Dean Corll — The Candy Man

Between 1970 and 1973, Dean Corll — known as the "Candy Man" because he worked at his family's candy factory — committed what was then the deadliest known serial killing case in U.S. history. Working with two teenage accomplices, David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, Corll lured at least 28 boys and young men from Houston's Heights neighborhood, where he tortured and murdered them over three years. Corll recruited Brooks and Henley with money, drugs, and other rewards to bring him victims. The boys were kept on a homemade torture board in Corll's home and subjected to prolonged abuse before being killed. Their bodies were buried at three separate locations: a boat storage shed, a woodland area, and a beach near Galveston. Families in the neighborhood reported missing sons, but police largely dismissed the reports, assuming the boys had run away. The murders ended abruptly on August 8, 1973, when Henley shot and killed Corll during an altercation at Corll's home. Henley immediately called police and led investigators to the buried remains. The full scale of the murders shocked the nation — the 28 confirmed victims surpassed the then-known body counts of both the Manson Family and John Wayne Gacy. Both Brooks and Henley were tried as adults and sentenced to multiple consecutive life terms. Corll himself was never prosecuted. The case highlighted the vulnerability of youth from impoverished communities and how easily their disappearances can be overlooked by authorities. It remains one of the most devastating examples of predatory manipulation of minors in U.S. criminal history.