Elmer Wayne Henley

Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was born on May 9, 1956, in Houston, Texas, the eldest of four sons born to Elmer Wayne Henley Sr. (1938–1986) and Mary Pauline Henley ({{née}} Weed) (b. 1937). His parents were both in their mid-teens at the time of his birth, and the couple initially lived with Mary's parents in Houston Heights until they could afford their own home following his father finding employment as a stationary engineer.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|pp=64–65}}

As a child, Henley was an avid reader and both an attentive and academically achieving student whose grades saw him typically in the top quarter of his class.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=201}} He was also markedly religious, and briefly held an aspiration to become a preacher. As his mother and grandparents were devout Christians, this religious devotion was encouraged.

Henley's father was an alcoholic and adulterer who physically assaulted his wife and sons, and the children were largely raised by their mother and maternal grandparents. As a child, Henley strove to protect his mother from his father's violence; she in turn was markedly protective of her children, and herself sought to shield them from her husband's violence. On one occasion as an adolescent, Henley observed his father striking his mother before pushing her into a corner to continue his assault; he successfully prevented his father from further striking his mother by pointing a shotgun at his father and shouting, "Drop it, Dad!"{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=66}} Although conflicted with regards to his overall memories of his father, Henley would later recollect of his early childhood: "I have memories of [my father] walking me to school, and of Cub Scout and Boy Scout activities. I went to work with him, and he'd tell me about boilers and air conditioners."{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=65}}

Although Henley's father mistreated and neglected his family, he was present throughout his sons' childhood and early adolescence, and despite the belittling he endured from his father, Henley strove to meet his approval. Although occasionally bullied at school from the fifth grade onward, he was popular among many of his peers—both male and female—and alluded to the attitudes of the contemporary hippie movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=84}}

By his early teens—and particularly following his parents' 1970 divorce—Henley grew disillusioned with school. As the eldest male in the household following his father's departure, he took two simultaneous, menial part-time jobs to assist his mother with household finances, and both his grades and scholastic attendance record dropped sharply.{{harvnb|Jessel|Wilson|1991|p=3642}} He also developed a habit of drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana in addition to becoming a small-time drug dealer.{{cite news|last=Montgomery|first=Paula L.|title=Houston Suspect Heard on Killing|date=January 25, 1974|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/25/archives/houston-suspect-heard-on-killing-says-he-doesnt-remember-making-any.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 4, 2025}} Henley's mother—who worked as a cashier at a parking lot—retained custody of her four sons following her divorce.{{cite news|title=Trial Opens Today in Texas Killings |date=July 1, 1974|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/01/archives/trial-opens-today-in-texas-killings-defendant-charged-in-six-of-27.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=May 24, 2018}} Both of Henley's parents later remarried, although Henley's father did arrive, uninvited, at the reception for Henley's mother's second marriage. On this occasion, when Henley attempted to persuade his father to leave, he was shoved to the ground by his father, who then ran to retrieve a gun from his car before attempting to shoot his son, wounding a friend who threw himself atop Henley to shield him from his father in the process. Henley's father was charged with attempted murder for this incident, although Henley refused to testify against him in court.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=68}}{{refn|group=n|Henley's mother's second marriage was soon annulled.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|pp=201–202}}}}

Within a year of his parents' divorce, Henley dropped out of high school. He would later develop a minor criminal record, being arrested for assault with a deadly weapon in 1971 and burglary one year later.{{cite news|first=Paul L. |last=Montgomery | title=Houston Finds Murder Ring a Random, Enigmatic Intrusion |date=July 21, 1974 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/21/archives/houston-finds-murder-ring-random-enigmatic-intrusion-the-talk-of.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=June 20, 2018}}{{cite news|title=Killer was Known as a Gentle Person |date=August 14, 1973 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32136607/elmer-wayne-henley-mass-murders-tx-73/ |newspaper=The Odessa American |access-date=January 22, 2022}}

File:Selma Winkle Reward Poster St Joseph Gazette 13 August 1973.jpg

In the year Henley dropped out of high school, he became aware of an insidious pattern of disappearances in his neighborhood: since the previous December, a minimum of eight boys aged 13 to 17 had disappeared from Houston Heights. Henley had been a lifelong friend with one of the youths, 13-year-old David William Hilligiest, who had disappeared on the afternoon of May 29, 1971, while walking to the Bohemian Lodge swimming pool with his 16-year-old friend Gregory Malley Winkle.{{cite news|title=Victim's List|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/santa-ana/santa-ana-register/1973/08-12/page-2|access-date=February 28, 2025|work=Santa Ana Register|agency=United Press International|date=August 12, 1973}} Henley himself had actively participated in the search for the two, including distributing flyers offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the teenagers' whereabouts and attempting to reassure Hilligiest's parents there may be an innocent explanation for the teenagers' prolonged absence.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=46}}{{refn|group=n|Following the revelation of Henley's subsequent involvement in the murders initiated by Corll, the mother of David Hilligiest would recollect: "He (Henley) would ask if we had heard anything... and he would look off into the distance. Looking back, I can see he was carrying a burden he was trying to sedate.{{cite news|title=Thirteen Texas Families Wrestle with Tragedy |date=August 13, 1973|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/117863825/ |newspaper=The Arizona Republic |access-date=January 26, 2025}}}}

Prior to dropping out of high school, Henley became acquainted with a youth one year his senior named David Owen Brooks.{{cite news|last1=Overton|first1=James L.|title=Horror Still Haunts Families|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19750317&id=-QoyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3181,125023&hl=en|date=March 17, 1975|access-date=February 1, 2024|work=Montreal Gazette|agency=UPI}} The two encountered one another in approximately October 1971 as Henley—opting to truant from Hamilton Junior High School—walked away from the entrance in the direction of a local pool hall. Brooks fell into stride alongside him and asked if he was "skipping school too". When Henley replied he was, Brooks offered to keep him company for the day, adding he also attended Hamilton Junior High and that the pool hall was also his intended destination.{{cite news|title=Texas Toll of Boys Rises to 27 In Nation's Biggest Slaying Case|date=August 14, 1973|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/14/archives/texas-toll-of-boys-rises-to-27-in-nations-biggestslaying-case-texas.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 29, 2025}}{{cite web|last1=Conaway|first1=James|title=The Last Kid on the Block|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-last-kid-on-the-block/|website=Texas Monthly|access-date=October 16, 2015|date=April 1976}} The two began to truant together regularly, and through his acquaintance with Brooks, Henley became aware that not only did his friend drive a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=53}} and always seem to have money despite not having a job and hailing from a family of modest means, but that he spent a lot of his free time in the company of an older man with whom he himself gradually became a casual acquaintance: Dean Corll.

Initially, Henley was oblivious to the true extent of Corll's and Brooks's relationship, although Brooks and Corll began making a point of meeting him at the gas station where he worked part-time to exchange in small talk. Henley later stated that though he admired Corll because he worked hard and seemed to have his life in order, he also suspected that Corll was homosexual, and initially concluded that Brooks was "hustling himself a queer."{{cite web|last1=Conaway|first1=James|title=The Last Kid on the Block|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-last-kid-on-the-block/|website=Texas Monthly|access-date=October 16, 2015|date=April 1976|page=124}} As Henley began to spend more time in their company, he also became aware of stark changes in Corll's persona: much of the time, Corll was affable and somewhat childlike, leading both Henley and Brooks to nickname him "Deannie Weannie"; occasionally, he would be agitated, serious, and chain-smoke.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=29}}

On one occasion in the winter of 1971–72, Brooks informed Henley that if was able to leave his home "without telling anyone where [he was] going", he and Corll would pick him up behind the Fulbright Methodist Church close to his home at 5 p.m. that afternoon.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=72}} Henley agreed, and Brooks and Corll picked him up at the agreed time and drove him to Corll's address—likely as an intended victim. In his confession given almost two years later, Henley informed detectives Brooks lured him to Corll's home on the promise he could participate in "a deal where I could make some money."{{cite news|last1=Overton|first1=James L.|title=Horror Still Haunts Families|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19750317&id=-QoyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3181,125023&hl=en|access-date=October 17, 2015|work=Montreal Gazette|agency=UPI|date=March 17, 1975}}{{cite journal|title=Dean Corll|journal=Murder in Mind|date=1999|issue=80|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|issn=1364-5803}}{{rp|18}} However, this initial plan was thwarted when Henley informed Corll that, contrary to Brooks's prior instructions not to do so, he had informed his mother and grandmother he was leaving the family home in Brooks's company to meet him for the first time.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=144}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50709580/dean-corll/|work=Abilene Reporter-News|title=Henley: Corll 'Like Two People'|date=August 11, 1973|access-date=March 19, 2022}}

Despite this initial setback, Corll evidently decided the youth would make a good accomplice, and Henley soon began spending increasing amounts of time in Corll's company and gradually began to view him as something of a "brother-type person" whose work ethic he admired and in whom he could confide. Corll also allowed Henley—who had no driving license—to occasionally drive his Plymouth GTX.{{cite magazine|last=Hollandsworth|first=Skip|author-link1=Skip Hollandsworth|title=A Closer Look at One of Dean Corll's Victims|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/a-closer-look-at-one-of-dean-corlls-victims/|magazine=Texas Monthly|date=April 2011|access-date=February 7, 2025}} Initially, Corll told Henley that he was involved in organized theft, and if he had anything of value—stolen or otherwise—to sell to him, he would be able to resell the wares for his own profit.{{cite web|last1=Hollandsworth|first1=Skip|author-link1=Skip Hollandsworth|title=The Lost Boys|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-boys/|website=Texas Monthly|access-date=February 10, 2025|date=April 2011|page=185}} He, Brooks and Henley also burglarized several local addresses, for which Henley was paid small sums of money. Shortly thereafter, Corll suggested to Henley he should advance from burglary to more serious crimes. On one occasion, in an apparent test of character, Corll asked Henley if he would be willing to kill if cornered while burglarizing a property, to which Henley replied, "Yes." Shortly thereafter, as Corll and Henley sat in a vehicle at the corner of Eleventh and Heights Boulevard, Corll stated to the teenager: "You know, it's too bad there's not a market in people, they're everywhere."{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=77}}

Over the course of several subsequent conversations, Corll repeatedly referred to the topic of human trafficking before informing Henley that he was involved in a "white slavery ring" operating from Dallas, in which teenage boys were sold as houseboys to wealthy clients across the country and that he would pay him $200 (the equivalent of approximately $1,620 {{as of|2025|lc=y|df=US}}) for any teenage boy he could lure to his apartment.{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-08-1591312208_x.htm | work=USA Today | title=Serial Killer Wrestles with His Crimes | date=June 8, 2008 | access-date=February 2, 2025 | last=Rhor | first=Monica}}{{cite news|last1=Overton|first1=James L.|title=Horror Still Haunts Families|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19750317&id=-QoyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3181,125023&hl=en|access-date=October 17, 2015|work=Montreal Gazette|agency=United Press International|date=March 17, 1975}} Corll referred to this organization as "the Syndicate".{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=81}}

Henley has always insisted that he ignored Corll's offer of $200 for every boy he could lure to his apartment for several months, but that in approximately February 1972, he decided he would "help find a boy" for Corll as his family was in dire financial circumstances.{{cite court |litigants = Henley v. State |vol = 644 |reporter = SW2d |opinion = 950 |pinpoint = |court = Texas Court of Appeals, 13th Dist. |date = 1982 |publisher=Google Scholar |url= https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8083535093559731840&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr/}} According to Henley's subsequent confession, he resolved to participate in a sole abduction as he could use the money "to get better things for my [family], so one day I went over to Dean's place on Schuler Street and told him I would get a boy for him."{{cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/henley-v-state-1|title=Henley v. State|publisher=casetext.com|access-date=February 2, 2025}}

