Candy Man Serial Killer

OP- You're watching The Clown? - Is that a documentary about the NEW mayor of NYC Eric Adams ?

R1 is working overnight hours in Moscow

Awful case. I love true crime and serial killers, and researching this one online (late at nigh in bed, when I had insomnia, of course) really upset me extra. So bizarre how everything went down. Yet another example of a serial killer getting away with stuff because they’re reckless and brazen, and people might suspect something up but are afraid and unsure to speak up. And how he died was really twisted. Super weird.

His teen accomplices were hot! Especially David Brooks.

Another dreamboat shot of Brooks.

I had completely forgotten about Dean Corli. There was a mass market paperback on him...the kind that they used to sell at the supermarket checkout. I read it when I was 11 or 12 in the late 1970s. I was riveted. There were dangers everywhere in the 1970s and it was a very nihilistic time for children. The expectation that we would be kidnapped and murdered—or that the world would be snuffed out in a field of mushroom clouds—was omnipresent.

Dean Corll was hot too! wonder they got so many victims.

Can you please stop posting photos of hot serial killer beefcake? 28 young men are dead show some respect.

Are there any hot shots of the 28 young men?

Brooks kind of had that Johnny Depp / James Franco scuzzball thing going on.

What a freak.

The victims were mainly straight kids who would go to his house and do drugs. Once drugged, he and his accomplices would handcuff them to a wall, molest them, and then kill them. He stored the dead bodies in some sort of warehouse.

I was a little kid when this happened. The nightly news was way different then so I remember the footage of them dragging out corpses wrapped in plastic sheeting.

He was called “the candy man” because he and his family had previously owned and operated a candy factory in Houston Heights, and he had been known to give free candy to local children.

This habit of giving serial killers in the 60s and 70s catchy nicknames was unfortunate.

Jesus Christ, get the facts straight. That asshole at R5 and R10 is ELMER WAYNE HENLEY JR., not David Brooks. Brooks was blonde with glasses. Henley was dark haired and scrawny with scraggly facial hair and acne. There was nothing "hot" about him or Brooks. And certainly not Corll either, who has been described as having a "rabbity" face. They were all loser white trash, and looked it.

I'm surprised there was never a movie about this case. Maybe it was considered too distasteful; the tale of a sexual deviate, who, with the help of two teen accomplices, lured young boys into his lair where he subdued them, handcuffed them to a plywood board, raped them, tortured them, and eventually killed them. It went on for years and would have kept going on if not for an altercation between Henley and Corll that ended up with Corll getting shot to death by Henley.

There's a good book on this case, "The Man With The Candy: the story of the Houston mass murders" by Jack Olsen. Anyone interested in this case should read it.

Two of Corll's later victims were David Hilligiest and Gregory Malley Winkle, 13 and 16 years old respectively. Their murders were particularly heartbreaking; they were just two young boys who wanted to go for a swim on a hot day when they somehow hooked with Corll and his teenage buddies. Henley was a childhood playmate of Hilligiest's and he led him straight to his doom. Later he told the child's mother, who was frantically trying to find her missing son, that he thought David was alright somewhere, knowing full well that David was dead and buried. What an evil monster.

I was just talking about this case the other day. He got away with it because the PD didn’t care that much about blue collar boys from that area and assumed they were runaways.

The boys were generally from a run down neighborhood called The Heights. If they disappeared the police told any concerned parents that the kid probably was just a runaway and would turn up again eventually. David Hilligiest was a 13 year old missing child, but the police did nothing to find him. His mother cried out "He's a child! And they won't even look for him!" No wonder Corll was able to get away with it for so long.

How amusing that DLers can find mass murderers and their accomplices "hot". I think they lose their "hotness" when it's revealed that they are heinous scum.

Yes, this is one of the lesser known serial killer cases. Not really sure why, it’s got all the usual fascinating details. Gruesome, lurid, bizarre and GAY.

Not to be confused with Ronald Clark O'Bryan (aka ‘The Candyman Killer’). Different kind of crime, not a serial killer. But interesting for true crime buffs.

One unforgettably horrific detail about this case was that one of the victims was suffocated by tying a plastic bag over his head, and his corpse was found with its mouth as wide open as it could go as if the victim desperately sought one last gasp of air.

This happened over 50 years ago when Houston was undergoing its biggest population explosions ever. With crime also exploding, the police had no time to go looking for missing teens of poor parents.

BTW the working-class neighborhood where many of the boys lived, called the Heights, is now one of the most expensive real estate markets in the city.

Here 's another grisly detail about Dean Corll's sadism: he would sometimes insert a glass rods into a victim's urethra...and then smash it. Corll was one of the worst murderers I ever heard of.

The two part documentary on Discovery+ makes some very convincing links between Corll and Gacy.

There was a mastermind pedo who ran an international pedo ring who had connections to both. I"ve always thought large pedo rings were a myth but the documentary was very convincing about this mastermind pedo guy.

