October 25, 2023 • 50 mins
Dean Corll, also known as the "Candy Man," was a notorious American serial killer in the early 1970s. He, along with teenage accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Henley, committed a series of brutal murders in Houston, Texas. They lured young boys with promises of money or parties and was responsible for at least 28 known victims. His crimes shocked the nation, and the case highlights the dangers of charismatic predators who prey on the vulnerable.
Sources for this episode:
Wikipedia - Fort Wayne, Indiana
Wikipedia - Dean Corll
Wikipedia - Rheumatic fever
Wikipedia - Pasadena, Texas
Criminal Minds Fandom - The Houston Mass Murders
Missing Kids - Candy Man Victim: New Clues in Serial Killer Mystery
Texas Monthly - The Lost Boys
Sources for this episode:
Wikipedia - Fort Wayne, Indiana
Wikipedia - Dean Corll
Wikipedia - Rheumatic fever
Wikipedia - Pasadena, Texas
Criminal Minds Fandom - The Houston Mass Murders
Missing Kids - Candy Man Victim: New Clues in Serial Killer Mystery
Texas Monthly - The Lost Boys
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Crime with My Coffee.This podcast contains graphic descriptions and adult content
mature audiences only. Please Hi,y'all, and welcome to Crime with My
(00:31):
Coffee. I'm your fabulous hostess withthe most June, and I'm Suzanne.
We're gonna tell you some stories you'veheard, some you haven't, and some
you'll wish you hadn't, all witha Texas twang. All right, Well,
welcome back, guys. Welcome back, Yes, welcome. Glad you
could join us. Sorry, I'mlate to the show today. I'm late
(00:55):
to work. I forgot my coffee. Yeah, well, we're actually glad
you came back. Since we're doinga two parter here and it was a
little rough, but I'm sorry.It doesn't get any little rough A little.
I had to go raid my liquorcabinet. Yeah yeah, oh,
(01:17):
well me too, No, Iget it. So, but what do
you have in your mud? Well? I knew we were doing part two,
so I came prepared. I haveFolger's coffee in my cup with Bailey's
Irish cream. Well, there yougo. That's awesome. Why I was
late to the mic I had tograb my coffee. Yes, Well,
(01:38):
Unfortunately, I knew that we weredoing this too, but I knew that
I was going to be talking alot. So I just made my breakfast
blend coffee with French vanilla creamer becauseI know it's gonna get cold and I'm
gonna have to heat it up.And I didn't want to waste good or
new coffee on something that I wasgonna have to heat up that I couldn't
(02:01):
enjoy. So that's what I have. Maybe you should have brought a shot
of gold shuggers with you. Dothey even still make that? Actually,
the answer to that is yes,they do. I saw it last time
I went to the liquor store.Of course it's been like a year ago,
but they had it on the shelf. Yeah. Nice, I was
gonna say, no, I thinkthey turned that into fireball. No,
(02:23):
they actually do still make gold Schlugger, or at least they did a year
ago. I saw it on theshelves at the liquor store. Well,
that's cool. I'm gonna have toremember that next time I got to the
liquor store, which happens about onceor twice a year. Maybe I don't
know now, to be fair,I was at a big liquor store.
I wasn't at a little one,like right down the street from your house.
I was at spetch Oh okay,okay, it was a big liquor
(02:46):
store. Okay, big name.Yeah. Not uncle Joe's right down the
road. No, no, notuncle Joe's right down the road from you
or me. Yeah. Right,Well, we're gonna get back to the
Dean chorl story. You want toget summary up to this point. Oh,
(03:06):
by the way, this is parttwo. If you haven't listened to
part one, you might want togo back and listen to part one.
She'll give us a quick, liketwo or three sentence overview just to kind
of refresh our memories. But ifyou really want to follow along and know
what the heck and heck she's talkingabout, go back and listen to part
one. Yeah, so we canjust say, Dean Coral convinced two teenagers.
(03:30):
He's almost thirty, right, buthe's te we're talking teenagers, fifteen
sixteen year olds. Convinced these twoteenagers to kind of be his sidekicks on
getting young boys to his apartment sohe could have his way with film,
and unfortunately end up killing all ofthese children who were lured to his home
(03:55):
by his accomplices or whom whomever hecan talk into come into his place anyway,
and that's all we're at, andthat's where we're at. And this
guy apparently moves when the rents do, because he moves quite often, I
feel like. So last week leftwas in June of nineteen seventy two,
(04:20):
where someone was lured to his houseand one of the accomplices was trying to
talk Coral into letting this guy go, and then the other accomplice ends up
hitting that one, knocking him out, and you know, that's that's where
(04:44):
we go. And this guy continuesto help Coral because he's been groomed for
a lot of years now, forseveral years. So now we're gonna move
on to July nineteenth, nineteen two. Coral ends up moving. He does
end up moving again, but hewent back to an apartment and seventeen year
(05:10):
old Stephen Sickmund is leaving a partythat he is at around midnight and ends
up being abducted by Coral and hisaccomplices Brooks and Henley, and he's end
(05:30):
up beaten, strangled, and thenhe is buried at the bolt shed that
Coral had rented November the previous year. Then about a month later, this
guy is not letting any grass growat all. About a month later,
(05:54):
on August twenty first, nineteen seventytwo, nineteen year old Roy Bunten is
going to his job and then he'sabducted. I couldn't find a lot on
this guy right here, but Ido know for whatever reason, he was
shot two times in the head andthen buried in the boat shed. Now,
(06:17):
these two, the seventeen year oldStephen Sickman and the nineteen year old
Roy Bunten, were not linked toCoral until two thousand and eleven. Holy
schnikeies, that's a long time,yes, but this is where they fit
(06:42):
in to chronological order, and that'swhy I mentioned them. But I did
want to put that out there thatthese two were not linked to him until
two thousand and eleven. Now we'regonna move on to October third, nineteen
seventy two. Two teens Wally Simonoand Richard Hembry were walking Brooks driving his
(07:09):
corvette that was bought for him,enticed them to go back to Coral's apartment
with him, and while they werethere, Wally called his mom and when
she answered, and now this iskind of what she said. When she
(07:29):
answered, he said, Mama,and then the phone went dead and that
was it. Because that won't makeyou, mama heart freak the freak out,
now I know. So she hasof course no idea where her son
and this other boy are, andwe know their fate, just like the
(07:49):
previous ones. They are sexually abusedand strangled and then buried in the boat
shed. On November fifteenth, nineteenseventy two, nineteen year old Richard Kipner
disappeared. We know his fate aswell. He is strangled, he is
abused, sexually abused, and he'sburied in the boat shed. They say,
(08:13):
isn't this boat shed getting kind offined? I mean you would think
so. I don't know how bigthis boat shed is, but I think
it's big enough for a yacht.I mean it's pretty big. I think
up to this point of November ofnineteen seventy two. There's basically what they're
(08:35):
saying is between November and February.February of nineteen seventy two to November of
nineteen seventy two, there are tenteens, ten ages, thirteen to nineteen
that disappear and we're murdered, andfive of them were bare in the boat
(09:00):
shed and five of them were buriedat the High Island Beach. January twentieth,
nineteen seventy three, Coral ends upmoving again to another apartment. That's
what I'm saying. It's like everysix eight months whenever the lease is up,
instead of staying where he's at.And I would think, with all
(09:24):
this stuff that you have, becausehe has this torture board and everything else,
wouldn't it just be easier to justrenew your lease. Or maybe they
don't want to renew his lease becauseI don't know, maybe he's got too
many people coming in and out allthe time or something not real sure,
or maybe he's doing it to kindof try and avoid police attention, maybe
(09:48):
or figuring out hard to find himright, figuring out a central area that
you know these people are disappear andfrom, or something. I don't know.
But he moves a lot, soin January a lot, a lot,
a lot. So in January heends up moving again, like I
(10:09):
said, and just within a withina few weeks of him moving, Seventeen
year old Joseph Lyles is taken andkilled. Three months later, for whatever
reason, Coral moved again. Butwhen he moved this time, he moved
(10:33):
to a place that his stepfather hadwell his father, it said his father.
