Teen Who Turned Prolific Serial Killer’s Confederate Speaks Out In New Jail Interview

One of many two teenage accomplices of a serial killer dubbed “The Candyman Killer” is talking out from behind bars in a brand new documentary.

Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. (above left) was only a 15-year-old child working at a gasoline station when he was launched to Dean Corll (above proper), a person whose household owned a sweet retailer in Houston Heights, Texas. From 1970 till 1973 — when Henley Jr. killed Corll after practically turning into considered one of his victims — the pair and fellow teen confederate David Brooks killed at the very least 29 victims, all younger boys aged 13-20.

Lots of the boys had been lured to Corll’s dwelling by the 2 teenagers, earlier than Corll sexually assaulted them — typically chaining them to boards and torturing them for days — earlier than Henley Jr. and Brooks allegedly strangled a lot of them to dying. Although Henely Jr. would later confess to taking part within the murders, Brooks solely admitted to serving to abduct boys and burying them. They claimed they had been initially paid $200 per boy, believing the victims had been being bought to a intercourse ring known as the Syndicate and would find yourself in California as “home boys,” not killed.

It is Henley Jr. who revealed the depth of the killer’s wicked deeds, coming clear to police in regards to the victims and the place their our bodies had been buried in 1973, after fatally taking pictures Corll. Now, greater than 50 years later, Henley Jr. gave new perception into his expertise on the brand new ID true crime doc The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, the place he spoke with Dr. Katherine Ramsland for 60 hours whereas in jail for all times.

“I feel I’ve come to some extent in my life that I am prepared to simply accept that is a interval of my life that I’ll by no means clearly have an understanding of,” he instructed her within the doc, now streaming on HBO Max. “Any time I attempted to speak about it, if I did not simply sit up and say, ‘Yep, I am a killer and I am evil,’ they did not wish to hear the rest. I’ve by no means been allowed to additional the storyline.”

He first gave perception into his childhood, saying he remembered it being “glad.” He, nevertheless, acknowledged his mom calling his father an abusive alcoholic, earlier than recalling a time he confronted his dad for abusing his mother and grandmother. His dad and mom then obtained divorced and his father left, earlier than his teenage years started with him rocking lengthy hair and smoking weed within the Heights.

“I used to be having issues coping with my dad and mom’ divorce and the physician put me on Valium after I was in ninth grade,” he instructed Ramsland. “I needed to redo the ninth grade, which was in all probability the worst doable factor they might have executed to me. I used to be bored to tears.”

Within the early Nineteen Seventies, younger boys within the space started going lacking, with one of many first being 13-year-old David Hilligiest. Although Henley Jr. mentioned he is “undecided youngsters paid consideration” to the disappearances on the time, he recalled rising up with Hilligiest, remembering that “when he went lacking, I helped put flyers out for him.”

He then met Brooks in 1971, as they bonded over each skipping faculty. Henley Jr. mentioned Brooks took him to an area pool corridor, which is the place he met Corll for the primary time.

“Let me inform you the very first thing Dean ever mentioned to me aside from hey, he mentioned, ‘Do you wish to hear a joke,’ It was a unclean joke and I believed that was cool,'” recalled Henley Jr., including that Brooks had first met Corll when he was simply 12, on the sweet retailer. As Henley Jr. observed Brooks all the time had cash, regardless of not having a job or coming from a rich household, he requested the place it was coming from — studying of “some prison enterprise with Dean.”

He recalled going to Corll’s dwelling for the primary time, claiming Corll got here towards him with a knife — earlier than Brooks interrupted, asking whether or not anybody knew he was there. Henley Jr. mentioned his mom did, a transfer he now believes saved his life.

“I feel if I gave another reply, I might have been killed,” he instructed Ramsland. “So here is what sticks with me, what hurts me, I consider that I used to be initially taken over to Dean’s as a sufferer. What scares me is, did Dean acknowledge one other fellow psychopath?”

At first, Henley Jr. mentioned he thought they had been simply going to rob properties collectively, however Corll “may by no means discover the place he thought was excellent to burglarize.” It is then Corll allegedly instructed him, “It is too unhealthy there’s not a market in folks. They’re all over the place, they’re simply all over the place'” — earlier than mentioning The Syndicate and claiming Hilligiest was residing as a pool boy in California. Henley Jr. instructed Ramsland he then thought he could possibly be “a hero” and “carry David dwelling,” citing his “hero advanced” as one purpose why he stayed with Corll.

He then recalled them selecting up a hitchhiker, taking him to Corll’s dwelling, the place the boy was tied up. Henley Jr. claimed that, at that time, Brooks took him away as a result of he “could not be there when the Syndicate comes to choose up the boy.” The following occasion, nevertheless, hit nearer to dwelling — because the sufferer, Frank Aguirre, was considered one of Henley Jr.’s mates.

“I took Frank again to the condo to smoke a joint and Dean jumped him. And I didn’t know he was going to. He tied him up, he says, ‘I’ve your good friend, I am not going to let him go.’ The following morning, Frank was useless,” Corll recalled. “I used to be horrified. This can be a good friend, not an acquaintance, it is a good friend. And he instructed me what he had been doing and what I used to be attached in. He instructed me, he says, ‘You might be already concerned in homicide. I raped and murdered the final individual you helped me with.'”

Corll mentioned he did not know what to do, pondering he ought to have executed extra and may have gone to the police. However the specter of the Syndicate and his personal involvement saved him from speaking. “If the police do consider me, then the Syndicate goes to kill me,” he mentioned, ” I do not assume individuals are conscious of how large a job the Syndicate performed. As a result of it believed it wholeheartedly.”

