Dean Corll The Candy Man

The Candy Man:

Dean Corll was a murder, kidnapper, and rapist. He was the reason for the Houston Mass Murders, which at the time were the worst serial killings of the States. He mostly targeted teenage boys when stalking out his prey. Although he was the main killer behind all of this, he was not alone in his crimes. David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley were Corll’s two teenage accomplices. 

1970, the first known victim of The Candy Man was killed. Jeffrey Konan, an 18 year old college student, was picked up by Corll as he was hiking. It’s most likely that Konan got in the car with him, because Corll might’ve offered to drive him to his parents house. Konan’s body was buried in High Island Beach. Around this time he showed more of his interest in sadism and bondage with young men.

In Corll’s apartment he had a torture board, which was a large 8×2 wooden plank that he’d tie boys up to. Around the time of Jeffrey Konan’s death, David Brooks stopped Corll as he was in the middle of raping two teenage boys. The boys were restricted of movement, because they had been strapped up to the torture board. Corll later admitted to Brooks that he murdered them. In order to keep Brooks shut, Corll offered to buy him a car, which Brooks agreed to. After murdering the boys, Corll bought him a green Chevrolet Corvette. 

Corll later offered Brooks about 200 dollars for every boy that he could bring to his apartment. On one occasion, Brooks had brought two boys to Corll from a religious rally. Corll raped and killed the boys. Another time, Brooks and Corll saw two young brothers walking home. Corll lured them to his van and apartment where he then raped and killed them. He buried their bodies in a boat shed that he owned. This boat shed would later become a mass grave for many young boys.

One of the boys that Brooks brought to Corll was Elmer Wayne Henley. When Brooks gave Henley to Corll, he told Henley that he had been sold to a sex slavery ring. Corll decided not to rape and murder the boy, but to recruit him as a part of his murderous team. He offered Henley the same deal he was doing with Brooks if he could lure boys to his apartment. At first, Henley was hesitant with the offer, but he later agreed due to his parents financial hardships.

In 1972, they encountered one of Henley’s acquaintances, Frank Aguire. They lured him to Corll’s apartment by promising Aguire drugs and alcohol. Aguire also felt more comfortable, because he knew Henley. When Aguire was in Corll’s apartment, Corll handcuffed him and pushed him against a table. Henley pleaded for Corll not to hurt Aguire, but Corll killed him. Corll also informed Henley that there was no sex slavery ring, and he is killing every boy that they bring to him. Henley buried Aguire’s body by High Island Beach, and followed whatever Corll said. Brooks though, said that Henley was sadistic and enjoyed murdering some of the boys himself.

Between late 1970 to mid 1973, Brooks and Henley lured a minimum of 28 boys to Corll. Several of the boys that Brooks and Henley brought to Corll were friends or acquaintances of them. The victims felt comfortable with the three of them, so they wouldn’t feel as though they were in any type of danger. Most of the boys brought to Corll had a connection to him in some type of way whether they were socially acquainted or if they were employed by the candy company. All of the boys brought to Corll were between the ages 13 and 20. Corll and his teenage accomplices would use Corll’s white van or Brook’s Chevy to seek out their prey. The three of them would offer candy, alcohol, or a place to party to get the boys into the van.

Once in Corll’s apartment, the boys would be given enough drugs or alcohol until they passed out, or by force bound and gagged in many different ways. Henley even tricked a boy into trying on handcuffs. This was the infamous handcuff trick that Corll taught them. Henley handcuffed himself, but kept a key in his back pocket. He undid his handcuffs, and told the victim that they can get out of them without a key. Once the victim attempted this, they wouldn’t be able to get out, and Henley told them that they were sold in a sex slavery ring. He would then bring the victims to Corll. 

Upon capture, the boys would be stripped naked and tied up to Corll’s torture board. Corll would rape them for sometimes days at a time. It was said that the more Corll liked a boy, the longer he would keep him. Once Corll was done with them, his victims were either strangled or shot to death. Corll being the sadist that he was, liked to see the boys suffer. Sometimes he would shoot the boys and let them slowly bleed to death. It was reported that he shot the lower jaw off of one of his victims. Instead of putting the boy out of his misery, he let him bleed out. Many of the boy’s bodies were disposed of in his Corll’s boat shed. He liked to keep keys of the boys as souvenirs of their murders.

Often Corll would make the boys call or write postcards to their families excusing their disappearances. Doing this would also make the police believe the missing boys were just runaways. Most of the boys were taken from the Houston Heights area, which was a low income area of downtown Houston. Some parents started searches for their sons, and would put up posters of the missing boys. The public began to notice more boys had been missing, but nobody imagined it was the doing of one of the country’s most prolific serial killers.

One of the victims, Mark Scott, was forced to write his parents a postcard after being captured by The Candy Man. The postcard described that he had relocated to Austin and found a good job, and his parents shouldn’t worry about him. He was 17 at the time of disappearance in 1972. Prior to receiving the postcard, his parents contacted the police and reported that their son was missing. When the police saw the card they dismissed the Scott’s and claimed the boy to be a runaway like the others. It was not illegal to have children runaway, so the police said there was nothing they could do.