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Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was a 15-year-old gas station worker when he became an accomplice to the “Candy Man” serial killer.
Now 69, Henley is serving a life sentence for his part in helping Texas murderer Dean Corll lure young victims to be tortured and killed during the ‘70s. Henley is speaking out in a new Investigation Discovery (ID) true-crime documentary, “The Serial Killer’s Apprentice.”
In the film, Henley has candid conversations with renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland, who studied his case. According to the network, this is the first time in decades Henley is speaking out in great detail about the killings.
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According to Investigation Discovery, Elmer Wayne Henley is speaking candidly about his crimes for the first time in 50 years. (Investigation Discovery)
Ramsland told Fox News Digital she believes Henley is remorseful for the crimes he committed.
“When Wayne looks back — and he doesn’t like to — he’s horrified,” said Ramsland. “When we started talking, he would have nightmares. He suffered from PTSD for some time after he first went to prison. He hates that he was a part of this. He hates that this is what his life has come to. He doesn’t want to be identified as a person who is a part of a serial murder team, even though he was.”
Jerome Elam, a sex trafficking survivor, is now an advocate for victims. He spoke out in “The Serial Killer’s Apprentice.” (Investigation Discovery)
“I told the FBI … he’s not really a serial killer because he didn’t have the motivating drive for me,” Ramsland said. “He just participated in it. So, technically, yes, he killed more than two people, but he didn’t want to.”
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was interviewed by Dr. Katherine Ramsland. (Investigation Discovery)
According to Ramsland, Henley grew up in a broken home in Texas. His grandmother raised him after his abusive father abandoned the family. At 14, he began working at a gas station to support his mother, who was struggling to make ends meet while raising his three younger brothers.
Henley skipped school one day to smoke marijuana when he met David Brooks, an older teen who appeared to have plenty of money without a job.
According to Dr. Katherine Ramsland, Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. grew up in a broken home and was eager to make money. (Othell O. Owensby Jr./Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
“He thought, ‘How is that possible? Cut me in on this,’” said Ramsland. “Brooks introduces him to his neighbor, Dean Corll, who then tells him about an arrangement.”
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Dean Corll was known by locals as the “Candy Man” for owning a sweets shop. (Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Corll was a Houston electrical company worker and former candy store owner who was known for handing out sweets to children. When Brooks brought a curious Henley over to Corll’s home, the “Candy Man,” as known by locals, made an offer.
Denise Davis pays her respects at the casket holding the remains of an unidentified victim of Dean Corll in the early 1970s at the Harris County Cemetery Nov. 12, 2009, in Houston. (Michael Paulsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
“[He] tells him, ‘We pick up boys who are hitchhikers and have no place to go, and we [send] them to California. They become pool boys for some rich family. They make out great, and we get paid for it. It’s a way for you to make $200,’” Ramsland explained.
Several loved ones and friends of the victims were interviewed for “The Serial Killer’s Apprentice” about how the murders affected them over the years. (Investigation Discovery)
“That’s a lot of money for a kid, a 15-year-old who’s making peanuts at a part-time job at a gas station. And it sounded like nobody was getting hurt. This is Corll’s way to reel Wayne in. To Wayne, it just sounded like everybody wins.”
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Henley told Corll his mother knew where he was, and Ramsland believes that move saved him from being a victim.
After earning Corll’s trust, Henley, who was eager to make money fast, picked up a young hitchhiker.
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. sits and stares ahead. He and David Brooks helped lure young boys to serial killer Dean Corll. (Getty Images)
“Corll kills [the hitchhiker], not in front of [Wayne], but he told him, ‘That guy died, and you were a part of that, and now you have to do what I say.’ Wayne could have gone to the police, but he thought, ‘Who’s going to believe me, a kid against an adult? And I don’t even know where this body is. I don’t even know what he did. I didn’t witness it. I can’t lead them anywhere.’
“Corll also said there was this syndicate of traffickers who were watching all the time,” Ramsland added. “If anything happened to them, they would come for Wayne. … He didn’t think he had a way out.”
Dean Corll’s torture board that was found in his home. (Investigation Discovery)
Between 1970 and 1973, young boys and teens mysteriously vanished across Houston Heights, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children [NCMEC] revealed. Despite growing numbers of missing reports made by parents, the disappearances were often brushed off by police as runaways.