So I'm not sure if it washis father or his stepfather where they
had lived before. Okay, Sowith all this moving around and all this,
(10:54):
Henley's like, you know what,I'm I'm going to move as well.
He was thinking that he just wantedto distance himself, right with all
this that was going on. Sohe moves away and then also Coral ends
(11:15):
up getting sick. He ends upsuffering from hydrocell in early nineteen seventy three.
And hydrocell is like the accumulation ofcirrus fluid, like your bodily fluids.
It's most common in males. Itrarely happens in females. But it's
(11:41):
also called like elephin Titus, gotcharight, But the most common kind of
this is an accumulation of fluids aroundthe testicles, so it makes them swell.
You know, I'm just assuming thatit's painful. I would think,
(12:03):
but I don't know, because I'mnot I would think, but yeah,
like you, I don't have thoseparts, so rights assumption on our side
exactly, so it usually does goaway on its own when your body absorbs
the extra fluid. Eventually, Henleymoves off, and then Coral ends up
(12:24):
suffering from this. So between Februaryfirst and June fourth of nineteen seventy three,
he's inactive. People don't go missing, people don't get killed. But
when he gets better, I don'tknow if he was mad because he couldn't
do anything, or Henley had movedaway or whatever, but Coral seems to
(12:50):
increase in his killings and the brutalitythat he makes these people endure. Henley
does end up moving back. He'slike, well, you know, I
had it easier when I was downhere. I had money coming in,
(13:13):
so I'm gonna move back. SoHenley moves back, and then on June
fourth, nineteen seventy three, fifteenyear old William Lawrence is taken, but
instead of just a one day stayper se, he's kept for like three
days. While he's kept. Unfortunately, this whole time he is raped and
(13:39):
tortured and abused, and then he'send up strangled and killed and then he's
buried at Lake sam Rayborn. Soare we still in an apartment. Yes,
he's still in an apartment. Yeah, so are the neighbors not calling
(14:01):
the cops? And all the noisecoming from his apartment, well, I
mean, we know he gags thesekids. I don't care, you're still
gonna hear that. Apartment walls arethin as paper. I know. I
know. My husband was staying ina room a couple of weeks ago,
and he said that he could literallyhear the guy in the next room to
(14:22):
him breathing, not snoring, notbreathing hard, just breathing. He could
literally hear the breathing. I'm notsaying these walls are that thin, but
you can hear scuffling and you canhear that. I don't care if you're
gag who can still be loud?I know. I was just amazed that
(14:48):
he moved into a house and thenhe wanted to move away from the house,
because I feel the house gives youa lot more privacy, and it
seems like this guy newted some privacy. Well, he didn't need it.
He needed to go to jail.But I mean that's true, absolutely true.
(15:09):
Sure, But it seems like butmaybe it was more enticing for people
and they didn't feel the need toworry as much because this guy lived in
an apartment versus a house. Idon't care. If I heard screaming coming
from my neighbor's house and it wasnot you know, arguing and fighting screaming,
(15:33):
you know, like people do sometimes, if it was legit terrified screaming,
you best believe I'm calling the cops. Yeah, even if it's just
you know, their teenage daughter orwhatever throwing a hissy fit because she lost
her phone, I don't care.I'm still calling the cops. The cops
are still got to a knock ontheir door and be like, no,
no, no, excuse me,Are you killing anybody in here because your
(15:54):
neighbor seems to think he might be. No, I get it, I
get it. I'm just saying he'sliving in an apartment, that's what he
likes. Hopefully it's downstairs. Hopefullyit's not upstairs. I don't know either
way. I'm just saying, lookout for things that are not wrong,
and if you hear terrified screaming ormuff especially if it's muffled terrified screaming,
(16:18):
you call the cops. I agree, because it's normally happened though, didn't
happen anyway. So unfortunately, thisfifteen year old William Lawrence. After he
is killed, they drive and takehim to Lake Sam Rayburn, which is
about seventy miles north of Beaumont,and it's two and a half hours from
(16:45):
Pasadena. It's not far I believe, I read not far from Lufkin,
but I'm not positive. I've alwaysheard of Lake Sam Rayburn, but I
don't think I've been there. Imight have been there, I don't even
know, but I don't think so, I don't know. I don't get
down to that side of Texas.Yeah. Well, about two weeks later,
(17:08):
twenty year old Raymond Blackburn is abducted. He's also abused and strangled and
then buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.July sixth, nineteen seventy three, fifteen
year old Homer Garcia told his momhe was staying the night with a friend,
(17:32):
which is Henley, by the way, he is friends with Henley.
Of course, Henley, I'm sureis staying with Coral. And he ends
up being shot and bled to deathin the bathtub. He alis don't report
gunshots, I know, because youknow anyone that's been shot. I don't.
(17:56):
I mean, okay, okay,I don't know. Now. If
I were in an apartment and Iheard gunshots coming from like inside my complex,
I would call the cops. Butwhere I currently live, I have
heard gunshots, I haven't called thecops. But also where I live,
we do get coyotes, and thereis a Bob Kat that lives at the
end of my street. Yeah,so a lot of times I discount them,
(18:19):
as you know, depending on wherethey're coming from, right right,
Yeah, but if there's multiple,I'm gonna call the cops regardless. Yeah.
Well, anyway, like I said, unfortunately, fifteen year old Homer
Garcia is buried at Lake sam Rayburnas well. And then July twelfth,
(18:41):
six days later, seventeen year oldJohn Sellers is taken, and of course
he's bound, you know, thewhole torture board thing, tortured, and
he also is shot, and thenhe's buried at High Island Beach. Now
(19:04):
it turns out July David Brooks,who is Coral's accomplice, whom has been
groomed for years by Coral, hasa girlfriend. He's eighteen at this time,
right, he ends up getting marriedto his girlfriend. So he's like
(19:25):
you know what, I'm done.I want to move on, I want
to start another life. I'm out. So now that Brooks decides that he's
out, he's gonna be with hisgirlfriend now wife, it's just up to
Coral and Henley. Between July nineteenthand twenty fifth, there are three young
(19:51):
men who Henley and Coral end uptaking. One is fifteen year old Michael
Balk, who is the brother ofBilly Balk, who was taken on June
twenty sixth, nineteen seventy two,so almost just a little over a year
(20:15):
later. This, you know,a year earlier, this guy was taken,
and now his brother is taken.He's on his way to get a
haircut and he's taken, of course, put on the board, he's tortured,
he strangled, and he's buried atLake's Sam Rayburn. And on July
(20:38):
twenty fifth, so the nineteenth oneguy was taken. Then on the twenty
fifth there are two more young kidsthat are taken. I didn't find an
age on them, but roughly youwould think between fifteen, you know,
(21:00):
thirteen and nineteen years old Charles Cabelland Marty Jones. They were together,
they were friends, they were takentogether with you know, probably the premise
of let's go party. We're gonnahave a great time. So they go
(21:22):
and they end up being raped andtortured and strangled and ended up being buried
at the boat shed by Henley.Coral didn't go this time for whatever reason,
not real sure. Then Brooks decides, you know what, he's probably
in need of some money, sohe's like, you know what, I'm
(21:44):
gonna come back. So Brooks andCoral end up abducting a thirteen year old
James Drymala who was riding his bicyclejust having a grand o time. They
ended up abducting him and taking himback to Coral's place, put on the
(22:07):
torture board where he's raped and he'stortured and he's just abused and strangled,
and then ended up burying him atthe boat shed. On August eighth,
nineteen seventy three, seventeen year oldWayne Henley took a friend of his,
(22:29):
who was twenty year old Timothy Cordellto Coral's house. Now Coral is about
thirty three at this time, he'sthirty three, and he's with this seventeen
year old kid whom you can justimagine he's groomed over the years as well,
even though it's only been a coupleof two. You know. So
(22:52):
Henley and his friend Timothy ended upgoing to Corals. They party for a
little bit, and then they endedup having to leave for whatever reason.