At Corll's home, Henley agreed to enact a previous ruse he and Corll had privately rehearsed in which they would lure a youth to Corll's home and Henley would then cuff his hands behind his back, release himself with a key discreetly hidden in his pocket, then con the victim into placing the handcuffs upon himself. The pair then drove around the Heights to search for a victim. At the corner of 11th and Studewood, Henley persuaded a dark-haired youth to enter Corll's Plymouth GTX. The victim agreed to accompany the two to Corll's apartment on the promise of smoking some marijuana. At Corll's address, Henley helped con the teenager into donning the handcuffs,{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=79}} then watched Corll pounce on the youth, bind his hands and feet with parachute cord, then place adhesive tape over his mouth. Brooks then drove Henley home, telling him the Syndicate did not yet know of his participation and thus he should not be present when they arrived to collect the captive. The next day, Corll paid Henley $200, informing him the teenager had been sold into the sex slavery ring. Henley gave most of the money to his mother, but also bought himself a Sheridan air rifle.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|pp=79–80}}

The identity of this first victim in whose abduction Henley assisted remains unknown.{{cite web|url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/19821594644sw2d95011448|title=Elmer Wayne Henley, Appellant, v. State of Texas, Appelle|publisher=leagle.com|date=September 16, 1982|access-date=January 26, 2024}}

One month later, on the evening of March 24, 1972,{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/DeanCorllAutopsyReports/ML%2073_3409%20Aguirre#page/6/mode/2up|title=Houston Police Department: Missing Person Report 73-3409 |date=March 26, 1972|via=archive.org}} Henley—in the company of Corll and Brooks—encountered an 18-year-old acquaintance of his named Frank Anthony Aguirre leaving a restaurant on Yale Street, where the youth worked.{{harvnb|Rosewood|2015|pp=33–34}} Aguirre was persuaded to accompany Henley to Corll's home on the promise of drinking beer and smoking marijuana with the trio. Aguirre agreed and followed the trio to Corll's home in his Rambler. Inside Corll's house, Aguirre smoked marijuana with the trio before picking up a pair of handcuffs Corll had deliberately left on his table. In response, Corll pounced on Aguirre, pushed him onto the table, and cuffed his hands behind his back.{{cite web|url=http://tx.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19820916_0041742.TX.htm/qx|title=Elmer Wayne Henley vs. State of Texas (09/16/82) |date=September 16, 1982|via=tx.findacase.com}}

Henley later claimed that he had not known of Corll's true intentions towards Aguirre when he persuaded his friend to accompany him to Corll's home, and to still at this stage be oblivious to Corll's true intentions toward teenagers he or Brooks brought to him; he later claimed to have been startled upon seeing Corll suddenly "jump" upon Aguirre after the teenager had idly placed one handcuff upon his own wrist and to have attempted to dissuade Corll from raping and killing Aguirre. However, Corll refused, informing Henley that he had raped, tortured, and killed the previous victim he had assisted in abducting, and that Aguirre was to suffer the same fate. Brooks then drove Henley home.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|pp=81–82}}{{cite news|last=Hanson|first=Christopher|title=Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley: Houston's Most Notorious Serial Killers|work=KTRK-TV|url=https://abc13.com/elmer-wayne-henley-dean-corll-serial-killer-pasadena-texas-murders/1218667|date=August 7, 2020|access-date=January 26, 2025}}

File:FEMA - 38469 - The Shoreline Near High Island, Texas After Hurricane Ike.jpg. Henley began assisting Corll in burying his victims at this location in March 1972.]]

The following evening, Henley assisted Corll and Brooks in burying Aguirre's body at High Island Beach. Corll and Brooks later informed Henley that his childhood friend, David Hilligiest, and Hilligiest's swimming companion, Gregory Malley Winkle, had also died at his hands and that as such, there was no use in continuing to search for them.

Despite the revelations to the reality of the fate of the boys brought to Corll, Henley continued to assist in the abductions and murders. Less than one month later, Henley lured a 17-year-old youth whom he well knew named Mark Steven Scott to Corll's apartment. Scott was specifically chosen by Corll to be his next victim as he occasionally sold stolen property to Corll and had "recently cheated [Corll] on a deal", thus causing Corll to hold extreme animosity toward him. According to Henley, shortly prior to this abduction, either he or Corll had accidentally burned themselves on one of Henley's incense cones, and this incident had inspired Corll to torture Scott via this method.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=85}} Scott was grabbed by force and fought furiously against attempts by Corll and Brooks to restrain him,{{cite news|last1=Flynn|first1=Georgia|title=Some Victims Missing in Mass-Murder|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1033724820/?clipping_id=155874487&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjEwMzM3MjQ4MjAsImlhdCI6MTczOTE1MjE0MiwiZXhwIjoxNzM5MjM4NTQyfQ.-7DXDIqLdh9XpXXjLt6ZoNjUMhMbp-i8yAAKhHV8BNg|access-date=February 10, 2025|work=The Cincinnati Post|date=July 8, 1974}} even attempting to stab Corll with a knife the following morning after several hours of abuse and torture; however, according to Brooks, Scott "just gave up" after seeing Henley point a .22 caliber pistol toward him. As had been the case with Frank Aguirre, Scott was strangled and buried at High Island Beach, although on this occasion, Henley strangled Scott into unconsciousness with a length of cord before Corll completed the murder.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=86}}

Brooks later stated Henley was "especially sadistic" in his participation in the murders committed at Schuler Street and Henley later admitted to gradually becoming "fascinated" with "how much stamina people have" when subjected to the act of murder, with Corll alternately bestowing praise on his accomplices and goading both—but particularly Henley—to prove their loyalty and worth to him. On May 21, Henley entered Corll's apartment to observe two Heights youths, Billy Gene Baulch Jr. (17) and Johnny Ray Delome (16), socializing with Corll and Brooks.{{harvnb|Hanna|1975|p=29}} He assisted Corll and Brooks in subduing the teenagers, both of whom were bound, then tied to Corll's bed. Corll then suggested Henley sexually assault one boy while he assaulted the other, but Henley refused.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=88}} Both were then forced to write letters to their parents—dated May 23 and posted from Madisonville—claiming they had found employment with a truck driver "loading and unloading from Houston to Washington" before Corll proceeded to rape them prior to their torture.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|pp=182; 192}}

In Brooks's confession, he stated that both youths were tied to Corll's bed and, after their torture and rape, Henley strangled Baulch to death, with the process lasting almost thirty minutes; he then shouted, "Hey, Johnny!" and shot Delome in the forehead with Corll's .22 caliber pistol, with the bullet exiting through the youth's ear. Several minutes later, Delome pleaded with Henley, "Wayne, please don't!" before he was strangled to death by both Corll and Henley. Both youths were later buried at High Island Beach.{{harvnb|Keppel|Birnes|2003|p=9}}

File:Corll Second Torture Board Lake Sam Rayburn August 1973 The Middletown Journal August 16 1973.jpg

In part due to the fact Mark Scott had managed to partially free himself while bound and had almost succeeded in stabbing Corll, in approximately June 1972, Corll constructed a further plywood torture board measuring {{convert|8|by|2.5|ft}} with handcuffs and ropes affixed to both sides of each corner in order to securely restrain his victim or victims.{{harvnb|Whittington-Egan|Whittington-Egan|1992|p=51}} A further hole was drilled into the top center of the board in order that the device could be hung upon a wall.{{harvnb|Gurwell|1974|p=20}} As such, many future victims were restrained to this device as opposed to Corll's bed or other devices, and on the occasions where Corll restrained two victims to this device, one would be forced to watch the abuse inflicted upon the other to increase the victims' psychological torture.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=89}}

Corll moved to an apartment at Westcott Towers in June 1972. Within one month, on July 19, a 17-year-old Heights youth named Steven Kent Sickman had been murdered by strangulation and buried in a boat shed Corll rented in Southwest Houston; his murder was followed approximately one month later by that of 19-year-old Roy Eugene Bunton, who was bound, gagged with a section of Turkish towel and adhesive tape, then killed by two gunshots to the head before also being buried in the boat shed.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/DeanCorllAutopsyReports/ML%2073_3336/|title=Office of the Medical Examiner of Harris County: Case File ML73-3333. Pathological Diagnosis on the Body of Roy Eugene Bunton |date=January 30, 2014|access-date=February 13, 2025|via=archive.org}} Neither victim was named or referenced by either accomplice, and it is unknown whether Henley or Brooks assisted with either abduction or murder.{{cite news|last1=Glenn|first1=Michael|title=Quest Ends in Anguish for Sister of Killer Corll's Victim|url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Quest-ends-in-anguish-for-sister-of-killer-2081906.php|access-date=February 11, 2025|work=Houston Chronicle|date=August 31, 2015}}

On October 3, Henley and Brooks abducted two Heights boys named Wally Jay Simoneaux and Richard Edward Hembree as they walked home from Hamilton Junior High School.{{cite news|title=Police Identify 14th Victim|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36126572/dean-corll/|access-date=January 31, 2025|newspaper=The Bonham Daily Favorite|date=August 26, 1973}} Both were enticed into Brooks's Chevrolet Corvette and driven to Corll's Westcott Towers address. That evening, Simoneaux is known to have phoned his mother, Mildred, and to have shouted the word "Mama" into the receiver before the connection was terminated.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=67}} At approximately 7 a.m. the following day, Hembree was accidentally shot in the mouth by Henley who, according to Brooks's confession, "just came in (the room where the two boys were bound) waving the .22 and accidentally shot one of the boys in the jaw." The bullet exited Hembree's neck, although both were kept alive for approximately twelve further hours before they were strangled to death that evening.{{cite news|title=Police Identify 14th Victim|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36126572/dean-corll/|access-date=February 11, 2025|newspaper=The Bonham Daily Favorite|date=August 26, 1973}} Simoneaux and Hembree were later buried in the boat shed.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/DeanCorllAutopsyReports/ML%2073_3336/|title=Office of the Medical Examiner of Harris County: Case File ML73-3336. Pathological Diagnosis on the Body of Wally Jay Simoneaux |date=December 31, 2014|access-date=February 12, 2025|via=archive.org}}

One month later, on November 11, a 19-year-old named Richard Alan Kepner was abducted while walking to phone his fiancée from a pay phone. Kepner hailed from Humble, Texas, but had relocated to Spring Branch shortly before his disappearance to train as a carpenter's helper.{{cite news|title=Woman's 11-Year Search for Son Ends in Morgue|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19830916&id=l31iAAAAIBAJ&pg=1385,1958685&hl=en|access-date=October 17, 2015|work=Observer-Reporter|agency=Associated Press|date=September 16, 1983}} His strangled body was buried at High Island Beach, and Henley is known to have assisted Corll and Brooks in this particular abduction and murder.{{cite news|title=Woman's 11-Year Search for Son Ends in Morgue|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19830916&id=l31iAAAAIBAJ&pg=1385,1958685&hl=en|access-date=October 15, 2020|work=Observer-Reporter|agency=Associated Press|date=September 16, 1983}}{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/DeanCorllAutopsyReports/ML%2073_3366/mode/2up |title=Office of the Medical Examiner of Harris County: Case 73-3366| date=August 14, 1973 |pages=9–11| access-date=March 19, 2023}}

Sometime in November 1972, an 18-year-old Oak Forest youth known to both Corll and Henley named Willard Karmon Branch Jr. disappeared while hitchhiking from Mount Pleasant to Houston. Branch was gagged, emasculated and shot once above the left ear before his body was buried in the boat shed.{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/DeanCorllAutopsyReports/ML%2073_3350/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Office of the Medical Examiner of Harris County: Case 73-3350|date=July 3, 1985| access-date=January 26, 2025|via=archive.org}}{{cite news|last=Moore|first=Evan|title=The Horror Remains 20 Years Later, Memories of Dean Corll Haunt Survivor|url=https://share.crimedoor.com/articles/nJ3Y7pTWJvSMMU9zn8f9|access-date=August 15, 2022|work=The Houston Chronicle|date=August 8, 1993}}{{refn|group=n|Some accounts state Branch was abducted in February 1972. However, the Office of the Medical Examiner of Harris County lists Branch's death as having occurred in November 1972.{{cite web|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1993_1146085/the-horror-remains-20-years-later-memories-of-dean.html/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723181807/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1993_1146085/the-horror-remains-20-years-later-memories-of-dean.html/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 23, 2012 |title=The Horror Remains: 20 Years Later, Memories of Dean Corll Haunt Survivor |via=archive.is |date=August 8, 1993 |access-date=February 3, 2017}}}}

