Elmer Wayne Henley and the Houston Mass Murders
Early Life and Association with Dean Corll
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was born on May 9, 1956, in Houston, Texas. As a teenager, he lived in the Houston Heights, a working-class neighborhood where many young people knew one another through school, local businesses and neighborhood gatherings. Henley experienced family and financial difficulties and left school before completing his education.
During his teenage years, Henley became acquainted with David Owen Brooks, another Houston youth. Brooks introduced him to Dean Arnold Corll, an older man who had previously operated a candy business and was familiar to many neighborhood children. Corll appeared generous and friendly, frequently offering young people rides, alcohol, drugs or a place to gather. Behind this appearance, however, Corll had already begun abducting and murdering teenage boys and young men.
Corll told Henley that he was connected to an organization that paid for teenage boys. Henley initially claimed that he believed this story. Corll paid him money to bring young men to his residence, often selecting people Henley knew personally. Henley eventually learned that Corll was imprisoning, sexually assaulting, torturing and killing the youths. Rather than reporting him, Henley continued to help locate victims, gain their trust, restrain them and dispose of their bodies.
Henley’s Participation in the Crimes
The murders connected to Corll became known as the Houston Mass Murders. They occurred between 1970 and 1973, although Henley’s documented participation began in 1972. Corll repeatedly changed residences, living at locations in Houston and Pasadena. Victims were taken to these homes after being promised parties, alcohol, drugs, rides or recreational activities.
Once the victims were inside, Corll used restraints and threats to prevent them from escaping. Henley sometimes helped lure or restrain the victims and, in several cases, participated directly in their deaths. The bodies were concealed at three principal burial areas: a rented boat-storage shed in southwest Houston, a wooded area near Lake Sam Rayburn and the beach near High Island in Galveston County.
Because many bodies were not discovered until August 1973, medical examiners could not independently determine precise death dates in every case. The dates below are the established or generally accepted dates based on disappearances, confessions, witness accounts and the known sequence of events.
Victims Connected to Henley’s Murder Convictions
- Frank Anthony Aguirre, age 18 — March 24, 1972 — Houston, Texas: Aguirre worked at a restaurant on Yale Street and was personally acquainted with Henley. Henley, Corll and Brooks encountered him after work and persuaded him to visit Corll’s residence at 925 Schuler Street. Aguirre was overpowered inside the house and killed. Henley helped bury his body the following evening near High Island Beach in Galveston County.
- Mark Steven Scott, age 17 — April 20 or April 21, 1972 — Houston, Texas: Scott was another youth known to Henley and Brooks. Henley approached him near 23rd Street in the Houston Heights and persuaded him to accompany him to Corll’s Schuler Street residence. Scott fought violently after realizing what was happening but was eventually subdued and killed. His body was buried near High Island Beach. His remains were not identified until 1993.
- William Ray Lawrence, age 15 — approximately June 7, 1973 — Pasadena, Texas: Henley brought Lawrence to Corll’s residence at 2020 Lamar Drive by promising him a fishing trip to Lake Sam Rayburn. Lawrence called his father on June 4 and said he would be away for several days. He was held captive for approximately three days before being strangled. His body was buried near a dirt road in the Lake Sam Rayburn area of San Augustine County.
- Homer Louis Garcia, age 15 — July 7, 1973 — Pasadena, Texas: Henley met Garcia while attending a driving school in Bellaire. Garcia telephoned his mother and said that he planned to spend the night with a friend from the school. He was taken to Corll’s Lamar Drive house, shot and left to die. His body was later buried near Lake Sam Rayburn.
- Charles Cary Cobble, age 17 — July 27, 1973 — Pasadena, Texas: Cobble was lured to Corll’s home with his friend Marty Ray Jones on July 25. Witnesses last saw the two youths walking with Henley along 27th Street in Houston Heights. Cobble suffered cardiac arrest while witnessing Jones’s murder. Henley briefly attempted to revive him but stopped when ordered by Corll, who then shot Cobble. Henley helped bury both victims inside Corll’s rented boat shed in southwest Houston.
