Dean Corll, The “Candy Man” Serial Killer
Wikimedia CommonsDean Corll, pictured during his military days.
Dean Corll is probably one of the most puzzling American serial killers because he seemed so normal before his crimes came to light.
He lived in an affluent Houston, Texas, neighborhood and enjoyed spending time in his mother’s candy factory, which is how he earned the nickname “The Candy Man.” He was a Vietnam War veteran with no criminal record, and his neighbors described him as quiet, well-mannered, and pleasant.
What those around him didn’t know was that Corll was hiding deadly secrets. Over the course of two and a half years, from Dec. 13, 1970, to July 25, 1973, Corll tortured and murdered 28 boys.
He carried out his killings with the help of two teenage accomplices, 17-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. and 18-year-old David Brooks. The teens knew many of Corll’s victims, and a few of them were even their friends.
Bettman/Getty ImagesA newspaper story about the murders committed by Dean Corll.
Each of the boys was lured by Corll and his accomplices with candy, alcohol, and false promises into Corll’s van. The boys were then tortured and forced to write notes home to their families promising that they were safe.
Corll and his accomplices reportedly stripped the boys naked, bound their hands and feet, sexually tortured them, and then finally killed them.
Corll’s killing spree, which at the time made him one of the most brutal American serial killers in history, came to a gruesome crescendo when his young associate Henley decided that he was fed up with murdering his friends and shot Corll in the head with his own gun.
Henley and Brooks both later confessed to their roles as accomplices and received life sentences for their involvement in Corll’s crimes.
The bodies of Corll’s victims were eventually found by detectives. The 28 boys were scattered and buried in three different areas: a boat shed in Houston, the Bolivar Peninsula, and a woodland area at Lake Sam Rayburn.
