Jump to content

Dean ‘Candy Man’ Corll Murders


Heights2Bastrop

Recommended Posts

Would be interested in hearing more of these interesting and verifiable things regarding Corll...

I wondered about when that concrete was poured, Filio. A number of bodies Corll buried in the Heights might be under a parking lot behind where Corll's old candy biz was located.

There used to be some folks around Pasadena who remembered Corll oddly cruising around some of the neighborhoods there as early as the mid-1960s. Trouble is, the homosexual angle to the murders caused them to keep their mouths shut, least they be thought to be in the same company.

This terrible crime still fascinates me, in part, because I remember it so well as a 12-year-old kid and because I still cross threads of it today: my mother-in-law has a beach house near where some of Corll's victims were buried. We also frequently travel across Lake Sam Rayburn, passing very near a second burial place Corll used, through Broaddus, where he spent time, into San Augustine where Henley was held briefly. When I worked for the Pasadena Citizen I talked to people who had some interesting things to say -- verifiable things -- about Corll. By chance, at the funeral of a family friend, I talked to a guy who knew Dean Corll through another teenager (not Henley or Brooks) and went to one of the periodic shindigs they'd hold. He told me about some odd and scary stuff that went on and said he feels certain that he'd have been a victim if he'd continue to go back, but he didn't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes Corll lived in an apartment complex in the early 70s on San Felipe called Woodway Square. The entire complex has since been torn down. I think that's where one of his first murders occured.

I believe he also lived in some apartments on the west side of Yorktown between San Felipe and Westheimer for a short while. Does anyone know anything about this?

I see a reference to the Yorktown Townhouses in 'The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations'.

----

I see they refer to the Frencesa(Princessa?/Cancun?) apartments on Wirt. I'd be interested in any further info about the Wirt apartment location if anyone knows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes Corll lived in an apartment complex in the early 70s on San Felipe called Woodway Square. The entire complex has since been torn down. I think that's where one of his first murders occured.

A lot of the Woodway Square Apartment complex burned down in the biggest and most spectacular residential fire in the city's history. What didn't burn was later demolished because the place was finished as a profit making rental complex. Here's what the Houston Fire Museum website says about that fire:

A heavy box could not overcome a fire spreading across wood-shingled roofs in the largest apartment complex in Houston. Fire destroyed 30 of the 105 buildings in the Woodway Square apartments on July 31, 1979. An unprecedented sixth alarm was signaled, and it took another alarm and mutual aid companies before the conflagration was brought under control. Several buildings north of the complex were set afire by burning embers from the Woodway fire.

On the day of the Woodway Square fire, city council turned down a proposed ordinance outlawing wood-shingled roofs. Fire officials had been trying to get the ordinance for several years. The ordinance was back on the table the following day, and city council unanimously approved fire resistive roofs for future apartment complexes.

To that I will add: that ordinance included single family homes. Existing homes were grandfathered in, but new homes built after the ordinance was passed were required to have fire-resistant roofs. Further, wood shingles on grandfathered homes could only be replaced by fire resistant shingles.

I have personal memories of that provision causing a lot of consternation in some pricey upscale neighborhoods where Homeowners' Associations required wood shingle roofs. They were outspokenly angry when they learned they couldn't replace wood shingles with wood shingles. Me? I loved it. I never liked wood shingles and I jumped at the chance to replace them with something less vulnerable to fire.

Sorry for hijacking the conversation about Dean Corll. I'll go back to my room now.

Edited by FilioScotia
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been reading Jack Olsen's "The Man With The Candy" lately (actually rereading, but I'd forgotten many things in it as I hadn't read it since it was first published), and seeing the Henley-Brooks-Corll horrors in quite a different light as I'm much more familiar with the Heights now than I was as a kid when the murders first came to light. I'm wondering how many of the Heights-area houses (and other structures, like Corll's old candy factory) mentioned in the book are still standing, but in order to find out the addresses I'll probably have to hit the Texas Room and sift through the phone directories from the early 70s.

