Dean Arnold Corll (December 24, 1939 – August 8, 1973) was an American serial killer and pederast who abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered a minimum of 28 teenage boys and young men between 1970 and 1973 in Houston and Pasadena, Texas. He was aided by two teenaged accomplices, David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. The crimes, which became known as the Houston Mass Murders, came to light after Henley fatally shot Corll. Upon discovery, it was considered the worst example of serial murder in U.S. history.
Corll's victims were typically lured with an offer of a party or a lift to one of the various addresses in which he resided between 1970 and 1973. They would then be restrained either by force or deception, and each was killed either by strangulation or shooting with a .22 caliber pistol. Corll and his accomplices buried 17 of their victims in a rented boat shed; four other victims were buried in woodland near Lake Sam Rayburn; one victim was buried on a beach in Jefferson County; and at least six victims were buried on a beach on the Bolivar Peninsula. Brooks and Henley confessed to assisting Corll in several abductions and murders; both were sentenced to life imprisonment at their subsequent trials.
Corll was also known as the Candy Man and the Pied Piper, because he and his family had previously owned and operated a candy factory in Houston Heights, and he had been known to give free candy to local children.
Early life
Childhood
Dean Arnold Corll was born on December 24, 1939, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the first child of Mary Emma Robison (1916-2010) and Arnold Edwin Corll (1916-2001). Corll's father was strict with his children, whereas his mother was markedly protective of both her sons. Their marriage was marred by frequent quarreling and the couple divorced in 1946, four years after the birth of their younger son, Stanley Wayne Corll. Mary subsequently sold the family home and relocated to a trailer home in Memphis, Tennessee, where Arnold had been drafted into the United States Air Force after the divorce, to allow her sons to remain in contact with their father.
Dean Corll was a shy, serious child who rarely socialized with other children, but at the same time displayed concern for the wellbeing of others. At the age of seven, he suffered an undiagnosed case of rheumatic fever, which was not recognized until doctors found Corll had a heart murmur in 1950. As a result of this diagnosis, Corll was told to avoid P.E. classes in school.
Corll's parents attempted reconciliation and remarried in 1950, subsequently moving to Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston; however, the reconciliation was short lived and, in 1953, the couple once again divorced, with the mother again retaining custody of her two sons. The divorce was granted on amicable grounds and both boys maintained regular contact with their father.
Following the second divorce, Corll's mother married a traveling clock salesman named Jake West. The family moved to the small town of Vidor, Texas, where Corll's half-sister, Joyce Jeanine (1955-2016), was born. Corll's mother and stepfather started a small family candy company, initially operating from the garage of their home. From the earliest days of the business, Corll worked day and night while still attending school. He and his younger brother were responsible for running the candy-making machines and packing the product, which his stepfather sold on his sales route. This route often involved West traveling to Houston, where much of the product was sold.
From 1954 to 1958, Corll attended Vidor High School, where he was regarded as a well-behaved student who achieved satisfactory grades. As had been the case in his childhood, Corll was also considered somewhat of a loner, although he is known to have occasionally dated girls in his teenage years. In high school, Corll's only major interest was the brass band, in which he played trombone.
Move to Houston Heights
Corll graduated from Vidor High School in the summer of 1958. Shortly thereafter, he and his family moved to the northern outskirts of Houston so that the family candy business could be closer to the city where the majority of their product was sold. Corll's family opened a new shop, which they named Pecan Prince in reference to the brand name of the family product. In 1960, at the request of his mother, Corll moved to Indiana to live with his widowed grandmother. During this time, Corll formed a close relationship with a local girl, although he rejected a subsequent marriage proposal she made to him in 1962. Corll lived in Indiana for almost two years but returned to Houston in 1962 to help with his family's candy business, which by this date had moved to Houston Heights. He later moved into an apartment of his own above the shop.
