, 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.

At the time of Konen's disappearance, Corll lived in an apartment on Yorktown Street, near the intersection with Westheimer Road. He likely offered to drive Konen to his parents' home. Konen evidently accepted a lift from him. David Brooks led police to the body of Jeffrey Konen on August 10, 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 which had been placed in his mouth. The body was found buried beneath a layer of lime, wrapped in plastic, naked, and bound hand and foot, suggesting he had also been violated. Around the time of Konen's murder, David Brooks interrupted Corll in the act of assaulting two teenage boys whom he'd strapped to a plywood torture board.

Corll promised Brooks a car in return for his silence; Brooks accepted the offer and Corll bought him a green Chevrolet Corvette. Glass was an acquaintance of Brooks who, at Brooks' behest, had previously visited Corll's apartment. Both youths were tied to opposite sides of Corll's torture board and subsequently raped, strangled and buried in a boat shed Corll had rented on November Six weeks after the double murder of Glass and Yates, on January 30, , Brooks and Corll encountered two teenage brothers named Donald and Jerry Waldrop walking to a bowling alley.

Both boys were enticed into Corll's van and were driven to an apartment that Corll had moved into at Mangum Road, where they were raped, tortured and strangled before Brooks and Corll buried them in the boat shed.

Between March and May of , Corll killed three more boys between the ages of 13 and 16; as with the Waldrop brothers, all lived in Houston Heights. Two of these victims, David Hilligiest and Malley Winkle, were abducted and killed together on the afternoon of May 29, 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 year-old Elmer Wayne Henley, a lifelong friend of Hilligiest. The youth pinned the posters around the Heights and attempted to reassure Hilligiest's mother that there may be an innocent explanation for the boys' absence.

On August 17, , Corll and Brooks encountered a year-old acquaintance of Brooks named Ruben Watson walking home from a movie theater in Houston.

Brooks persuaded Watson to attend a party at Corll's address. The youth agreed and was taken to Corll's home where he was subsequently strangled and buried in the boat shed. Henley accepted Corll's offer, and initially participated in the abductions of the victims, then later actively participated in many of the killings.

According to Henley, the first abduction he participated in occurred at Schuler Street, an address Corll had moved to in February of although Brooks later claimed that Henley became involved in the abductions of the victims while Corll resided at an address he had occupied prior to Schuler.

If Henley's statement is to be believed, the victim was abducted from the Heights in February or early March of In the statement Henley gave to police following his arrest, the youth stated that he and Corll picked up a youth at the corner of 11th and Studewood, and lured him to Corll's home on the promise of smoking some marijuana. Henley duped the youth into donning a pair of handcuffs before leaving him alone with Corll.

The identity of this victim is not conclusively known, although it is possible the youth was Willard Branch, a year-old casual acquaintance of Henley and Brooks who disappeared on February 9, , and was found buried in the boat shed. One month later, on March 24, , Henley, Brooks and Corll encountered an year-old acquaintance of Henley's named Frank Anthony Aguirre leaving a restaurant on Yale Street, where the youth worked. Henley called Aguirre over to Corll's van and invited the youth to Corll's apartment on the promise that he could drink beer and smoke marijuana with the trio.

Aguirre agreed and followed the pair to Corll's home in his Rambler. Inside Corll's house, Aguirre was given marijuana and then tricked into donning a pair of handcuffs before Corll pounced on the youth. Henley left Aguirre alone with Corll. Henley later claimed to having discovered Corll torturing the youth, upon which Corll informed him 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.

Henley was again paid for luring the victim to Corll's home and subsequently assisted Corll and Brooks in Aguirre's burial at High Island Beach. Despite the revelations that Corll was, in reality, killing the boys whom he and Brooks had assisted in abducting, Henley nonetheless became an active participant in the abductions and murders.

Within one month, on April 20, , he assisted Corll in the abduction of another youth, a year-old friend of his named Mark Scott. Scott was grabbed by force and fought furiously against attempts by Corll to secure him to the torture board, even attempting to stab his attackers. However, Scott saw Henley pointing a gun towards him and, according to Brooks, Mark "just gave up.

According to Brooks, Henley was 'especially sadistic' in his participation of the murders committed at Schuler: before Corll vacated the address on June 26, Henley assisted Corll and Brooks in the abduction and murder of two youths named Billy Baulch and Johnny Delone. In Brooks' confession, he stated that both youths were tied to Corll's bed and, after their torture and rape, Henley manually strangled Baulch, then shouted "Hey, Johnny!

Delone then pleaded with Henley: "Wayne, please don't! During the time Corll lived at Schuler, the trio lured a year-old youth named Billy Ridinger to the house.

