Dean Corll

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Biography

Family and early life

US Army service

Houston jobs

Initial murders

Wayne Henley participation

August 8, 1973

Subsequent legal actions

Accomplice confessions

Indictments

Trials and incarceration

Controversies

Victim identifications

Sex trafficking connection

Main article: John Norman

See also

References

External links

Police response

  • Pasadena Police Department records from case J-12345: documents (archive)
    • From p.54 - mentions Wendell Allen Sandell age 31 born 1941/11/05 living at 2504 Mulberry as an attendee of Corll's funeral; says that he visited the Niday funeral home 45 minutes prior to the service, acted nervous, spoke to nobody, got in and out of the car multiple times before leaving prior to the start of services; describes him as having feminine mannerisms; notes prior arrests in Beaumont TX on 1962/01/15 and 1966/10/12; suggests he could have been an acquaintance of Corll in Beaumont TX; gives his FBI number 529,333 F. and DPS number 1,126,395
    • From p.58 - mentions a letter sent by Air Force Sgt. Paul Gale in Guam dated 1973/08/11; claims that Corll picked up Gale 2 years prior from Pasadena High School using the name Ray Harrison; also mentions Henley being involved in the disappearance of a missing girl; according to the letter more people were involved than Henley and Brooks
    • From p.89 - describes the background investigation and interrogation of Wendell Allen Sandell; mentions him being employed by the Arco Oil Company on Lawndale; Sandell freely mentioned a shoplifting arrest in Pasadena but did not mention the 1962 arrest in Beaumont for a homosexual encounter with Jimmy Clyde Beniot; the 1962 report says that Sandell admitted to having been homosexual since March 1961, which he disputed in his interrogation; Sandell claimed that Corll was nothing more than a former high school classmate, which was the only reason he attended the funeral; throughout the interrogation he was nervous and expressed a desire that his wife not find out he was being interrogated; he initially agreed to a polygraph but then got a lawyer who refused one
    • From p.99 - mentions the 1976 effort by LAPD detectives J.P. St. John and Kent McDonald to investigate Corll's possible connection to a string of 11 homosexual murders in Los Angeles beginning in 1971 (ed. note: the Freeway Killer, possibly Randy Kraft or Patrick Kearney?); they had an informant who claimed that one of the murder suspects was a friend of Corll who met him at the Mardi-Gras in New Orleans and later visited him in Houston and Pasadena; David Brooks said while being asked about this that Corll was very secretive with his mail, and would pick it up at the post office, read it, and then destroy it
    • From p.132 - cites a witness named John McCracken in Houston who worked for All American Amusement Shows and called with information on the Corll case; about 5 or 6 months ago he was trying to find his cousin at Bank Shot Pool Hall, and in the process met a girl named Linda with whom he then proceeded to go to a store and meet Corll; about 3 months ago he was meeting with Dave Benard of Baton Rouge LA, a booking agent for entertainers, when they ran into Corll; McCracken assessed that Benard and Corll were attracted to each other; he suspected that Benard was in Syracuse NY during the summer and said he would check with his friends at the Palace Club in Houston; McCracken also stated that he knew Tim Kerley and attended the same church as him 2 years ago; a police note says it is "certain" that McCracken is homosexual and knows multiple people involved in the Corll case
  • Houston Police Department records from case D-68904: documents (archive), photos
    • From p.4 of report document 2: "EVERETT WALDROP (WM)(43) 455 N. Highland Ave. N.E. # 4 , Atlanta, Georgia. area code 404 phone # 688-8095.

      He told me that he lived in Houston during 1970-1971. And that he was living at 906½ Tulane. He said that he had two sons.

      # 1- DONALD WAYNE WALDROP (WM) D.O.B. 8-14-55 and
      # 2- JERRY LYNN WALDROP (WM) D.O.B. 9-15-57

      He said that during this time that his two sons got to messing around wit homosexuals and that he just couldn't stop them. He said that on or about January 39, 1971 his two sons were supposedly going to the Merchant Park Bowling Alley to join a league. This is the last that he has seen or heard from them. He was wondering if perhaps any of the bodies recovered here in Houston could be his sons. He said that the boys had dental work done when they were attending RUTHERFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in Jacksonville, Florida. The school had sent them to the school health center and that the school might possibly be able to help locate the dental records.