But Henley promised Coral that they bothwould come back, and Coral's like,
okay, well they did come backa little bit later, but they had
(23:15):
another friend with them. But nope, I She's shaking her head, wobbling
her head. But this this friendwas fifteen year old Rnda Williams. They
go back to Coral's place, theystart partying again. Coral wasn't really involved
(23:38):
in all this partying, you know, he let them party because he's in
his thirties. He's got to takethat advil and take a nap because he's
sore, he's uncomfortable, he hurts, his knees are bad. M Yeah.
So these three teens they you know, do their party in and end
(24:00):
up passing out. Henley ends upwaking up and he's tied up and gagged,
and he looks next to him andhis friend Timothy is naked tied up.
Henley's like, what is going on? He ends up getting Coral to
(24:21):
take the gag out of his mouth, and he's pleading with Coral and he's
like, hey, don't do this. What are you doing? You know
you're you didn't seem to have aproblem with him when he was doing it
to Brooks, but you know what, carry on, I'll shoot hole.
He's like, I don't get it. So Coral actually takes Henley to the
kitchen and he explained to him verybriefly, probably very snottily, if I
(24:49):
had to guess, he said.You know what, he said, you
fucked everything up when you brought agirl here. So guess what now I'm
gonna kill well, all three ofyou. Henley's like, you know what,
no, no, no, no. If you untie me, I
promise I will help you and youdon't have to do anything with the girl.
(25:15):
I'll tend to that, but don'tkill me. Are you kidding me?
I've helped you all this time somehowor another. He convinces Coral to
untie him and let him go,and he's like, okay, he said,
no problem. So Coral took Timothyand Ronda to the torture board and
(25:41):
Coral told Henley he said you canhave the girl and I'll take the boy.
Then we'll have some fun and thenwe're gonna kill him both. Henley's
like, okay, but I mean, I really can't function in front of
you, So can I take Rondato another room. Coral's like, Nope,
(26:07):
You're gonna have to do it here. He just ignored him, no
matter how many times Henley asking,you know, Coral's just ignoring him.
I don't know what happened. Henleyended up getting some balls because a gun
that Coral had pointed at him inthe kitchen just a few minutes earlier when
(26:30):
he told him he's gonna kill allthree of them, Coral had this gun
by him. Henley runs over andgrabs this gun. Coral turns around,
see what's what's going on, andhe starts like charging towards Henley, and
he's like, you know what,you ain't gonna do nothing, give me
(26:51):
back the gun. He's going towardsHenley. Henley freaks out and ends up
shooting him. It didn't really penetrate. It did hit him in the head,
but it didn't really penetrate anything.So Coral is, what kind of
gun is it? Maybe like alittle twenty two or something. Twenty two
(27:12):
is what a lot of mobster hitmanprofessionals used, because you know, maybe
he is it a nerv bullet gun. I mean maybe I'm not real sure.
Maybe maybe it was just at theright angle or something. But it
okay, it did not kill,okay, So he shot with the NERF
(27:34):
gun. Was shot with a NERFgun. Absolutely Coral still running towards him,
still not running, but still comingtowards him. So Henley pulls the
trigger some more and ends up shootingCoral two more times in the shoulder.
Coral's like, oh, you knowwhat, Yeah, kind of felt that,
(27:57):
So I almost skid out on outof here. He turns around and
starts running out of the room.Henley fires this gun three more times.
It apparently hit Coral because he endsup hitting the wall and just falling right
there against the wall and ended updying. Henley untied his friends and he's
(28:22):
like, you know what, wegot to get out of here, and
his friends are like, uh no, we need to call the police.
That's what we need to do.Henley's like, you know what, you're
probably right. So on August eighth, nineteen seventy three, at eight twenty
(28:45):
four in the morning, he callsthe police. Police end up showing up.
They talked to all three teens whoare waiting outside for them the ground
nearby. Well, yeah, Iwouldn't be inside if I know the guys
act. I don't want to bewith the dead guy, and I don't
(29:06):
want to be in the house whereI almost died. Mm hmmm. Yeah.
So police show up. They're talkingto talking to these three teens,
and Henley said, Hey, I'mthe one that called you, I'm the
one that shot the gun. I'mthe one that tricked these guys into coming
here. I'm the one that almostgot me dead. Yeah. So the
(29:27):
police, you know, he's like, hey, the gun's right there,
laying on the ground. None ofthese people were holding the gun. It
was laying out there for the policeto get. Police end up going inside,
finding Coral inside deceased up against thewall where he had landed. Henley
was like, you know what,it was self defense because this guy was
(29:51):
going to kill me. We wereall going to die. I had to
do this because see there's these othersixty by that I can tell you where
they're at. That he did.So the two people Ronda and Timothy that
were there. They actually backed upwhat he said. Yeah, we just
woke up and we were all tiedup and we were going to die.
(30:18):
They were very believable because they weretelling the truth. Henley was very believable
because he was telling the truth threequarters. I mean for what he was
telling them, he was telling themthe truth. So he ends up telling
the whole entire story to the policeabout helping get the kids for Coral.
(30:45):
But he really originally believed that theywere going to an organization and being sold
as sex slaves. That's what hebelieved either way, I know. But
he's like, you know what,but this is what happened. Then he
(31:06):
turns around and he does tell themabout the boat shed, Lake sam Rayburn
and High Island Beach, and Henley'slike, you know what, and I
can show you where they're buried ifyou take me. And they're like,
Okay, the boat shed, wedon't really need you to help us with
(31:29):
that because it's one area. Buton the beach, we might need you
to show us exactly where you knowthis happened where these bodies are buried,
and at the lake, we mightneed precise areas. But the boat shed.
I think we can handle on ourown. Henley's like, okay.
(31:55):
So the search starts and as soonas they found a body, they were
like holy snikeys. And it wasvery soon after they started this search and
most of these bodies were wrapped inplastic, some were shot, some of
(32:16):
them still had the ligatures around theirnecks. They were all in various stages
of decay. And in that firstday they found eight bodies in the boat
shed. Oh my gosh. Soon August ninth, nineteen seventy three,
(32:43):
Henley gave the full statement to thepolice, saying, Brooks, my friend.
Brooks also helped. He's the onethat dragged me into this. I
don't think he really knew that that'show that happened, you know what I
mean. I mean, you canput two and two together. I mean
(33:05):
you would think, but I'm notreal sure. But he did tell them
that David Brooks had helped as well. So that afternoon they went to Lake
sam Rayburn and they were told byHenley that the last four victims are buried
(33:30):
there, but two more were found, so a total of six of them
were found. But it did turnit did turn out that Coral Coral's family
at one time had a cabin thereby the lake, so that's why he
(33:53):
was familiar with the lake. Theyand he had a place that there was
because there was a family cabin there. They go in, they look in
this cabin, they find the tortureboard, They find shovels, they find
(34:14):
handcuffs, they find rope, theyfind all this stuff. While they're searching
all this stuff over in the boatshed, nine more bodies are found that
day. I'm serious, it's nota boat shed, it's a yacht shed.
It's gotta be gotta be gotta becruise ship shed. Yes, yes.
(34:38):
So Brooks comes in talks to thepolice, you know, because they
go down and they they're like,hey, you know, you need to
come answer some questions, and he'slike okay. So he goes down and
he admitted to the police that yes, he had assisted in several of the
(34:58):
killings and burials, and he cantake them to Hog Island Beach and show
them where this burial place is.On August tenth, nineteen seventy three,
this is just two days after Henleyshot Coral. Henley goes to Lake sam
(35:22):
Rayburn and two more bodies are found. Then they go to Hot Island Beach
where two more victims are found.On August thirteenth, nineteen seventy three,
both Brooks and Henley went to thebeach again and four more victims are found.