- Marty Ray Jones, age 18 — July 27, 1973 — Pasadena, Texas: Jones disappeared with Charles Cobble after Henley brought them to Corll. He was held at the Lamar Drive residence and strangled approximately two days after his disappearance. Jones and Cobble were buried together near the center of the boat-storage shed.
Other Victims During Henley’s Period of Involvement
Additional murders occurred while Henley was associated with Corll, although Henley was not convicted separately for each death. Among these victims were Wally Jay Simoneaux and Richard Edward Hembree, who disappeared on October 3, 1972; James Harvey Glass and Danny Michael Yates, who disappeared in December 1972; Raymond Stanley Blackburn, who was killed in June 1973; Michael Anthony Baulch, who was killed on July 19, 1973; and 13-year-old James Stanton Dreymala, who was killed shortly after disappearing on August 3, 1973.
The degree of Henley’s participation varied from case to case. Surviving statements indicated that he sometimes selected victims, provided transportation, helped restrain captives, witnessed killings or assisted with burials. Corll remained the central organizer and primary offender, but Henley’s cooperation allowed him to reach victims who trusted another teenager more readily than an unfamiliar adult.
The Death of Dean Corll
On the night of August 7, 1973, Henley brought 20-year-old Timothy Cordell Kerley to Corll’s Pasadena home. Henley later returned with Kerley and 15-year-old Rhonda Louise Williams. During the early morning of August 8, Corll became angry that Henley had brought a girl to the house. He restrained all three teenagers and threatened to kill them.
Henley persuaded Corll to release him, claiming that he would help carry out the murders. Once free, Henley obtained Corll’s handgun and ordered him to release Kerley and Williams. Corll reportedly moved toward Henley despite repeated warnings. Henley fired several shots, killing Corll inside the house at 2020 Lamar Drive.
Henley then called the Pasadena Police Department and stated that he had killed a man. Kerley and Williams confirmed that Corll had restrained and threatened them. Henley initially presented the shooting as an act of self-defense, but questioning soon revealed that he knew about numerous earlier murders.
Discovery of the Burial Sites
Henley led investigators to the rented boat shed, where officers began uncovering human remains on August 8, 1973. Seventeen bodies were ultimately recovered from the shed. Henley and Brooks then directed authorities to additional graves near Lake Sam Rayburn and High Island Beach.
At the time, the discovery was considered the largest known series of serial murders in United States history. Twenty-seven victims were recovered during the original investigation. The later identification of Joseph Allen Lyles, whose remains had been found near High Island in 1983, raised the confirmed total associated with Corll to at least twenty-eight. Investigators have long suspected that additional victims may never have been located.
Trial and Imprisonment
Henley was charged with six counts of murder with malice. His trial was moved from Houston to San Antonio because of intense publicity. On July 15, 1974, a jury found him guilty on all six counts. He received six consecutive sentences of 99 years each.
The convictions were overturned on procedural grounds in December 1978, but this decision did not declare Henley innocent. He was tried again in Corpus Christi in 1979. On June 27, 1979, he was again convicted of all six murders and sentenced to six life terms, this time ordered to run concurrently.
Henley has remained in the custody of the Texas prison system and has repeatedly been denied parole. Although he has sometimes described Corll as controlling and manipulative, Henley has also acknowledged that he knew victims were being harmed and continued bringing young men to him. His case remains notable because he occupied several roles: he was initially considered a possible target of Corll, later became an active accomplice and finally killed Corll during the confrontation that exposed the crimes.
Legacy of the Case
The Houston Mass Murders devastated numerous families and exposed serious failures in the handling of missing-child reports. Several victims had been classified as runaways despite relatives insisting that they would not have left voluntarily. The disappearances were not connected until Henley’s confession led police to the burial sites.
Although the offenders received widespread attention, the lasting tragedy is the loss of the boys and young men whose trust was exploited. Many were friends, classmates, brothers and sons from the same Houston neighborhoods. Henley’s actions helped Corll continue killing, while his final confrontation with Corll brought the murders to an end and allowed investigators to recover and identify most of the victims.
