Jessi Dilman - The Candy Man: The True Story of Serial Killer Dean Corll

CANDY MAN : THE TRUE STORY OF DEAN CORLL

JESSI DILMAN

THE CANDY MAN

T hose who knew Houstons Candy Man Dean Corll all described him the same way well-mannered, considerate, quiet, neatly groomed, and cheerful. He could usually be found in one of the more affluent communities within Houston, entertaining young boys at a small candy factory owned by his mother the boys would pop in to watch as the pieces of candy came off the assembly line, and they all got along well with Dean.

But some boys saw a completely different side of the Candy Man.

From December 13, 1970 to July 25, 1973, 28 boys between the ages of 13 and 20 vanished from a neighbourhood just west of downtown Houston. The young men had all been tortured, then killed, by Dean Corll who was, at that time, Americas most prolific serial killer.

Corll was born in Indiana, on Christmas Eve in 1939 the first child for Mary Robinson and Arnold Edwin Corll. His parents divorced when Corll was still a baby, but decided to remarry after World War II ended. They continued to fight all the time, and the environment within the household was combative. Corlls father barely concealed his distaste for his children, and the slightest mistakes would lead to severe consequences and harsh punishments. His mother, meanwhile, was overly protective of her children and Corll, in particular.

The second attempt at marriage didnt last for Corlls parents, either. During their second separation, while Corlls mother worked constantly in an attempt to support her family by herself, Corll and his little brother Stanley were often cared for by various babysitters. When Corll fell ill with rheumatic fever, he developed a permanent heart condition and was unable to regularly attend his classes.

He was described as a shy, serious kid, who seemed to prefer spending him time alone. But, while he rarely socialized with other children, he seemed to show plenty of concern for the wellbeing of others.

His mother remarried a man named Jake West and moved the family to Texas, and it seemed that Corll welcomed the new environment. She started a part-time business making candy, but it quickly developed into a full-time career and became the familys livelihood and Corll embraced it, generously distributing samples throughout the neighbourhood in an attempt to make some friends.

Still, Corll continued to be somewhat of a loner throughout his years as a teenager. While attending Vidor High School, he demonstrated a significant interest in the schools brass band, and learned to play the trombone. Throughout his years there, Corll earned satisfactory grades and was known as a well-behaved student.

After Corll graduated, he moved to Indiana to spend a few years living with his grandparents. While there, he developed a fairly close relationship with a young girl who lived in the same town, but two years later, he returned to Houston to help his family with the candy shop Pecan Prince.

In 1963, when Corlls mother divorced Jake West, Corll was appointed as vice-president of their candy factory. He took the new position seriously, and even moved into an apartment above the shop. But that year, his mother received a complaint from one of the teenage boys who was employed by the company, claiming Corll had made unwanted sexual advances toward him. Rather than looking into the truth to the boys accusations, however, Mary West just told him he would no longer have a job at the factory.

Even with his heart condition, Corll was drafted into the military in 1964. It was then that Corll began showing the first signs of his homosexuality. He served in the Army while the Vietman War was happening overseas, and didnt attract much attention Corll had never done anything to warrant a criminal record. He didnt like the army much, though, and applied for a hardship discharge based on the grounds that his family needed him to run the business. His request was granted by the Army, and Corll received an honorable military discharge on June 11, 1965 after just ten months of service.

But in December of 1969, the year Corll turned 30, his personality took a dramatic turn. Though hed always been a fairly upbeat, friendly person, his shift in attitude left him overly sensitive and frequently glum.

He moved back to Houston and took a position working with the citys lighting and power company, and found himself a sweet, kind girlfriend named Betty a single mother, whose young children soon started to refer to him as Daddy.

But hed also started spending his free time hanging out with teenage boys, including David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. Corll would distribute free candy to build a connection, then invite the boys over for glue and paint sniffing parties in Pasadena, a Houston suburb where Corll lived in an apartment.

And hed begun experimenting with more sadistic sexual play, displaying a preference for bondage while engaging in relations with various boys and young men.

One evening in 1970, Brooks recalled coming over to Corlls apartment and finding a completely unexpected scene. Corll was completely nude, with two young, naked boys strapped up on a torture rack that appeared to be homemade. Corll was humiliated he immediately released the boys and bribed Brooks with a new car in exchange for a promise to keep his mouth shut.

Eventually, when Corlls interest in bondage and sadism became more violent, he employed Brooks and Henley as his headhunters. The boys earned $200 a head for any victims they were able to procure.

Brooks estimates that Corlls first murder took place sometime in the middle of 1970, when he picked up a college student named Jeffrey Konen while the young man was out hitchhiking. Konen, like the majority of Corlls victims, disappeared from the seedy Houston neighbourhood referred to as the Heights by drawing his victims from a sketchy part of town, Corll ensured the missing boys would be overlooked by the local police, who regularly had to deal with teenage runaways.

A couple of these victims were neighbours or friends of Corlls young accomplice Henley, brought to Corll on his order. Occasionally, Corll would even torture and kill two young boys at once like fourteen year old James Glass and fifteen year old David Yates. The two boys were murdered in one sitting in December of 1970. The very next month, a pair of brothers named Donald and Jerry Waldrop were reported missing, and Wally Simineaux and Richard Embry were killed together in October of 1972.

Billy and Mike Baulch another pair of siblings were killed at different times: Billy in May of 1972, and Mike just over a year later, in July of 1973. The youngest victim on Corlls list was a nine year old boy who had the misfortune of living across the street from the Candy Mans apartment.

Corll managed to fly under the polices radar until August 8, 1973, when they received a tearful call from Elmer Henley. When they showed up at Corlls apartment, they found the Candy Man riddled with bullets six holes throughout his shoulder and back. Crying, Henley explained to them that hed been forced to kill his friend in an act of self-defense.

According to Henleys story, the violence began when Henley had shown up for one of Corlls typical paint-sniffing orgies with a girl in tow. Rhonda Williams was a fifteen year old girl whod run away from home and needed a place to stay, so Henley had invited her to Corlls place. Apparently, the presence of the young girl had pushed the homosexual Corll into a homicidal rage. He pulled a gun on Henley and began threatening him, and after Henley had managed to wrestle the weapon away from him, he settled for taunting his young friend.