November 13, 2025 • 10 mins
Dean Corll—Houston’s infamous “Candyman Killer”—orchestrated one of America’s most horrific serial murder cases. Between 1970 and 1973, at least 28 boys were tortured and killed in a hidden world of darkness.
This Tales of the Twisted true crime podcast episode blends dark history, disturbing real stories, and psychological horror to expose the horrifying crimes hidden behind Corll’s neighborhood persona.
With the help of teenage accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, Corll lured victims to a rented home outfitted for torture. When his crimes finally came to light, the truth shocked the nation and forever changed Texas criminal history.
What turned the “friendly local Candyman” into one of America’s most sadistic killers?
🔗 Related Episodes:
• Sylvia Likens – https://www.spreaker.com/episode/carved-in-cruelty-the-true-story-of-sylvia-likens--68496173
• Joe Metheny – https://www.spreaker.com/episode/baltimore-s-boogeyman-the-case-of-joe-metheny--68499109
Follow for new unsettling true stories every week.
Get more info at talesofthetwisted.com
This Tales of the Twisted true crime podcast episode blends dark history, disturbing real stories, and psychological horror to expose the horrifying crimes hidden behind Corll’s neighborhood persona.
With the help of teenage accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, Corll lured victims to a rented home outfitted for torture. When his crimes finally came to light, the truth shocked the nation and forever changed Texas criminal history.
What turned the “friendly local Candyman” into one of America’s most sadistic killers?
🔗 Related Episodes:
• Sylvia Likens – https://www.spreaker.com/episode/carved-in-cruelty-the-true-story-of-sylvia-likens--68496173
• Joe Metheny – https://www.spreaker.com/episode/baltimore-s-boogeyman-the-case-of-joe-metheny--68499109
Follow for new unsettling true stories every week.
Get more info at talesofthetwisted.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Tales of the twisted, true stories of the strange, weird, bizarre,
and eerie. You know, some monsters hide behind masks, others
hide behind a smile. And in nineteen seventies Houston, one
man smile wore dozens of boys to their deaths. This
(00:25):
is the true story of Dean Coral. And let me
just say right now, every time I try to say
the name Coral, it comes out like curl, and I
feel I sound like I'm what's his name from the
Walking Dead? Coral? Come here? So I apologize. Anyways, this
is the true story of Dean Coral, the man the
(00:47):
press would one day call the Candy man Killer, a
quiet neighbor with a candy shop and a secret that
would shock the nation. Dean are Old Coral was born
on Christmas Eve nineteen thirty nine in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
He was the first of two sons born to Mary
(01:08):
Robinson and Arnold Coral. The marriage was rocky in the home,
kind of tense. His parents fought constantly, and when Dean
was seven, they divorced. He grew up withdrawn, uncomfortable around
people his own age, yet polite to adults. His mother
(01:28):
described him as kind and gentle, but there was always
something off. After high school, Coral moved to Houston, where
his mother opened a small candy business. Dean helped her
make praleens and pecan treats, wrapping each piece by hand.
The neighborhood kids loved the shop, and Dean, the quiet
(01:51):
man behind the counter, loved the attention. No one could
have guessed that his nickname, the candy Man would they
take on a horrifying new meaning. By nineteen sixty seven,
Coral's mother remarried, leaving Dean to run the candy company alone.
So he worked long hours, often hiring teenage boys from
(02:12):
the neighborhood to help him out. He paid well and
treated them like friends. Sometimes he invited them over to
his apartment to play pool, drink beer, or just hang out.
He was the cool, older guy, you know, quiet, generous,
and above all else, fun, But his interest in these
boys went far beyond friendship. When one of his employees
(02:36):
complained that Coral made unwanted advances, his mother fired him,
not the employee, but her son, and then the damage
was done. Dean left the candy business and began spending
more time alone. It was around this time that he'd
met David Brooks, who was a thin, shy boy barely
(02:57):
in his teens, and Brooks looked up to Coral like
a father figure. Coral bottom gifts, let him hang out
at the apartment and slowly began to twist his sense
of right and wrong. By the time Brooks was in
high school, Coral had complete control over him emotionally, psychologically,
(03:20):
and financially. He gave Brooks money, close, even a car,
and then he began to involve him in darker things.