On January 20, 1973, Corll moved to the Princessa Apartments on Wirt Road in the Spring Branch district of Houston. Less than two weeks later, on February 1, he abducted and killed 17-year-old Joseph Allen Lyles. Lyles had known both Corll and Brooks for several months prior to his disappearance; he had lived on Antoine Drive—the same street upon which Brooks resided in early 1973.{{cite news|last1=Turner|first1=Allan|title=Relative of Long-lost Murder Victim: 'We Pretty Much Lost Hope'|url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Relative-of-long-lost-murder-victim-We-pretty-1534010.php?plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:ab25336c-332b-4fa6-a161-0ab43240f784/|access-date=February 14, 2025|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=August 31, 2015}} According to Brooks, Corll had wanted him to assist in restraining Lyles, but he refused; in response, Corll overpowered and bound the teen before Brooks hurriedly left Corll's apartment. Lyles's body was later buried on a sandbank on Jefferson County Beach.{{cite web|title=Mass Murder Victim Buried|url=https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2009/11/12/17959/mass-murder-victim-buried/|access-date=February 16, 2025|publisher=KUHT|location=Houston, Texas|date=November 12, 2009}}{{refn|group=n|Lyles's body would remain undiscovered until August 1983.{{cite news|title=Relative of Long-lost Murder Victim: 'We Pretty Much Lost Hope'|url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Relative-of-long-lost-murder-victim-We-pretty-1534010.php|access-date=June 25, 2020|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|location=Houston, Texas|date=August 31, 2015}}}}

One month later, on March 1, Corll vacated the Princessa Apartments; he briefly resided in an apartment on South Post Oak Road before moving into his father's former residence at 2020 Lamar Drive in Pasadena on March 19.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=137}}

Lyles's abduction and murder was committed without the assistance or knowledge of Henley, who had spontaneously chosen to travel from Texas to Florida with a long-haul truck driver uncle of his in January 1973 before then traveling from Florida to visit another uncle in Atlanta, Georgia. Henley did try and divulge Corll's crimes and his involvement in them to this uncle, but this individual simply believed Henley was either morbidly fantasizing or possessed a psychiatric disorder, and ordered Henley to return to his mother.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|pp=95–97}} Weeks after returning to Houston, Henley traveled to Mount Pleasant in a further effort to distance himself from Corll. Two weeks later, he received a phone call from David Brooks likely made at Corll's behest in which Brooks stated he could not guarantee the safety of one of his younger brothers or the younger brother of David Hilligiest if he did not return home. Henley returned to live with his mother in April 1973.{{refn|group=n|Reflecting on his ambivalent attitude toward Corll, his crimes, and his own involvement in the murders, Henley would later reflect: "My life was kind of schizophrenic. I could get away from Dean and live normal. I could hang out with my friends, see my girlfriends, barbecue with the family, but there was always an undercurrent of fear waiting for Dean to show up. At the same time, I was fearful of being left out ... I didn't feel anchored anymore because the anchor was Dean. When I was with Dean, everything seemed to focus on him, so everything is all right, as long as Dean is all right. When I was away from Dean, then I had misgivings and felt responsible and guilty ... He was never able to make me guilt-free."{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=92}}}}

In a further effort to distance himself from Corll, Henley attempted to enlist in the U.S. Navy as a boatswain's mate in the spring of 1973; his application was rejected on June 28 due to the fact a color perception test revealed he was color-blind and thus ineligible to be recruited. Furthermore, although a later intelligence test would reveal Henley's IQ to be 126,{{cite news|last=Montgomery|first=Paula L.|title=Houston Finds Murder Ring Random, Enigmatic Intrusion|date=July 21, 1974|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/21/archives/houston-finds-murder-ring-random-enigmatic-intrusion-the-talk-of.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 26, 2025}} he had dropped out of high school and possessed a limited formal education. In a 2010 interview, Henley stated: "I couldn't leave anyway. If I did go, I knew Dean would go after one of my little brothers, who he always liked a little too much."

{{quote box

| quote = He was escalating. I think he knew I was reaching saturation. I was drinking worse and worse ... he knew I was trying to get away. His episodes were becoming more vicious and hurried. The feeling I had was that Dean would soon kill me or kill both of us ... I believe Dean not only was losing control of his own self, but [also knew he] was losing control of me.

| source = Elmer Wayne Henley, describing the increasing friction and distrust between himself and Corll during the summer of 1973 to authors Katherine Ramsland and Tracy Ullman (2022).{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=105}}

| width = 35em

}}

Both Henley and Brooks later testified to the increase in the level of brutality of the murders committed while Corll resided at Lamar Drive; both also sensed Corll was increasingly losing his sense of self-control while becoming suspicious of both accomplices. Henley later likened the dramatic increase in sadism inflicted upon the victims and the frequency in which Corll insisted his accomplices lure victims to his home to being "like a blood lust" in which he insisted Henley in particular actively participate.{{cite news|title=The Candy Man: He Had a Little Store and a 'Lust for Blood'|url=https://tucson.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-1973-aug-19-the-miami-h/46887631/|access-date=April 5, 2024|newspaper=The Miami Herald|date=August 19, 1973}}{{cite news|title=Youth Tells How Young Boys were Killed|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/abilene/abilene-reporter-news/1973/08-11/page-10|access-date=February 15, 2025|newspaper=Abilene Reporter-News|date=August 11, 1973}}

On Monday, June 4, 1973, Corll ordered Henley to "bring [him] a boy". In response, Henley lured a 15-year-old acquaintance named William Ray Lawrence to Corll's Pasadena residence upon the promise of fishing with himself and Corll at Lake Sam Rayburn in San Augustine County.{{cite news|title=Two Youths Indicted in Texas Killings|date=August 15, 1973|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/15/archives/2-youths-indicted-in-texas-killings.html |newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=February 15, 2025}} Lawrence last phoned his father to state he and "some friends" were traveling to Lake Sam Rayburn, but that he would return to Houston in "two, three days ... maybe Thursday."{{cite web|last=Olsen|first=Jack|url=https://bookreadfree.com/388441/9554024 |title=The Man With the Candy |publisher=bookreadfree.com |access-date=February 14, 2024}} Due to the fact Corll "really liked [Lawrence]", the teenager was kept alive for three days throughout which he was almost continually bound to Corll's bed. After three days of abuse and torture, Lawrence was strangled to death with a ligature.{{cite news|title=New Charges Coming in Houston Murders |date=August 15, 1973 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/reno-gazette-journal-hmm-billy-ridinger/11971734/?locale=en-GB |newspaper=Reno Gazette-Journal |access-date=January 24, 2025}} Corll and Brooks buried his body at Lake Sam Rayburn the following evening as Henley kept a lookout in Corll's Ford Econoline van.{{cite web|last1=Hollandsworth|first1=Skip|author-link1=Skip Hollandsworth|title=The Lost Boys|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-boys/|website=Texas Monthly|page=124|access-date=October 17, 2015|date=April 2011}}

Less than two weeks later, a 20-year-old married man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana named Raymond Stanley Blackburn was abducted while hitchhiking from the Heights to Louisiana to see his wife and newborn child;{{cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/1979/56288-3.html|title=David Owen Brooks, Appellant, v. The State of Texas, Appellee. Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, Panel No. 3, May 16, 1979 |date=May 16, 1979|via=law.justia.com}} he was strangled to death by Corll and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn. Blackburn had arrived in Houston three months before his abduction to work on a construction project.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20468751/blackburn_raymond_stanley_death |title=Baton Rouge Man Among Victims in Houston Case|newspaper=Daily World |via=newspapers.com| date=August 16, 1973 |page=2 |access-date=February 15, 2025}}{{harvnb|Keppel|Birnes|2003|p=11}} Three weeks later, on July 6, Henley began attending classes at the Coaches Driving School in Bellaire, Texas, where he became acquainted with a 15-year-old named Homer Luis Garcia.{{harvnb|Gurwell|1974|p=41}}{{cite news|title=Victim, Suspect Linked|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19730830&id=wiNIAAAAIBAJ&pg=6795,4800350&hl=en|access-date=October 16, 2015|work=The Victoria Advocate|agency=Associated Press|date=August 30, 1973}} The following day, Garcia telephoned his mother to say he was spending the night with a friend from the driving school, whom he refused to name; he was shot and left to bleed to death in Corll's bathtub before his body was buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=140}}{{cite news|title=The Horror|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kf0LAAAAIBAJ&pg=7062,3453962&dq/|access-date=February 15, 2025|work=The Evening Independent|date=August 11, 1973}} Five days later, on July 12, a 17-year-old Orange County youth and U.S. Marine named John Manning Sellars was shot to death with a rifle and buried at High Island Beach.{{cite news|title=One Body Not Murder Victim?|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jL8dAAAAIBAJ&pg=3162,1473642&hl=en/|access-date=February 16, 2025|work=Daily News|agency=Associated Press|date=July 11, 1974}}{{cite news|title=Prosecution Winding up in Mass Murder Trial|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/michigan/ironwood/ironwood-daily-globe/1974/07-12/page-1|access-date=February 16, 2025|newspaper=Ironwood Daily Globe|agency=Associated Press|date=July 12, 1974}}

The day after Sellars' disappearance, Brooks married his pregnant 15-year-old fiancée, Bridget Clark; the two moved into an apartment together, although he continued to maintain contact with Corll and Henley.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=104}}

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On July 19, Corll and Henley encountered 15-year-old Michael Anthony Baulch—the younger brother of previous victim Billy Baulch—walking home from a barber's shop.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=74}} He was lured to Corll's residence upon an unknown pretext. Baulch was strangled to death with a cord before his body was buried at Lake Sam Rayburn just {{convert|10|ft|m|0}} from the body of Homer Garcia. Six days later, on Corll's instructions, Henley lured two friends of his named Charles Cary Cobble (17) and Marty Ray Jones (18) to Corll's home. The trio were last seen by a friend of Henley's named Johnny Reyna walking in single file along Twenty-Seventh Street.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|pp=83–84}} Two days later, Jones was strangled to death as Cobble—observing his friend's murder—went into cardiac arrest; Henley partially resuscitated Cobble before Corll ordered him to stop. He then shot Cobble twice in the head. Henley buried the youths in the center of Corll's boat shed, with Corll briefly locking him inside the shed while he retrieved bags of lime to spread over their bodies.{{harvnb|Jeffers|1992|p=130}}

On Friday, August 3, Corll encountered a 13-year-old boy from South Houston named James Stanton Dreymala riding his bicycle close to his parents' home.{{cite news|last=Willey|first=Jessica|title=The Candyman Murders|work=KTRK-TV|url=https://abc13.com/dean-corll-elmer-wayne-henly-jr-david-brooks-candyman-mass-murders/11239611/|access-date=February 20, 2025}} Upon learning Dreymala was saving money to take his first girlfriend to see the latest James Bond movie that Sunday,{{cite news|last=Rhor|first=Monica|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/For-murder-victim-s-parents-an-agonizing-ritual-5938218.php|title=For Murder Victim's Parents, an Agonizing Ritual|work=Houston Chronicle |date=December 8, 2014|access-date=February 16, 2025}} Corll lured the boy to his home on the pretext of his collecting empty glass bottles from his shed to collect the deposit for their return.{{harvnb|Gurwell|1974|p=48}} That evening, Brooks observed Dreymala at Corll's home; he ordered a pizza, which he shared with the boy before leaving him alone with Corll. Dreymala later called his parents to request if he could stay overnight at a party across town; his parents informed him to return home, although shortly thereafter, Dreymala was tied to Corll's torture board, raped, tortured, and strangled with a cord before being buried close to the entrance of Corll's boat shed.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|pp=138;214}}

