Elmer Wayne Henley and the Houston Mass Murders
Early Life and Association with Dean Corll
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was born on May 9, 1956, in Houston, Texas. As a teenager, he lived in the Houston Heights, a working-class neighborhood where many young people knew one another through school, local businesses and neighborhood gatherings. Henley experienced family and financial difficulties and left school before completing his education.
During his teenage years, Henley became acquainted with David Owen Brooks, another Houston youth. Brooks introduced him to Dean Arnold Corll, an older man who had previously operated a candy business and was familiar to many neighborhood children. Corll appeared generous and friendly, frequently offering young people rides, alcohol, drugs or a place to gather. Behind this appearance, however, Corll had already begun abducting and murdering teenage boys and young men.
Corll told Henley that he was connected to an organization that paid for teenage boys. Henley initially claimed that he believed this story. Corll paid him money to bring young men to his residence, often selecting people Henley knew personally. Henley eventually learned that Corll was imprisoning, sexually assaulting, torturing and killing the youths. Rather than reporting him, Henley continued to help locate victims, gain their trust, restrain them and dispose of their bodies.
Henley's Participation in the Crimes
The murders connected to Corll became known as the Houston Mass Murders. They occurred between 1970 and 1973, although Henley's documented participation began in 1972. Corll repeatedly changed residences, living at locations in Houston and Pasadena. Victims were taken to these homes after being promised parties, alcohol, drugs, rides or recreational activities.
Once the victims were inside, Corll used restraints and threats to prevent them from escaping. Henley sometimes helped lure or restrain the victims and, in several cases, participated directly in their deaths. The bodies were concealed at three principal burial areas: a rented boat-storage shed in southwest Houston, a wooded area near Lake Sam Rayburn and the beach near High Island in Galveston County.
Because many bodies were not discovered until August 1973, medical examiners could not independently determine precise death dates in every case. The dates below are the established or generally accepted dates based on disappearances, confessions, witness accounts and the known sequence of events.
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