I had forgotten that Henley and a couple of his victims lived on 27th St. When I was in high school, one of my English teachers lived on 27th. He offered summer writing classes outside of school to some of the advanced students, and I spent the summer of 1981 heading over to his house three mornings a week for one of those classes. I used to walk around the neighborhood quite a bit, and given that he lived on the stretch of 27th between Shepherd and Yale, I'm guessing that I walked right past the house Henley grew up in on many occasions without realizing it at the time.

Anyone have an address on the 27th Street location?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

You would really have to wonder if this guy is being totally truthful. Soon will write a book and then a film, etc. His name has never been brought up in the last 35 yrs that most native Hostonians can think of. He seems just as creepy as the rest of those ghouls. He could have had his hand or had part in some of these bizarre events.

Did people learn their lesson of getting into cars with strangers 35 years later? Nope. :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have heard of Dean Corll. He is one sick person. He has to be the worst serial killers besides Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. He is a genuine psychopath and pervert of the lowest denomination. I have read that more people could of been killed by Corll.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_...ll/index_1.html

Also, there is the "I-45 Killer", who killed many women. He has yet to be caught. I have lived in Houston all my life and I have not heard much of Dean Corll. I noticed people in Houston talk about hurricanes more often and are often more memorable.

Edited by Ptarmigan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had never heard that there was someone else (another boy) in the Pasadena house that night. Not to say there wasn't. I wonder if Ch. 13 checked police records to verify if this guy was actually there 35 years ago.

You would really have to wonder if this guy is being totally truthful. Soon will write a book and then a film, etc. His name has never been brought up in the last 35 yrs that most native Hostonians can think of. He seems just as creepy as the rest of those ghouls. He could have had his hand or had part in some of these bizarre events.

Did people learn their lesson of getting into cars with strangers 35 years later? Nope. :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had never heard that there was someone else (another boy) in the Pasadena house that night. Not to say there wasn't. I wonder if Ch. 13 checked police records to verify if this guy was actually there 35 years ago.

Timothy Kerley was mentioned in the book about the murders, "The Man with the Candy", written in 1974 by Jack Olsen shortly after the murders. He was there with Rhonda Nelson, Wayne Henley and Corll when Corll was killed. He was himself strapped to the torture board at the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Timothy Kerley was mentioned in the book about the murders, "The Man with the Candy", written in 1974 by Jack Olsen shortly after the murders. He was there with Rhonda Nelson, Wayne Henley and Corll when Corll was killed. He was himself strapped to the torture board at the time.

Also, I found a really interesting video on youtube about Henley and Corll that I don't think anybody has posted yet. It is from the "Killing of America" documentary and is done in typical 70's era "educational film" fashion. Very creepy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-eJS6MIIa4

There was a show on the Biography channel, I think, last Friday about the murders as well. I think the show was called "Crime Stories". A lot about thises murders has shown up in popular culture recently, it seems....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, I found a really interesting video on youtube about Henley and Corll that I don't think anybody has posted yet. It is from the "Killing of America" documentary and is done in typical 70's era "educational film" fashion. Very creepy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-eJS6MIIa4

There was a show on the Biography channel, I think, last Friday about the murders as well. I think the show was called "Crime Stories". A lot about thises murders has shown up in popular culture recently, it seems....

All of this brings back bad memories of those days. The media couldnt get enough of it and kept broadcasting to the world, especially here. The timing was even worse because the films like Tx Chainsaw all started coming out at theaters.

There was a short story just yesterday afternoon on KUHF around 4:15 that discussed the recent identification of a person thru DNA and there is a good possiblity that other unknowns will be identified. Its those poor parents on film I really pity since many have since passed away and never found out what became of their missing kids. What have we learned from this? How do you alert the next young generation? -_-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of this brings back bad memories of those days. The media couldnt get enough of it and kept broadcasting to the world, especially here. The timing was even worse because the films like Tx Chainsaw all started coming out at theaters. There was a short story just yesterday afternoon on KUHF around 4:15 that discussed the recent identification of a person thru DNA and there is a good possiblity that other unknowns will be identified.