On the evening of August 7, 1973, Henley invited 20-year-old Timothy Cordell Kerley to attend a party at Corll's Pasadena residence.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=25}} Kerley—a casual acquaintance of Corll whom Corll intended to be his next victim—accepted the offer.{{cite news|title=Two 'Saw Fatal Shooting'|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110743429|access-date=March 29, 2019|work=The Canberra Times|date=August 18, 1973}} Brooks was not present at the time.{{harvnb|Hanna|1975|p=14}} The two youths arrived at Corll's house, where they sniffed paint fumes and drank alcohol until midnight before leaving the house, promising to return shortly. Henley and Kerley then drove back to Houston Heights and Kerley parked his Volkswagen close to Henley's home. The two exited the vehicle and Henley, hearing commotion across the street emanating from the home of his 15-year-old friend Rhonda Louise Williams, walked toward her home.{{cite web|url=https://www.houstonpress.com/news/the-girl-on-the-torture-board-rhonda-williams-opens-up-about-being-attacked-by-dean-corll-6736780?storyPage=4|title=The Girl on the Torture Board: Rhonda Williams Opens up About Being Attacked by Dean Corll |date=October 15, 2014|via=houstonpress.com}}{{refn|group=n|Williams had previously been the girlfriend of victim Frank Aguirre. Following Aguirre's murder, Henley had informed her on several occasions she should cease lamenting his disappearance and hoping he would return, as he "[had] a feeling" he would never return home.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=145}}}} Williams had been beaten by her drunken father that evening and—determined to run away from home—had packed several basic belongings into an overnight bag before seeking temporary refuge in a washateria close to her home, where Henley encountered her.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=291}} Williams accepted Henley's invitation to join him and Kerley at Corll's home.{{cite web|url=https://www.houstonpress.com/news/the-girl-on-the-torture-board-rhonda-williams-opens-up-about-being-attacked-by-dean-corll-6736780|title=The Girl on the Torture Board: Rhonda Williams Opens up About Being Attacked by Dean Corll |date=October 15, 2014|via=houstonpress.com}} The trio then drove toward Corll's residence, arriving at approximately 3:00{{nbsp}}a.m.{{harvnb|Hanna|1975|pp=14–15}}{{harvnb|Lane|Gregg|1992|p=119}}

Corll was furious that a girl had been brought to his house,{{harvnb|Furio|2001|p=133}} telling Henley in private he had "ruined everything." Externally, however, Corll remained calm, and Henley, Williams and Kerley began drinking and smoking marijuana, with Henley and Kerley also sniffing acrylic paint fumes as Corll watched the trio intently before apparently retiring to bed. After approximately two hours, Henley, Kerley and Williams each passed out.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19730811&id=guZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6123,2563709&hl=en|title=Young Victims Now Total 23|access-date=February 8, 2025|newspaper=The Register-Guard|date=August 11, 1973}}{{harvnb|Levin|Wiest|2018|p=28}}

Henley woke to find himself gagged and pinioned face-down with Corll placing handcuffs upon his wrists. Kerley and Williams had each been bound and gagged and lay alongside Henley on the floor, with Kerley having been stripped naked.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|pp=100–101}} Corll informed Henley he was furious he had brought a girl to his home, thus thwarting his plans to assault and torture Kerley, stating, "Man, you blew it bringing that girl"{{cite news|last=Pettaway|first=Taylor|title=53 Years after Murdering his First Victim, Candy Man is Still one of Texas's Worst Serial Killers|date=September 25, 2023|url=https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/candy-man-among-texas-worst-serial-killers-17463236.php |newspaper=San Antonio Express-News |access-date=February 8, 2025}} before repeatedly kicking Williams in the chest and shouting, "Wake up, bitch!"{{cite news|title=Serial Killer Dean Corll's Lone Female Survivor Recalls Attack|work=KTRK-TV|url=https://abc13.com/archive/9308674/|date=November 1, 2013|access-date=February 24, 2025}}

When all three had woken, Corll began shouting as he waved an eighteen-inch hunting knife at the trio: "I'm gonna kill you all! But first I'm gonna have my fun!" He then dragged Henley into his kitchen and placed a .22 caliber pistol against his stomach, threatening to shoot him. Henley pleaded for his life, promising to participate in the torture and murder of the others if Corll released him.{{harvnb|Lane|Gregg|1992|p=120}} After several minutes, Corll agreed and untied Henley, then separately carried Kerley and Williams into his bedroom and tied them to opposite sides of his plywood torture board placed above a layer of thick plastic sheeting:{{Harvnb|Fido|1995|p=85}} Kerley on his stomach; Williams on her back.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|pp=7–11}} He then placed a transistor radio attached to a pair of dry cells between Kerley and Williams before turning the volume to maximum to drown any shouting and screaming.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=116}}

File:Rhonda Louise Williams Elmer Wayne Henley Imspiration Lamar Drive Pasadena August 8 1973.jpg

Henley was handed a long hunting knife by Corll, who ordered him to cut away Williams's clothes, insisting that he would rape and kill Kerley as Henley would do likewise to Williams and shouting, "What are you waiting for?"{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=15}} Henley then began cutting off Williams's trousers and underwear as Corll placed the pistol upon a bedside table, undressed and climbed on top of Kerley.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|pp=261–263}}

As Corll began to assault and torture Kerley, Henley continued cutting away Williams's clothes with the hunting knife Corll had handed him. As he did so, Williams—whose gag Henley had removed—lifted her head and asked Henley, "Is this for real?"{{cite news|last1=Sutton|first1=Candace|title=Serial Killers You've Never Heard of who are Alive and Will Die in Prison|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/serial-killers-youve-never-heard-of-who-are-alive-and-will-die-in-prison/RGVU2LMHQFQUFHVDWOBGD33EBA/|access-date=February 18, 2025|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald|date=February 11, 2017}} Henley replied in the affirmative and Williams then asked: "Are you going to do anything about it?" This statement unnerved Henley, but evidently inspired him to act. After standing and pacing the room for several minutes as he huffed from a sack of acrylic paint fumes, he observed the pistol Corll had laid on a bedside table.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=16}} After asking Corll, "Hey, Dean. Why don't you let me take the chick in the other room? She doesn't want to see this," and receiving no response,{{harvnb|Cawthorne|Tibballs|1993|p=411}} Henley grabbed the pistol and ordered Corll to stop what he was doing, shouting, "You've gone far enough, Dean! I can't go on any longer ... I can't have you kill all my friends!"{{harvnb|Foreman|1992|p=111}}

Even with a weapon pointed at him, Corll was not cowed: he clambered off Kerley, stood and slowly walked towards Henley, shouting, "Kill me, Wayne! You won't do it!" Henley fired a round at Corll, hitting him in the forehead.{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=17}} As Corll continued to advance upon him, Henley fired a further two rounds into his left shoulder—one of which penetrated his lung and lodged in his spine. Corll began coughing up blood as he ran out of the room, trapping his foot in a rotary telephone wire and staggering toward the wall of the hallway. Henley fired three additional bullets into his lower back and shoulder as Corll slid down the wall, killing him.{{cite news|last1=Haines|first1=Max|title=Houston Mass Murderers Had two Private Graveyards|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c9EyAAAAIBAJ&pg=1099,2416914&dq=dean+corll+shot+shoulder&hl=en|access-date=February 9, 2025|work=Ottawa Citizen|date=February 25, 1984}}

After Henley had shot Corll, he and Kerley began weeping as Kerley repeatedly thanked him for saving his life and Williams screamed for him to release her.{{harvnb|Jessel|Waddell|1991|p=3644}}{{refn|group=n|Discussing his mindset and emotions immediately after shooting Corll, Henley would recollect in 2022: "I think the reason I broke down and cried after shooting Dean was because my life was ended. I had finally accepted that anything was preferable than to continue with Dean ... I was also closing off a part of my life I had clung to regardless of consequences. I cried because I lost Dean, lost my life, lost my childhood, accepted death, and was just plain relieved ... I also know, now, that only Dean's death was going to release me."{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=119}}}} Although Henley initially contemplated simply fleeing the scene, he looked up the number for the Pasadena Police Department (PPD) in Corll's telephone directory, blurting to the operator at 8:24 a.m.: "Y'all better come here right now! I just killed a man!"{{harvnb|Lane|Gregg|1992|pp=119–120}}{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=97}}{{cite news|title=Mass Murder Case Traced|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19750618&id=yAxZAAAAIBAJ&pg=6928,3045619|access-date=May 30, 2018|newspaper=The Victoria Advocate|date=June 18, 1975}}

As the trio sat on the curb outside Corll's home waiting for the police to arrive, Henley slumped forward, weeping and rocking back and forth with his head in his hands as Williams—also weeping—draped one arm across his shoulder and attempted to reassure him everything would "be alright". As Kerley stared vacantly across the street,{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=112}} Henley mentioned to him that he had "done that (killing by shooting) four or five times."{{cite news|title=Witness Says Corll Asked to Be Killed|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19740123&id=Y00iAAAAIBAJ&pg=836,1995243&hl=en|access-date=October 17, 2015|work=The Argus-Press|agency=Associated Press|date=January 23, 1974}}{{refn|group=n|Kerley would also later inform investigators Henley also informed him: "If you wasn't my friend, I could have gotten $200 for you."{{harvnb|Wynn|1996|p=70}}}}

Minutes later, Officer Jerry Jamison arrived at Lamar Drive. Henley informed Jamison that he was the individual who had contacted the police and indicated that he had "killed a man inside [the house]". Jamison placed all three inside his patrol car before entering the property to observe the body of Dean Corll sprawled face-down in the hallway; he then returned to his car and read all three their Miranda rights. In response, Henley shouted: "I don't care who knows about it! I have to get it off my chest!"{{cite news|title=Jurors Hear Officers Describe Finding 27 Bodies Near Houston|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/09/archives/jurors-hear-officers-describe-finding-27-bodies-near-houston.html|access-date=March 4, 2025|work=The New York Times|date=July 9, 1974}} Jamison then called for a detective unit to transport the three to the PPD. En route, one of the officers noted Henley repeatedly mentioned the decedent had "a warehouse or small storage room where [the decedent] had buried some bodies".{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=113}}

The PPD initially questioned Henley about the killing of Corll; he recounted the events of the previous evening and that morning, explaining that he had shot Corll in self-defense after he had bound, then threatened to kill all three and he had persuaded Corll to release him.{{harvnb|Hanna|1975|p=21}} His accounts were corroborated by Kerley and Williams—both of whom indicated Henley had likely saved their lives. As such, the detective questioning Henley believed he had indeed acted in self-defense.{{cite web|last=Ramsland|first=Katherine|author-link=Katherine Ramsland|title=Revising My Ideas About a Kid Who Killed|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/shadow-boxing/202404/revising-my-ideas-about-a-kid-who-killed|website=Psychology Today|access-date=February 19, 2025|date=April 12, 2024}}

When questioned regarding his earlier claim that as Corll had threatened to kill Williams, Kerley and himself that morning, Corll had shouted that he had killed several boys, and that investigators had noted the floor of the room where the three had been bound, assaulted and threatened was covered in thick plastic sheeting in addition to locating numerous dildos, rolls of binding tape, a tube of petroleum jelly, pairs of handcuffs and a toolbox containing thin glass tubes within the property, Henley explained that since the winter of 1971–72, he had actively participated in the abductions and, later, murders of several victims. Corll had offered to pay him $200 for each victim he was able to lure to his apartment, although he had never received any significant sums of money for any victim following the first abduction.{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/archive/6841636/behavior-the-mind-of-the-mass-murderer/|title=Behavior: The Mind of the Mass Murderer |magazine=Time |date=August 27, 1973 |access-date=February 18, 2025}} He also divulged that David Brooks had also been an active accomplice – albeit for a longer period of time than he.{{harvnb|Cawthorne|Tibballs|1993|pp=408–409}}