      He said that some of the names mentioned that his sons were chumming around with were a BILL WALLS and a ROY AMES."
    • From p.18 of report document 2: "Brooks also mentioned that Dean often received sexually oriented material through the mail."
    • From p.10 of report document 3: "In continuing this investigation, DALLAS PD was called and asked about the possibility of a murder in that city that was known about by CORLL and possibly BROOKS. Det Tucker called Dallas and Lt. Baker there called this AM and Young told him that TUCKER WOULD CALL him when possible and this information was called into DPS and they were to call CHARLE NEEL and have him tell TUCKER ABOUT THIS. There is a possibility that one or more murders did happen and BROOKS is to have said that CORLL talked to someone there in DALLAS and they would compare notes as to how many they had killed. It was also mentioned that CORLL was supposed to be thinking of moving to Dallas soon."
    • From p.1-4 of report document 6: "We, Young and Baker continued this investigation and this information compiled was the result of a letter from a subject named: STEVEN DALE AHERN, 9022 Orion #2, Sepulveda, Cal.

      This letter was postmarked 24 Aug 1973 and it contained information to the effect that this individual was a Homosexual, male prostitute and a model for Pornographic films. He went on to say that there was a larger organization in the city of Houston and hat in the pornographic field this was a large operation with films, books and photos. This subject went on to say that he had been here in 1971 after running an add in the underground newspaper called The Advocate and he received a call from Houston and was brought to Houston with his fare paid and he states that while here that he found a large pornographic empire and the exploitation of young boys.. Ahern also said that while here he was photographed by a WM Named ROY AMES and then spent the night with Ames lover and this was a WM named CHARLES ANSON and he was about 20-23 yrs of age. He also said that the recent victims were photographed by Ames and he can ID one of the victims who appeared in the porno magazine " MORE THAN 7" #1. Also Ames in Houston is supposed to have an interest in BONANZA CO and most of these magazines feature boys from Houston. Ahern says that ROY AMES KNEW DEAN CORLL and used him to exploit young boys. AHERN mentioned several other books and a little more information and this is in the letter attached to this report.

      Officers thought that this information should be checked out and a call was made to the LA PD and the CI division was contacted by the CI division here after we had discussed this with them and the LA PD knows of this AHERN and they mentioned that he is a member of the NAZI PARTY and writes letters and some of the information he comes up with is good.

      Vice division was contacted and Sgt. McMenemy worked as well as Dale Bugger and the following list of books were found and purchased and will be attached and several more are being sought by the LA PD and will be sent as soon as possible, the books that we have now are:

      #1 MORE THAN 7 INCHES #4 cost $7.00
      #2 GAYBOY vol 1 #3 cost $5.00
      #3 7 UP #1 cost $6.00
      #4 BONANZA NUMBER TWO COST $5.00
      #5 GAYBOY VOL 1 No 4 cost $1.50
      #6 GAYBOY VOL 1 no 5 COST $1.50
      #7 GAYBOY VOL 1 no 6 COST $1.50
      #8 HOT RODS #3 COST $6.00

      Officers obtained a partial list of the victims and in HOT RODS #3 on the second page there was a photo that looked like WILLIAM LAWRENCE and the father was called and came to the office and said this was not his dead son and at this time officers still feel that there is a good possibility that it is the dead victims photo.

      The subject AHERN was called and officer in Criminal Intell and Det Baker talked to him at length and he repeated what is contained in the letter and added some details and said that the book GAYBOY was published in Texas and he thought that this was in Brenham, Texas. And some of the books had a NY address where money was to be sent. Also he stated that when he was here in 1971 ...he was invited to a SM party at CORLLS apartment and he was asked by AMES and Corll. He added that he did not know where CORLLS apartment was but thought it was in Pasadena ( THIS WAS BECAUSE THE PAPERS MENTIONED PASADENA ) Also Ahern stated that Ames took more than likely took about 30% of the pono photos in magazines around the country, and about 90% or so of the ones in this general area. He mentioned HOMO Heights on Westheimer.