The chief Forensic Anthropologist at the Harris County Medical Examiner's office -- Dr. Sharon "Bones" Derrick -- was able to identify one of the 27 victims using mitochondrial DNA extracted from his skeletal remains. It helped that the boy's family suspected all along that he was one of Corll's victims, but the ability to extract usable mitochondrial and nuclear DNA didn't exist until very recently.

When the DNA was finally extracted from the bones just two years ago, Dr. Derrick knew where to look for a possible match. Here's that story by one of the reporters at KUHF.

http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-...s_id=1225135134

Edited by FilioScotia
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The chief Forensic Anthropologist at the Harris County Medical Examiner's office -- Dr. Sharon "Bones" Derrick -- was able to identify one of the 27 victims using mitochondrial DNA extracted from his skeletal remains. It helped that the boy's family suspected all along that he was one of Corll's victims, but the ability to extract usable mitochondrial and nuclear DNA didn't exist until very recently.

When the DNA was finally extracted from the bones just two years ago, Dr. Derrick knew where to look for a possible match. Here's that story by one of the reporters at KUHF.

http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-...s_id=1225135134

Yep, that's the exact same story I heard in the car the other afternoon.

and to note that when the recent Ike storm passed, will we ever know if other remains were washed out to sea forever? ...even 35 yrs later.

Something else occurred to me the other day, when this happened there was no internet, these freaks just cruised around & either coersed or grabbed them against will or met at bars.

Now predators simply go online. Scary indeed. :angry::mellow:

Finally, who would think just years in the future another one emerged Jeff Dahmer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of this brings back bad memories of those days. The media couldnt get enough of it and kept broadcasting to the world, especially here.

The story seemed to put Houston on the map, but not in a good way. Maybe it was just me but before this happened I felt absolutely safe growing up in H-town. Perhaps I was young and na

Link to comment
Share on other sites

unfortunately those who lived in the willowbend/cliffwood area learned several months before how bad the world was when larry casey drove through the neighborhood and shot an old lady, a 5 year old and 2 elementary students dead and wounded others. there is a thread about it on this forum.

who would think walking home from school could be deadly. the days of riding our bikes around the neighborhood ended abruptly in the spring of 1973. parents were afraid to let us out.

The story seemed to put Houston on the map, but not in a good way. Maybe it was just me but before this happened I felt absolutely safe growing up in H-town. Perhaps I was young and na
Link to comment
Share on other sites

who would think walking home from school could be deadly. the days of riding our bikes around the neighborhood ended abruptly in the spring of 1973. parents were afraid to let us out.

Same thing happened with Halloween - trick-or-treating used to be a big deal in practically every neighborhood, but participation withered away to almost nothing after a different "Man with the Candy" than Dean Corll killed his son with poisoned Pixy Stix in the early 70s:

Ronald Clark O'Bryan

Edited by mkultra25
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same thing happened with Halloween - trick-or-treating used to be a big deal in practically every neighborhood, but participation withered away to almost nothing after a different "Man with the Candy" than Dean Corll killed his son with poisoned Pixy Stix in the early 70s:

Ronald Clark O'Bryan

That seems like just yesterday :o

We knew a neighborhood kid that bit an apple with a razor blade in it. It barely grazed his lip and had the scar to prove it. My bros/sis & pals stopped trick or treating around 74 anyway. We also felt too big for it. I do feel sorry for todays kids they miss out on the real fun way of doing things around holidays. Kids today are just forced to become adults way too soon (new topic). They probably trick or treat "online" scary too. <_<

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reality of bad things happening hit me, and others my age, with the bombing at Poe Elementary. I never felt "unsafe" exactly, but I did become aware that bad things can happen without warning, and for no apparent reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I worked at HL&P off of S. Shaver in 1974 with Dean Coryll's room mate. Dean Coryll had also been an HL&P employee. The room mate said he had never noticed anything strange going on. He soon quit due to harrassment. The boathouse that was in Houston was off Stella Link & Willowbend by the South Main Drive-in. This was blocks from my house. The spot on Bolivar was blocks from my family's beach house.