Henley insisted he had initially had believed the boys he abducted were to be sold into a Dallas-based organization for "homosexual acts, sodomy, maybe later killing,"{{cite news|title=Man Bought Boys for $200 – Witness| date=January 17, 1974 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/46020684/ |work=The Ottawa Journal |access-date=May 24, 2018}} but that he had soon learned Corll was himself murdering the victims procured. He also gradually admitted to having assisted Corll in several murders in addition to having actively participated in the torture of "six or eight" victims prior to their murder, also informing police Corll had buried most of his victims in a boat shed in Southwest Houston, and others at Lake Sam Rayburn and High Island Beach.{{Cite web|last=Lashway|first=Zachary|url=https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/10/11/solvable-swimsuit-boy/|title=Solvable: Do You Know Swimsuit Boy?|date=October 11, 2024|orig-date=October 10, 2024|publisher=KPRC-TV|access-date=January 28, 2025}}

Although police were initially skeptical, Henley remained adamant as to his claims; he also provided investigators with the names of three boys whom he and Brooks had procured for Corll: Cobble, Hilligiest, and Jones. A call to the Houston Police Department (HPD) headquarters revealed all three had been reported missing from Houston Heights. Hilligiest had been reported missing in the summer of 1971; the other two boys had been missing for just two weeks.{{cite news|title=Jurors Listen to Confession in Texas Case|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=B9szAAAAIBAJ&pg=6565,6828518&dq/|access-date=February 20, 2025|work=Eugene Register-Guard|agency=Associated Press|date=June 22, 1979}} He agreed to accompany police to each of the burial sites to assist in the recovery of the victims, beginning with the boat shed where he insisted the three victims whose names he had initially provided detectives—Cobble, Hilligiest, and Jones—had been buried.{{cite news|title=Eight Bodies Found in Houston|date=August 9, 1973|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/09/archives/8-bodies-found-in-houston-lot-youth-says-he-killed-man-he-describes.html|newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 20, 2025}}

File:Elmer Wayne Henley Corll Boat Shed August 8 1973.jpg

Seventeen victims in varying stages of decomposition would be recovered from the boat shed on August 8 and 9, with four separate arm bones not belonging to any victim—each appendage later confirmed to belong to the same individual—also recovered on the second day of the search.{{harvnb|Olsen|2025|p=302}} All of the victims found had been sodomized and most victims found bore evidence of having been subjected to brutality and sexual torture: pubic hairs had been plucked out,{{refn|group=n|Henley would later describe Corll's practice of pulling pubic hairs from the victims as a "coercion technique" undertaken to ensure the victims' compliance in the sexual abuse inflicted upon them.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=102}}}} objects had been inserted into their rectums, and glass rods had been inserted into their urethrae and smashed.{{harvnb|Berry-Dee|2009|p=185}} Cloth rags had also been inserted into the victims' mouths and adhesive tape wound around their faces to muffle their screams.{{cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/henley-v-state-1 |title=Henley v. State |publisher=casetext.com |date=September 23, 1982 |access-date=February 2, 2017}} One victim had been emasculated, whereas the penis of another victim had been almost completely severed by human teeth. The eighth victim recovered was found buried with an electrical cord with alligator clips attached to each end;{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/DeanCorllAutopsyReports/ML%2073_3339#page/1/mode/2up |title=Office of the Medical Examiner of Harris County: Case 73-3339| date=August 10, 1973 |page=9| access-date=July 19, 2020}} the thirteenth and fourteenth bodies unearthed bore identification cards naming the victims as brothers Donald and Jerry Waldrop,{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/DeanCorll_HoustonPD|title=Supplementary Offense Report - D-68904 - 1|publisher=Houston Police Department| date=August 9, 1973 |pages=12–13| access-date=February 24, 2025}} whereas the body of the fifteenth victim had suffered several fractured ribs prior to his murder.{{harvnb|Berry-Dee|2009|p=196}}

File:Dean Corll Houston Chronicle August 9 1973.jpg

As the first bodies were unearthed and prior to developments pertaining to Corll's death being reported via media, a reporter for Houston's NBC television affiliate KPRC-TV named Jack Cato overheard Henley pleading with investigators to allow him to phone his mother. He

offered Henley the use of his mobile radio telephone to call his mother prior to her learning via media of police developments. When Henley's mother answered the telephone, Henley stated, "It's Wayne", to which his mother replied, "Yes, this is Mama, baby." Henley then blurted the words, "Mama ... I killed Dean" into the receiver, confessing that he had killed Dean Corll and was "at that warehouse he keeps" with the police.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=111}} The entire conversation was captured on film, and was broadcast nationwide by NBC Nightly News that evening.{{cite web |url=https://nppa.org/news/2933 |title=Houston Legend Jack Cato, 70 |date=May 30, 2006 |publisher=National Press Photographers Association |access-date=December 21, 2014 |archive-date=December 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222000234/https://nppa.org/news/2933 |url-status=dead }}

Accompanied by his father, David Brooks presented himself at HPD headquarters on the evening of August 8. He provided a statement in which he admitted to having known Corll since 1967 and that, beginning in 1969, he had allowed Corll to perform oral sex upon him for money, for which he was paid up to $10. Initially, Brooks denied any knowledge of or participation in the murders{{cite news|title=Texas EquuSearch Launches New Search for Remains of Victims in Houston Most Notorious Serial Killing|url=https://abc13.com/texas-equusearch-elmer-wayne-henley-dean-corll-serial-killer/10938878/|access-date=October 31, 2021|work=ABC13|date=August 9, 2021}} although he admitted to having known that Corll had raped and killed two teenagers while residing at an apartment on Yorktown in late 1970, and that, in return for his silence in this matter, Corll had purchased him the green 1969 Chevrolet Corvette he drove.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=275}} He then elaborated: "When Dean had a place on Schuler, he was hanging around with Mark Scott, and before that, he was with Ruben Watson. They both disappeared—maybe he killed them."{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|pp=124–125}}

File:Dean Corll Log Cabin Herald Times Reporter August 16, 1973.jpg. Four victims would be discovered at this location on August 9 and 10, 1973.]]

On the morning of August 9, Henley gave a full written confession detailing his involvement with Corll and Brooks in the abduction and murder of numerous victims over the previous eighteen months. In this confession, Henley readily admitted to having participated in approximately eleven abductions and to have personally killed several victims by either strangulation or shooting, adding that Brooks "was with us on most of them". Although he had initially believed the victims were to be sold as houseboys to the organization Corll had claimed to belong to, he had soon discovered Corll was raping and killing his victims, although he had continued to assist Corll and Brooks in the crimes.{{harvnb|Jessel|Waddell|1991|p=3655}} Furthermore, Henley insisted that although Corll had paid him the agreed sum of $200 for the first victim he had lured to his home, he had never subsequently paid him any direct fee for participating in the abductions and murders.{{cite news|title=Authorities Struggle to Identify Victims|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19730812&id=TwUrAAAAIBAJ&pg=6314,191308&hl=en|access-date=February 21, 2025|work=Reading Eagle|agency=Associated Press|date=August 12, 1973}} After providing his statement, Henley spoke with his mother, informing her he had confessed everything and urging her to "be happy for me, because now, at last, I can live".{{cite web|last=Smyser|first=Craig|url=https://archive.org/stream/DeanCorllAutopsyReports/CR55_scrapbooks_CorylBrooksHenley_19730812_19740123_1022C01_djvu.txt|title=Dean Corll Autospy Reports from Harris County Archives |date=January 30, 2014|access-date=February 22, 2025|via=archive.org}} That afternoon, Henley accompanied police to Lake Sam Rayburn.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=141}} Two additional bodies were found in shallow, lime-soaked graves in woodland located approximately one hundred yards from the nearest road.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|pp=20–21}}{{refn|group=n|Henley submitted to a press interview at Lake Sam Rayburn on the afternoon of August 9. When questioned by a reporter named Larry Conners as to what Brooks's role had been in the abductions and murders, Henley simply replied, "Same as mine."{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=88}}}} Inside the lakeside log cabin owned by Corll's family at this location,{{cite news|title=Examining of Henley is Resisted|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/wisconsin/manitowoc/herald-times-reporter/1973/08-16/page-2|access-date=February 28, 2025|work=The Herald Times Reporter|date=August 16, 1973}} police found a second plywood torture board, rolls of plastic sheeting, shovels, and a sack of lime.{{cite news|title=Houston Deaths Now 27|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19730814&id=fXVUAAAAIBAJ&pg=6854,2281009&hl=en|access-date=November 4, 2024|work=Ellensburg Daily Record|agency=United Press International|date=August 14, 1973}}

After conferring privately with his father, Brooks gave a full confession on the morning of August 10 in which he admitting being present at several killings and assisting in several burials,{{harvnb|Gibson|2023|p=107}} although he continued to deny any direct participation in the murders—insisting he "never actually killed anyone but was in the room when they happened and was supposed to help if something went wrong".{{harvnb|Hanna|1975|pp=27–31}} According to Brooks, Henley's role had initially been the same as his, but Henley soon actively participated in the torture and murder of many of the victims killed from early 1972 onward and that he "seemed to enjoy causing pain", being particularly sadistic in the murders committed while Corll had resided at Schuler Street.{{cite news|url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/434954445/|work=El Paso Times|title=Henley Trial to Begin in Mass Murders Case|date=July 1, 1974|access-date=February 22, 2025}}

When questioned about the plywood torture board found at Corll's home, Brooks stated many victims had been restrained to this device, particularly if Corll intended to keep them alive for extended periods of time, adding: "Once they went on the board, they were as good as dead ... it was all over but the shouting and the crying."{{harvnb|Williams|1994|pp=2854-2855}} Brooks's confession estimated Corll had killed between twenty-five and thirty boys, most of whom had been buried in the boat shed, with approximately four buried at Lake Sam Rayburn, and "five or more" victims to be located at High Island Beach. He agreed to assist investigators in locating the victims buried at the beach.{{harvnb|Olsen|1974|p=153}}

File:Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brook (by Jerry Click) – Bolivar Peninsula, August 10, 1973.jpg (right), pictured at High Island Beach. August 10, 1973.]]

On August 10, Henley again accompanied police to Lake Sam Rayburn, where two more bodies were found buried alongside a dirt track just {{convert|10|ft|m|0}} apart.{{harvnb|McDougal|1991|p=129}} That afternoon, both Henley and Brooks accompanied police to High Island Beach, leading police to the shallow graves of two further victims, both of whom were markedly decomposed.{{cite news|title=Young Victims Now Total 23|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19730811&id=guZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6123,2563709|access-date=November 8, 2017|work=Eugene Register-Guard|date=August 11, 1973}} Four further victims would be located at High Island Beach on August 13, making a total of 27 known victims—at the time the worst case of serial murder, in terms of the number of victims, in the United States.{{refn|group=n|The body of a seventh victim buried at High Island, Mark Scott, still lies undiscovered at this location, and the body of victim Joseph Lyles would be found buried at Jefferson County Beach in August 1983.}}

All the victims found were males between the ages of thirteen and twenty, many of whom had been sexually tortured and severely beaten in addition to being sexually assaulted.{{harvnb|Wynn|1996|p=71}} Autopsies revealed each victim had been killed by either strangulation, shooting or a combination of both.{{cite web | last = Phinney | first = Debera | title = Police News Reporter "Identifies" Houston Mass Murder Victim – Bodies to be Exhumed | work = The Police News | date = September 13, 2010 |access-date = January 17, 2025| url = http://thepolicenews.net/default.aspx?newsletterid=22837&category=News+1-2&act=Newsletter.aspx&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1/&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport= }}

One of the six bodies found buried at High Island, that of 17-year-old John Manning Sellars, was later disputed as being a victim of Corll by Harris County Medical Examiner Joseph Alexander Jachimczyk. Sellars had died of four gunshot wounds fired from a rifle, whereas all the known victims of the Houston Mass Murders had either been strangled or killed with the same .22 caliber pistol Henley had used to kill Corll. The official tally of victims was reduced to twenty-six in 1974 after Dr. Jachimczyk testified Sellars "probably was not" murdered by Corll and his accomplices.{{cite news|title=One Body Not Murder Victim?|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jL8dAAAAIBAJ&pg=3162,1473642&hl=en/|access-date=February 24, 2025|work=Daily News|agency=Associated Press|date=July 11, 1974}}

Henley and Brooks had not led police to Sellars' body, and neither specifically mentioned the teenager as being a victim. The grave site had been revealed to investigators by a truck driver on August 13, and was located two miles from the other five victims buried at this location.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=103}} Nonetheless, although Sellars' body was not wrapped in plastic sheeting, the youth's body was found bound hand and foot and buried in a manner similar to Corll's other known victims.

