Elmer Wayne Henley

American serial killer

Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. (born May 9, 1956) is an American serial killer incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) system. Henley was convicted in 1974 for his role as a participant in a series of murders known colloquially as the Houston Mass Murders in which a minimum of 28 teenage boys and young men were abducted, tortured, raped and murdered by Dean Corll between 1970 and 1973. Henley and David Owen Brooks (Corll's other teenage accomplice), together and individually, lured many of the victims to Corll's home. Henley, then 17 years old, shot Corll dead on August 8, 1973.

Henley is serving six consecutive terms of 99 years for his involvement in the Houston Mass Murders, which at the time were characterized as "the deadliest case of serial murders in American history". As a result of Henley killing Corll and Brooks dying in prison in 2020 from COVID 19, Henley is the only one of the trio still alive.

In the winter of 1971, when he was 15, Wayne Henley was again taken by David Brooks to meet Corll. In his confession given almost two years later, Henley told detectives Brooks lured him to Corll's home on the promise he could participate in "a deal where I could make some money." At Corll's home (where he was possibly taken as an intended victim), the youth was told by Corll that he belonged to an organization based in Dallas which recruited young boys for a child sex slavery ring. Henley was offered the same fee as Brooks ($200) for any boy whom he could bring to Corll. Henley later told police that he ignored Corll's offer for several months. However, in early 1972, he decided he would "help find a boy" for Corll, as he was in dire financial circumstances. At Corll's home, Corll and Henley devised a ruse in which they would lure a youth to Corll's home and Henley would then cuff his hands behind his back, release himself, then con the victim into placing the handcuffs upon himself. The pair then drove around Houston Heights and, at the corner of 11th and Studewood, Henley persuaded a youth to enter Corll's Plymouth GTX. Henley lured the victim to Corll's Schuler Street apartment on the promise of smoking some marijuana. At Corll's address, Henley helped con the teenager into donning the handcuffs, then watched Corll pounce on the youth, tie his feet and place tape over his mouth. Henley then left the youth alone with Corll, believing he was to be sold into the sex slavery ring. The next day, Corll paid Henley $200. The identity of this first victim in whose abduction Henley assisted remains unknown.

On March 24, Henley, in the company of Corll and Brooks, persuaded an 18 year old friend of his named Frank Aguirre to accompany him to Corll's home on the promise of smoking marijuana with the trio. At Corll's home, Aguirre was supplied with marijuana, then persuaded to handcuff himself. Corll dragged Aguirre to his bedroom and secured him to his torture board where he was raped, tortured and strangled before being buried at High Island Beach. Henley later claimed that he attempted to talk Corll out of raping and killing Aguirre, but Corll adamantly refused. At this point, Corll told him the youth he had previously assisted in the abduction of had been killed and that Aguirre was to suffer the same fate. Corll rented a boat shed on Silver Bell Street in southwest Houston (where police eventually found eight bodies) Later, Corll and Brooks told Henley that his childhood friend, David Hilligiest, had also been killed and buried in that same boat shed along with his swimming companion Gregory Malley Winkle. The same month, a 19 year old named Richard Kepner was abducted while walking to phone his fiancée from a pay phone. By the time Richard Kepner had been killed and buried at High Island, Henley had assisted in the abduction and murder of a minimum of nine teenage boys. On February 1, 1973, Corll abducted and killed a 17 year old youth named Joseph Lyles, apparently without the assistance of Henley, who had temporarily moved to Mount Pleasant in early 1973. In the spring of 1973, Henley attempted to enlist in the U. S. Navy, but his application was rejected on June 28 due to the fact he had dropped out of high school and—although a later intelligence test would reveal his IQ to be 126—possessed a limited education. In a 2010 interview, Henley stated: "I couldn't leave anyway. If I did go, I knew Dean would go after one of my little brothers, who he always liked a little too much." Nonetheless, between June and July of 1973, Henley, Brooks, and Corll killed a further seven victims between the ages of 15 and 20, at least five of which Henley participated in either the abduction or murder. On June 4, a 15 year old friend of Henley's named Billy Lawrence was abducted and, after three days of abuse and torture at an address Corll had moved to in Pasadena, strangled with a ligature and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn. Less than two weeks later, a 20 year old hitchhiker named Raymond Blackburn was likewise strangled and buried at Lake Sam Rayburn, and then a 15 year old South Houston youth named Homer Garcia was shot and buried at the same location after his July 7 abduction. Two additional youths, John Sellars and Michael Baulch, were killed on July 12 and 19. Fifteen year old Michael Baulch was the younger brother of Billy Gene Baulch Jr., who was murdered the previous spring. On July 25, Henley lured two friends of his named Charles Cobble and Marty Jones to Corll's apartment where, two days later, Cobble was shot and Jones strangled before the youths were buried in Corll's boat shed. On August 3, Brooks and Corll – without the assistance of Henley – abducted and killed a 13 year old boy named James Dreymala, who was strapped to Corll's torture board, raped, tortured and strangled before being buried in Corll's boat shed.