In nineteen seventy the disappearances began. Fifteen year old Jeffrey
Conan was last seen hitchhiking in Euston Heights, never to
(03:42):
be seen again. He was Dean Coral's first known victim.
From that point forward, Coral seemed consumed by his fantasies.
He moved from apartment to apartment, always within just a
few miles of the candy factory, setting up rooms designed
for isolation and torture. He soundproofed the walls. He even
(04:06):
built a long plywood torture board drilled with holes for
ropes and shackles. This board would later become one of
the most horrifying pieces of evidence in American crime history.
When Coral met Elmer Wayne Henley, another troubled Eustontine, he
found someone even easier to manipulate. Henley was only fifteen
(04:31):
when Coral promised him money two hundred dollars for every
boy he could bring to him. Henley thought he was
helping Coral recruit runaways for a supposed human trafficking ring.
He believed the boys were being sent to a secret
organization that sold them overseas, but none of them never
(04:52):
left Coral's home alive. At first, both Henley and Brooks
believed Coral's lies. Then they saw the truth, and rather
than run, they stayed. They were trapped by guilt, fear,
and greed. For three years. From nineteen seventy to nineteen
(05:13):
seventy three, boys began disappearing from the same neighborhoods, Montrose
The Heights, Pasadena. They were classmates, friends, neighbors. Some vanished
in pairs, others alone. A few were last seen getting
into Coral's van. The police didn't even connect the cases.
(05:35):
Euston at that time was experiencing a surge in runaway teens,
and law enforcement wrote off most of the disappearances as
boys leaving home, but the truth was that they were
being lord one by one into Coral's home, never to return.
The crimes followed a terrifying pattern. Coral would offer rides,
(05:59):
drug or money. Once inside, the boys were handcuffed to
the torture board. He gagged them, bound them, and over hours,
sometimes even days, tortured them before finally killing them, usually
by strangulation. Afterward, Brooks and Henley helped bury the bodies
in remote locations, a rented boat shed, beaches near Galveston,
(06:22):
and some wooden fields. Coral was meticulous. He kept souvenirs
such as keys, shoes, small personal items. He even took
photos of his victims bound to the torture board, trophies
of his cruelty. By the summer of nineteen seventy three,
Henley had grown restless. He was no longer afraid of Coral,
(06:43):
and actually he was disgusted by him. He claimed he
was planning to escape Euston entirely, but on August eighth,
nineteen seventy three, everything came to a head. Henley invited
two friends, nineteen year old Tim Curley and fifteen year
old Ronda Williams, to Coral's home not realizing that bringing
(07:05):
a girl would enrage Coral. When they arrived, Quarrel flew
into a rage, accusing Henley of betraying him. He then
tied up all three at gunpoint and threatened to kill them. Henley, panicking,
needed with Coral to let him go. He said he
would help kill the other ones for him. Quarrel then
(07:26):
untied him, but as soon as Quarrel turned his back,
Henley grabbed the pistol shot him six times, killing him instantly.
The nightmare was finally over, or was it. When police arrived,
Henley immediately confessed. He led them to the rented boat
shed south of Houston, where they found the first body,
(07:47):
then another, and another and another. The ground was filled
with shallow graves, each one containing the remains of a
young boy, Many of them still had their hands bound
with nylon rope. Over the following weeks, more graves were
discovered in Galveston, in nearby woods, even along a lake.
(08:09):
By the end of the investigation, twenty seven victims had
been confirmed. Detectives believed there could be more. Some families
never found their sons. The story horrified the nation. Euston,
once known as a growing modern city, became synonymous with horror.
(08:30):
Reporters called it the Houston mass murders. It was, at
the time the largest serial murder case in American history.
Parents began chaining doors, keeping children indoors after dark. Newspapers
published front page photos of the smiling victims, boys who
(08:51):
looked so ordinary, so alive. The idea that a nice
man who handed out candy could commit such a trot
broke the city's sense of safety forever. Kind of sounds
sort of silly, now, doesn't it. In nineteen seventy four,
both Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks stood trial for
their roles in the murders. Henley testified in shocking detail
(09:15):
describing how Coral lord bound and killed each victim. He
claimed he was both a participant and a prisoner, saying
I didn't want to be there, but I was tripped.