(35:45):
So this is the total of thisis twenty seven known victims. So
they actually considered this the worst killingspree in American history at the time.
Henley insisted that there were more bodiesat the boat shed and the beach,
(36:08):
and like I said, a lotof these boys were considered runaways because they
were fifteen, sixteen, seventeen yearsold, so they thought they were runaways.
By May of nineteen seventy four,twenty one of these victims were identified
(36:29):
and they had all lived or hadclose connections to Houston Heights. So Henley
is indicted by the grand jury onjust three counts of murder and Brooks is
indicted on one. Than on Augustfourteenth, they're like, we're done.
(36:55):
Justice is blind, yes, Soby the the end of their investigation they
were done. They ended up indictingHenley for six counts of murder and indicted
Brooks for four counts of murder.Still, she must be blind, because
I'm pretty sure that. Wow thatseven people here? Are you kidding me?
(37:22):
Now, Henley was not charged forthe death of Coral Dean Coral.
They believed that it was self defenseand so he wasn't charged in it.
Well, I can't deny that.Plus it saves these dollars. Yeah,
because I guarantee you here in Texashe'd have been sent to death row.
(37:45):
Yeah, guaranteed. Now Henley andBrooks are going to be tried separately.
They try Elmer Henley first on Julyfirst, nineteen seventy four. Henley's trials
starts in San Antonio. He didnot take the stand by July fifteenth,
(38:07):
and Henley is eighteen at this time. Eighteen. That's it. I'm crazy.
I know. Closing arguments did happenon July fifteenth. His attorney called
no witnesses, no experts, anythinglike that. Well, I mean,
(38:31):
I know, I know. Thejury deliberated only ninety two minutes, which
is an hour and a half,and they ended up finding Henley guilty of
all six murders that he was chargedwith. The judge sentenced him to ninety
nine years each, which gave himfive hundred and ninety four years to serve
(38:59):
consecutionive lee, and they sent himto Huntsville Unit, the Walls Unit in
Huntsville, which is an hour anda half from Pasadena, and it opened
in eighteen forty nine and it isthe oldest state prison that we have here
(39:21):
in Texas, the oldest Texas stateprison. The capacity is just little over
seventeen hundred people and they have theexecution chamber for the State of Texas there.
Hinley appealed and was granted a retrialin December of nineteen seventy eight.
(39:50):
July eighteenth, nineteen seventy nine,his retrial began in Corpus Christi and it
only lasted like nine days, didn'ttake very long. He ended up having
the same attorneys that he had previously. They didn't call any witnesses, any
experts, just like before. Thejury did deliberate for two hours, but
(40:15):
once again, Henley was convicted ofall six murders and sentenced to six concurrent
ninety nine years. Well at leastthey were changed to concurrent. Is the
only thing he got out of that, Yeah, yeah, the only thing
(40:36):
that he got out of that.So David Brooks went on trial February twenty
seventh, nineteen seventy five, andhe had been indicted for four murders,
but at trial they only charged himwith one. His trial only lasted a
(40:57):
week, the jury liberated for ninetyminutes an hour and a half, and
Brooks was found guilty on March fourth, nineteen seventy five and sentenced to life
in prison. He also filed anappeal and it was dismissed, so he
(41:17):
did not get a retrial. SoHenley is now serving his sentence at the
Mark Styles Unit, which is inJefferson County near Beaumont. It opened in
nineteen ninety three. It serves asthe University of Texas Medical branch hub.
(41:39):
From what I read, I believethat they have a lot of the HIV
inmates and things like that. Moreof a medical unit, yes, yes,
so the capacity here is almost threethousand inmates. Henley on his parole.
(42:00):
All his parole applications have been deniedsince since nineteen eighty good his next
parole hearing is denied is not untilOctober of twenty twenty five. He's now
sixty eight years old. I don'tcare now, I'm just saying. So.
(42:24):
Brooks served his sentence at the TerrellUnit near Rusharin Texas, which opened
in nineteen eighty three. The capacityis just almost fourteen hundred people, but
due to complications from the RONA,he passed away May twenty eighth, twenty
(42:49):
twenty, at the age of sixtyfive. So between nineteen seventy and nineteen
seventy three, forty two boys vanishedin the Houston area. Three years.
That's more than the months are therein that the heck and heck Man.
(43:13):
Yeah. So, but after thetwenty seventh body that they found in connection
with Coral where they were looking onAugust thirteenth, they didn't do any more
searching. They're like, you knowwhat, We're done. That's horse hockey.
Even though Henley insisted that there weremore bodies at the beach. He
(43:39):
insisted there were still more bodies.But they're like, we got twenty seven,
we're done. You need to findthem all because they all had families,
and all of their families need theseanswers. They deserve these answers.
They should have these answers because y'allclassify them as runaways anyway, because y'all
are jerk faces. Ye yep,I agree. So anyway, now,
(44:04):
this was known as Houston the Houstonmass murders, and I get it,
and I understand why. And theygave the boys the group name of the
Lost Boys, and they were allaged thirteen to twenty. There were twenty
technically twenty eight boys found. Twentyseven have been identified. One has not.
(44:34):
I can tell you that they dida recreation, you know, of
the skull and stuff, you know, the this is what he could possibly
look like or whatever, and theymade a missing persons of that, that
one, and it is you canfind it at the National Center for Missing
(44:57):
and Exploited Children. But he's thethe only one that has not been identified.
Of these twenty eight total, twentyeight bodies that were found, twenty
seven have been identified, which Ithink is really really cool. So I
can tell you that the New YorkTimes actually labeled this as the largest multiple
(45:22):
murder case in US history. Serialkiller wasn't phrased then, you know,
So that's why it was the multiplemurders. So right, but before Coral
two years earlier, one Corona wasconnected with twenty five victims, so he
(45:45):
was the number one at that timeuntil Kral came along a couple of years
later. And now he because therewas twenty eight of them was though there
were more, Yes, Henley insiststhere were more, but they quit looking
(46:07):
and forty two of them disappeared inthose that three year span right around there,
forty two and they only found twentyeight. But anyway, so until
John Wayne Gacy, Coral was themost you know, notorious pro prolific.
(46:34):
There you go. But he wasthe most notorious serial killer in Texas.
So and I was going to say, you know, I mean, he
had the most victims until John WayneGacy came with what thirty three I think
is what they ended up finding withJohn Wayne Gacy. But I can tell
(46:58):
you that I will never do thatcase because I could never do it the
justice as I have heard from apodcast that I listened to. It's called
Defense Diaries, and we'll still coverit and we'll just be all like,
hey, here's the gist of it. But you know what, go listen
to Defense Diaries because they are numberone when it comes to this case,
(47:22):
and they got it all. Maybethey got it all absolutely. You know
why, I know why, Ijust don't want to do it, because
there's no way I could even holda candle or be in the same room
with that because he has such insight. Let me just put it that way,
(47:45):
he has such insight on that case. Okay, we could go with
that. I can buy into thatthat. I just I don't feel if
I heard that case from anybody elseit would be the same. And and
so I'm like, nope, I'mnot gonna do it. But anyway,
(48:05):
Yeah, so that's my case.That's what I got for y'all. Well,
you know what piss off? Thatwas rude because the four part one
you didn't even warn me. Oh, I know it, I know,
And it was a lot. Itwas a lot because it was a lot.
I think this is the first twopart episode you've done. No,
(48:25):
I thought that I had done oneanother obviously maybe I don't know. Yeah,
they don't happy you did. Itwas the Atlanta child murders. Yeah,
oh yeah, yeah, we don't. We don't do two parters very
often. But this one with twentyeight victims, it just it's known victims,
(48:46):
known victims, then located victims.Yes, even though Henley insists there
are more so but uugh, yeah, what a case, what a case.
