Elmer Wayne Henley Jr was just 14 when a friend brought him to the home of Dean Corll – the seemingly friendly man known to children in Houston Heights for working in his parents’ candy store.
Corll struck up a conversation about his side hustle of burglarizing homes in the neighborhood. Then, he asked Henley if he would be able to defend himself against an angry homeowner – or even kill them – if he was attacked.
Moments later, Corll pulled out a knife and began moving toward him. Henley’s friend, David Brooks, burst into the room and asked: ‘Wait a minute. Does anyone know you’re here?’
Realizing the danger, Henley lied: ‘Yes, my momma knows,’ he said calmly. Minutes later, he was on his way home, convinced the bluff had saved his life.
He didn’t yet know, but Corll was abducting boys like him, raping, torturing and killing them before burying their bodies in remote sites across Texas.
His close call with Corll would not be the end of his interactions with the so-called ‘Candy Man’ killer. It was only the beginning of Henley’s slide into a role few play in serial murder cases: accomplice.
‘So here’s what hurts me, what sticks with me, what hurts me,’ said Henley, now 69, speaking from prison for the first time in the new ID documentary special, The Serial Killer’s Apprentice.
‘I believe that I was originally taken over to Dean’s as a victim. What scares me is that did Dean recognize a fellow psychopath?’
With Brooks, Henley helped Corll lure, rape and kill dozens of boys and young men between the ages of 13 and 20 in a horrifying spree of crimes that would later become known as the Houston Mass Murders.
At first, Henley was tasked with bringing other boys into Corll’s orbit – friends, classmates, runaways – with the promise of cash and a good time.
Corll told him he was working for an underground group called the ‘syndicate’, who would pay up to $200 per child – more if they were ‘attractive’ – to ship them off to the West Coast, where they’d live lives of luxury as ‘house boys’ for rich families.
But his involvement didn’t stop at delivery. Henley says Corll began urging him to help him restrain the victims, before later ordering him to watch as he killed them.
The lines eventually blurred until there was no distinction between witness and participant.
By the time the killing stopped in 1973, Henley and Brooks had helped Corll abduct, torture, and murder at least 28 boys and young men. Henley killed at least six himself.
A 29th victim is currently being investigated by authorities – and experts believe there are more still undiscovered.
The scale of the crimes would shock Texas and make the Houston Mass Murders one of the most infamous serial killings in American history.
But it was Henley who would bring Corll’s reign of terror to an end.
After years of being under his spell and catering to his every beck and call, Henley was desperate to escape.
He tried to warn family members of what Corll was doing, but was cast off as crazy. He tried to run away by enlisting in the Navy, but was convinced to stay.
By August of 1973, Henley’s relationship with Corll had begun to fray. He later told investigators he was tired of the killings, but Corll’s abusive hold over him was hard to break.
On August 7, Henley brought two friends – Tim Kerley and Rhonda Williams – for what was meant to be another party. They drank, they smoked, they huffed glue, and then they passed out – all except for Corll.
Henley said he awoke to Corll handcuffing him. His mouth was covered in tape, and his ankles were bound.
He could see that Williams and Kerley had been bound to Corll’s homemade ‘torture board’, gagged and restrained.
Corll then dragged Henley into the kitchen, pressed a .22‑caliber pistol against his stomach, and threatened to kill him, but not before he’d had his ‘fun.’
Henley managed to negotiate his release by telling Corll he would help him, offering to rape and kill Williams.
Corll seemingly agreed, untying Henley and giving him a knife. Corll then ordered Henley to remove Williams’ clothes and assault her, while Corll began torturing Kerley.
That’s when Williams, looking Henley in the eyes, whispered, ‘Is this for real?’ Henley confirmed it was, and Williams pressed: ‘Are you going to do anything about it?’
Henley would later admit that Williams’ plea ‘flipped a switch’ inside his mind.
He grabbed the .22 pistol and pointed it at Corll, demanding that he let his friends leave.
Corll taunted Henley and dared him to fire. He obliged, shooting Corll in the forehead, then twice in the chest. He continued firing until the chamber was empty.
They called the police. ‘Y’all better come here right now! I just killed a man!’ Henley told the operator.
When officers arrived, Henley said he’d killed Corll in self-defense – a statement echoed by Williams and Kerley.
But the evidence found at the scene didn’t correspond. Inside the home, investigators found some disturbing evidence: sex toys, eight pairs of handcuffs, ropes, vaseline, and some thin glass tubes.
In a shed, they found a home-made wooden box, the size of a casket, with holes drilled in the side.
That’s when Henley told officers about Corll’s torture board, buried bodies, and a man who had been killing boys for years.
Over the next three days, Henley accompanied investigators to remote sites across Houston and the Gulf Coast.
From a rented boat shed, a woodland near Lake Sam Rayburn, and a deserted beach on the Bolivar Peninsula, police exhumed the decomposed remains of boys and young men – many still bound, gagged, and showing signs of torture.
Henley was arrested and later convicted of multiple counts of murder. He is currently serving six life sentences and has been denied parole 20 times.
For ID’s new documentary, Henley shared his story in full for the first time with Dr Katherine Ramsland, one of America’s leading criminologists.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Dr. Ramsland said she believes Henley is remorseful for his crimes.
‘Henley is highly remorseful. He knows that there’s nothing he can say that will help any of the victims’ families, but I think we have to give him some credit that he pointed the police to where the bodies were buried,’ she said.
If he had not led police to the bodies, likely, Henley would never have been connected to the murders, she said.
‘And yet he did it right away. As soon as the police came after he killed Corll, he told them right away that there were bodies.’
She said Henley ‘wanted the families to have the boys back’.
ID’s The Serial Killer’s Apprentice premieres Sunday, August 17 from 9-11PM ET/PT on ID and will be available to stream on HBO Max.