On August 13, 1973, a grand jury convened in Harris County to hear evidence against Henley and Brooks.{{harvnb|Blundell|1998|p=50}} The jury heard evidence from both Rhonda Williams and Timothy Kerley, who each testified to the events of August 7 and 8 leading to the shooting of Dean Corll, plus the testimony from various police officers who recited and discussed the signed confessions Henley and Brooks had given and described how both had led them to each of the burial sites. The assembled jury also heard the testimony of a youth named William Ridinger, who had been abducted by Corll, Henley and Brooks in the summer of 1972 and who testified as to his torture and abuse at the hands of the trio before Corll agreed to release him.{{harvnb|Jessel|Waddell|1991|p=3669}}

After hearing over six hours of testimony, on August 14, Henley was indicted on three counts of murder and Brooks on one count. Bail for both was set at $100,000. By September 7, the number of murder indictments against Henley had risen to six, with Brooks ultimately indicted on four counts of murder.{{cite news|title=Two Teenagers Indicted for Houston Deaths|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19730815&id=buVdAAAAIBAJ&pg=3853,2425337&hl=en|access-date=February 23, 2025|work=Observer-Reporter|agency=Associated Press|date=August 15, 1973}}{{harvnb|Hanna|1975|p=161}} Henley was not charged with the death of Dean Corll, which prosecutors would rule on September 18 had been committed in self-defense.{{cite news|title=Mass Killer's Death Ruled Self-Defense|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19730918&id=j6kbAAAAIBAJ&pg=7249,1707366&hl=en|access-date=February 23, 2025|work=The Pittsburgh Press|agency=United Press International|date=September 18, 1973}}

On October 8, Henley and Brooks were brought to court to face a formal arraignment. Henley was charged with six counts of murder and Brooks with four counts.{{cite news | title = Houston Youths Arraigned Today | newspaper = Ellensburg Daily Record | location = Ellensburg, Washington | pages = 5 | publisher = United Press International | date = October 8, 1973 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=REJPAAAAIBAJ&pg=5888,436097&dq/ | access-date = April 19, 2012}} Both youths pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.{{cite news|title=Two Plead Not Guilty in Slayings |date=October 8, 1973 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1008117699/ |newspaper=The Orange Leader |access-date = April 19, 2012}} A subsequent hearing to suppress Henley's August 9 written confession on the grounds Henley had not been informed of his legal rights or given the opportunity to see a lawyer beforehand saw Judge William Hatten rule his confession admissible at his upcoming trial.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=179}}

Henley was brought to trial before Judge Preston Dial in San Antonio on July 1, 1974,{{cite news|title=Henley Gets 594 Years|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=886&dat=19740809&id=kLtaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5256,776821|access-date=May 9, 2018|work=The Prescott Courier|date=August 9, 1974|agency=Associated Press}} charged with the murders of six teenage boys whom he himself had lured to Corll's apartment between March 1972 and July 1973.{{rp|34}} Henley was defended by William Gray and Edwin Pegelow,{{cite news | title = Henley Trial Evidence Held Admissible | newspaper = Spokane Daily Chronicle | location = Spokane, Washington | page = 2 | agency = Associated Press | date = February 1, 1974 |access-date= January 21, 2025| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=a5JYAAAAIBAJ&pg=7379,15157&dq/ }} with Carol Vance and Donald Lambright prosecuting the case.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/16/archives/henley-convicted-in-murders-of-six-jury-is-out-90-minuteswill.html|work=The New York Times|title=Henley Convicted in Murders of Six|date=July 16, 1974|access-date=February 20, 2025}} Henley formally entered a plea of not guilty to the charges on the opening date of his trial.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/02/archives/judge-bars-press-from-texas-trial.html|work=The New York Times|title=Judge Bars Press from Texas Trial|date=July 2, 1974|access-date=February 19, 2025}}

The State of Texas presented a total of 96 pieces of evidence throughout Henley's trial, including the written confession Henley had given on August 9, which was read to the court in which he admitted killing or assisting in the abduction and murder of several youths, including the six teenagers for whose murders he was on trial. Other pieces of evidence presented included the wooden box used to transport the victims' bodies to the various burial sites and the plywood body board upon which many victims had been restrained. Within the wooden box, investigators had found several strands of human hair which examiners had concluded came from Charles Cobble.{{cite news|title=Hair Linked to Suspect in Killings|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1974/07/12/page/58/article/hair-linked-to-suspect-in-killings|access-date=February 26, 2025|work=The Chicago Tribune|date=July 12, 1974}}

A total of 25 witnesses testified as to Henley's involvement in the abductions and murders on behalf of the prosecution, including Detective David Mack Mullican{{cite web|url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/pasadena-tx/david-mullican-6169772|title=Dignity Memorial: David Mack Mullican|publisher=dignitymemorial.com|access-date=February 27, 2025}} who had attended the Lamar Drive crime scene prior to the discovery of Corll's crimes and had spent three days in Henley's company prior to and following his August 9 confession. Mullican outlined Henley's admissions as to the differing methods of torture used by Corll on several victims, how one victim had been kept alive for three days simply because Corll had "liked" him, and how Henley had informed him that strangling an individual to death "was not as easy like they show on TV", adding: "When we killed Marty Jones, I had to get Dean to come and help me."{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/del-rio/del-rio-news-herald/1974/07-14/page-2|work=Del Rio News-Herald|title=Jury Gets Henley Case Monday|date=July 14, 1974|access-date=March 1, 2025}} When questioned further about the plywood board used to restrain the victims, Mullican testified that Henley had informed him that in order to restrain the youths he, Brooks, and Corll had "handcuffed (the victims) to the board and sometimes to a wall with their mouths taped so they couldn't make any noise".{{cite news | title = Torture Board Among Evidence in Trial | newspaper = The Prescott Courier | location = Prescott, Arizona | pages = 7 | agency = Associated Press | date = July 10, 1974 |access-date= January 27, 2025 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GbpaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5507,4699225&dq/ }} Mullican's testimony was accompanied by the introduction of evidence directly related to the murders by prosecuting District Attorney Carol Vance.{{cite news | title = Henley Sits Unmoved as Texas Outlines Its Case | newspaper = The New York Daily News | date = July 9, 1974 |access-date= February 27, 2025 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/10/archives/henley-sits-unmoved-as-texas-outlines-its-case.html }}

Following advice from his defense counsel, Henley did not take the stand to testify in his own defense, although one of his attorneys, William Gray, did cross-examine a number of witnesses. Gray also urged the jury to "judge [the] evidence as unemotionally as you can".{{cite news|title=Youth Convicted in Mass Murders|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/tennessee/kingsport/kingsport-times/1974/07-16/page-8|newspaper=Kingsport Times-News|agency=United Press International|access-date=March 18, 2025|date=July 16, 1974}} On more than 300 occasions, Henley's attorneys raised objections to the testimony given or evidence presented against Henley. Almost all were overruled.{{cite news| title = Henley Trial Arguments Monday| newspaper = Ocala Star-Banner| location = Ocala, Florida| page = 15A| agency = Associated Press| date = July 12, 1974 |access-date= January 27, 2025 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ooZPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4620,2512863&dq/Ocala}}

On July 15, 1974, both counsels presented their closing arguments to the jury:{{cite news|title=Jury in Houston Convicts Henley of Killing Six Youths|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19740716&id=RoNiAAAAIBAJ&pg=4518,2514419&hl=en|access-date=March 1, 2025|newspaper=Observer-Reporter|agency=Associated Press|date=July 16, 1974}} the prosecution seeking life imprisonment; the defense a verdict of not guilty. In his closing argument to the jury, District Attorney Carol Vance apologized for his not being able to seek the death penalty, adding he considered Henley as "a monster who should be removed from society" and describing the case as the "most extreme example of man's inhumanity to man I have ever seen."{{harvnb|Hanna|1975|p=190}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/17/archives/henley-is-given-six-99year-terms-for-slayings.html|work=The New York Times|title=Henley Is Given Six 99‐Year Terms in Slayings|date=July 17, 1974|access-date=March 1, 2025}}

Edwin Pegelow delivered the closing argument on behalf of the defense. Pegelow did not dispute the fact Henley—by his own willing admission—had assisted in the commission of the crimes, but emphasized he had brought the murder spree to an end by killing Corll, and had subsequently willingly divulged his knowledge of and participation in the crimes to authorities in addition to helping locate the victims' bodies, when he could have remained silent.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|p=188}}

On July 16, the jury retired to consider their verdict.{{harvnb|Jessel|Waddell|1991|p=3671}} After 92 minutes of deliberations they reached their conclusion:{{cite news | title = To Appeal Henley's Conviction | newspaper = The Journal | location = Meriden, Connecticut | page = 18 | agency = Associated Press | date = July 17, 1974 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W7VIAAAAIBAJ&pg=1914,2011255&dq/ }} Henley was found guilty and sentenced to six consecutive 99-year terms of imprisonment. On July 25, Henley and his attorneys filed an appeal, contending that Henley had been denied an evidentiary hearing; that the jury had not been sequestered; that a motion to move the initial trial away from San Antonio had also been denied; and that the presence of news media in the courtroom had also prejudiced his trial.{{cite news|last1=Perez|first1=Raymundo|title=Sex Murders Retrial|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FioxAAAAIBAJ&pg=1108,7596991&hl=en|access-date=February 5, 2025|work=Schenectady Gazette|agency=United Press International|date=December 21, 1978}}

Henley's conviction was overturned on appeal on December 20, 1978. He was tried before Judge Noah Kennedy in Corpus Christi in June 1979, with Henley again represented by defense attorneys William Gray and Edwin Pegelow. On June 27, Henley was again convicted of six murders and again sentenced to six life terms, although the terms were to run concurrently rather than consecutively.{{cite news|title=Mass Killer Guilty Again|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19790627&id=WYcfAAAAIBAJ&pg=1168,5432764&hl=en|access-date=November 17, 2024|work=Daytona Beach Morning Journal|agency=Associated Press|date=June 27, 1979}}

Elmer Wayne Henley first became eligible for parole on July 8, 1980; on this occasion—and each successive parole hearing to date—he has been denied parole, and he has stated that he does not expect to be released from prison. Henley's next eligible parole date is scheduled to occur in October 2025, when he will be 69 years old.{{cite web | title = Parole Review Information: Henley, Elmer Wayne Jr. | url = https://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/reviewDetail.action?sid=01924387&tdcj=00241618&fullName=HENLEY%2CELMER+WAYNE+JR | access-date = February 9, 2016 | publisher = Texas Department of Criminal Justice | archive-date = June 5, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200605193728/https://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/reviewDetail.action?sid=01924387&tdcj=00241618&fullName=HENLEY%2CELMER+WAYNE+JR | url-status = dead }}{{cite web | title= Offender Information Detail: Henley, Elmer Wayne Jr. | url= http://168.51.178.33/webapp/TDCJ/index2.htm | publisher= Texas Department of Criminal Justice |access-date= July 20, 2010 | archive-date= July 5, 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090705214718/http://168.51.178.33/webapp/TDCJ/index2.htm | url-status= dead }}

Henley is currently incarcerated in the Telford Unit in Bowie County.{{cite web | title= Offender Information Details | url= https://inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/viewDetail.action?sid=01924387 | access-date = February 9, 2016 | publisher = Texas Department of Criminal Justice }}{{cite web | title= Offender Information Details | url= https://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/offenderDetail.action?sid=01922285 | access-date= February 9, 2016 | publisher= Texas Department of Criminal Justice | archive-date= February 15, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160215171137/https://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/offenderDetail.action?sid=01922285 | url-status= dead }}{{cite news|last=Rhor|first=Monica|url=https://khqa.com/news/local/serial-killer-accomplice-wrestles-with-his-crimes-10-25-2015-035426993|title=Serial Killer Wrestles with His Crimes|work=KHQA-TV|date=June 9, 2008|access-date=January 7, 2025}}