      Along with CI, information was sought on the subjects mentioned by Ahern and in the books these subjects are listed in the credits : JOSEPH P. ANTHONY, RAY HOUSTON, AND a record was found on AMES HPD # 134752 and also on CHARLES ANSON it was found that he was listed in the light cos records. Anson works for CLARITY MUSIC co and this is the same address as AMES home address and this is studio type apartment on Whitney st. It appears that all of these subjects are connected by more than queer type associations and are ingaged in some business activity. CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE HAS MORE DETAILED REPORT ON THESE SUBJECTS.

      In studying the credits in these magazines, there is several subjects listed as officers ect and it was noted that an address was listed in Brenham, PO BOX 1193, this was found to be listed to a Charlotte Griswold.

      Young and Baker along with Sgt McMenemy went to Brenham, Texas and met with Sheriff Shulte and a check with the PO there showed that the Griswolds did have this PO BOX number and had gotten it on 3-28-72. The records were then checked on who had this box before that and it was found that a subject had signed for this box and used the name RAY HOUSTON. The box was using the business name of K and R STUDIOS. This was taken out in 1970. The Houston subject listed his address as RT 3 BOX 399 Salem, texas. This box number was checked on the tax records and it was found that two subjects had bought this property consisting of some 76 acres and they were listed as : KENNETH MAUL AND H. RAY GONZALES. The place is known as the K AND R ranch.

      [...]

      The neighbors noticed several other things such as when the subjects go to Houston in one of the trucks they do not leave the place unattended but one of them stays all the time and lights are on till midnight or so and for the last several weeks there is another subject staying with them and RAY told them he was from Columbus and they then noticed that he drives a car with cal plates. Officers found that these neighbors have been curious about these men and apparently have been kinda watching them and they mentioned that they knew RAY the best and he was a Spanish appearing young man and he is a GOOD PAINTER. Officers feel that RAY HOUSTON AND H. RAY GONZALES are the same."
    • From p.18 of report document 6: "PROGRESS REPORT Dec 22, 1973

      I received a call from Mr Schakel of US PROBATION Dept. who stated that he had in custody a RICHARD VAN PAYNE WM DOB 7-9-47 who was being transferred to Terminal Island, Long Beach, Calif. Schakel stated that Payne had told him that he had been in the WAREHOUSE in Houston and had seen photographs of the dead boys in the mass murder. This information was turned over to Don Lambright and Bill Hubbell contacted Schakel in San Diego who had some further conversations with Payne and it was decided that at this time Payne didn't have enough information to be of any further help to us. Payne did state that some of the main Homo's in the Los Angeles and san Diego area are a John Norman, and a Walker Magnuson from LaHoya."
    • From p.18 of report document 6: "Feb 1, 1974

      Both Dets Baker and Tucker received a phone call on or near the 1st of Feb from a female who stated that she lived in Jersey City New Jersey and that her name was Bonnie or Bonny and that she was closely acquainted with a Janet Blackman who had told her that a close friend of Janets named Megiel knew or had run around with Corll and that he knew where 16 to 18 bodies were buried in the New York area. This information was given to Chief of Det's Sparr, Mineola, Nassau County, Long Island, New York, who is to keep us advised."
    • From p.11 of various missing person reports document D-6890~1: "8-7-71 4:00am

      MR. WALDROP CALLED THIS OFFICE AND STATED THAT HE HAD SOME NEW INFORMATION IN THIS CASE. SUBJECT STATED THAT HE HAD SEARCHED AROUND AND FOUND A FOUND NUMBER FROM A RELIABLE SOURCE AND THAT HE HAD CALLED THE NUMBER AND ASKED for a MAN NAMED "BILL". WHILE HE WAS WAITING FOR THE SUBJECT TO COME TO THE PHONE HE THOUGHT HE HEARD ONE OF HIS SONS TALKING OR MAKING SOME NOISE IN THE BACKGROUND. WHEN "BILL" CAME TO THE PHONE MR. WALDROP STATED THAT HE TRIED TO GET THE ADDRESS OF WHERE HE WAS BUT WAS UNABLE TO GET THIS INFORMATION. MR. WALDROP ALSO STATED THAT HE WAS PRETTY SURE THAT THEY WERE HAVING A SEX PARTY GOING ON AT THAT ADDRESS AT THAT TIME.