"Pedo rings?" "A mastermind pedo guy?" Sounds like a lot of bullshit to me. I don't know a lot about Gacy except that he passed himself off as a kind of honorable citizen for a long time, performing as a clown at children's parties and getting some kind of award from Rosalynn Carter. But Corll was just a white trash loser that most people rarely gave a second thought to, he was such a nonentity. I don't see either of them as being part of a "pedo ring" or knowing a "mastermind pedo guy." They did their dirty deeds on their own (except Corll had two teenage dopes as accomplices). They didn't need any help from a "pedo ring."

He definitely killed more boys given the fact he was regularly on "business trips" too. I'm sure he picked up hitchhikers on his way to California. The police were so fucking lazy. They could have dug up more corpses and did a deeper investigation. I just feel bad for the families who got no closure around their missing kids. Many are still alive and still live in Houston. I wish somehow this case could be reopened especially with forensics technology.

The fact the killer was gay and his male victims were molested and killed was one of the reasons the Houston PD wanted to close the case as quickly as possible in order to avoid it getting national attention and tarnishing the reputation of a "God-fearing" town like Houston.

[Quote] He's now a student at Transylvania University, a well-regarded liberal arts college known for being left-leaning and inclusive. Maybe there's hope for him yet, who knows.

Totally sounds like bs to me too but the documentary shows amazing evidence.

I'm halfway through the Discovery+ documentary. It is REALLY well done so far. Fantastic assembly of footage. And somehow they seem to have found all guys with great voices to interview.

Article about the Heights:

So glad he was killed by his victim / accomplice. This guy would have killed dozens and dozens more if not.

Dean Corll's victims were very young teenage boys who looked barely out of puberty. Not hot, strapping young studs just about to graduate high school or freshmen in college. He was clearly an ephebophile (preference for young adolescent boys). Also R7, wow Corll looks handsome! He could have gotten plenty of consensual sex from other men but clearly he wasn't interested in grown men. That picture must have recently been released because the three pictures of Corll that were out in public for years were both unflattering and quite evil-looking. Like this:

"The Man With The Candy" is definitely a must-read. How Corll was able to get away with so many murders for so long is unbelievable. The sickest part was how he got Henley and Brooks (both still in prison) to turn over their friends to him, knowing they would be tortured and killed. I remember this happening when I was a kid, and it scared the hell out of me.

It's strange how someone who killed at least 33 boys can be generally forgotten, but people who killed far less (Dahmer, Jack the Ripper, etc) become celebrated. Randy Kraft killed DOUBLE the amount of John Gacy, but most people have never heard of him. Yet Gacy is well known, possibly because of his friendship with Rosalynn Carter.

Brooks died of Covid last year.

[quote]I'm surprised there was never a movie about this case.

I can't believe this thread has 34 posts and no one has mentioned Mindhunter yet. They bring up this case and all of its grisly details in S2. In the show, the lesbian psychologist interviews Elmer Henley Jr. who's played by baby Ned Stark actor Robert Aramayo.

I saw Mindhunter when it came out but didn't even remember that, R35.

Corll attracted young boys by various means. He offered the youngest ones candy, invited them over to his place to use his poor table. He would ingratiate himself with older teens by offering them part time jobs and inviting them over to hang out at his place and party. He would provide them with drugs and alcohol, get them impaired and then overpower them and rack them up on the board. His teen accomplices would ask casual acquaintances (or sometimes even friends of theirs) if they wanted to come over to old Dean's and have a good time. That's how the victims were captured.

So Brooks is dead? Well, no great loss. As for Henley, he's quite the sociopath, still trying to get out on parole, still trying to portray himself as a "victim" of Corll's, although Corll never forced him to to anything.

There are almost certainly more victims that were never found but Houston PD is never going to go back to this case considering how badly they fucked it up to begin with

Candy ass 🍭

[Quote] Yet Gacy is well known, possibly because of his friendship with Rosalynn Carter.

He didnt have a friendship with Rosalynn Carter. At one event, he took one picture with her as thousands of people do with politicians

I think Henley said he went along with Corll and Brooks because he was worried about his own safety and wanted to protect his younger brother. I don't buy it, he could have stopped at any time just like Brooks eventually did. Brooks was actually groomed by Corll when he was 11 or 12 years old. But Henley chose to get involved when he saw the money and kept supplying Corll with victims. If he was so concerned, he could have stopped after the first time and went to the police while Corll was on his business trips. Both Brooks and Henley had a lot of freedom to stop Corll but they didn't care and just took the money and ran. That's why they got those life sentences.

Didn't he kill one boy and then a few years later kill his brother ?

I've heard the theory that deep sexual repression and self-loathing could have caused men like Gary, Corll, Ridgeway and Dahmer to develop sick paraphilias and sexual sadistic streaks. It obviously wasn't easy being gay back then especially since it seen as a mental illness and could also get you institutionalized or even killed. Burying their sexual orientation so deep could have made them more perverted and their obsession with boys and young men could have been a result of arrested development. But this is just speculation.

The serial killer “gene” generally strikes while, middle-class males, 18-35, of above-average intelligence. The gay factor adds to the mix, no doubt. But if they have those sociopath tendencies and certain personality traits, and the right mix of life experiences and steers them in certain directions, that’s when it might strike.