Corll's mother divorced West in 1963 and opened a new candy business, which she named Corll Candy Company; her eldest son was appointed vice-president of the new family firm, with his younger brother Stanley being appointed secretary-treasurer. The same year, one of the teenaged male employees of Corll Candy Company complained to Corll's mother that her son had made sexual advances towards him. In response, she fired the teenager.
U.S. Army service
Corll was drafted into the United States Army on August 10, 1964, and assigned to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for basic training. He was later assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, to train as a radio repairman before his permanent assignment to Fort Hood, Texas. According to official military records, Corll's period of service in the army was unblemished. Corll, however, reportedly hated military service; he applied for a hardship discharge on the grounds that he was needed in his family's business. The army granted his request and he was given an honorable discharge on June 11, 1965, after ten months of service.
Reportedly, Corll divulged to some of his close acquaintances after his release from the army that it was during his period of service that he had first realized that he was homosexual, and had experienced his first homosexual encounters. Other acquaintances noted subtle changes in Corll's mannerisms when in the company of teenage males after he had completed his service and returned to Houston, which led them to believe he may have been homosexual.
Corll Candy Company
Following his honorable discharge from the army, Corll returned to Houston Heights and resumed the position he had held as vice-president of Corll Candy Company. Corll's former stepfather had retained ownership of the family's former candy business, Pecan Prince, following his divorce from Corll's mother in 1963; competition between the two firms was fierce. As had been the case in his teenage years, Corll increased the number of hours he devoted to the candy business to satisfy an increasing public demand for his family's product.
In 1965, Corll Candy Company relocated to 22nd Street, directly across the street from Helms Elementary School. Corll was known to give free candy to local children, in particular teenage boys. As a result of this behavior, he earned himself the nicknames of the "Candy Man" and the "Pied Piper." The company employed a small workforce, and he was seen to behave flirtatiously toward several teenage male employees. Corll is also known to have installed a pool table at the rear of the candy factory where employees and local youths would congregate.
Friendship with David Brooks
In 1967, Corll befriended 12-year-old David Owen Brooks, then a bespectacled sixth grade student and one of the many children to whom he gave free candy. Brooks initially became one of Corll's many youthful close companions, regularly socializing with Corll and various teenage boys who congregated at the rear of the candy factory. He also joined Corll on the regular trips he took to South Texas beaches in the company of various youths, and later commented that Corll was the first adult male who did not mock his appearance. Whenever Brooks told Corll he needed cash, Corll gave him money, and the youth began to view Corll as a father figure. Upon Corll's urging, a sexual relationship gradually developed between the two. Beginning in 1969, Corll paid Brooks in cash or with gifts to allow him to perform fellatio on the youth.
Brooks' parents were divorced; his father lived in Houston and his mother had relocated to Beaumont, a city 85 miles (140 km) east of Houston. In 1970, when he was 15, Brooks dropped out of Waltrip High School and moved to Beaumont to live with his mother. Whenever he visited his father in Houston, he also visited Corll, who allowed him to stay at his apartment if he wished. Later the same year, Brooks moved back to Houston. By his own later admission, Brooks began regarding Corll's apartment as his second home.
By the time Brooks dropped out of high school, Corll's mother and his half-sister, Joyce, had moved to Colorado after the failure of her third marriage and the closure of Corll Candy Company in June 1968. Although she often talked to her eldest son on the telephone, his mother never saw him again.
Following the closure of the candy company, Corll took a job as an electrician at the Houston Lighting and Power Company (HL&P), where he tested electrical relay systems. He worked in this employment until the day of his death.
Murders
Between 1970 and 1973, Corll is known to have killed a minimum of 28 victims. All of his victims were males aged 13 to 20, the majority of whom were in their mid-teens. Most victims were abducted from Houston Heights, which was then a low-income neighborhood northwest of downtown Houston. In most of these abductions, he was assisted by one or both of his teenage accomplices: David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. Several victims were friends of one or both of Corll's accomplices; others were individuals with whom Corll had himself become acquainted prior to their abduction and murder, and two other victims, Billy Baulch and Gregory Malley Winkle, were former employees of Corll Candy Company.