David Brooks was tried before Judge William Hatten in Houston on February 27, 1975, charged solely with the June 1973 murder of William Ray Lawrence. He chose to plead not guilty.{{cite news|title=Police Officer Testifies on Brooks Statement|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19750227&id=EAxaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5240,3948049&hl=en|access-date=February 15, 2025|work=The Victoria Advocate|agency=Associated Press|date=February 27, 1975}} Brooks was defended by Jim Skelton and Elaine Brady, with Assistant District Attorney Tommy Dunn and Donald Lambright prosecuting the case.{{cite news|last=Overton|first=James|title=Suspect Pleads 'Not Guilty' in Mass Killings|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/levittown/bucks-county-courier-times/1975/02-18/page-21|work=Bucks County Courier Times|access-date=March 2, 2025|date=February 18, 1975}}

Brooks's defense attorneys argued that their client had not committed any murders,{{cite news|title=Jury Selection Continuing|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/arkansas/fayetteville/northwest-arkansas-times/1975/02-25/page-27|access-date=March 2, 2025|work=Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette|agency=Associated Press|date=February 25, 2025}} and attempted to portray Corll and, to a lesser degree, Henley as being the active participants in the actual killings.{{cite news|title=Houston Jury Finds David Brooks Guilty|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kN4qAAAAIBAJ&pg=2999,726381&hl=en|access-date=November 17, 2015|work=Beaver County Times |agency=United Press International|date=March 4, 1975}} Assistant District Attorney Tommy Dunn dismissed the defense's contention outright, at one point telling the jury: "Was he an innocent bystander? This defendant was in on this killing, this murderous rampage, from the very beginning. He tells you he was a cheerleader if nothing else. That's what he was telling you about his presence. You know he was in on it."{{cite news|last1=Overton|first1=James L.|title=Second Mass Murder Defendant Convicted|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BeAbAAAAIBAJ&pg=4956,371309&hl=en|access-date=February 15, 2025|work=The Dispatch|agency=United Press International|date=March 5, 1975}}{{cite news|title=Mass Sex Murder Suspect Convicted|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/wisconsin/madison/madison-wisconsin-state-journal/1975/03-05/page-2|access-date=March 2, 2025|work=Wisconsin State Journal|agency=United Press International|date=March 5, 1975}}

In the state's closing argument, prosecutor Donald Lambright outlined the ordeal endured by Lawrence over the period of three days, stating: "What kind of hell do you think he went through for three days?" He then described the teenager's ultimate death as "a blessing" in that his murder put an end to Lawrence's suffering. Lambright also outlined the fact that, unlike Henley, Brooks had continued to financially profit from successive victims' deaths—receiving "gifts and gratuities" from Corll.{{cite news|title=David Brooks is Found Guilty|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/arkansas/benton/benton-courier/1975/03-05/page-5|access-date=March 4, 2025|newspaper=The Benton Courier|agency=Associated Press|date=March 5, 1975}}

In a 40-minute closing argument, defense attorney Jim Skelton argued that nobody disputed the brutality of Lawrence's murder, and that although the state had proven Brooks to be an accessory to Lawrence's murder, the state had failed to produce any evidence his client had killed Lawrence or any of the other victims, stating: "The state has proven David Owen Brooks of being an accessory to murder; the state has not established a murder case ... They have proved accessory to murder—not murder."{{cite news|title=Attorney Says Prosecution Hasn't Shown Brooks Killer|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/mcallen/mcallen-monitor/1975/03-04/page-3|access-date=March 4, 2025|newspaper=The Monitor|agency=United Press International|date=March 4, 1975}}

Skelton also argued the state had failed to prove an actual motive for his client's participation in the Lawrence's death, and had based their entire case upon circumstantial evidence{{cite news|title=Brooks Mistrial Overruled as Defense Rests Case|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/austin/austin-daily-texan/1975/03-04/page-6|access-date=February 25, 2025|newspaper=The Daily Texan|date=March 4, 1975}} and urged the jurors "before you convict, you've got to find an act to punish".{{cite news|title=David Brooks is Found Guilty|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/arkansas/benton/benton-courier/1975/03-05/page-5|access-date=February 25, 2025|newspaper=The Benton Courier|date=March 5, 1975}}

Brooks's trial lasted less than one week, although the jury deliberated for just 90 minutes before announcing they had reached a verdict: Brooks was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on March 4.{{cite news | title = Houston Jury Finds David Brooks Guilty | newspaper = The Beaver County Times | location = Beaver County, Pennsylvania| page = A4 | agency = United Press International | date = March 4, 1975|access-date=January 27, 2025 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kN4qAAAAIBAJ&pg=2999,726381&dq/ }} He did appeal his sentence, contending that the signed confessions used against him were taken without his being informed of his legal rights and the erroneous application of certain legal arguments, but his appeal was dismissed in May 1979.{{cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/1979/56288-3.html |title=Brooks vs. State |publisher=law.justia.com |access-date=July 5, 2020}}

David Brooks died of COVID-19 related complications in a Galveston hospital at the age of 65 on May 28, 2020, having been admitted to this hospital on May 12 with respiratory symptoms consistent with COVID-19. At the time of his death, Brooks was incarcerated at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County, Texas, having served forty-five years of a life sentence.{{cite news|last=Gill|first=Julia|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Accomplice-in-Houston-Mass-Murders-dies-in-prison-15331112.php|title=David Brooks, Accomplice in Houston Mass Murders, Dies at 65 of COVID-19|work=Houston Chronicle |date=June 10, 2020|access-date=January 27, 2025}} He and Henley corresponded on only one occasion in the decades following their respective convictions, in which Brooks responded to a letter from Henley inviting continued correspondence. Neither maintained written contact, with Henley musing in 2011: "He wrote back—he typed his letter and didn't sign it—saying 'Let's stay in touch', but we never did. I mean, in the end, what were we going to say to each other? How we wished we had never met Dean?"

{{quote box

| quote = I know that people will always think that I'm evil, but I know it's not true. I know I'm not useless. I know I've become someone my mom would be proud of ... Do you realize I hadn't even got my driver's license, and there I was, out committing murders with Dean just because I wanted to please him?

| source = Henley, reflecting on his criminal past and public perceptions of him to journalist Skip Hollandsworth (2011).{{cite magazine|first=Skip|last=Hollandsworth|author-link1=Skip Hollandsworth|title=A Closer Look at One of Dean Corll's Victims|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/a-closer-look-at-one-of-dean-corlls-victims/|magazine=Texas Monthly|date=April 2011|access-date=February 7, 2025|page=188}}

| width = 35em

}}

Shortly after his conviction, Henley began to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, which was not initially diagnosed. To compensate, throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, he occupied himself with prison jobs—frequently working from 5:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. He would occupy much of his time with prison jobs into middle age—stating in 2011: I try to keep myself busy and I try not to sleep much ... I don't like dreaming about the old days."{{cite web|last1=Hollandsworth|first1=Skip|author-link1=Skip Hollandsworth|title=The Lost Boys|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-boys/|website=Texas Monthly|page=125|access-date=October 17, 2015|date=April 2011}} Henley gradually earned a reputation as a model inmate.{{harvnb|Ramsland|Ullman|2024|pp=196-200}} He describes himself as a voracious reader, and avidly follows current events.

In the decades following his conviction, Henley has granted numerous interviews, although he frequently refuses to discuss his criminal past in detail with members of the press or public.{{harvnb|Hare|2011|p=127}} By the late 1990s, he had reconciled himself to the fact he will most likely never be released from prison, although he did state in 1997: "Don't think I don't have my bad nights and think, 'God, if only I had it to do all over again', but I don't have that—I have today. I'm at a point where I can stand before God and say, 'Here I am' instead of hiding. Maybe this is where I'm supposed to be."

In 1994, at the suggestion of a Louisiana art dealer, Henley undertook painting and craftwork as a hobby, in part as a means of generating income for himself and his mother.{{refn|group=n|A state law introduced in 2001 would prohibit Texan inmates from profiting from sales of their artwork.{{cite news|last=Horswell|first=Cindy|title=Inmates Sell Art Despite State 'Murderabilia' Law|url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Inmates-sell-art-despite-state-murderabilia-law-1636189.php|access-date=March 3, 2025|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|location=Houston, Texas|date=April 3, 2005}}}} He has since devoted much of his free time to various forms of art, and several exhibitions of his artwork have since been held, with the first being at the Hyde Park Gallery in Neartown Houston in 1997. This exhibition drew outrage from some victims' relatives.{{cite news|last=Wallace|first=Randy|title=One of Houston's Most Notorious Killers has Facebook Page|work=Fox 26|url=https://www.fox26houston.com/news/one-of-houstons-most-notorious-killers-has-facebook-page|date=January 28, 2016|access-date=January 28, 2025}} In 1999, the city of Houston expressed interest in building a monument to victims of violent crime, which Henley said he would be willing to help pay for with part of the proceeds from a second art show.{{cite web |last=McVicker |first=Steven |url=http://www.abjectfilms.com/news5.html |title=To Die For |newspaper=Houston Press |access-date=September 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115072019/http://www.abjectfilms.com/news5.html |archive-date=November 15, 2009 |url-status=dead }}

In interviews, Henley has stated that he suffers from a severe color deficiency in his eyesight that makes it impossible for him to clearly distinguish between [[Red-green colorblindness|

reds and greens]]. To compensate, any people Henley paints are in black and white while his other works are usually in color.{{cite news | last = McVicker | first = Steven | title = Killer Art | newspaper = Houston Press | date = January 30, 1997 | url = http://www.houstonpress.com/1997-01-30/news/killer-art/1/ | access-date = September 13, 2009}} Henley refuses to paint or draw any images of a violent or exploitative nature; many of his works depict serene imagery such as landscapes, buildings, flowers and surrealistic imagery.{{cite web|last=Ramsland|first=Katherine|author-link=Katherine Ramsland|title=Art and the Serial Killer|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/shadow-boxing/201810/art-and-the-serial-killer|website=Psychology Today|access-date=February 25, 2025|date=April 12, 2024}} The majority of Henley's artwork is created using acrylics and graphite. He has also designed custom jewelry.{{cite news | last = Pugh | first = Clifford | title = Sentenced to Life in Prison for One of Society's Most Heinous Mass Murders, it's all Elmer Wayne Henley Has. Some Say it's Too Much | work = Houston Chronicle | date = January 31, 1997 | url = http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1997_1392340/artistic-freedom-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-o.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100529042830/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1997_1392340/artistic-freedom-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-o.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 29, 2010|access-date=January 27, 2025 }}

• A film loosely inspired by the Houston Mass Murders, Freak Out, was released in 2003.{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096461/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl | title=Freak Out | publisher=imdb.com | work=IMDb | date=May 30, 2009 | access-date=January 28, 2025}} The film was directed by Brad Jones, who also starred as Corll. This film largely focuses upon the last night of Corll's life, prior to Henley shooting him and contacting authorities.{{cite web|url = http://reviewfix.com/2013/03/freakout-review-b-movie-mayhem/|title = Freakout Review: B-Movie Mayhem|last = Hopkins|first = Bradley|publisher = Review Fix|date = March 5, 2013|website = reviewfix.com|access-date = January 28, 2025}}
• Production of a film directly based upon the Houston Mass Murders, In a Madman's World, finished in 2014.{{cite news|last1=Rouner|first1=Jeff|title=Real Horror: Local Filmmaker Brings the Horrific Crimes of Dean Corll to the Silver Screen|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/real-horror-local-filmmaker-brings-the-horrific-crimes-of-dean-corll-to-the-silver-screen-6600050|access-date=October 16, 2015|work=Houston Press|date=December 4, 2013}} Directed by Josh Vargas, In a Madman's World is directly based upon Elmer Wayne Henley's life before, during, and immediately after his involvement with Dean Corll and David Brooks. Limited edition copies of the film were released in 2017.{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2260324/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1 | title=In a Madman's World | publisher=imdb.com | work=IMDb | date=January 1, 2018 | access-date=January 28, 2025}}

