To appease Corll, Henley told him they could rape and kill Kerley and Williams together. Her reports in three states over 20 years contributed to the prosecutions of a former congressman and afederal judge, inspired laws and reforms, helped solve cold cases, restored names to unidentified murder victims, and freed dozens of wrongfully-held prisoners. How Teenager Elmer Wayne Henley Became The Accomplice Of One Of Americas Most Prolific Serial Killers, Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. gives an interview to. Elmer Wayne Henley - Trial and Conviction | Trial Conviction I admired Dean because he had a steady job. Ed Kemper Interview: 5 Shocking Interviews With The 'Co-Ed Killer But in Henleys case, Harris County prosecutors did not seek a death sentence, which the U.S. Supreme Court had declared to be cruel and unusual punishment on June 29, 1972. By the time he finally made an advance, I was an accomplice.. Her work is featured in CNN's The Wrong Man (2015) about the innocence claims of executed offender Ruben Cantu and the six-part A&E series on the victims of a 1970s serial killer, The Eleven, (2017). Thats something Ive tried to build in me. Porras initially set out to interview "anybody on death row," she said. Henley will shortly be sentenced to 594 years by a San Antonio court, but that is a formality. The two boys were killed by strangulation later the same day. A total of 25 witnesses testified as to Henley's involvement in the abductions and murders, including Detective David Mullican. "[7], The same year, Henley became aware of an insidious pattern of disappearances in his neighborhood: since the previous December, a minimum of eight boys ages 13 to 17 had disappeared from Houston Heights. Henley represents a larger problem because he seems to be quite sane. All of the Texas Observers articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. After one hour of deliberation they reached their conclusion:[35] Henley was found guilty and sentenced to six consecutive 99-year terms of imprisonment. But film maker Teana Schiefen Porras managed to break through not only correctional system red tape, but Henley's reluctance, to come away with a filmed interview. A 'Game of Thrones' Actor Plays One of the Murderers on 'Mindhunter' Corll dragged Aguirre to his bedroom and secured him to his torture board where he was raped, tortured and strangled before being buried at High Island Beach. Corll provided him inspiration, and a program, but at some point the apprentice seems to have surpassed the master. Henley then fired a further three rounds into the rear of his right shoulder and upper back, killing him. Two additional youths, John Sellars and Michael Baulch, were killed on July 12 and 19. Henley unequivocally stated that since the winter of 1971, he had actively participated in the abductions and, later, the murders of the victims. Arkansas Online reports Brooks died on May 28, 2020, after contracting COVID-19 in prison. [46] 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. My only regret is that Dean isnt here now, so I could tell him what a good job I did killing him.. Another project entirely brings me to Houston, and yet it seems quite proper while here to be dealing with Henley, a commodity as valuable as a state bank charter or a fast-food franchise. His voice can be very soft or very loud, depending on what the situation is, and he can be quite serious or very funny. CLICK TO WATCH FULL DOCUMENTARY ONLINE: https://docsonline.tv/serial-killers/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_content=psycho-killer-elmer-wayne. Henley pleaded for his life, promising to participate in the torture and murder of the other youths if Corll released him. The pair then drove around Houston Heights and, at the corner of 11th and Studewood, Henley persuaded a youth to enter Corll's Plymouth GTX. Families of Corlls victims have actively opposed parole for Henley for decades. Corll was an average, submissive student who played the trombone in the Vidor school band, on the outskirts of Beaumont. He gave him money and provided him with a place to stay when he didnt want to go home. He is also a perverted product of some of those frontier values, degraded in social transition, and emerging in the crime of the decade that seems too utterly contemporary to warrant further examination. He lacked a male figure in his life who would treat him with dignity and respect and he would end up finding this in Dean Corll. The parents of the rings last known murder victim, 13-year-old James Stanton Dreymala, are among those who were alarmed after receiving notification of Henleys compassionate release request. [Texas Monthly, April 1976 edition p. 124], Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. & Dean Corll Documentary Clip, List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "The Houston Mass Murders: What Really Happened", "Houston Finds Murder Ring a Random, Enigmatic Intrusion", "Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley: Houston's most notorious serial killers By Chris Hanson", "Woman's 11-Year Search for Son Ends in Morgue", "Police News Reporter "Identifies" Houston Mass Murder Victim Bodies to be Exhumed", "2 Texas Youths File Pleas of Not Guilty In Mass Slayings (abstract)", Offender Information Detail Henley, Elmer Wayne Jr, "David Brooks, accomplice in Houston Mass Murders, dies at 65 of COVID-19", "Sentenced to life in prison for one of society's most heinous mass murders, it's all Elmer Wayne Henley has. Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks were childhood friends, who met and became friends with Dean Corll when they were in their teens. One time she wrote about sports. The state Board of Pardons and Paroles approved 76 persons for release in 201959 terminally ill and 17 already assigned to long-term care. Corll dragged the two victims into his bedroom and tied them to his torture board. As he taunted Kerley and Williams, Henley entered the bedroom holding Corlls gun. As Henley claimed in an interview with Texas Monthly, Corll allegedly promised him $200 for every boy he brought to him, as part of "a homosexual porn ring in California." I didnt have to do nothing but steal. Even after the pandemic began, that did not change. FactualTV host a documentary focusing upon the murders committed by Corll and his accomplices. As had been the case with Frank Aguirre, Scott was raped, tortured, strangled and buried at High Island Beach before another two Heights youths, Billy Gene Baulch Jr. and Johnny Ray Delome, were also murdered and buried at High Island on May 21. Henley was handed a long hunting knife by Corll, who ordered him to cut away Williams' clothes, insisting that he would rape and kill the youth as Henley would do likewise to Rhonda Williams. In addition to driving them around town, Dean Corll often drank alcohol and smoked marijuana with the boys. In August 1973, Henley, then 17, shirtless and jittery from a night of partying, was arrested and confessed to participating in a murder, rape, and torture ring led by Dean Corll, a Houston electrician and former candy maker with no criminal history. 15-year-old Michael Baulch was the younger brother of Billy Gene Baulch Jr., who was murdered the previous spring. One day, Brooks walked in on Corll raping two teenage boys. Most of those missing boys and young men had been branded as runaways by policeand their murders had gone undetecteduntil Henley killed Corll. Williams was just 15 when she. There were rumors going around school about Dean, but he was never overt. Elmer Wayne Henley: The Truth About The Person Who Killed The - Grunge I wanted also to feel like I was man enough to deal with my father.. All of Corlls 28 known victims had either been shot or strangled, and in at least six instances, Henley himself fired the shots or pulled the cords that killed them. Dean Corll, known as the Candy Man, was. At one point during the trial, Mullican testified that Henley had informed him that in order to restrain the youths; he, Brooks and Corll had "handcuffed (the victims) to the board and sometimes to a wall with their mouths taped so they couldn't make any noise".[33]. Corll was furious that a girl had been brought to his house, telling Henley in private he had "ruined everything." Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. interview on episode of 48 Hours He then turned himself over to police, confessing his involvement in one of the country's largest murder sprees. Because the Behavioral Science Unit expands in. That's exactly what I did." Search for more victims from real-life 'Candy Man' serial killer continues He overreacted, out of meanness. "I also said he would have a chance to apologize and say what he feels.". If you support this mission, we need your help. Houston serial killer Dean Corll's accomplice David Brooks could be paroled Corll was known throughout the community as the Candy Man, as his parents owned a candy company. Kahan said so far, he lacks details about the nature of Henleys request. Henley was charged with six counts of murder and Brooks with four counts. Corll, on the other hand, did not make fun of Brooks. Henley was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences of 99 years each. Huffine pointed out that the video's purpose was to encourage parents and children to become more aware of their surroundings. Dad just wasnt straightening out. He does NOT deserve to have any compassion for any illness as my brother was not even treated with basic humanity.. I had Dean in a corner, see, and he told me, You wont kill me. I shot himcoollyuntil I ran out of bullets. Please notify us by email that the article will be republished at, Supreme Court had declared to be cruel and unusual punishment. On February 1, 1973, Corll abducted and killed a 17-year-old youth named Joseph Lyles, apparently without the assistance of Henley, who had temporarily moved to Mount Pleasant in early 1973. Sometimes it takes two people half an hour.. Nonetheless, between June and July 