      OFFICER STRICKLAND CHECKED THE CRISS CROSS AND FOUND THAT NUMBER BELONGING TO A JOHN L. JORDON, AND UPON CHECKING TO SEE IF THE ADDRESS IS IN THE VICINITY OF MONTROSE AREA, as THAT IS WHERE MR WALDROP SAID THAT THE ADDRESS IS SUPPOSED TO BE, I FOUND THAT IT WAS NOT IN THAT AREA.

      MR. WALDROP CALLED LATER AND STATED THAT HIS DAUGHTER HAD SEEN A GREEN CARMEN GIAH V.W. AND THE DRIVER WAS THIS "BILL". HE STATED THAT THE LIC # IS RST 748 this is REGISTERED TO A JIM R. CLARE, 4045 LINKWOOD, THERE IS NO LISTING FOR THIS SUBJECT.

      THIS OFFICER SUGGESTS THAT SOMEONE CONTACT THE PHONE CO. AND SEE IF THIS NUMBER ABOVE MIGHT CO-INCIDE WITH JIM R. CLARE.............P.W. STRICKLAND"
  • Initial police investigation
  • Criticism of law enforcement
    • Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester NY), "'Police Ignored Reports of Missing Boys'", 1973/08/13 (pages 2 OCR): "Parents of two young boys, both, believed to be among the 23 victims of a homosexual bachelor and his two teenage apprentices, claim police ignored their sons' disappearance and branded at least seven other missing youths as runaways. Police Chief Herman B. Short said he would answer the growing criticism of his department's handling of missing persons cases at a news conference today."
    • Lodi News-Sentinel, "Angry Houston police chief defends force", 1973/08/14
    • Brownwood Bulletin, "Jury blasts handling of murder case", 1973/11/02 (pages 4b OCR): "The investigation by the police and district attorney's office "lacked professional imagination, thoroughness and professional coordination," the grand jurors said Thursday. They said the Houston police abandoned the investigation about Sept. 1, leaving unexplored "the possible involvement of others and related criminal activities." Harris County Dist. Atty., Carol Vance said the grand jury report stressed a few negative aspects while ignoring the accomplishments in a difficult and complicated case. He called the grand jurors "a conscientious bunch but difficult to communicate with." Capt. L.D. Morrison, who headed the Investigation in the Houston police homicide division, was not available for comment."

Trials of Henley and Brooks

Human trafficking involvement

  • Houston local pedophiles
    • Corsicana Daily Sun, "Mass murder victims linked with sex ring", 1975/02/28 (pages 7 OCR): "Juvenile officers say 11 boys who were victims in the Houston mass murders case are pictured in sex material seized in what police called a homosexual ring. Police said Thursday they have identified 32 of the thousands of youths in the pictures and films. Juvenile Officer Johnny Freeman said most of the youngsters are from the Heights area of Houston and a few questioned from the Bomball area moved there within the past year. The case became public last week when four men were charged with sexual abuse of a child. They are Bryant A. Burch, 31, Leonard E. Cunningham, 29, John Jennings, 40, and Alfred Van Dyke, 35. Officers Ed Greenstein, Audrey Davies and Freeman said they were told by youngsters involved in the case they were paid $15 to $20 for “being in a movie” and they did not know that was against the law. Reels of films show youngsters, some as young as 8 and 9, engaging in sex acts, Greenstein said. Distribution of the film ranged as far as Sweden and Austria, authorities claimed. The officers said postal inspectors and the Internal Revenue Service have been working on the case. Police estimated they have more than 10,000 color photos of unclad children in various poses, more than 1,000 reels of film, 200 magazines and a number of paperback books. Some of the youngsters in the pictures now are legal adults, leading officers to believe the business has been going on locally for some years."
    • Serial Killer Magazine interview with Elmer Wayne Henley: "In 1976, Houston authorites announced that investigations of child pornography had linked other local pedophiles with Corll's murder ring, but no prosecutions were planned. Did any prosecutions take place? I've no idea, and wish someone would investigate this. Were others involved with Corll besides Brooks, and yourself? Most police agencies believe there are more bodies and maybe more accomplices. I tend to agree, although I have no personal knowledge of either one or the other."
    • Child pornographer Roy Ames
      • Washington Court of Appeals, THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. ROGER D. SMITH, Appellant, appeal decision, 1991/02: "15. According to officials from the U.S. Postal Service, in December 1973, a search was made of a warehouse belonging to Roy Clifton Ames in Houston, Texas. Postal Inspectors seized over four tons of child pornography materials. In 1975, a second search was conducted of Ames' warehouse by Houston police officers. In this search, over two tons of child pornography were seized.