I was scared of him, we all were. The jury
wasn't sympathetic. Henley was sentenced to six consecutive life terms.
(09:36):
Brooks received life in prison as well. To this day,
both men remain incarcerated. Dean Coral's death marked the end
of a nightmare, but not the end of pain. For decades,
families of the victims have continued to hold vigils search
it for closure. Even now, investigators believe there still may
(09:57):
be unidentified victims buried somewhere in the southeast Texas area,
forgotten graves beneath concrete and overgrowth, and the name Dean
Coral still echoes through Houston like a curse, a quiet man, candymaker,
a serial killer, proof that sometimes the monsters who honess
(10:19):
most are the ones who look the most ordinary. You've
been listening to tales of the twisted, true stories of
the strange, weird, bizarre, and eerie. If you found this
story chilling, follow the show and share it with someone
who loves the dark side of true crime, because sometimes
(10:39):
the truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's far more twisted.
Welcome to Tales of the twisted, true stories of the strange, weird, bizarre,
and eerie. You know, some monsters hide behind masks, others
hide behind a smile. And in nineteen seventies Houston, one
man smile wore dozens of boys to their deaths. This
(00:25):
is the true story of Dean Coral. And let me
just say right now, every time I try to say
the name Coral, it comes out like curl, and I
feel I sound like I'm what's his name from the
Walking Dead? Coral? Come here? So I apologize. Anyways, this
is the true story of Dean Coral, the man the
(00:47):
press would one day call the Candy man Killer, a
quiet neighbor with a candy shop and a secret that
would shock the nation. Dean are Old Coral was born
on Christmas Eve nineteen thirty nine in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
He was the first of two sons born to Mary
(01:08):
Robinson and Arnold Coral. The marriage was rocky in the home,
kind of tense. His parents fought constantly, and when Dean
was seven, they divorced. He grew up withdrawn, uncomfortable around
people his own age, yet polite to adults. His mother
(01:28):
described him as kind and gentle, but there was always
something off. After high school, Coral moved to Houston, where
his mother opened a small candy business. Dean helped her
make praleens and pecan treats, wrapping each piece by hand.
The neighborhood kids loved the shop, and Dean, the quiet
(01:51):
man behind the counter, loved the attention. No one could
have guessed that his nickname, the candy Man would they
take on a horrifying new meaning. By nineteen sixty seven,
Coral's mother remarried, leaving Dean to run the candy company alone.
So he worked long hours, often hiring teenage boys from
(02:12):
the neighborhood to help him out. He paid well and
treated them like friends. Sometimes he invited them over to
his apartment to play pool, drink beer, or just hang out.
He was the cool, older guy, you know, quiet, generous,
and above all else, fun, But his interest in these
boys went far beyond friendship. When one of his employees
(02:36):
complained that Coral made unwanted advances, his mother fired him,
not the employee, but her son, and then the damage
was done. Dean left the candy business and began spending
more time alone. It was around this time that he'd
met David Brooks, who was a thin, shy boy barely
(02:57):
in his teens, and Brooks looked up to Coral like
a father figure. Coral bottom gifts, let him hang out
at the apartment and slowly began to twist his sense
of right and wrong. By the time Brooks was in
high school, Coral had complete control over him emotionally, psychologically,
(03:20):
and financially. He gave Brooks money, close, even a car,
and then he began to involve him in darker things.
In nineteen seventy the disappearances began. Fifteen year old Jeffrey
Conan was last seen hitchhiking in Euston Heights, never to
(03:42):
be seen again. He was Dean Coral's first known victim.
From that point forward, Coral seemed consumed by his fantasies.
He moved from apartment to apartment, always within just a
few miles of the candy factory, setting up rooms designed
for isolation and torture. He soundproofed the walls. He even
(04:06):
built a long plywood torture board drilled with holes for
ropes and shackles. This board would later become one of
the most horrifying pieces of evidence in American crime history.
When Coral met Elmer Wayne Henley, another troubled Eustontine, he
found someone even easier to manipulate. Henley was only fifteen
(04:31):
when Coral promised him money two hundred dollars for every
boy he could bring to him. Henley thought he was
helping Coral recruit runaways for a supposed human trafficking ring.