Wow? But I'm glad, I'mglad, I'm over it. Glad
it's done. Glad it's done.Ugh, I'm done. Well, I
(49:08):
appreciate air quotes. There are yousharing this with me? I'm going to
go dunk my head in a vatof tequila? Now can I join you
with that? I'm jay. Bythe time you get here, it's probably
gone, but go ahead start driving. It's fine, okay, okay,
all right, we will So we'llbe back again next week with a another
(49:31):
new episode. Hopefully it won't beas bad as this one. Hopefully not,
and hopefully it won't take as longto get through it either. I
don't know. Yeah, that's crazy, yes, But until then, you
guys, yeah, I'll take care, see you later, okay, bye
bye. Fat is a Tree couple, public actor, and every reas
Welcome to Crime with My Coffee.This podcast contains graphic descriptions and adult content
mature audiences only. Please Hi,y'all, and welcome to Crime with My
(00:31):
Coffee. I'm your fabulous hostess withthe most June, and I'm Suzanne.
We're gonna tell you some stories you'veheard, some you haven't, and some
you'll wish you hadn't, all witha Texas twang. All right, Well,
welcome back, guys. Welcome back, Yes, welcome. Glad you
could join us. Sorry, I'mlate to the show today. I'm late
(00:55):
to work. I forgot my coffee. Yeah, well, we're actually glad
you came back. Since we're doinga two parter here and it was a
little rough, but I'm sorry.It doesn't get any little rough A little.
I had to go raid my liquorcabinet. Yeah yeah, oh,
(01:17):
well me too, No, Iget it. So, but what do
you have in your mud? Well? I knew we were doing part two,
so I came prepared. I haveFolger's coffee in my cup with Bailey's
Irish cream. Well, there yougo. That's awesome. Why I was
late to the mic I had tograb my coffee. Yes, Well,
(01:38):
Unfortunately, I knew that we weredoing this too, but I knew that
I was going to be talking alot. So I just made my breakfast
blend coffee with French vanilla creamer becauseI know it's gonna get cold and I'm
gonna have to heat it up.And I didn't want to waste good or
new coffee on something that I wasgonna have to heat up that I couldn't
(02:01):
enjoy. So that's what I have. Maybe you should have brought a shot
of gold shuggers with you. Dothey even still make that? Actually,
the answer to that is yes,they do. I saw it last time
I went to the liquor store.Of course it's been like a year ago,
but they had it on the shelf. Yeah. Nice, I was
gonna say, no, I thinkthey turned that into fireball. No,
(02:23):
they actually do still make gold Schlugger, or at least they did a year
ago. I saw it on theshelves at the liquor store. Well,
that's cool. I'm gonna have toremember that next time I got to the
liquor store, which happens about onceor twice a year. Maybe I don't
know now, to be fair,I was at a big liquor store.
I wasn't at a little one,like right down the street from your house.
I was at spetch Oh okay,okay, it was a big liquor
(02:46):
store. Okay, big name.Yeah. Not uncle Joe's right down the
road. No, no, notuncle Joe's right down the road from you
or me. Yeah. Right,Well, we're gonna get back to the
Dean chorl story. You want toget summary up to this point. Oh,
(03:06):
by the way, this is parttwo. If you haven't listened to
part one, you might want togo back and listen to part one.
She'll give us a quick, liketwo or three sentence overview just to kind
of refresh our memories. But ifyou really want to follow along and know
what the heck and heck she's talkingabout, go back and listen to part
one. Yeah, so we canjust say, Dean Coral convinced two teenagers.
(03:30):
He's almost thirty, right, buthe's te we're talking teenagers, fifteen
sixteen year olds. Convinced these twoteenagers to kind of be his sidekicks on
getting young boys to his apartment sohe could have his way with film,
and unfortunately end up killing all ofthese children who were lured to his home
(03:55):
by his accomplices or whom whomever hecan talk into come into his place anyway,
and that's all we're at, andthat's where we're at. And this
guy apparently moves when the rents do, because he moves quite often, I
feel like. So last week leftwas in June of nineteen seventy two,
(04:20):
where someone was lured to his houseand one of the accomplices was trying to
talk Coral into letting this guy go, and then the other accomplice ends up
hitting that one, knocking him out, and you know, that's that's where
(04:44):
we go. And this guy continuesto help Coral because he's been groomed for
a lot of years now, forseveral years. So now we're gonna move
on to July nineteenth, nineteen two. Coral ends up moving. He does
end up moving again, but hewent back to an apartment and seventeen year
(05:10):
old Stephen Sickmund is leaving a partythat he is at around midnight and ends
up being abducted by Coral and hisaccomplices Brooks and Henley, and he's end
(05:30):
up beaten, strangled, and thenhe is buried at the bolt shed that
Coral had rented November the previous year. Then about a month later, this
guy is not letting any grass growat all. About a month later,
(05:54):
on August twenty first, nineteen seventytwo, nineteen year old Roy Bunten is
going to his job and then he'sabducted. I couldn't find a lot on
this guy right here, but Ido know for whatever reason, he was
shot two times in the head andthen buried in the boat shed. Now,
(06:17):
these two, the seventeen year oldStephen Sickman and the nineteen year old
Roy Bunten, were not linked toCoral until two thousand and eleven. Holy
schnikeies, that's a long time,yes, but this is where they fit
(06:42):
in to chronological order, and that'swhy I mentioned them. But I did
want to put that out there thatthese two were not linked to him until
two thousand and eleven. Now we'regonna move on to October third, nineteen
seventy two. Two teens Wally Simonoand Richard Hembry were walking Brooks driving his
(07:09):
corvette that was bought for him,enticed them to go back to Coral's apartment
with him, and while they werethere, Wally called his mom and when
she answered, and now this iskind of what she said. When she
(07:29):
answered, he said, Mama,and then the phone went dead and that
was it. Because that won't makeyou, mama heart freak the freak out,
now I know. So she hasof course no idea where her son
and this other boy are, andwe know their fate, just like the
(07:49):
previous ones. They are sexually abusedand strangled and then buried in the boat
shed. On November fifteenth, nineteenseventy two, nineteen year old Richard Kipner
disappeared. We know his fate aswell. He is strangled, he is
abused, sexually abused, and he'sburied in the boat shed. They say,
(08:13):
isn't this boat shed getting kind offined? I mean you would think
so. I don't know how bigthis boat shed is, but I think
it's big enough for a yacht.I mean it's pretty big. I think
up to this point of November ofnineteen seventy two. There's basically what they're
(08:35):
saying is between November and February.February of nineteen seventy two to November of
nineteen seventy two, there are tenteens, ten ages, thirteen to nineteen
that disappear and we're murdered, andfive of them were bare in the boat
(09:00):
shed and five of them were buriedat the High Island Beach. January twentieth,
nineteen seventy three, Coral ends upmoving again to another apartment. That's
what I'm saying. It's like everysix eight months whenever the lease is up,
instead of staying where he's at.And I would think, with all
(09:24):
this stuff that you have, becausehe has this torture board and everything else,
wouldn't it just be easier to justrenew your lease. Or maybe they
don't want to renew his lease becauseI don't know, maybe he's got too
many people coming in and out allthe time or something not real sure,
or maybe he's doing it to kindof try and avoid police attention, maybe
(09:48):
or figuring out hard to find himright, figuring out a central area that
you know these people are disappear andfrom, or something. I don't know.
But he moves a lot, soin January a lot, a lot,
a lot. So in January heends up moving again, like I
(10:09):
said, and just within a withina few weeks of him moving, Seventeen
year old Joseph Lyles is taken andkilled. Three months later, for whatever
reason, Coral moved again. Butwhen he moved this time, he moved
(10:33):
to a place that his stepfather hadwell his father, it said his father.
So I'm not sure if it washis father or his stepfather where they
had lived before. Okay, Sowith all this moving around and all this,
(10:54):
Henley's like, you know what,I'm I'm going to move as well.
He was thinking that he just wantedto distance himself, right with all
this that was going on. Sohe moves away and then also Coral ends
(11:15):
up getting sick. He ends upsuffering from hydrocell in early nineteen seventy three.