Items found at Dean Corll’s home. (Investigation Discovery)
No one suspected the horrors the “Candy Man” was committing behind closed doors.
“Dean Corll was a sadist,” Ramsland said. “He looked for kids to torture. He is one of the worst in terms of what he did. Sometimes he would keep them for two or three days, torturing them. He had this torture board that had holes drilled into it. He would put two kids on the board and have them fight each other.
“One time, it had two best friends. He said, ‘Whoever wins will survive.’ It wasn’t true. But having two kids fight with each other to try to save their own lives, that’s sadistic. He would torture his victims physically and psychologically. And it endured for a while.
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“He was a predator,” she said. “But he used the face of being a completely normal nice guy, a big brother who was helpful to everyone. He lived a double life that fooled a lot of people.”
Elaine Dreymala, left, and her husband, James Dreymala, hold a photograph of son Stanton Dreymala, who was the last known victim to die in the 1973 killing spree by serial killer Dean Corll. Stanton was 13. (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Corll tortured, raped and killed at least 28 boys and young men between the ages of 13 and 20. Many of the bodies were then buried in remote locations.
According to NCMEC, Henley and Brooks, who knew some of the victims as friends, were responsible for luring many of Corll’s victims into his home under false promises of fun. The outlet noted that Henley later reported to police that Corll paid them $200 for each victim. Henley told Ramsland that after Corll killed his captives, he made him wear their clothing.
(L to R) Cindy Michalk, Shirley Lyles and Barbara Vaughn talk to the media after the funeral services for an unidentified victim of the Dean Corll mass murders of the early 1970s being buried at the Harris County Cemetery. (Michael Paulsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
The reign of terror came to an end in August 1973.
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Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. covers his face after his arrest. (Investigation Discovery)
“Wayne brought a girl over with another kid,” said Ramsland. “Corll had bound all of them and said he was going to kill them all. Wayne persuaded him to let him go and said he would help. … When Corll laid the gun down and went after the boy, the girl said something to Wayne like, “Aren’t you going to do something about this?’”
It was Corll who taught Henley how to shoot. And when Corll came charging at him, Henley killed the 33-year-old with his gun.
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. leads law enforcement agents along a grassy dune on a beach on High Island, Texas, as they search for victims. (Getty Images)
Later that day, a shaken Henley led police to the bodies of the victims. Over three days, investigators found 16 bodies wrapped in plastic or sheets and buried in a mass grave. Most of the bodies were badly decomposed, and their identities were obscured by time and the elements, The Associated Press reported. The outlet noted that the conditions of the bodies showed traces of suffering.
Over the years, investigators were able to identify known victims.
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. covers his face as he talks to reporters. (Getty Images)
Henley quickly admitted direct involvement in six of the killings and said he struggled with his actions but feared being killed by Corll.
Henley and Brooks received life sentences. Brooks died in 2020 of complications from COVID-19.
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. waits in an officer’s car while bodies were being recovered. Henley told police he fatally shot Dean Corll on Aug. 8, 1973, after hours of drinking and glue sniffing. He is serving a life sentence. (David Nance/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Ramsland said that, based on her numerous conversations and letters with Henley, she assessed him as both a victim and a perpetrator. It’s something that needs to be studied more because “we’re going to see more of it,” she argued.
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Mass murder suspects Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. and David Brooks at High Island Beach, where authorities were searching for bodies. (Jerry Click/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
“I don’t put [a person like this] on any level like the victims who were tortured and killed,” Ramsland stressed. “By no means is he that kind of victim. But victims come in all varieties, and I don’t think you can deny that.”
Ramsland believes Henley continues to be haunted by his actions.
A newspaper headline gives details about the murders committed by electrician Dean Corll, who, along with younger accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley Jr., is believed to have killed at least 27 boys. Corll was killed by Henley during an altercation, after which Henley confessed to the police about his role in the murders of the teenage boys and gave evidence about where the bodies could be found. (Getty Images)
“He wanted to be a minister,” she said. “He doesn’t know what to think of himself.”
“The Serial Killer’s Apprentice” premieres Aug. 17 at 9 p.m. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
