A Little Terrifying Houston History

The Scientist and the Serial Killer

Dean Corll raped and murdered at least 30 boys and young men between 1970 and 1973 in Houston and Pasadena. It seems like every major city has at least one horrendous serial killer in its past, and Houston got one of the absolute worst. The story of the discovery of his victims is the first local news story I can remember. I vaguely remember hearing about the moon landings and the Vietnam war, but I clearly remember the recovery of bodies on High Island. I was 10 when this was reported on the local news. I subsequently received warnings from concerned relatives: if someone you don’t know invites you to a party, don’t go!

Corll was caught due to the brilliant and dogged police work of the Houston and Pasadena PD. No, wait—that’s not right. Corll was caught totally by accident when he was about to murder Elmer Wayne Henley’s girlfriend, Rhonda Louise Williams. Henley was one of Corll’s two accomplices who helped Corll identify and entrap his victims. Henley shot Corll and subsequently turned himself in to the police. Henley was only 17 when he killed Corll, while Corll’s other accomplice, David Owen Brooks was 18. They were peers and even friends with some of Corll’s victims. (Brooks died of Covid but Henley is still alive in prison.)

Corll’s family had a candy-making business in the Heights, a neighborhood northwest of downtown Houston. As a means of drumming up business, Corll would give the candy to kids at Helms Elementary across the street from the bungalow where they manufactured candy. It was because of this activity that he obtained the now infamous nickname, the “Candy Man.” After the crimes were discovered, this sobriquet was latched onto Corll by the true crime writers who parachuted into town to figure out what happened.