And hydrocell is like the accumulation ofcirrus fluid, like your bodily fluids.
It's most common in males. Itrarely happens in females. But it's
(11:41):
also called like elephin Titus, gotcharight, But the most common kind of
this is an accumulation of fluids aroundthe testicles, so it makes them swell.
You know, I'm just assuming thatit's painful. I would think,
(12:03):
but I don't know, because I'mnot I would think, but yeah,
like you, I don't have thoseparts, so rights assumption on our side
exactly, so it usually does goaway on its own when your body absorbs
the extra fluid. Eventually, Henleymoves off, and then Coral ends up
(12:24):
suffering from this. So between Februaryfirst and June fourth of nineteen seventy three,
he's inactive. People don't go missing, people don't get killed. But
when he gets better, I don'tknow if he was mad because he couldn't
do anything, or Henley had movedaway or whatever, but Coral seems to
(12:50):
increase in his killings and the brutalitythat he makes these people endure. Henley
does end up moving back. He'slike, well, you know, I
had it easier when I was downhere. I had money coming in,
(13:13):
so I'm gonna move back. SoHenley moves back, and then on June
fourth, nineteen seventy three, fifteenyear old William Lawrence is taken, but
instead of just a one day stayper se, he's kept for like three
days. While he's kept. Unfortunately, this whole time he is raped and
(13:39):
tortured and abused, and then he'send up strangled and killed and then he's
buried at Lake sam Rayborn. Soare we still in an apartment. Yes,
he's still in an apartment. Yeah, so are the neighbors not calling
(14:01):
the cops? And all the noisecoming from his apartment, well, I
mean, we know he gags thesekids. I don't care, you're still
gonna hear that. Apartment walls arethin as paper. I know. I
know. My husband was staying ina room a couple of weeks ago,
and he said that he could literallyhear the guy in the next room to
(14:22):
him breathing, not snoring, notbreathing hard, just breathing. He could
literally hear the breathing. I'm notsaying these walls are that thin, but
you can hear scuffling and you canhear that. I don't care if you're
gag who can still be loud?I know. I was just amazed that
(14:48):
he moved into a house and thenhe wanted to move away from the house,
because I feel the house gives youa lot more privacy, and it
seems like this guy newted some privacy. Well, he didn't need it.
He needed to go to jail.But I mean that's true, absolutely true.
(15:09):
Sure, But it seems like butmaybe it was more enticing for people
and they didn't feel the need toworry as much because this guy lived in
an apartment versus a house. Idon't care. If I heard screaming coming
from my neighbor's house and it wasnot you know, arguing and fighting screaming,
(15:33):
you know, like people do sometimes, if it was legit terrified screaming,
you best believe I'm calling the cops. Yeah, even if it's just
you know, their teenage daughter orwhatever throwing a hissy fit because she lost
her phone, I don't care.I'm still calling the cops. The cops
are still got to a knock ontheir door and be like, no,
no, no, excuse me,Are you killing anybody in here because your
(15:54):
neighbor seems to think he might be. No, I get it, I
get it. I'm just saying he'sliving in an apartment, that's what he
likes. Hopefully it's downstairs. Hopefullyit's not upstairs. I don't know either
way. I'm just saying, lookout for things that are not wrong,
and if you hear terrified screaming ormuff especially if it's muffled terrified screaming,
(16:18):
you call the cops. I agree, because it's normally happened though, didn't
happen anyway. So unfortunately, thisfifteen year old William Lawrence. After he
is killed, they drive and takehim to Lake Sam Rayburn, which is
about seventy miles north of Beaumont,and it's two and a half hours from
(16:45):
Pasadena. It's not far I believe, I read not far from Lufkin,
but I'm not positive. I've alwaysheard of Lake Sam Rayburn, but I
don't think I've been there. Imight have been there, I don't even
know, but I don't think so, I don't know. I don't get
down to that side of Texas.Yeah. Well, about two weeks later,
(17:08):
twenty year old Raymond Blackburn is abducted. He's also abused and strangled and
then buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.July sixth, nineteen seventy three, fifteen
year old Homer Garcia told his momhe was staying the night with a friend,
(17:32):
which is Henley, by the way, he is friends with Henley.
Of course, Henley, I'm sureis staying with Coral. And he ends
up being shot and bled to deathin the bathtub. He alis don't report
gunshots, I know, because youknow anyone that's been shot. I don't.
(17:56):
I mean, okay, okay,I don't know. Now. If
I were in an apartment and Iheard gunshots coming from like inside my complex,
I would call the cops. Butwhere I currently live, I have
heard gunshots, I haven't called thecops. But also where I live,
we do get coyotes, and thereis a Bob Kat that lives at the
end of my street. Yeah,so a lot of times I discount them,
(18:19):
as you know, depending on wherethey're coming from, right right,
Yeah, but if there's multiple,I'm gonna call the cops regardless. Yeah.
Well, anyway, like I said, unfortunately, fifteen year old Homer
Garcia is buried at Lake sam Rayburnas well. And then July twelfth,
(18:41):
six days later, seventeen year oldJohn Sellers is taken, and of course
he's bound, you know, thewhole torture board thing, tortured, and
he also is shot, and thenhe's buried at High Island Beach. Now
(19:04):
it turns out July David Brooks,who is Coral's accomplice, whom has been
groomed for years by Coral, hasa girlfriend. He's eighteen at this time,
right, he ends up getting marriedto his girlfriend. So he's like
(19:25):
you know what, I'm done.I want to move on, I want
to start another life. I'm out. So now that Brooks decides that he's
out, he's gonna be with hisgirlfriend now wife, it's just up to
Coral and Henley. Between July nineteenthand twenty fifth, there are three young
(19:51):
men who Henley and Coral end uptaking. One is fifteen year old Michael
Balk, who is the brother ofBilly Balk, who was taken on June
twenty sixth, nineteen seventy two,so almost just a little over a year
(20:15):
later. This, you know,a year earlier, this guy was taken,
and now his brother is taken.He's on his way to get a
haircut and he's taken, of course, put on the board, he's tortured,
he strangled, and he's buried atLake's Sam Rayburn. And on July
(20:38):
twenty fifth, so the nineteenth oneguy was taken. Then on the twenty
fifth there are two more young kidsthat are taken. I didn't find an
age on them, but roughly youwould think between fifteen, you know,
(21:00):
thirteen and nineteen years old Charles Cabelland Marty Jones. They were together,
they were friends, they were takentogether with you know, probably the premise
of let's go party. We're gonnahave a great time. So they go
(21:22):
and they end up being raped andtortured and strangled and ended up being buried
at the boat shed by Henley.Coral didn't go this time for whatever reason,
not real sure. Then Brooks decides, you know what, he's probably
in need of some money, sohe's like, you know what, I'm
(21:44):
gonna come back. So Brooks andCoral end up abducting a thirteen year old
James Drymala who was riding his bicyclejust having a grand o time. They
ended up abducting him and taking himback to Coral's place, put on the
(22:07):
torture board where he's raped and he'stortured and he's just abused and strangled,
and then ended up burying him atthe boat shed. On August eighth,
nineteen seventy three, seventeen year oldWayne Henley took a friend of his,
(22:29):
who was twenty year old Timothy Cordellto Coral's house. Now Coral is about
thirty three at this time, he'sthirty three, and he's with this seventeen
year old kid whom you can justimagine he's groomed over the years as well,
even though it's only been a coupleof two. You know. So
(22:52):
Henley and his friend Timothy ended upgoing to Corals. They party for a
little bit, and then they endedup having to leave for whatever reason.
But Henley promised Coral that they bothwould come back, and Coral's like,
okay, well they did come backa little bit later, but they had
(23:15):
another friend with them. But nope, I She's shaking her head, wobbling
her head. But this this friendwas fifteen year old Rnda Williams. They
go back to Coral's place, theystart partying again. Coral wasn't really involved
(23:38):
in all this partying, you know, he let them party because he's in
his thirties. He's got to takethat advil and take a nap because he's
sore, he's uncomfortable, he hurts, his knees are bad. M Yeah.