Corll's victims were usually lured into either one of the two vehicles he owned (a Ford Econoline van and a Plymouth GTX) or a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette he is known to have purchased for Brooks in early 1971. This enticement was typically an offer of a party or a lift, and the victim would be driven to Corll's house. At Corll's residence, the youths would be plied with alcohol or other drugs until they passed out, tricked into donning handcuffs, or simply grabbed by force. They were then stripped naked and tied to either Corll's bed or, usually, a plywood torture board which was regularly hung on a wall. Once manacled, the victims would be sexually assaulted, beaten, tortured and, sometimes after several days, killed by strangulation or shooting with a .22 caliber pistol. Their bodies were then tied in plastic sheeting and buried in one of four places: a rented boat shed in southwest Houston, a beach on the Bolivar Peninsula, a woodland near Lake Sam Rayburn (where Corll's family owned a lakeside log cabin), or a beach in Jefferson County.
In several instances, Corll forced his victims to either phone or write to their parents with explanations for their absences in an effort to allay the parents' fears for their sons' safety. He is also known to have retained keepsakes—usually keys—from his victims.
During the years in which he abducted and murdered his victims, Corll often changed addresses. However, until he moved to Pasadena in the spring of 1973, he always lived in or close to Houston Heights.
First known murders
Jeffrey Konen
Corll killed his first known victim, an 18-year-old college freshman named Jeffrey Konen, on September 25, 1970. Konen vanished while hitchhiking with another student from the University of Texas to his parents' home in Houston. He was dropped off alone at the corner of Westheimer Road and South Voss Road near the Uptown area of Houston. Corll likely offered Konen a lift to his home, which Konen evidently accepted. At the time of Konen's disappearance, Corll lived in an apartment on Yorktown Street, near the intersection with Westheimer Road.
Brooks led police to Konen's body on August 10, 1973. The body was buried at High Island Beach. Forensic scientists subsequently deduced that the youth had died of asphyxiation caused by manual strangulation and a cloth gag that had been placed in his mouth. The body was found buried beneath a large boulder, covered with a layer of lime, wrapped in plastic, naked, and bound hand and foot with nylon cord, suggesting he had been violated.
About the time of Konen's murder, Brooks interrupted Corll in the act of sexually assaulting two teenage boys whom Corll had strapped to a four-poster bed. Corll promised Brooks a car in return for his silence; Brooks accepted the offer and Corll later bought him a green Chevrolet Corvette. Corll later told Brooks that he had killed the two youths, and offered him $200 (the equivalent of approximately $1,437 as of 2022) for any boy he could lure to Corll's apartment.
On December 13, 1970, Brooks lured two 14-year-old Spring Branch youths named James Glass and Danny Yates away from a religious rally held in Houston Heights to Corll's Yorktown apartment. Glass was an acquaintance of Brooks who, at Brooks' behest, had previously visited Corll's address. Both youths were tied to opposite sides of Corll's torture board and subsequently raped, strangled, and buried in a boat shed he had rented on November 17. An electrical cord with alligator clips attached to each end was buried alongside Yates's body.
Six weeks after the double murder of Glass and Yates, on January 30, 1971, Brooks and Corll encountered two teenage brothers, Donald and Jerry Waldrop, walking toward their parents' home. The Waldrop brothers had been driven to a friend's home by their father with plans to discuss forming a bowling league and had begun walking home after learning their friend was not at home. Both boys were enticed into Corll's van and driven to an apartment Corll had rented on Mangum Road, where they were raped, strangled and subsequently buried in the boat shed.