• Christian, Kimberly (2015). Horror in the Heights: The True Story of The Houston Mass Murders. CreateSpace. {{ISBN|978-1-515-19072-1 }}
• {{cite book| last = Gibson| first = Barbara| title = Houston Mass Murders 1973: A True Crime Narrative| year = 2023| publisher = Independent| isbn = 979-8-882-66863-0 }}
• {{cite book|last=Gurwell|first=John K.|date=1974|title=Mass Murder in Houston|publisher=Cordovan Press}}
• {{cite book|last1=Hanna|first1=David|author-link1=David Hanna (writer)|year=1975|title=Harvest of Horror: Mass Murder in Houston|publisher=Belmont Tower}}
• {{cite magazine|last1=Jessel|first1=David|author-link=David Jessel|last2=Wilson|first2=Colin|author-link2=Colin Wilson|magazine=Murder Casebook: Investigations into the Ultimate Crime|title=The Candy Man|issue=102|year=1991|isbn=978-0-748-53511-8|publisher=Marshall Cavendish}}
• {{cite book| last = Olsen| first = Jack|author-link=Jack Olsen| title = The Man with the Candy: The Story of the Houston Mass Murders| url = https://archive.org/details/manwithcandyt00olse| url-access = registration| year = 1974| publisher = Simon & Schuster| isbn = 978-0-7432-1283-0 }}
• {{cite book| last = Olsen|first = Lise| year = 2025| title = The Scientist and the Serial Killer: The Search for Houston's Lost Boys| publisher = Random House Publishing Group| isbn = 978-0-593-59568-8}}
• {{cite book| last1 = Ramsland| first1 = Katherine|author-link=Katherine Ramsland| last2 = Ullman| first2 = Tracy| title = The Serial Killer's Apprentice: The True Story of How Houston's Deadliest Murderer Turned a Kid Into a Killing Machine| year = 2024| publisher = Penzler Publishers| isbn = 978-1-613-16495-2 }}
• {{cite book|last=Rosewood|first=Jack|date=2015|title=Dean Corll: The True Story of The Houston Mass Murders|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform CreateSpace|isbn=978-1-517-48500-9}}
• {{cite magazine|last1=Williams|first1=Paul|magazine=Real-Life Crimes|title=The Pied Piper|issue=130|year=1994|isbn=978-1-858-75022-4|publisher=Eaglemoss Publications Ltd.}}

• A 1982 documentary, The Killing of America, features a section devoted to the Houston Mass Murders.{{cite web|title=The Killing of America|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157894/|website=imdb.com |access-date=July 30, 2021|language=en}}
• FactualTV host a documentary focusing upon the murders committed by Corll and his accomplices. Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Sharon Derrick is among those interviewed for the documentary.{{cite news|title=Real Horror: Local Filmmaker Brings the Horrific Crimes of Dean Corll to the Silver Screen|url=https://www.houstonpress.com/arts/real-horror-local-filmmaker-brings-the-horrific-crimes-of-dean-corll-to-the-silver-screen-6600050|access-date=January 28, 2025|newspaper=Houston Press|date=December 4, 2013}}
• Investigation Discovery has broadcast a documentary focusing upon the Houston Mass Murders within their documentary series, Most Evil. This documentary, entitled "Manipulators", features an interview with Henley conducted by a former forensic psychologist named Kris Mohandie.{{cite news|title=Investigation Discovery Reveals Who Is Most Evil with Leading Forensic Psychologist Dr. Kris Mohandie – On Sunday, December 7|url=https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/investigation-discovery-reveals-who-most-evil-lead/|access-date=January 11, 2025|publisher=Discovery Communications|date=November 24, 2014|archive-date=December 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210182359/https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/investigation-discovery-reveals-who-most-evil-lead/|url-status=dead}}
• The crime thriller series Mindhunter has broadcast an episode mentioning the Houston Mass Murders. This episode was first broadcast on August 16, 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://readysteadycut.com/2019/08/16/recap-mindhunter-season-2-episode-4-netflix-series/|title=Mindhunter Season 2 Episode 4 Recap – Netflix Series|date=August 16, 2019|website=Ready Steady Cut|access-date=January 28, 2025}}
• Houston-based news channel KPRC-TV has broadcast an episode focusing upon the Houston Mass Murders as part of their crime series The Evidence Room. Hosted by investigative reporter Robert Arnold, this 28-minute episode, titled The Candy Man's Henchmen, was first broadcast in February 2023.{{Cite web|last1=Lastra|first1=Anna|last2=Nguyen|first2=Jason|url=https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2023/02/01/the-evidence-room-episode-9-the-candy-mans-henchmen/|title=The Evidence Room, Episode 9: The Candy Man's Henchmen|date=February 1, 2023|publisher=KPRC-TV|access-date=February 2, 2024}}

• The Clown and the Candyman (2020–2021). An eight-part podcast series narrated by Jacqueline Bynon, investigating the murders committed by Corll, Henley and Brooks in addition to serial killer John Wayne Gacy. This series explores their respective potential links to a nationwide sex trafficking network, and the ongoing efforts to identify their victims.{{cite web|url=https://play.acast.com/s/the-clown-and-the-candyman/episode1-thecandyman-theinsidestoryofdeancorll|title=Episode 1: "The Candyman": The Inside Story of Dean Corll|date=January 12, 2021| website=play.acast.com|access-date=April 4, 2021}}

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Capital punishment in Texas
• Crime in Texas
• List of serial killers in the United States
• List of serial killers by number of victims
• Manipulation (psychology)
• Self-preservation
• Thrill killing

{{div col end}}

{{Portal bar|1970s|Biography|Texas}}

{{reflist|group=n}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Berry-Dee|first=Christopher|title=Born Killers|year=2009|publisher=John Blake Publishing|isbn=978-1-84454-848-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Blundell|first=Nigel|title=Encyclopedia of Serial Killers|year=1998|orig-year=1997|publisher=PRC Publishing|isbn=978-1-856-48328-5|pages=50–51}}
• {{cite book|last1=Cawthorne|first1=Nigel|author1-link=Nigel Cawthorne|last2=Tibballs|first2=Geoff|year=1993|title=Killers|publisher=Boxtree|pages=[https://archive.org/details/killerscontractk0000cawt/page/408 408–412]|isbn=0-752-20850-0|url=https://archive.org/details/killerscontractk0000cawt/page/408}}
• {{cite book|last=Fido|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Fido|title=Chronicle of Twentieth Century Murder|year=1995|publisher=Bracken Publishing|isbn=978-1-858-91390-2}}
• {{cite book| last = Foreman| first = Laura| title = Serial Killers: True Crime| year = 1992| publisher = Time-Life Books| isbn = 978-0-783-50001-0| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/serialkillerspro00edit}}
• {{Cite book|last= Franscell|first= Ron|title= Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Texas|year= 2010|publisher= Guildford Press| isbn= 978-0-762-75965-1}}
• {{Cite book|last= Furio|first= Jennifer|title= Team Killers: A Comparative Study of Collaborative Criminals|year= 2001|publisher= Algora Publishing| isbn= 978-0-875-86143-2}}
• {{Cite book|last= Hare|first= Robert D.|title= Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us|year= 2011|publisher= Guilford Publications| isbn= 978-1-606-23578-2}}
• {{Cite book|last=Jeffers|first=H. Paul|title=Profiles in Evil: Chilling Case Histories from the Files of the FBI's Violent Crime Unit|year=1992|publisher=Warner Publishing|isbn = 978-0-751-50778-2}}
• {{cite magazine|last1=Jessel|first1=David|author-link=David Jessel|last2=Waddell|first2=Bill|magazine=Murder Casebook: Investigations into the Ultimate Crime|title=The Candy Man|issue=102|year=1991|isbn=978-0-748-53511-8|publisher=Marshall Cavendish}}
• {{cite book|last1=Keppel|first1=Robert D.|author1-link=Robert D. Keppel |last2=Birnes|first2=William J. | title = The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations: The Grisly Business Unit| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iDDn1KcdgfAC&pg=PA8| year = 2003| publisher = Academic Press| isbn = 978-0-124-04260-5| page = 8 }}
• {{cite book| last1 = Lane| first1 = Brian| last2 = Gregg| first2 = Wilfred| title = The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers| year = 1992|publisher=Headline Publishing| isbn = 978-0-747-23731-0 }}
• {{cite book|last1=Levin|first1=Jack|last2=Wiest|first2=Julie B.|title=The Allure of Premeditated Murder: Why Some People Plan to Kill|year=2018|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-538-10389-0}}
• {{cite book| last = McDougal| first = Dennis|author-link=Dennis McDougal| title = Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree| year = 1991| publisher = Grand Central Publishing| isbn = 978-0-446-51538-2}}
• {{cite book| last1 = Rahr| first1 = Larry| title = A Cop for 43 Years| year = 2016|publisher=Page Publishing Incorporated| isbn = 978-1-684-09172-0 }}
• {{cite book| last1 = Vance| first1 = Michael| last2 = Lomax| first2 = John| title = Murder and Mayhem in Houston: Historic Bayou City Crime| year = 2014| publisher = The History Press| isbn = 978-1-626-19521-9 }}
• {{cite book |last=Varhola |first=Michael O. |author-link=Michael O. Varhola |title=Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State |year=2011 |publisher=Clerisy Press |isbn=978-1-57860-458-6}}
• {{cite book| last1 = Whittington-Egan| first1 = Richard| last2 = Whittington-Egan| first2 = Molly| title = The Murder Almanac| year = 1992| publisher = Neil Wilson Publishing| isbn = 1-897784-04-X|page = 51}}
• {{cite book| last = Wilson| first = Colin|author-link=Colin Wilson| title = A Plague of Murder: The Rise and Rise of Serial Killing in the Modern Age| year = 2013| publisher = Robinson Publishing| isbn = 978-1-854-87249-4 }}
• {{cite book| last = Wilson| first = Colin| title = Manhunters: Criminal Profilers and Their Search for the World's Most Wanted Serial Killers| year = 2014| publisher = Skyhorse Publishing| isbn = 978-1-629-14293-7 }}
• {{cite book| last = Wynn| first = Douglas| title = On Trial for Murder| year = 1996| publisher = Pan Books| isbn =978-0-330-33947-6 | pages=69–72}}

• Elmer Wayne Henley's [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8083535093559731840&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr/ confession]
• Contemporary [https://texasarchive.org/2022_00177 news footage] pertaining to the Houston Mass Murders
• [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/01/archives/trial-opens-today-in-texas-killings-defendant-charged-in-six-of-27.html Contemporary news article] pertaining to Elmer Wayne Henley's 1974 trial
• [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/21/archives/houston-finds-murder-ring-random-enigmatic-intrusion-the-talk-of.html Contemporary news article] pertaining to Elmer Wayne Henley's initial 1974 conviction
• Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. vs. The State of Texas: Full [https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_case?case=4580728464083426899&hl=en&as_sdt=2,5&as_vis=1 transcript of Henley's 1978 appeal] against his 1974 convictions
• Crimelibrary.com [https://web.archive.org/web/20131202233207/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/corll/index_1.html/index.html article upon Dean Corll]
• Houston Police Department archive offense reports pertaining to the Houston Mass Murders
• [https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,907718,00.html The Houston Horrors], Time, August 20, 1973.
• [http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-houston-mass-murders-what-really-happened/ The Houston Mass Murders: What Really Happened]. Texas Monthly. April 2011.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090705214718/http://168.51.178.33/webapp/TDCJ/index2.htm TDCJ Online Offender Search]
• [https://elmerwaynehenleyjr.com/ Elmerwaynehenleyjr.com:] A website maintained independently of Henley which primarily focuses on his post-conviction life

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Category:1956 births

Category:1972 murders in the United States

Category:20th-century American criminals

Category:American male criminals

Category:American murderers of children

Category:American people convicted of murder

Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment

Category:Crimes adapted into films

Category:Criminals from Houston

Category:Juvenile serial killers

Category:Living people

Category:People convicted of murder by Texas

Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Texas

Category:Serial killers from Texas

Category:Violence against men in the United States