So these three teens they you know, do their party in and end
(24:00):
up passing out. Henley ends upwaking up and he's tied up and gagged,
and he looks next to him andhis friend Timothy is naked tied up.
Henley's like, what is going on? He ends up getting Coral to
(24:21):
take the gag out of his mouth, and he's pleading with Coral and he's
like, hey, don't do this. What are you doing? You know
you're you didn't seem to have aproblem with him when he was doing it
to Brooks, but you know what, carry on, I'll shoot hole.
He's like, I don't get it. So Coral actually takes Henley to the
kitchen and he explained to him verybriefly, probably very snottily, if I
(24:49):
had to guess, he said.You know what, he said, you
fucked everything up when you brought agirl here. So guess what now I'm
gonna kill well, all three ofyou. Henley's like, you know what,
no, no, no, no. If you untie me, I
promise I will help you and youdon't have to do anything with the girl.
(25:15):
I'll tend to that, but don'tkill me. Are you kidding me?
I've helped you all this time somehowor another. He convinces Coral to
untie him and let him go,and he's like, okay, he said,
no problem. So Coral took Timothyand Ronda to the torture board and
(25:41):
Coral told Henley he said you canhave the girl and I'll take the boy.
Then we'll have some fun and thenwe're gonna kill him both. Henley's
like, okay, but I mean, I really can't function in front of
you, So can I take Rondato another room. Coral's like, Nope,
(26:07):
You're gonna have to do it here. He just ignored him, no
matter how many times Henley asking,you know, Coral's just ignoring him.
I don't know what happened. Henleyended up getting some balls because a gun
that Coral had pointed at him inthe kitchen just a few minutes earlier when
(26:30):
he told him he's gonna kill allthree of them, Coral had this gun
by him. Henley runs over andgrabs this gun. Coral turns around,
see what's what's going on, andhe starts like charging towards Henley, and
he's like, you know what,you ain't gonna do nothing, give me
(26:51):
back the gun. He's going towardsHenley. Henley freaks out and ends up
shooting him. It didn't really penetrate. It did hit him in the head,
but it didn't really penetrate anything.So Coral is, what kind of
gun is it? Maybe like alittle twenty two or something. Twenty two
(27:12):
is what a lot of mobster hitmanprofessionals used, because you know, maybe
he is it a nerv bullet gun. I mean maybe I'm not real sure.
Maybe maybe it was just at theright angle or something. But it
okay, it did not kill,okay, So he shot with the NERF
(27:34):
gun. Was shot with a NERFgun. Absolutely Coral still running towards him,
still not running, but still comingtowards him. So Henley pulls the
trigger some more and ends up shootingCoral two more times in the shoulder.
Coral's like, oh, you knowwhat, Yeah, kind of felt that,
(27:57):
So I almost skid out on outof here. He turns around and
starts running out of the room.Henley fires this gun three more times.
It apparently hit Coral because he endsup hitting the wall and just falling right
there against the wall and ended updying. Henley untied his friends and he's
(28:22):
like, you know what, wegot to get out of here, and
his friends are like, uh no, we need to call the police.
That's what we need to do.Henley's like, you know what, you're
probably right. So on August eighth, nineteen seventy three, at eight twenty
(28:45):
four in the morning, he callsthe police. Police end up showing up.
They talked to all three teens whoare waiting outside for them the ground
nearby. Well, yeah, Iwouldn't be inside if I know the guys
act. I don't want to bewith the dead guy, and I don't
(29:06):
want to be in the house whereI almost died. Mm hmmm. Yeah.
So police show up. They're talkingto talking to these three teens,
and Henley said, Hey, I'mthe one that called you, I'm the
one that shot the gun. I'mthe one that tricked these guys into coming
here. I'm the one that almostgot me dead. Yeah. So the
(29:27):
police, you know, he's like, hey, the gun's right there,
laying on the ground. None ofthese people were holding the gun. It
was laying out there for the policeto get. Police end up going inside,
finding Coral inside deceased up against thewall where he had landed. Henley
was like, you know what,it was self defense because this guy was
(29:51):
going to kill me. We wereall going to die. I had to
do this because see there's these othersixty by that I can tell you where
they're at. That he did.So the two people Ronda and Timothy that
were there. They actually backed upwhat he said. Yeah, we just
woke up and we were all tiedup and we were going to die.
(30:18):
They were very believable because they weretelling the truth. Henley was very believable
because he was telling the truth threequarters. I mean for what he was
telling them, he was telling themthe truth. So he ends up telling
the whole entire story to the policeabout helping get the kids for Coral.
(30:45):
But he really originally believed that theywere going to an organization and being sold
as sex slaves. That's what hebelieved either way, I know. But
he's like, you know what,but this is what happened. Then he
(31:06):
turns around and he does tell themabout the boat shed, Lake sam Rayburn
and High Island Beach, and Henley'slike, you know what, and I
can show you where they're buried ifyou take me. And they're like,
Okay, the boat shed, wedon't really need you to help us with
(31:29):
that because it's one area. Buton the beach, we might need you
to show us exactly where you knowthis happened where these bodies are buried,
and at the lake, we mightneed precise areas. But the boat shed.
I think we can handle on ourown. Henley's like, okay.
(31:55):
So the search starts and as soonas they found a body, they were
like holy snikeys. And it wasvery soon after they started this search and
most of these bodies were wrapped inplastic, some were shot, some of
(32:16):
them still had the ligatures around theirnecks. They were all in various stages
of decay. And in that firstday they found eight bodies in the boat
shed. Oh my gosh. Soon August ninth, nineteen seventy three,
(32:43):
Henley gave the full statement to thepolice, saying, Brooks, my friend.
Brooks also helped. He's the onethat dragged me into this. I
don't think he really knew that that'show that happened, you know what I
mean. I mean, you canput two and two together. I mean
(33:05):
you would think, but I'm notreal sure. But he did tell them
that David Brooks had helped as well. So that afternoon they went to Lake
sam Rayburn and they were told byHenley that the last four victims are buried
(33:30):
there, but two more were found, so a total of six of them
were found. But it did turnit did turn out that Coral Coral's family
at one time had a cabin thereby the lake, so that's why he
(33:53):
was familiar with the lake. Theyand he had a place that there was
because there was a family cabin there. They go in, they look in
this cabin, they find the tortureboard, They find shovels, they find
(34:14):
handcuffs, they find rope, theyfind all this stuff. While they're searching
all this stuff over in the boatshed, nine more bodies are found that
day. I'm serious, it's nota boat shed, it's a yacht shed.
It's gotta be gotta be gotta becruise ship shed. Yes, yes.
(34:38):
So Brooks comes in talks to thepolice, you know, because they
go down and they they're like,hey, you know, you need to
come answer some questions, and he'slike okay. So he goes down and
he admitted to the police that yes, he had assisted in several of the
(34:58):
killings and burials, and he cantake them to Hog Island Beach and show
them where this burial place is.On August tenth, nineteen seventy three,
this is just two days after Henleyshot Coral. Henley goes to Lake sam
(35:22):
Rayburn and two more bodies are found. Then they go to Hot Island Beach
where two more victims are found.On August thirteenth, nineteen seventy three,
both Brooks and Henley went to thebeach again and four more victims are found.
(35:45):
So this is the total of thisis twenty seven known victims. So
they actually considered this the worst killingspree in American history at the time.
Henley insisted that there were more bodiesat the boat shed and the beach,
(36:08):
and like I said, a lotof these boys were considered runaways because they
were fifteen, sixteen, seventeen yearsold, so they thought they were runaways.
By May of nineteen seventy four,twenty one of these victims were identified
(36:29):
and they had all lived or hadclose connections to Houston Heights. So Henley
is indicted by the grand jury onjust three counts of murder and Brooks is
indicted on one. Than on Augustfourteenth, they're like, we're done.