Houston had been known as the murder capital of the world for years before these monsters but it did help bring awareness that every missing kid was not a runaway and helped start the Runaway Hotline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I worked at HL&P off of S. Shaver in 1974 with Dean Coryll's room mate. Dean Coryll had also been an HL&P employee. The room mate said he had never noticed anything strange going on. He soon quit due to harrassment. The boathouse that was in Houston was off Stella Link & Willowbend by the South Main Drive-in. This was blocks from my house. The spot on Bolivar was blocks from my family's beach house.

Houston had been known as the murder capital of the world for years before these monsters but it did help bring awareness that every missing kid was not a runaway and helped start the Runaway Hotline.

the boat storage was south of Main back off of Hiram Clark, just about 2 miles from where I grew up on Wuthering Hts. This horrific event always comes to mind when someone tells me how much more dangerous it is now than when we grew up

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I worked at HL&P off of S. Shaver in 1974 with Dean Coryll's room mate. Dean Coryll had also been an HL&P employee. The room mate said he had never noticed anything strange going on. He soon quit due to harrassment. The boathouse that was in Houston was off Stella Link & Willowbend by the South Main Drive-in. This was blocks from my house. The spot on Bolivar was blocks from my family's beach house.

Houston had been known as the murder capital of the world for years before these monsters but it did help bring awareness that every missing kid was not a runaway and helped start the Runaway Hotline.

Now this may seem like a silly question but by "harrassment" I assume you mean sexual harassment? and not towards females? and you are right that terrible moniker Murder Capitol of the World remained in the media and psyche for years it seemed. :mellow:

Is it possible that there could have been more remains in Boliver and are now permanently washed away to see by Ike? We may never know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now this may seem like a silly question but by "harrassment" I assume you mean sexual harassment? and not towards females?

Not necessarily. It's entirely possible that the guy quit because he got tired of all the unwanted attention and probable harassment he was getting just for being Corll's roommate. He was probably the victim of the harassment.

This is the first time I've heard that Corll had a roommate. By "roommate" I mean someone who once shared an apartment or rent house with Corll. And it didn't have to be a "gay" relationship either. It could have been something as simple and as innocent as someone renting a room in a house from a coworker. I did that on a couple of occasions when I was much younger.

I'm sure that at some point his name was mentioned in news stories, which wouldn't have gone over very well with some of his coworkers at HL&P because of the kind of guy Corll was revealed to be.

Edited by FilioScotia
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember a roommate either but I haven't read any of the books on this.

There was a man who claimed to be Corll's lover and had visited the house in Pasadena and may have stayed overnight but never lived there. As I recall he claimed he had been warned by Corll to stay out of one bedroom.

This guy was discovered by one of the newsmen at KAUM, two of whom were gay though not out at the time. He was up at the station for an interview but I never saw him or met him and don't recall his name. I believe the romantic couple had met in a T-room at a Weingarten's in the Heights only recently.

I haven't read the books so don't know if he was ever mentioned but I had my doubts about the claims; I thought it was possible he was just a publicity seeker.

Does anybody know if he was ever mentioned in the books on this subject? There was never much about him, but then there was never anywhere near as much focus on Brooks as there was on Henley.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the boat storage was south of Main back off of Hiram Clark, just about 2 miles from where I grew up on Wuthering Hts. This horrific event always comes to mind when someone tells me how much more dangerous it is now than when we grew up

Silver Bell street & Player

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not necessarily. It's entirely possible that the guy quit because he got tired of all the unwanted attention and probable harassment he was getting just for being Corll's roommate. He was probably the victim of the harassment.

This is the first time I've heard that Corll had a roommate. By "roommate" I mean someone who once shared an apartment or rent house with Corll. And it didn't have to be a "gay" relationship either. It could have been something as simple and as innocent as someone renting a room in a house from a coworker. I did that on a couple of occasions when I was much younger.

I'm sure that at some point his name was mentioned in news stories, which wouldn't have gone over very well with some of his coworkers at HL&P because of the kind of guy Corll was revealed to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...