On the evening of August 8, Henley confessed to police that for almost three years, he and David Brooks had helped procure teenage boys – some of whom had been their own friends – for Dean Corll. Henley unequivocally stated that since the winter of 1971, he had actively participated in the abductions and, later, the murders of the victims. He stated that Brooks had also been an active accomplice – albeit for a longer period of time than he. Henley stated to police that Corll had paid him and Brooks $200 for each victim they were able to lure to his apartment, and informed police that Corll had buried most of his victims in a boatshed in Southwest Houston, and others at Lake Sam Rayburn and High Island Beach. He agreed to accompany police to each of the burial sites to assist in the recovery of the victims. In one of the more dramatic moments in Houston television history, Jack Cato, a reporter for Houston's NBC television affiliate KPRC TV, accompanied Henley and police as Henley led them to the storage shed where he and Corll had buried some of the murder victims' bodies. Cato allowed Henley the use of his mobile radio telephone to call Henley's mother, at which time Henley blurted the words, "Mama, I killed Dean," into the receiver, confessing to her that he had killed Dean Corll, all while Cato was capturing the conversation on film. The footage played several times on KPRC TV's local news and was picked up for nationwide broadcast by NBC Nightly News that evening. Between August 8 and 13, 1973, a total of 27 boys between the ages of 13 and 20 were found buried at the three locations where Henley (and later, Brooks) had stated they and Corll had buried the victims, with an additional victim being discovered in 1983. Seventeen of the victims were found buried in the boat shed, a further four victims were found at Lake Sam Rayburn, six bodies were found buried at High Island Beach (although the body of a seventh victim buried at High Island, Mark Scott, still lies undiscovered at this location) and the body of a 28th victim was found buried at Jefferson County Beach in August 1983. All the victims found were young males and many had been sexually tortured in addition to being sexually assaulted. Autopsies revealed each victim had been killed by either strangulation, shooting or a combination of both. At Henley's trial in 1974, one of the six bodies found buried at High Island, that of 17 year old John Manning Sellars, was disputed as being a victim of Corll by a forensic pathologist who examined his remains. The youth, who vanished on July 12, 1973, had died of four gunshot wounds fired from a rifle, whereas each other victim of the Houston Mass Murders had either been strangled or killed with the .22 caliber pistol Henley had used to kill Dean Corll. However, Henley and Brooks had led police to Sellars' body on August 13, 1973, and the youth's body was found bound hand and foot and buried in a manner similar to Corll's other known victims.

On August 13, 1973, a grand jury convened in Harris County to hear evidence against Henley and Brooks. The jury heard evidence from both Rhonda Williams and Tim Kerley, who each testified to the events of August 7 and 8 leading to the shooting of Dean Corll, plus the testimony from various police officers who recited and discussed the written statements each youth had made and described how both Brooks and Henley had led them to each of the burial sites. The assembled jury also heard the testimony of a youth named Billy Ridinger, who had been abducted by Corll, Henley and Brooks in 1972 and who testified as to his torture and abuse at the hands of the trio. After listening to the evidence presented, the jury initially indicted Henley on three counts of murder and Brooks on one count. Bail was set at $100,000. Henley was not charged with the death of Dean Corll, which was ruled self defense. On October 8, Henley and Brooks were brought to court to face a formal arraignment. Henley was charged with six counts of murder and Brooks with four counts. Both youths pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