Between March and May 1971, Corll abducted and killed three victims, all of whom lived in Houston Heights and all of whom were buried toward the rear of the rented boat shed. In each of these abductions, Brooks is known to have been a participant. One of these three victims, 15-year-old Randell Harvey, was last seen by his family on the afternoon of March 9 cycling towards Oak Forest, where he worked part-time as a gas station attendant. Harvey was driven to Corll's Mangum Road apartment, where he was subsequently killed by a single gunshot to the head. The other two victims, 13-year-old David Hilligiest, and 16-year-old Gregory Malley Winkle were abducted and killed together on the afternoon of May 29, 1971.
As had been the case with parents of other victims of Corll, both sets of parents launched a frantic search for their sons. One of the youths who voluntarily offered to distribute posters the parents had printed offering a monetary reward for information leading to the boys' whereabouts was 15-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley—a lifelong friend of Hilligiest. The youth pinned the reward posters around the Heights and attempted to reassure Hilligiest's parents that there might be an innocent explanation for the boys' absence.
On August 17, 1971, Corll and Brooks encountered a 17-year-old acquaintance of Brooks named Ruben Watson Haney walking home from a movie theater in Houston. Brooks persuaded Haney to attend a party at an address Corll had moved to on San Felipe Street the previous month. Haney agreed and was taken to Corll's home where he was subsequently strangled and buried in the boat shed.
In September 1971, Corll moved to another apartment in the Heights. Brooks later stated he had assisted Corll in the abduction and murder of two youths during the time Corll resided at this address, including one youth who was killed "just before Wayne Henley came into the picture." In his confession, Brooks stated the youth killed immediately prior to Henley's involvement in the murders was abducted from the Heights and kept alive for approximately four days before his murder. The identities of both of these victims remain unknown.
Participation of Elmer Wayne Henley
In the winter of 1971, Brooks introduced Henley to Corll. Henley likely was lured to Corll's address as an intended victim. However, Corll evidently decided the youth would make a good accomplice and offered him the same fee—$200—for any boy he could lure to his apartment, informing Henley that he was involved in a "white slavery ring" operating from Dallas.
Henley later stated that, for several months, he ignored Corll's offer, although he did maintain an acquaintance with Corll and gradually began to view him as something of a "brother-type person" in whom he could confide. In early 1972, he decided to accept Corll's offer because he and his family were in dire financial circumstances. Henley said the first abduction he participated in occurred during the time Corll resided at 925 Schuler Street, an address he moved to on February 19, 1972. (Brooks later claimed that Henley became involved in the abductions while Corll resided at the address he had occupied immediately prior to Schuler Street.) If Henley's statement is to be believed, the victim was abducted from the Heights in February or early March 1972. In the statement Henley gave to police following his arrest, the youth stated he and Corll picked up "a boy" at the corner of 11th and Studewood, and lured him to Corll's home on the promise of smoking some marijuana with the pair. At Corll's residence—using a ruse he and Corll had prepared—Henley cuffed his own hands behind his back, freed himself with a key hidden in his back pocket, then duped the youth into donning the handcuffs before observing Corll bind and gag him. Henley then left the youth alone with Corll, believing he was to be sold into the sexual slavery ring. The identity of this first victim Henley assisted in the abduction of remains unknown.
One month later, on March 24, 1972, Henley, Brooks, and Corll encountered an 18-year-old acquaintance of Henley's named Frank Aguirre leaving a restaurant on Yale Street, where the youth worked. Henley called Aguirre over to Corll's van and invited the youth to drink beer and smoke marijuana with the trio at Corll's apartment. Aguirre agreed and followed the trio to Corll's home in his Rambler. Inside Corll's house, Aguirre smoked marijuana with the trio before picking up a pair of handcuffs Corll had left on his table. In response, Corll pounced on Aguirre, pushed him onto the table, and cuffed his hands behind his back.