Then, he mentioned, Corll insisted “that I kill somebody,” earlier than revealing how he turned concerned within the homicide of Mark Scott, 17.

“The factor is, Dean goaded me and pushed me, that I wanted to kill to be a person. It was push, push, push, you gotta do that. For some purpose, Dean was actually adamant that he wanted to eliminate Mark,” he mentioned, earlier than recalling how Corll burned Scott with incense cones and sexually assaulted him.

“That evening Dean was asleep on the mattress, Mark was on the ground. I had ended up sleeping throughout Mark’s legs. Mark had gotten a knife. He waited ’til Dean obtained up and when Dean leaned over him, he slashed at Dean. That is after I awakened,” he instructed Ramsland. “And so they had been struggling and David was standing over him with a pipe or one thing, hitting him within the again. I used to be punching him within the decrease physique.”

Scott was shot and strangled, earlier than his physique was buried at a seaside close by.

“I initially thought Dean was making an attempt to show me I would be able to killing my father. If I may discover ways to kill someone, I may kill my father. Dean turned my father determine and in doing so, he was capable of absolve me of guilt,” mentioned Henley Jr. “If I used to be doing one thing he wished me to do, there was no guilt. Then he would inform me he was happy with me. Being with Dean was thrilling. Dean made it thrilling. It was journey, Spy vs. Spy, Mission: Unimaginable and I did issues with Dean that I believed I might by no means do earlier than.”

After Scott’s dying, he mentioned he “mainly gave in and tried to grow to be what Dean wished me to be,” believing there was no stopping Corll.

“When Dean apprehensive that someone was going to trigger him issues, he’d wish to kill them. He’d handcuff me when he was mad at me, [if] I wasn’t doing what he wished me to do. He burnt me with a cigarette. His intent was to scare me again in line,” mentioned Henley Jr., confirming that Corll even made him put on his victims’ clothes after the murders.

“I feel it was a pair of trainers. That is one thing I’ve saved secret all these years, as a result of it embarrassed me. I feel it is such a gross factor,” Henley Jr. instructed Ramsland, admitting that he by no means protested or mentioned no to Corll on the time. “I had form of misplaced a number of hope. I could not speak to nobody. Nobody heard me. I used to be not capable of management something. I could not get away. Perhaps I obtained to the purpose the place I used to be simply, ‘That is it. I simply cannot do it anymore.'”

Then got here the evening that put an finish to the killing spree, on August 8, 1973.

Henley Jr. mentioned he had already been making an attempt to depart Corll’s clutches on the time, believing Corll himself was involved he was dropping his grasp on him. That night, he was getting excessive with good friend Tim Kerley, after they determined to go to Corll’s condo to huff, selecting up a teen lady named Rhonda Louise Williams on the way in which.

“Dean had seen Tim, and he wished Tim. I knew he wished Tim. I instructed myself I might by no means let Dean kill one other good friend,” mentioned Henley Jr., who mentioned that after huffing and consuming collectively, the three teenagers handed out. Once they awoke, their arms and toes had been tied collectively by Corll, who was “pissed” they introduced a woman to the house.

“All I knew was if he did not untie me, I used to be gonna die. Dean had me tied up, he had different folks tied up and he was pissed. It wasn’t like, ‘I am simply mad at you,’ that is the Dean in Dean mode. He was mad as a result of Rhonda was there,” he instructed Ramsland. “He wished Tim, he thought I introduced Rhonda to maintain him from doing Tim. He had simply made up his thoughts, I had pushed too far.”

Henley Jr., nevertheless, was capable of persuade Corll to untie him.

“And when he untied me, Dean had laid his gun down. Dean instructed me to chop Rhonda’s garments off. Tim is in full panic mode. Rhonda is crying, she’s scared however she’s not blubbering,” he recalled. “I am slicing her garments off and first she mentioned, ‘You do not have to do that.’ And I am like, ‘Sure, I do.’ She says, ‘Is that this for actual? Is he for actual?’ After which she mentioned, ‘Are you going to do something about it?’ I instructed her, ‘Sure, I will do one thing about it.’ And that was after I picked up the gun.”

“I mentioned to Dean, ‘Stand up, untie these two, we’ll go away.’ He mentioned, “What are you doing?’ I mentioned, ‘Untie these two, we’ll go away.’ After which, I had the gun pointed and he mentioned, ‘You will not shoot me.’ And ran at me,” he added. It is then he fatally shot Corll to dying, his useless, bare physique being discovered within the hallway by police.

Henley Jr. then started telling police about all the opposite victims, displaying authorities the place lots of the our bodies had been buried on the seaside and Corll’s boat warehouse. “I keep in mind shock as a result of they discovered so many our bodies,” he instructed Ramsland, including that he “did not wish to be there” when he accompanied police to the shed.

“I didn’t implicate myself instantly. Someplace alongside the road there, I simply determined it was higher to be trustworthy about it,” he added, saying that going to jail was by no means a priority. “No, that was by no means a thought. It did not matter. It was by no means in my thoughts. I used to be doing precisely what I wanted to do.”

In 1975, nude pictures of a lot of Corll’s victims had been present in pornographic magazines, whereas a nationwide intercourse ring was additionally uncovered, lending some credibility to the Syndicate claims. “I breathe slightly bit simpler each time we hear one thing new,” Henley Jr. mentioned when confronted with the likelihood among the Syndicate claims may have been true.

27 victims have been recognized, a possible twenty eighth hasn’t been recognized, although it is believed there could possibly be many different victims. Whereas Henley Jr., now 69, remains to be serving a life sentence for six murders, Brooks was convicted for less than killing one — and died in jail from Covid problems at 65 in Might 2020.

The Serial Killer’s Apprentice is streaming now on HBO Max.