Ridinger was tied to the plywood board, tortured and abused by Corll. Brooks later claimed he persuaded Corll to allow Ridinger to be released, and the youth was allowed to leave the residence. On another ocasion at Schuler, Henley knocked Brooks unconscious as he entered the house. Corll then tied Brooks to his bed and assaulted the youth repeatedly before releasing him.

Despite the assault, Brooks continued to assist Corll in the abductions of the victims. After vacating the Schuler residence, Corll moved to an apartment at Westcott Towers, where he is known to have killed a further four victims.

The first victim killed at Westcott Towers, Steven Sickman, was killed on July 20; two further Heights boys were abducted and murdered on October 3 and a year-old youth named Richard Kepner was murdered on November Altogether, a minimum of nine teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 were murdered between February and November of ; five of whom were buried at High Island Beach, and four inside Corll's boat shed.

Within two weeks of moving into the address, he had killed a year-old youth named Joseph Lyles before vacating the apartment and moving to Lamar Drive in Pasadena on March 7.

No known victims were killed from February to June 3 of , although Corll is known to have suffered from a hydrocele in early , which may account for this sudden lull in killings. Nonetheless, from June, Corll's rate of killings increased dramatically: Henley later compared the acceleration in the frequency of killings to being "like a blood lust," adding that Corll would make reflex movements and state that he "needed to 'do' a new boy.

In July of , David Brooks married his pregnant fiancee, and Henley temporarily became Corll's sole procurer of victims: assisting in the abduction and murder of a further three Heights youths between the ages of 15 and 18 between July 19 and July According to Henley, these three abductions were the only three that occurred after his becoming an accomplice to Corll in which David Brooks was not a participant.

One of these three victims was buried at Lake Sam Rayburn and the other two, abducted together on July 25, were buried in the boat shed. Dreymala was abducted while riding his bike in Pasadena and driven to Corll's home where he was tied to Corll's torture board, raped and strangled with a cord before being buried in the boat shed.

David Brooks later described Dreymala as a "small, blond boy" whom he had bought a pizza before the youth was attacked. On the evening of August 7, , Henley, aged 17, invited a year-old youth named Timothy Cordell Kerley to attend a party at Corll's Pasadena house.

Kerley — who was intended to be Corll's next victim — accepted the offer. David Brooks was not present at the time. The two youths arrived at Corll's house and sniffed paint fumes and drank alcohol until midnight before leaving the house to purchase sandwiches.

Henley and Kerley then drove back to Houston Heights and Kerley parked his vehicle close to Henley's home: Henley exited the vehicle and walked towards the home of year-old Rhonda Williams, who had been beaten by her drunken father that evening and had decided to temporarily leave home until her father became sober. Henley invited Rhonda to spend the evening at Corll's home: Rhonda agreed and climbed into the back seat of Kerley's Volkswagen. The trio drove towards Corll's Pasadena residence.

At approximately 3 a. Corll was furious that Henley had brought a girl along, telling him in private that he had "ruined everything. Corll appeared to calm down, and offered the three teenagers beer and marijuana. The three teenagers began drinking and smoking the marijuana as Corll, drinking beer, watched them intently. After approximately two hours of drinking and smoking, Henley, Kerley, and Williams each passed out.

Henley awoke to find Corll snapping handcuffs onto his wrists. His ankles had also been bound together. Kerley and Williams lay beside Henley, securely bound with nylon rope, gagged with adhesive tape and lying face down on the floor.

Kerley had also been stripped naked. Corll told Henley that he was furious he had brought a girl to his house, and explained that he was going to kill all three teenagers after he had assaulted and tortured Kerley. He repeatedly kicked Williams in the chest, then dragged Henley into his kitchen and placed a. Henley calmed Corll, promising to participate in the torture and murder of both Williams and Kerley if Corll released him. 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.

Corll then handed Henley a hunting knife and ordered him to cut away Williams's clothes, insisting that, while he would rape and kill Kerley, Henley would do likewise to Williams. Henley began cutting away Williams's clothes as Corll undressed and began to assault and torture Kerley. Both Kerley and Williams had awakened by this point.

Kerley began writhing and shouting as Williams, whose gag Henley had removed, lifted her head and asked Henley "Is this for real? Henley then asked Corll whether he might take Rhonda into another room. Corll ignored him and Henley then grabbed Corll's pistol, shouting "You've gone far enough, Dean!

Corll spun round and staggered out of the room, hitting the wall of the hallway. 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. Corll died where he fell, his naked body lying face towards the wall. After shooting Corll, Henley released Kerley and Williams from the torture board, and all three teenagers dressed and discussed what actions they should take.