R44 Dr. Hudson? Dr. Helen Hudson?

*white, not while

R44, no, most serial killers do not have "above average" IQs. Most of them are distinctly below average

Also, most serial killers are working class, not "middle class"

Where do people get this shit?

Have there ever been lesbian serial killers who've killed women?

R43, bull shit! Millions of gay men grew up with repressive, dangerous homophobia. We didn’t end up evil serial killers.

Wikipedia:

Often, they have trouble staying employed and tend to work in menial jobs. The FBI, however, states, "Serial murderers often seem normal; have families and/or a steady job."[16] Other sources state they often come from unstable families.[6]

Studies have suggested that serial killers generally have an average or low-average IQ, although they are often described, and perceived, as possessing IQs in the above-average range.[6][16][47] A sample of 202 IQs of serial killers had a median IQ of 89.[48]

Is this thread about the Siouxsie and the Banshees song?

I don't think there has ever been a lesbian serial killer who killed female victims. If that happened, I think it would be a first.

The white, male, 18-35 thing is what always gets me.

The pedophile ring master was named John d. Norman. He was definitely connected to John Wayne Gacy, and the cops thought he was connected to Dean Corll too, but he denied it. He made thousands of note cards that had the names of people in his pedophile ring. Those cards disappeared as evidence both times they were found by the cops. Spooky thing was that there was a John D. Norman who rented an apartment to Jack Ruby in Dallas, when John D. Norman lived in Dallas. That would be really fucked up if that was the same John D. Norman.

R50 I agree. I'm gay myself and most gay men are perfectly normal and well-adjusted despite the homophobia we dealt with. But these men like Corll, Gacy, Ridgeway, Dahmer had also had genetics that made them pre-dispositioned to mental illness and probably additional childhood trauma like emotionally abuse or neglect (many of their fathers were war veterans or their parents were not heavily invested in them), head trauma (they were army veterans themselves or played contact sports with no helmet) and also there as the problem of lead pollution in the air (lead delays brain development and affects the parts that influence impulse control or empathy).

Many serial killers are just sexual sadists with low-functioning antisocial personality disorder or some type of psychosis. They mostly motivated by sex and they target victims they find attractive to live out their twisted fantasies like rape, torture, humiliation and mutilation. They usually just murder their victims as a way to prevent getting caught because obviously the victim would go the police. Serial killers are insatiable. They are not above average in intelligence because if they were they would get help and show stronger self-control. The only reason serial killers got away so much in the past was because the police investigations were far less sophisticated than they were today, people in general were far more trusting of strangers and children and teens were free-range, there was less video surveillance to monitor people and there is more information now to recognize antisocial traits in children and get them treatment before they turn violent.

The candy ass eater

[bold]Did Texas serial killer Dean Corll stash 20 more bodies during Houston Mass Murders? Texas search group to find out.[/bold]

Tim Miller is certain more victims of one of Texas’ most notorious serious killer are waiting to be uncovered.

The head of Texas Equusearch on Sunday said his crew will use ground penetration radar to take a closer look at Houston-area properties where Dean Corll — the so-called “Candy Man” — and his accomplices may have stashed up to 20 more bodies in the 1970s.

“That’s possibly a conservative number,” Miller said, adding that a tip from 2020 rekindled interest in the case.

more at link

That dean was the devil’s spawn

Ever since I found out about Corll, I've wondered about my own brush with attempted abduction back in 1970, if it might not have been Corll and one of his accomplices, or perhaps the two accomplices. Supposedly they never operated in North Texas, but one has to wonder. (See R140 of linked thread.)

I’m glad the kid killed him.

In addition to 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲𝐦𝐚𝐧, there's also another four-part documentary which details child murders, and which also alludes to Gacy as having been peripheral to some kind of organized ring which preyed upon children: 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐰 (2019):

"I’m glad the kid killed him."

That happened by total accident. Henley had brought a boy over to Corll's so Corll could rape and kill him, but for some reason he brought along a girl too. I guess he was interested in her; she was a runaway or something, a really screwed up girl. Corll was enraged that the girl was there, it kind of spoiled things for him. Anyway, Henley, the boy and the girl got good and stoned and passed out. When Henley woke up he was tied to the board; the other two were also tied up. Corll was going to rape and murder Henley just like all the others but Henley begged and pleaded and wept and reminded Corll of all the good times they'd had together and screamed "I'll do ANYTHANG!" if he'd just let him live. So Corll releases him. Corll then turns his attention to the boy he has up on the board and having stripped naked is about to do his thing with him when Henley protests that the girl "doesn't wanna see that." He and Henley argue and Henley pulls out a gun and shoots him. It was simply a freak occurrence that Corll got killed. Henley had not planned on doing it at all.

Henley, like a lot of other infamous murderers, fancies himself an artist. He even had an exhibition of his art in some gallery in Houston, which is pretty disgusting. A showing of "art" made by someone who helped murder at least a couple of dozen young boys? Jesus, who would think of doing something like that? I'

Bump

Is the new movie another horror film that Jordan Peele will totally fuck up?