Dean Arnold Corll (1939-1973) was an American serial killer who, with teenage accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, abducted, sexually assaulted, tortured, and murdered at least 28 teenage boys and young men in Houston, Texas, between 1970 and 1973. Nicknamed "The Candy Man" because his family had run a candy company near an elementary school, he was an electrician who paid his accomplices to lure victims to his home.
Known Victims
At least 28 total — known victims include:
Jeffrey Konen (18)
James Glass (14)
Location
Pasadena, Houston, Texas, USA
Summary
Dean Corll, known as 'The Candy Man', killed at least 28 boys with help from two teenage accomplices. The Houston Mass Murders were Texas's worst serial killing.
Details
Corll used his teenage accomplices to lure boys with offers of parties, alcohol, drugs, or rides; victims were restrained on a plywood "torture board," assaulted, and killed by strangulation or shooting. The crimes were exposed on August 8, 1973, when Henley fatally shot Corll during a confrontation at Corll's Pasadena home and then telephoned police. Henley and Brooks confessed and directed authorities to burial sites, primarily a Houston boat shed plus locations on Lake Sam Rayburn and a High Island beach. With Corll dead, only the accomplices were tried: Henley was convicted on six counts of murder and Brooks on one, each receiving lengthy prison terms.
Background
Dean Arnold Corll was born on December 24, 1939, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and moved with his family to the Houston area as a child. His parents divorced and remarried, and his upbringing was marked by instability. Corll was described by acquaintances as polite and generous, traits that helped him gain the trust of young people in his neighborhood.
In the 1960s, Corll's family operated a candy company in Houston Heights, a working-class neighborhood. Corll worked at the business and became known to local children for handing out free candy, earning him the nicknames 'The Candy Man' and 'The Pied Piper.' The candy factory was located near an elementary school, and Corll cultivated a reputation for friendliness toward neighborhood boys, a persona that later disguised his crimes.
The Accomplices and the Killings
Between 1970 and 1973, Corll murdered numerous teenage boys and young men, most of them from the Houston Heights area. He was assisted by two teenage accomplices, Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks, whom he paid to lure victims to his residence. The two youths brought friends and acquaintances to Corll under various pretexts, often promising parties, alcohol, or rides.
Once victims were at his home, Corll typically restrained them, then tortured and killed them. The victims were generally strangled or shot. Many were buried in a rented boat shed in southwest Houston, while others were interred at Lake Sam Rayburn and on a beach at High Island. Because many of the victims were teenage boys from the same area who had been considered runaways, the disappearances did not initially attract coordinated police attention.
Discovery and Arrest
The crimes came to light on August 8, 1973, when Elmer Wayne Henley fatally shot Corll at Corll's home in Pasadena, Texas. According to Henley's account, Corll had become enraged after Henley brought a teenage girl and another youth to the house. Corll bound the three of them, and Henley said he managed to free himself, seized a pistol, and shot Corll multiple times, killing him.
Henley telephoned police and then led investigators to the boat shed, where the first bodies were exhumed. Over the following days, authorities recovered numerous remains from the boat shed and the other burial sites. The total confirmed death toll reached 27 at the time, with at least 28 generally cited; some accounts and later research have suggested the true number may have been higher, as not all victims were definitively identified for decades.
Identification of Victims
Identifying the victims proved difficult and extended over many years. Several remains went unidentified for decades, and forensic advances, including DNA analysis, allowed authorities to put names to some of them long after the discovery. The victims were predominantly adolescent boys, many between roughly 13 and 20 years old.
The case prompted scrutiny of how the Houston Police Department had handled the earlier disappearances, since many victims had been classified as runaways without thorough investigation. The number of victims attributed to Corll has made the case one of the deadliest serial killing cases in United States history at the time it was uncovered, and the worst in Texas.
Trials and Outcome
Because Corll was dead, he was never tried. His two accomplices faced prosecution. Elmer Wayne Henley was convicted in 1974 of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment; he has been repeatedly denied parole. David Owen Brooks was also convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Brooks died in custody in 2020.
The accounts given by Henley and Brooks were central to establishing the scope of the crimes, including the locations of burial sites. Both men acknowledged participating in luring victims, while disputing aspects of their individual roles and culpability.
Legacy
The Houston Mass Murders, sometimes called the Houston Mass Murders of 1973, became a landmark case in American criminal history and contributed to public and institutional awareness of serial homicide before the term was in wide use. The case is frequently cited in discussions of how missing-persons and runaway reports were handled by law enforcement in the era.
The case has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries, and articles. The decades-long effort to identify all of the victims, aided by modern forensic genetics, has kept the case in public attention and underscored the lasting impact on the families of the young men who were killed.
Video Coverage
Frequently asked questions
What was the Dean Corll - The Candy Man case?
Dean Corll, known as 'The Candy Man', killed at least 28 boys with help from two teenage accomplices. The Houston Mass Murders were Texas's worst serial killing.
Who was responsible for Dean Corll - The Candy Man?
Dean Corll. Dean Arnold Corll (1939-1973) was an American serial killer who, with teenage accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, abducted, sexually assaulted, tortured, and murdered at least 28 teenage boys and young men in Houston, Texas, between 1970 and 1973. Nicknamed "The Candy Man" because his family had run a candy company near an elementary school, he was an electrician who paid his accomplices to lure victims to his home.
How many victims were there in the Dean Corll - The Candy Man case?
At least 28 victims are associated with this case, including named victims such as Jeffrey Konen, James Glass.
Where and when did the Dean Corll - The Candy Man case take place?