        16. In the letters seized during both searches, officials found correspondence from R.D. Smith, 16704 - 72nd Avenue Northeast, Bothell, WA 98011. In numerous letters that were seized, Smith described his receipt of various items of hard-core child pornography, including depictions of young boys engaging in sexual intercourse with older boys, and scenes of children in sexual bondage. In one letter, Smith wrote that he had been buying this explicit material for about five years. In another letter, Smith commented that a particular child pornography film would have been better if the manufacturers had "tossed in a stiff 14-year old." In another letter, Smith wrote that he possessed 650 slides of hard-core sexual activity involving children and "who knows how many B & W sets, all of which are enjoyably reviewed from time-to-time." Officers also recovered order forms with Smith's name and address, personal checks from Smith, and a release form signed by Smith indicating that he is not offended by sexually oriented material."
      • Houston Press, "Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish" by John Nova Lomax, 2003/08/28: "No one man caused more harm to Houston's music community than Roy Ames, who passed away August 14 of natural causes at age 66 at his home in West University. [...] Child porn and Gulf Coast music and memorabilia were Ames's favorite wares to sell, and the way he went about peddling and acquiring both was not dissimilar. He coerced people into making the stuff for him and then sold it on the sly, legal consequences be damned. [...] By the mid-'70s, Ames had other concerns: the first of several pornography busts and convictions. In 1974, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston on a charge of conspiracy and ten charges of mailing obscene material. He was subsequently arrested on two counts of sexual abuse of a child and six charges of compelling the prostitution of a child, and in 1975 police raided his home and carted off literally two tons of obscene material. Four years later, the sexual abuse and prostitution charges were dismissed, but by then Ames was already in federal prison for other charges relating to sex offenses with minors and distributing kiddie porn through the mail. The upshot of all of this was that Ames was incarcerated from 1975 to 1986."
      • TODO: is Roy Ames connected to Huey Meaux?
  • California connection
    • From p.21 of Harvest Of Horror: Mass Murder in Houston: "Satisfied that Wayne had killed his friend in self defense, Mullican concentrated his questioning on statements by all three victims of Corll's attack that the victim had spoken of murdering before. At first Wayne limited his response to saying that all he knew of Corll's murders was what Dean had told him. He believed that there were some murders committed long before he met Dean and that Corll had shipped the bodies to California."
    • New York Times, "Texas Toll of Boys Rises to 27 In Nation's Biggest Slaying Case", 1973/08/14: "In a statement to the police, Brooks named five apartments where Corll lived in the Heights area where the youth said he had heard of or witnessed murders taking place. “The first few that Dean killed were supposed to have been sent off somewhere in California,” Brooks said."
    • According to Wikipedia, citing p.130-131 of Profiles in Evil by H. Paul Jeffers (1992), some of Corll's victims became the subject of child pornography that was distributed elsewhere in the country. In a March 1975 investigation, the Houston police came across a cache of child pornography pictures and films, depicting 11 of Corll's victims and 5 other children. The discovery of this material led to the arrest of 5 people in Santa Clara CA. While not definitive, it does lend support to the idea that Corll was involved in a pedophile ring, perhaps making pornography out of the torture of his victims.
    • Walker Magnuson of Southern California (La Jolla CA and perhaps Sun Valley CA prior to that)
  • John Norman pedophile ring
    • In New York Times, "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found In a Raid on Apartment in Dallas", 1973/08/16, they report the curious fact that one day after the Corll story broke, an Odyssey Foundation member became fearful that police were about to strike, which suggests they knew an investigation of Corll would lead back to their organization: "The authorities said that the ring, operating under the name of the Odyssey Foundation with a San Diego, Calif., post office box, became known last Friday [August 10, 1973] when a 24‐year‐old member of the organization became panicky that the police were about to strike. However, the police said they had been unaware of the operation until the man disclosed it."