Henley later claimed that he had not known of Corll's true intentions towards Aguirre when he had persuaded his friend to accompany him to Corll's home. In a 2010 interview, he claimed to have attempted to persuade Corll not to assault and kill Aguirre once Corll and Brooks had bound and gagged the youth. However, Corll refused, informing Henley that he had raped, tortured, and killed the previous victim he had assisted in abducting, and that he intended to do the same with Aguirre. Henley subsequently assisted Corll and Brooks in Aguirre's burial at High Island Beach.[26]
Despite the revelations that Corll was, in reality, killing the boys he and Brooks had assisted in abducting, Henley nonetheless became an active participant in the abductions and murders. One month later, on April 20, he assisted Corll and Brooks in the abduction of another youth, a 17-year-old named Mark Scott. Scott—who was well known to both Henley and Brooks—was grabbed by force and fought furiously against attempts by Corll to restrain him, even attempting to stab his attackers with a knife. However, Scott saw Henley pointing a pistol toward him and according to Brooks, Scott "just gave up." Scott was tied to the torture board and suffered the same fate as Aguirre: rape, torture, strangulation, and burial at High Island Beach.
Brooks stated Henley was "especially sadistic" in his participation in the murders committed at Schuler Street. Before Corll vacated the address on June 26, Henley assisted Corll and Brooks in the abduction and murder of two youths named Billy Baulch and Johnny Delome. In Brooks's confession, he stated that both youths were tied to Corll's bed and, after their torture and rape, Henley manually strangled Baulch, then shouted, "Hey, Johnny!" and shot Delome in the forehead, with the bullet exiting through the youth's ear. Delome then pleaded with Henley, "Wayne, please don't!" before he was strangled. Both youths were buried at High Island Beach.
During the time Corll resided at Schuler Street, the trio lured a 19-year-old named William Ridinger to the house. Ridinger was tied to the plywood board, tortured, and abused by Corll. Brooks later claimed he persuaded Corll to allow Ridinger to be released, and the youth was allowed to leave the residence. On another occasion during the time Corll resided at Schuler Street, Henley knocked Brooks unconscious as he entered the house. Corll then tied Brooks to his bed and assaulted the youth repeatedly before releasing him. Despite the assault, Brooks continued to assist Corll in the abductions of the victims.
After vacating the Schuler Street residence, Corll moved to an apartment at Westcott Towers, where, in the summer of 1972, he is known to have killed a further two victims. The first of these victims, 17-year-old Steven Sickman, was last seen leaving a party held in the Heights shortly before midnight on July 19. The youth was savagely bludgeoned about the chest with a blunt instrument before he was strangled and buried in the boat shed. Approximately one month later, on or about August 21, a 19-year-old named Roy Bunton was abducted while walking to his job as an assistant in a Houston shoe store. Bunton was gagged with a section of Turkish towel and his mouth bound with adhesive tape. He was shot twice in the head and buried in the boat shed. Neither youth was named by either Brooks or Henley as being a victim of Corll, and both youths were identified as victims only in 2011.
On October 2, 1972, Henley and Brooks encountered two Heights teenagers named Wally Jay Simoneaux and Richard Hembree walking to Hembree's home. Simoneaux and Hembree were enticed into Brooks's Corvette and driven to Corll's Westcott Towers apartment. That evening, Simoneaux is known to have phoned his mother's home and to have shouted the word "Mama" into the receiver before the connection was terminated. The following morning, Hembree was accidentally shot in the mouth by Henley, with the bullet exiting through his neck. Several hours later, both youths were strangled to death and subsequently buried in a common grave inside the boat shed directly above the bodies of James Glass and Danny Yates. Sometime the following month, an 18-year-old Oak Forest youth known to both Corll and Henley named Willard Branch disappeared while hitchhiking from Mount Pleasant to Houston. His gagged and emasculated body was buried in the boat shed. On November 15, a 19-year-old Heights youth named Richard Kepner disappeared on his way to a phone booth. Kepner was strangled and buried at High Island Beach. Altogether, at least ten teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 were murdered between February and November 1972, five of whom were buried at High Island Beach, and five inside the boat shed.