Henley suggested to Kerley and Williams that they should simply leave, to which Kerley replied "No; we should call the police. At a. His call was answered by an operator named Velma Lines. In his call, Henley blurted to the operator: "Y'all better come here right now! I just killed a man! As Kerley, Williams and Henley waited upon Corll's porch for the police to arrive, Henley mentioned to Kerley that he had "done that killed by shooting four or five times.

Minutes later, a Pasadena Police car arrived at Lamar Drive. The three teenagers were sitting on the porch outside the house, and the officer noted the. 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.

The officer returned to the car and read Henley his Miranda rights. In response, Henley shouted: " I don't care who knows about it. I have to get it off my chest! 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. 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.

Police were initially skeptical of Henley's claims, assuming the sole homicide of the case was that of Corll, which they had ascribed to being the result of drug-fueled fisticuffs that had turned deadly. Henley was quite insistent, however, and upon his recalling the names of three boys — Cobble, Hilligiest and Jones —whom he and David Brooks had procured for Corll, the police accepted that there was something to his claims, as all three teenagers were listed as missing at Houston Police headquarters.

David Hilligiest had been reported missing in the summer of ; the other two boys had been missing for just two weeks. Moreover, the floor of the room where the three teenagers had been tied was covered in thick plastic sheeting. Police also found a plywood torture board measuring seven-by-three feet with handcuffs in each corner. Also found at Corll's address were a large hunting knife, rolls of clear plastic of the same type used to cover the floor, a portable radio rigged to a pair of dry cells to give increased volume, a number of dildos, thin glass tubes and lengths of rope.

The Ford Econoline van belonging to Corll parked in the driveway conveyed a similar impression. The rear windows of the van were sealed by opaque blue curtains. In the rear of the vehicle, police found a coil of rope, a swatch of beige rug covered in soil stains, and a wooden crate with air holes drilled in the sides.

The pegboard walls inside the rear of the van were rigged with several rings and hooks. Another wooden crate with air holes drilled in the sides was also found in Corll's back yard.

Inside this crate were several strands of human hair. 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 began digging through the soft, shell-crushed earth of the boat shed and soon uncovered the body of a young blond-haired teenaged boy, lying face up and encased in clear plastic, buried beneath a layer of lime.

Police continued excavating through the earth of the shed, unearthing 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 ligature still wrapped tightly around their necks.

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 shoved 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. In some instances, Corll had also castrated his live victims; severed genitals were found inside sealed plastic bags. On August 8, , a total of eight corpses were uncovered at the boat shed. Accompanied by his father, David Brooks presented himself at the Houston Police Station on the evening of August 8, , and gave a statement denying any participation in the murders, but admitting to having known that Corll had raped and killed two youths in Two additional bodies were found in shallow graves.

Police found nine additional bodies in the boat shed on August 9, 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 10, , Henley again accompanied police to Lake Sam Rayburn, where two more bodies were found buried just ten feet apart. As with the two bodies found the previous day, both victims had been tortured and severely beaten, particularly around the head. That afternoon, both Henley and Brooks accompanied police to High Island Beach, leading police to the shallow graves of two more victims.

On August 13, , 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 - the worst killing spree in American history at the time. Henley initially insisted that there were two more bodies to be found inside the boat shed, and also that the bodies of two more boys had been buried at High Island Beach in At the time, the killing spree was the worst case of serial murder in terms of number of victims in the United States, exceeding the 25 murders attributed to Juan Corona from California, who was arrested in for killing twenty-five men.

The 'Houston Mass Murders' , as they became known, hit the headlines all over the world: even Pope Paul VI commented on the atrocious nature of the crimes and offered sympathy to relatives of those who had died. Police were inundated with inquiries regarding missing boys from parents across the United States. Families of Corll's victims were highly critical of the Houston Police Department, which had been quick to list the missing boys as runaways who had not been considered worthy of any major investigation: The families of the murdered youths asserted that the police should have noted an insidious trend in the pattern of disappearances of teenage boys from the Heights neighborhood; other family members complained the police had been dismissive to their adamant insistence that their sons had no reasons to run away from home.

The father of the Waldrop brothers complained that the Houston police chief had simply told him "You know your boys are runaways. By April of , twenty-one 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.

Two more teenagers were identified in and one of whom, Richard Kepner, also lived in Houston Heights. Dean Corll and his accomplices are known to have killed a minimum of 28 teenagers and young men between September and August , although it is suspected that the true number of victims may be 29 or more.

To date, a total of 26 of his victims have been identified, and the identity of a 27th victim whose body has never been found is conclusively known. All of the victims had been killed by either shooting, strangulation or a combination of both.

September 25 : Jeffrey Konen, 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, December 15 : James Glass, An acquaintance of Corll who also knew David Brooks.