    • Independent (Long Beach CA), "Police seek tie between killings, homosexual ring", 1973/08/17 (pages 14 OCR): "Houston and Dallas police said Thursday they were trying to find out if there was any connection between a nationwide homosexual procurement ring headquartered in Dallas and the torture deaths of 27 young men in Houston. "We have nothing definite yet to connect the two," said Asst. Police Chief Don Steel. "But our investigation will continue both in Houston and Dallas until we are satisfied the two homosexual operations were independent of each other." The ring was uncovered Tuesday by Dallas police on a tip from a man who said he was involved in the ring but got scared when his services were requested by a man in Houston. The Houston man was not identified. [...] The Internal Revenue Service also was beginning an investigation of the procurement ring, called the "Odyssey Foundation," which required a $15 membership fee from the thousands registered with it. Norman, a native of Oklahoma, got out of a California jail two years ago following a 15-month sentence on obscenity charges."
    • Ottawa Journal, "Man bought boys for $200—witness", 1974/01/17 (pages 35 OCR): "Mullican, a Pasadena detective, said Henley gave statements admitting he had shot Corll during the orgy. He said Henley told him that Corll had once confided that he belonged to a "homosexual ring which bought and sold-boys." Mullican testified that Corll had told Henley $200 was paid for every boy brought in and more was paid for "really good-looking boys.""
    • Lewiston Evening Journal, "Henley Gives Statement On Manner Of Killings", 1974/07/09: "Henley said in his statement that he was introduced to Corll by Brooks when he was 14. "Dean told me that he belonged to an organization out of Dallas that bought and sold boys, ran whores and dope and stuff like that. Dean told me that he would pay me $200 at least for every boy that I could bring him and maybe more if they were real good looking." Henley said he refused then. But he said a year later he helped Corll lure a teen-ager to the Corll apartment and trick him into trying on handcuffs. Henley said he left and the next day was paid $200 by Corll."
    • From a 1977 article on the Norman page (Chicago Tribune, "Chicago is center of national child pornography ring", 1977/05/16): "Dallas police told Sgt. Ronald Kelly, head of the Area 6 youth division, that they have information associating Norman with the ring that helped transport to Texas the 27 boys murdered in Houston in 1973 in a widely publicized sex and sadism case. That case involved Dean Corll, a 33-year-old bachelor who police said paid two teen-agers to bring other boys to his home where they were sexually assaulted and murdered."
    • From p.159 of The Gates of Janus by Ian Brady (2015): "Detectives found documents and pornographic material in Corll’s house that led them to investigate a Dallas organisation called the Odyssey Foundation, which had a membership of 50,000. Its function was to supply its members with young boys for sexual purposes. The files contained nude photographs of the boys along with personal details."
    • According to a Tumblr post on 2017/10/16 by insidious-whispers, there was a confirmed link between Corll and Norman's operation: "Detectives did find documents and pornographic material in Corll’s house, which they further investigated. Later, photos of some of Dean’s victims were discovered in the property of other pedophiles. A man by the name of John D. Norman created an organization in Dallas known as the Odyssey Foundation. Some of the material found in Corll’s home was from Odyssey. The foundation, essentially a pedophile ring, had a reported 50,000 members who paid subscriptions to procure young boys for sex. They would receive nude photos of the boys, along with personal details."

Other curiosities

  • Associated Press, "Arrest site for abduction suspect at road's end", 2014/09/26: "If kidnap suspect Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. was looking to hide from authorities, he picked what would seem to be a good spot with the remote Bolivar Peninsula, a finger of Gulf of Mexico barrier sand and scrub vegetation barely above sea level. [...] In the early 1970s, authorities recovered seven bodies from a Bolivar beach at High Island, one of three mass graves used by serial killer Dean Corll. His 28-victim killing spree ended when accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. killed him in August 1973."
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