On January 20, 1973, Corll moved to an address on Wirt Road in the Spring Branch district of Houston. Within two weeks of moving into this address, he had killed 17-year-old Joseph Lyles. Lyles was known to both Corll and Brooks. He had lived on Antoine Drive—the same street upon which Brooks resided in 1973. On March 7, Corll vacated his Wirt Road apartment and moved to 2020 Lamar Drive, an address his father had vacated in Pasadena.
2020 Lamar Drive
No known victims were killed between February 1 and June 4, 1973. Corll is known to have suffered from a hydrocele in early 1973, which may have contributed to this period of inactivity. In addition, around the time of Lyles's murder, Henley had temporarily moved away to Mount Pleasant in an apparent effort to distance himself from Corll. These facts may account for this sudden lull in killings.
Lake Sam Rayburn. Four victims killed by Corll and his accomplices in 1973 were buried at this location
Nonetheless, from June, Corll's rate of killings increased dramatically, and both Henley and Brooks later testified to the increase in the level of brutality of the murders committed while Corll resided at Lamar Drive. Henley later compared the acceleration in the frequency of killings and the increase in the brutality exhibited by Corll towards his victims to being "like a blood lust", adding that he and Brooks would instinctively know when Corll was to announce that he "needed to do a new boy," due to the fact that he would appear restless, smoking cigarettes and making reflex movements. On June 4, Henley and Corll abducted 15-year-old William Ray Lawrence; the youth was last seen alive by his father on 31st Street. After three days of abuse and torture, Lawrence was strangled before being buried at Lake Sam Rayburn. Less than two weeks later, 20-year-old Raymond Stanley Blackburn was abducted, strangled, and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn.
On July 6, 1973, Henley began attending classes at the Coaches Driving School in Bellaire, where he became acquainted with 15-year-old Homer Luis Garcia. The following day, Garcia telephoned his mother to say he was spending the night with a friend; he was shot and left to bleed to death in Corll's bathtub before he was buried at Lake Sam Rayburn. Five days later, on July 12, 17-year-old John Sellars of Orange County was bound, shot to death and buried at High Island Beach.
In July 1973, after Brooks married his pregnant fiancée, Henley temporarily became Corll's sole procurer of victims, assisting in the abduction and murder of three Heights youths between July 19 and 25. Henley claimed these three abductions were the only three that occurred after his becoming an accomplice to Corll in which Brooks was not a participant. One of these three victims, 15-year-old Michael Baulch, brother of previous victim Billy Baulch, was last seen by his family on July 19 on his way to get a haircut; he was strangled and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn. The other two victims, Charles Cobble and Marty Ray Jones, were abducted together on the afternoon of July 25. Henley himself later buried both youths' bodies in the boat shed.[
On August 3, 1973, Corll killed his last victim, a 13-year-old boy from South Houston named James Stanton Dreymala. Dreymala was abducted by Brooks and Corll while riding his bike in Pasadena and driven to Lamar Drive upon the pretense of collecting empty glass bottles to resell. At Corll's home, Dreymala was tied to Corll's torture board, raped, tortured, and strangled with a cord before being buried in the boat shed. Brooks later described Dreymala as a "small, blond boy" for whom he had bought a pizza and in whose company he had spent 45 minutes before the youth was attacked.
August 8, 1973
On the evening of August 7, 1973, Henley, aged 17, invited a 19-year-old named Timothy Cordell Kerley to attend a party at Corll's Pasadena residence. Kerley—a casual acquaintance of Corll's who was intended to be his next victim—accepted the offer. Brooks was not present at the time. The two youths arrived at Corll's house, where they sniffed paint fumes and drank alcohol until midnight before leaving the house, promising to return shortly. Henley and Kerley then drove back to Houston Heights and Kerley parked his vehicle close to Henley's home. The two exited the vehicle and Henley, hearing commotion across the street emanating from the home of his 15-year-old friend Rhonda Louise Williams, walked toward her home. Williams—nursing a sprained ankle—had been beaten by her drunken father that evening and accepted Henley's invitation to join him and Kerley at Corll's home. Williams climbed into the back seat of Kerley's Volkswagen. The trio then drove toward Corll's Pasadena residence.