He believed the boys were being sent to a secret
organization that sold them overseas, but none of them never
(04:52):
left Coral's home alive. At first, both Henley and Brooks
believed Coral's lies. Then they saw the truth, and rather
than run, they stayed. They were trapped by guilt, fear,
and greed. For three years. From nineteen seventy to nineteen
(05:13):
seventy three, boys began disappearing from the same neighborhoods, Montrose
The Heights, Pasadena. They were classmates, friends, neighbors. Some vanished
in pairs, others alone. A few were last seen getting
into Coral's van. The police didn't even connect the cases.
(05:35):
Euston at that time was experiencing a surge in runaway teens,
and law enforcement wrote off most of the disappearances as
boys leaving home, but the truth was that they were
being lord one by one into Coral's home, never to return.
The crimes followed a terrifying pattern. Coral would offer rides,
(05:59):
drug or money. Once inside, the boys were handcuffed to
the torture board. He gagged them, bound them, and over hours,
sometimes even days, tortured them before finally killing them, usually
by strangulation. Afterward, Brooks and Henley helped bury the bodies
in remote locations, a rented boat shed, beaches near Galveston,
(06:22):
and some wooden fields. Coral was meticulous. He kept souvenirs
such as keys, shoes, small personal items. He even took
photos of his victims bound to the torture board, trophies
of his cruelty. By the summer of nineteen seventy three,
Henley had grown restless. He was no longer afraid of Coral,
(06:43):
and actually he was disgusted by him. He claimed he
was planning to escape Euston entirely, but on August eighth,
nineteen seventy three, everything came to a head. Henley invited
two friends, nineteen year old Tim Curley and fifteen year
old Ronda Williams, to Coral's home not realizing that bringing
(07:05):
a girl would enrage Coral. When they arrived, Quarrel flew
into a rage, accusing Henley of betraying him. He then
tied up all three at gunpoint and threatened to kill them. Henley, panicking,
needed with Coral to let him go. He said he
would help kill the other ones for him. Quarrel then
(07:26):
untied him, but as soon as Quarrel turned his back,
Henley grabbed the pistol shot him six times, killing him instantly.
The nightmare was finally over, or was it. When police arrived,
Henley immediately confessed. He led them to the rented boat
shed south of Houston, where they found the first body,
(07:47):
then another, and another and another. The ground was filled
with shallow graves, each one containing the remains of a
young boy, Many of them still had their hands bound
with nylon rope. Over the following weeks, more graves were
discovered in Galveston, in nearby woods, even along a lake.
(08:09):
By the end of the investigation, twenty seven victims had
been confirmed. Detectives believed there could be more. Some families
never found their sons. The story horrified the nation. Euston,
once known as a growing modern city, became synonymous with horror.
(08:30):
Reporters called it the Houston mass murders. It was, at
the time the largest serial murder case in American history.
Parents began chaining doors, keeping children indoors after dark. Newspapers
published front page photos of the smiling victims, boys who
(08:51):
looked so ordinary, so alive. The idea that a nice
man who handed out candy could commit such a trot
broke the city's sense of safety forever. Kind of sounds
sort of silly, now, doesn't it. In nineteen seventy four,
both Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks stood trial for
their roles in the murders. Henley testified in shocking detail
(09:15):
describing how Coral lord bound and killed each victim. He
claimed he was both a participant and a prisoner, saying
I didn't want to be there, but I was tripped.
I was scared of him, we all were. The jury
wasn't sympathetic. Henley was sentenced to six consecutive life terms.
(09:36):
Brooks received life in prison as well. To this day,
both men remain incarcerated. Dean Coral's death marked the end
of a nightmare, but not the end of pain. For decades,
families of the victims have continued to hold vigils search
it for closure. Even now, investigators believe there still may
(09:57):
be unidentified victims buried somewhere in the southeast Texas area,
forgotten graves beneath concrete and overgrowth, and the name Dean
Coral still echoes through Houston like a curse, a quiet man, candymaker,
a serial killer, proof that sometimes the monsters who honess
(10:19):
most are the ones who look the most ordinary. You've
been listening to tales of the twisted, true stories of
the strange, weird, bizarre, and eerie. If you found this
story chilling, follow the show and share it with someone
who loves the dark side of true crime, because sometimes
(10:39):
the truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's far more twisted.
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