Henley was brought to trial in San Antonio in July 1974, charged with the murders of six teenage boys whom he himself had lured to Corll's apartment between March 1972 and July 1973. Throughout his trial, Henley was represented by Will Gray and Edwin Pegelow. The State of Texas presented a total of 82 pieces of evidence throughout Henley's trial, including the written confession Henley had given on August 8, which was read to the court in which he admitted killing or assisting in the abduction and murder of several youths, including the six teenagers for whose murders he was on trial. Other pieces of evidence presented included the wooden box used to transport the victims' bodies to the various burial sites and the plywood body board upon which many victims had been restrained. Within the wooden box, investigators had found several strands of human hair which examiners had concluded came from Charles Cobble. A total of 25 witnesses testified as to Henley's involvement in the abductions and murders, including Detective David Mullican. At one point during the trial, Mullican testified that Henley had informed him that in order to restrain the youths he, Brooks, and Corll had "handcuffed (the victims) to the board and sometimes to a wall with their mouths taped so they couldn't make any noise". Following advice from his defense counsel, Henley did not take the stand to testify in his own defense, although one of his attorneys, Will Gray, did cross examine a number of witnesses. On more than 300 occasions, Henley's attorneys raised objections to the testimony given or evidence presented against Henley which was overruled by the judge presiding at his trial. On July 16, 1974, after hearing closing arguments from both prosecution and defense, the jury retired to consider their verdict. After one hour of deliberation they reached their conclusion: Henley was found guilty and sentenced to six consecutive 99 year terms of imprisonment. On July 25, Henley and his attorneys filed an appeal, contending that Henley had been denied an evidentiary hearing; that the jury had not been sequestered; that a motion to move the initial trial away from San Antonio had also been denied; and that the presence of news media in the courtroom had also prejudiced his trial.

Henley's conviction was overturned on appeal on December 20, 1978. He was tried for a second time in June 1979 and was again convicted of six murders and again sentenced to six life terms, although running concurrently rather than consecutively. Elmer Wayne Henley first became eligible for parole on July 8, 1980; on this occasion—and each successive parole hearing to date—he has been denied parole. Henley's next eligible parole date is October 2025 when he will be 69 years old. Henley is incarcerated in the Stiles Unit in Jefferson County.

David Brooks was tried for the June 1973 murder of Billy Ray Lawrence in February 1975. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on March 4. Brooks died of COVID 19 complications in May 2020.

A film loosely inspired by the Houston Mass Murders, Freak Out, was released in 2003. Production of a film directly based upon the Houston Mass Murders, In a Madman's World, finished in 2014. Directed by Josh Vargas, In a Madman's World is directly based upon Elmer Wayne Henley's life before, during, and immediately after his involvement with Dean Corll and David Brooks. Limited edition copies of the film were released in 2017. In an interview included in the extras on the 3 disk set of the 4k release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by Second Sight in 2023, Kim Henkel he states that he watched Henley's confession and subsequent assertion that he would "take his punishment like a man." He refers to this juxtaposition of Henley's confession and moral posturing as "moral schizophrenia," which he says influenced how he wrote some of the characters in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.

A 1982 documentary, The Killing of America, features a section devoted to the Houston Mass Murders. FactualTV host a documentary focusing upon the murders committed by Corll and his accomplices. Dr. Sharon Derrick is among those interviewed for the documentary. The Investigation Discovery channel has broadcast a documentary focusing upon the Houston Mass Murders within their documentary series, Most Evil. This documentary, entitled "Manipulators", was first broadcast in December 2014. Episode 4 of Season 2 of the 2017 Netflix series Mindhunter follows a storyline involving interviews with Henley (portrayed by Robert Aramayo), centered around his involvement with Corll and the Houston Mass Murders.

Australian band The Mark of Cain included a sample of Henley's confession to his mother over the phone on their 1989 album Battlesick; it is at the start of the song "You Are Alone."