At approximately 3:00 a.m. on the morning of August 8, 1973, Henley and Kerley, accompanied by Williams, returned to Corll's residence. Corll was furious that Henley had brought a girl to his house, telling him in private that he had "ruined everything". Henley explained that Williams had argued with her father that evening, and did not wish to return home. Corll appeared to calm down and offered the trio beer and marijuana. The three teenagers began drinking and smoking marijuana, with Henley and Kerley also sniffing paint fumes as Corll watched them intently. After approximately two hours, Henley, Kerley, and Williams each passed out.
The shooting and Corll's death
Henley awoke to find himself lying upon his stomach and Corll snapping handcuffs onto his wrists. His mouth had been taped shut and his ankles had been bound together. Kerley and Williams lay beside Henley, securely bound with nylon rope, gagged with adhesive tape, and lying face down on the floor. Kerley had been stripped naked.
Noting Henley had awoken, Corll removed the gag from his mouth. Henley protested in vain against Corll's actions, whereupon Corll reiterated that he was angry with Henley for bringing a girl to his house and that he was going to kill all three teenagers after he had assaulted and tortured Kerley, initially saying, "Man, you blew it bringing that girl," before shouting: "I'm gonna kill you all! But first I'm gonna have my fun!" He then repeatedly kicked Williams in the chest before lifting Henley to his feet, dragging him into his kitchen and placing a .22-caliber pistol against his stomach, threatening to shoot him. Henley calmed Corll, promising to participate in the torture and murder of both Williams and Kerley if Corll released him. After approximately thirty minutes of discussion, Corll agreed and untied Henley, then carried Kerley and Williams into his bedroom and tied them to opposite sides of his torture board: Kerley on his stomach; Williams on her back.
Corll then handed Henley a hunting knife and ordered him to cut away Williams's clothes, insisting that, while he would rape and kill Kerley, Henley would do likewise to Williams. Henley began cutting away Williams's clothes as Corll undressed and began to assault and torture Kerley. Both Kerley and Williams had awakened by this point. Kerley began writhing and shouting as Williams, whose gag Henley had removed, lifted her head and asked Henley, "Is this for real?" to which Henley answered, "Yes." Williams then asked Henley: "Are you going to do anything about it?"
Henley then asked Corll whether he might take Williams into another room. Corll ignored him and Henley then grabbed Corll's pistol, shouting, "You've gone far enough, Dean!" As Corll clambered off Kerley, Henley elaborated: "I can't go on any longer! I can't have you kill all my friends!" Corll approached Henley, saying, "Kill me, Wayne!" Henley stepped back a few paces as Corll continued to advance upon him, shouting, "You won't do it!" Henley then fired at Corll, hitting him in the forehead. The bullet failed to fully penetrate Corll's skull, and he continued to lurch toward Henley, whereupon the youth fired another two rounds, hitting Corll in the left shoulder. Corll then ran out of the room, hitting the wall of the hallway. Henley fired three additional bullets into his lower back and shoulder as Corll slid down the wall in the hallway outside the room where the two other teenagers were bound. Corll died where he fell, his naked body lying face toward the wall.
Henley would later recall that immediately after he shot Corll, the sole thought in his mind was that Corll would have been proud of the way he had behaved during the confrontation, adding that Corll had been training him to react quickly and forcefully and that this was exactly what he had done.
After he had shot Corll, Henley released Kerley and Williams from the torture board, and all three teenagers dressed and discussed what actions they should take. Henley suggested to Kerley and Williams that they should simply leave, to which Kerley replied, "No, we should call the police." Henley agreed and looked up the number for the Pasadena Police Department (PPD) in Corll's telephone directory.
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