(36:55):
Justice is blind, yes, Soby the the end of their investigation they
were done. They ended up indictingHenley for six counts of murder and indicted
Brooks for four counts of murder.Still, she must be blind, because
I'm pretty sure that. Wow thatseven people here? Are you kidding me?
(37:22):
Now, Henley was not charged forthe death of Coral Dean Coral.
They believed that it was self defenseand so he wasn't charged in it.
Well, I can't deny that.Plus it saves these dollars. Yeah,
because I guarantee you here in Texashe'd have been sent to death row.
(37:45):
Yeah, guaranteed. Now Henley andBrooks are going to be tried separately.
They try Elmer Henley first on Julyfirst, nineteen seventy four. Henley's trials
starts in San Antonio. He didnot take the stand by July fifteenth,
(38:07):
and Henley is eighteen at this time. Eighteen. That's it. I'm crazy.
I know. Closing arguments did happenon July fifteenth. His attorney called
no witnesses, no experts, anythinglike that. Well, I mean,
(38:31):
I know, I know. Thejury deliberated only ninety two minutes, which
is an hour and a half,and they ended up finding Henley guilty of
all six murders that he was chargedwith. The judge sentenced him to ninety
nine years each, which gave himfive hundred and ninety four years to serve
(38:59):
consecutionive lee, and they sent himto Huntsville Unit, the Walls Unit in
Huntsville, which is an hour anda half from Pasadena, and it opened
in eighteen forty nine and it isthe oldest state prison that we have here
(39:21):
in Texas, the oldest Texas stateprison. The capacity is just little over
seventeen hundred people and they have theexecution chamber for the State of Texas there.
Hinley appealed and was granted a retrialin December of nineteen seventy eight.
(39:50):
July eighteenth, nineteen seventy nine,his retrial began in Corpus Christi and it
only lasted like nine days, didn'ttake very long. He ended up having
the same attorneys that he had previously. They didn't call any witnesses, any
experts, just like before. Thejury did deliberate for two hours, but
(40:15):
once again, Henley was convicted ofall six murders and sentenced to six concurrent
ninety nine years. Well at leastthey were changed to concurrent. Is the
only thing he got out of that, Yeah, yeah, the only thing
(40:36):
that he got out of that.So David Brooks went on trial February twenty
seventh, nineteen seventy five, andhe had been indicted for four murders,
but at trial they only charged himwith one. His trial only lasted a
(40:57):
week, the jury liberated for ninetyminutes an hour and a half, and
Brooks was found guilty on March fourth, nineteen seventy five and sentenced to life
in prison. He also filed anappeal and it was dismissed, so he
(41:17):
did not get a retrial. SoHenley is now serving his sentence at the
Mark Styles Unit, which is inJefferson County near Beaumont. It opened in
nineteen ninety three. It serves asthe University of Texas Medical branch hub.
(41:39):
From what I read, I believethat they have a lot of the HIV
inmates and things like that. Moreof a medical unit, yes, yes,
so the capacity here is almost threethousand inmates. Henley on his parole.
(42:00):
All his parole applications have been deniedsince since nineteen eighty good his next
parole hearing is denied is not untilOctober of twenty twenty five. He's now
sixty eight years old. I don'tcare now, I'm just saying. So.
(42:24):
Brooks served his sentence at the TerrellUnit near Rusharin Texas, which opened
in nineteen eighty three. The capacityis just almost fourteen hundred people, but
due to complications from the RONA,he passed away May twenty eighth, twenty
(42:49):
twenty, at the age of sixtyfive. So between nineteen seventy and nineteen
seventy three, forty two boys vanishedin the Houston area. Three years.
That's more than the months are therein that the heck and heck Man.
(43:13):
Yeah. So, but after thetwenty seventh body that they found in connection
with Coral where they were looking onAugust thirteenth, they didn't do any more
searching. They're like, you knowwhat, We're done. That's horse hockey.
Even though Henley insisted that there weremore bodies at the beach. He
(43:39):
insisted there were still more bodies.But they're like, we got twenty seven,
we're done. You need to findthem all because they all had families,
and all of their families need theseanswers. They deserve these answers.
They should have these answers because y'allclassify them as runaways anyway, because y'all
are jerk faces. Ye yep,I agree. So anyway, now,
(44:04):
this was known as Houston the Houstonmass murders, and I get it,
and I understand why. And theygave the boys the group name of the
Lost Boys, and they were allaged thirteen to twenty. There were twenty
technically twenty eight boys found. Twentyseven have been identified. One has not.
(44:34):
I can tell you that they dida recreation, you know, of
the skull and stuff, you know, the this is what he could possibly
look like or whatever, and theymade a missing persons of that, that
one, and it is you canfind it at the National Center for Missing
(44:57):
and Exploited Children. But he's thethe only one that has not been identified.
Of these twenty eight total, twentyeight bodies that were found, twenty
seven have been identified, which Ithink is really really cool. So I
can tell you that the New YorkTimes actually labeled this as the largest multiple
(45:22):
murder case in US history. Serialkiller wasn't phrased then, you know,
So that's why it was the multiplemurders. So right, but before Coral
two years earlier, one Corona wasconnected with twenty five victims, so he
(45:45):
was the number one at that timeuntil Kral came along a couple of years
later. And now he because therewas twenty eight of them was though there
were more, Yes, Henley insiststhere were more, but they quit looking
(46:07):
and forty two of them disappeared inthose that three year span right around there,
forty two and they only found twentyeight. But anyway, so until
John Wayne Gacy, Coral was themost you know, notorious pro prolific.
(46:34):
There you go. But he wasthe most notorious serial killer in Texas.
So and I was going to say, you know, I mean, he
had the most victims until John WayneGacy came with what thirty three I think
is what they ended up finding withJohn Wayne Gacy. But I can tell
(46:58):
you that I will never do thatcase because I could never do it the
justice as I have heard from apodcast that I listened to. It's called
Defense Diaries, and we'll still coverit and we'll just be all like,
hey, here's the gist of it. But you know what, go listen
to Defense Diaries because they are numberone when it comes to this case,
(47:22):
and they got it all. Maybethey got it all absolutely. You know
why, I know why, Ijust don't want to do it, because
there's no way I could even holda candle or be in the same room
with that because he has such insight. Let me just put it that way,
(47:45):
he has such insight on that case. Okay, we could go with
that. I can buy into thatthat. I just I don't feel if
I heard that case from anybody elseit would be the same. And and
so I'm like, nope, I'mnot gonna do it. But anyway,
(48:05):
Yeah, so that's my case.That's what I got for y'all. Well,
you know what piss off? Thatwas rude because the four part one
you didn't even warn me. Oh, I know it, I know,
And it was a lot. Itwas a lot because it was a lot.
I think this is the first twopart episode you've done. No,
(48:25):
I thought that I had done oneanother obviously maybe I don't know. Yeah,
they don't happy you did. Itwas the Atlanta child murders. Yeah,
oh yeah, yeah, we don't. We don't do two parters very
often. But this one with twentyeight victims, it just it's known victims,
(48:46):
known victims, then located victims.Yes, even though Henley insists there
are more so but uugh, yeah, what a case, what a case.
Wow? But I'm glad, I'mglad, I'm over it. Glad
it's done. Glad it's done.Ugh, I'm done. Well, I
(49:08):
appreciate air quotes. There are yousharing this with me? I'm going to
go dunk my head in a vatof tequila? Now can I join you
with that? I'm jay. Bythe time you get here, it's probably
gone, but go ahead start driving. It's fine, okay, okay,
all right, we will So we'llbe back again next week with a another
(49:31):
new episode. Hopefully it won't beas bad as this one. Hopefully not,
and hopefully it won't take as longto get through it either. I
don't know. Yeah, that's crazy, yes, But until then, you
guys, yeah, I'll take care, see you later, okay, bye
bye. Fat is a Tree couple, public actor, and every reas
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