He and his friend were strangled before being buried in Corll's boat shed. January 30 : Donald Waldrop, 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, The youngest of Corll's victims. He and his brother were strangled and buried in Corll's boat shed.

March 9 : Randell Harvey, 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, May 29 : David Hilligiest, 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, He disappeared on his way to visit a local swimming pool. August 17 : Ruben Watson, Left his home to visit the cinema on the afternoon of August 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. February 9 : Willard 'Rusty' Branch, Jr. 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, March 24 : Frank Aguirre, 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, According to Henley, Scott was strangled and buried at High Island; although his remains have yet to be found.

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

On July 25, Henley and his attorneys filed an appeal, contending that Henley had been denied an evidentiary hearing; that the jury had not been sequestered; that a motion to move the initial trial away from San Antonio had also been denied and that the presence of news media in the courtroom had also prejudiced his trial. By the time Richard Kepner had been killed and buried at High Island, Henley had assisted in the abduction and murder of a minimum of nine teenage boys. On February 1, , Corll abducted and killed a year-old youth named Joseph Lyles, apparently without the assistance of Henley, who had temporarily moved to Mount Pleasant in early In the spring of , Henley attempted to enlist in the U.

Navy, but his application was rejected on June 28 due to the fact he had dropped out of high school and—although a later intelligence test would reveal his IQ to be —possessed a limited education. In a interview, Henley stated: "I couldn't leave anyway. If I did go, I knew Dean would go after one of my little brothers, who he always liked a little too much. Nonetheless, between June and July Henley, Brooks and Corll killed a further seven victims between the ages of fifteen and twenty, at least five of whom Henley participated in either the abduction or murder.

On August 8, , Henley brought a further potential victim, year-old Timothy Kerley, to Corll's home upon the promise of a party. Before Corll was able to manacle Kerley to his torture board, the pair left Corll's home to purchase sandwiches. Henley and Kerley later returned to Corll's home — in the company of a year-old girl named Rhonda Williams.

Corll was furious that a girl had been brought to his house, telling Henley in private he had "ruined everything. Between August 8 and August 13, , a total of 27 boys between the ages of 13 and 20 were found buried at the three locations Henley and later, Brooks had stated they and Corll had buried the victims, with an additional victim being discovered in Seventeen of the victims were found buried in the boat shed, a further four victims were found at Lake Sam Rayburn , six bodies were found buried at High Island Beach although the body of a seventh victim buried at High Island, Mark Scott , still lies undiscovered at this location and the body of a 28th victim was found buried at Jefferson County Beach in August All the victims found were young males and many had been sexually tortured in addition to being sexually assaulted.

Autopsies revealed each victim had been killed by either strangulation, shooting or a combination of both. At Henley's trial in , one of the six bodies found buried at High Island, that of year-old John Manning Sellars, was disputed as being a victim of Corll by a forensic pathologist who examined his remains.

The youth, who vanished on July 12, , had died of four gunshot wounds fired from a rifle, whereas each other victim of the Houston Mass Murders had either been strangled or killed with the. However, Henley and Brooks had led police to Sellars' body on August 13, and the youth's body was found bound hand and foot and buried in a manner similar to Corll's other known victims.

On August 13, , a grand jury convened in Harris County to hear evidence against Henley and Brooks. The jury heard evidence from both Rhonda Williams and Tim Kerley, who each testified to the events of August 7 and 8 leading to the shooting of Dean Corll , plus the testimony from various police officers who recited and discussed the written statements each youth had made and described how both Brooks and Henley had led them to each of the burial sites.

The assembled jury also heard the testimony of a youth named Billy Ridinger, who had been abducted by Corll, Henley and Brooks in and who testified as to his torture and abuse at the hands of the trio.

Initially, Henley was an excellent student at school; but after his parents' divorce he took a series of menial part-time jobs to help his mother with household finances, and his grades dropped sharply. At the age of 15, Henley dropped out of high school. He would later develop a minor criminal record, being arrested for burglary in Henley later told police that, for several months, he completely ignored Corll's offer.

However, in early , he decided he would "help find a boy" for Corll as he was in dire financial circumstances. At Corll's home, Corll and Henley devised a ruse in which they would lure a youth to Corll's home and Henley would then cuff his hands behind his back, release himself, then con the victim into placing the handcuffs upon himself. The victim was lured to Corll's Schuler Street apartment on the promise of smoking some marijuana.

At Corll's address, Henley helped con the teenager into donning the handcuffs, then watched Corll pounce on the youth, tie his feet and place tape over his mouth. Henley then left the youth alone with Corll, believing he was to be sold into the sex slavery ring.