David Hilligiest was 13 and from Houston, Texas, when he was abducted and murdered on May 29, 1971. He went missing after walking with a friend, 16-year-old Gregory Malley Winkle, to a local swimming pool; both boys were lured into a white van and taken to an apartment rented by Dean Corll, where they were killed.

Corll, later known as the Candy Man, and his teenage accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley were responsible for a series of abductions, torture and murders of young boys and teenagers in the Houston area between 1970 and 1973. Hilligiest’s parents joined other families in distributing reward posters while searching for him; Henley, a friend of Hilligiest’s, helped distribute posters and reassured the family even though he was involved in the crimes. In 1973 Henley confessed and led authorities to burial sites; Hilligiest’s remains were found in a rented boat shed in Houston.

Anyone who knew David, where he spent time, or who has information about that period is asked to come forward.