1973: 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. White fatigues hang open at the neck, revealing a sunken chest and the colorless flesh of the restricted prisoner. As Corll continued to advance upon him, Henley shot him a further two times in the shoulder, upon which Corll staggered out of the room where the teenagers were held. Besides, I liked him personally. David Owen Brooks - Wikipedia As promised, Henley was paid $200 the next day. At first I wondered what it was like to kill someone, Henley once said. Their parents seemed unwilling or incapable of providing direction. [47][n 2], Following the revelation of Henley's subsequent involvement in the murders initiated by Corll, the mother of David Hilligiest would recollect: "He (Henley) would ask if we had heard anything and he would look off into the distance. The interview, along with other extensively compiled footage, comprises "Decisions and Visions," an hourlong documentary produced by Silver Rock Productions, an Oak Ridge North-based film company. As a result, the estimated number of victims rose to at least 29. According to Texas Monthly, Henley and Brooks began roaming the Houston Heights neighborhood, smoking marijuana, drinking beer, and shooting pool. Henley says his father also beat him and once fired a pistol at him. In the years since, a judge told her to forget about that night, her family abandoned her, she's had death threats and she's never talked about any of it -- until now. Those victims also were his friends, classmates or neighbors: Frank Aguirre, a 17-year-old high school senior only weeks away from graduation; his former junior high classmate Johnny Delome, 16; Charles Cobble, 17; and Marty Jones, 18, who shared an apartment blocks from Henleys home; Homer Garcia, a 15-year-old who took drivers ed classes with Henley; and Billy Lawrence, another 15-year-old who was apparently held captive and abused longer than any other victim, according to trial testimony. Elmer Wayne Henley Jr, a gray-haired 66-year-old serving six life sentences for his role in Houston's most notorious serial killings, is requesting compassionate . Katy Vine has been a staff writer since 2002. When Porras first met with Henley, according to the Houston Chronicle, she said, I thought I was looking at Hannibal Lecter., As the interview went on, she relaxed more, realizing Henley was not as terrifying as she initially thought. But through all these years, one of his victims remains unidentified. Autopsies revealed each victim had been killed by either strangulation, shooting or a combination of both.[25]. Henley, then 17 years old, shot Corll dead on August 8, 1973.[2]. He likes Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Harold Robbins, but his appreciation of Ayn Rand reveals that individuality resides in unlikely places: I like The Fountainhead because the hero is a loner who does what everybody said he couldnt do. Within the last year, Henley provided information about other possible clandestine graves to Tim Miller, the founder and executive director of Texas EquuSearch. One of Texas most famous death row exonerees died before winning compensation under a law inspired by his own story. At this point, Corll told him the youth he had previously assisted in the abduction of had been killed and that Aguirre was to suffer the same fate. However, he eventually confessed that he, Corll, and Brooks, worked together to kill at least 28 young men and boys. He also allowed them to stay at his home when they did not have anywhere else to go. [36] He was tried for a second time in June 1979 and was again convicted of six murders and again sentenced to six life terms although to run concurrently rather than consecutively. The officers who were dispatched had no inkling that they were about to uncover the most heinous and horrifying killing spree the nation had ever seen up until that point. The next day, Corll paid Henley $200. Based on the real cases of former special agent John E. Douglas, Netflix's Mindhunter features chilling dramatized interviews with serial killers. Gregg started the interview, but struggled to get Henley to admit any involvement in anything. Elmer Wayne Henley is a convicted serial killer involved in a series of murders in Houston. Transcript of letter Billy Lawrence was forced to write to his father by Corll.[21]. I'm an accomplice to a serial killer. Within a week he led authorities to 27 clandestine graves. [12] 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. In a 2010 interview, Henley stated: "I couldn't leave anyway. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. He assumed that the boy had been sold to the Dallas organization Corll was a part of but he later found out that Corll had sexually assaulted the boy and then murdered him. His mother moved to Colorado, but this time Corll didnt go with her. In an interview with Texas Monthly, Henley said Corll, who was in his early 30s, seemed like a "quiet" and friendly man, who simply liked spending time with the teens.