Dean Corll - Possible Additional Victims

Possible Additional Victims

Forty-two boys had vanished within the Houston area since 1970. The police were heavily criticized for curtailing the search for further victims once mass killer Juan Corona's macabre record for having the most victims had been surpassed. After finding the 26th and 27th bodies, tied together, at High Island Beach, the search was called off. A curious feature about this final discovery was the presence of two extra bones (an arm bone and a pelvis) in the grave, indicating at least one additional victim awaiting discovery. The search for more bodies at the beach was abandoned on August 13, 1973, despite Henley's insistence that there were two more bodies buried on the beach in 1972.

The two bodies that Henley had insisted were still buried on the beach may have been those of Mark Scott and Joseph Lyles. In light of developments relating to the identifications of victims, the body of Mark Scott still lies undiscovered at High Island and the victim Joseph Lyles was only found by chance in 1983. Had the search for bodies continued, the two victims would have likely been discovered.

"Dean (Corll) jumped up and said 'I'm just having some fun,' and he promised me a car if I kept quiet later he admitted he killed them, and he bought me a Corvette."

David Brooks describing his discovery of Corll assaulting two boys in 1970 to Houston Police officers in his initial statement, August 8, 1973.

Fellow workers at the Corll Candy Company recalled Corll doing a lot of digging in the years leading up to 1968, when his mother's third marriage was deteriorating and the firm was failing. Corll stated he was burying spoiled candy to avoid contamination by insects. He subsequently cemented over the floor. He was also observed digging in waste ground that was later converted into a car park. Former employees also recalled that Corll had rolls of clear plastic of precisely the same type used to bury his victims. The suspicion is that Corll may have begun killing much earlier than 1970, and may also have been abusing youths prior to this date.

Moreover, Brooks names Corll's first murder victim as a youth killed at an apartment complex on Judiway Street, where Corll had lived prior to September 1970. The earliest victims Brooks had initially confessed to having known Corll had killed were two teenage boys killed at 3300 Yorktown, an address Corll had moved to after he had moved out of his Judiway Street apartment. The earliest double murder Corll is known to have committed is the double murder of James Glass and Danny Yates in December 1970. Glass and Yates were actually killed at Corll's Yorktown address, as was Corll's earliest known murder victim, Jeffrey Alan Konen, killed in September 1970. A possibility exists that the earliest double murder victims were Glass and Yates; however, Brooks specifically named James Glass, a youth he knew, in his confession to police and described the youth as being killed in an altogether separate double murder to the first double murder Corll is known to have committed. In addition, Brooks only knew the location of Konen's body at High Island Beach due to the fact that Corll had shown him the location. It is possible that the initial double murder Brooks had discovered Corll in the process of committing occurred after the murder of Konen and before those of Glass and Yates. These details, alongside the fact two additional bones were found with the 26th and 27th victims discovered, indicate a minimum of two and possibly four more unknown victims.

There are two suspiciously long gaps between known victims in the chronology of Corll's known murders. Corll's last known victim of 1971 was Ruben Watson Haney, who disappeared on August 17. The first victim of 1972 was Willard Karmon Branch, Jr., who disappeared on February 9, meaning no known victims were killed for almost six months. Moreover, Corll is also not known to have killed between February 1 and June 4 of 1973. Corll's only known unidentified victim — the 16th body found in Corll's boat shed — was in an advanced stage of decomposition at the time of his discovery, leading investigators to deduce that the victim had likely been killed in 1971 or 1972. This unidentified victim was found wearing swimming clothing, leading investigators to conclude that he was likely killed in the summer months. The body was found buried near the entrance to the boat shed between the bodies of Ruben Haney and Steven Sickman, whereas the bodies of the victims killed between December 1970 and May 1971 were found buried at the rear of the shed. It is likely, though not conclusive, that the unidentified 16th victim found within the boatshed may have been killed in the late summer or early fall of 1971. Dr. Sharon Derrick has stated that she has reason to believe this particular victim may be named Harman, Harmon or French, due to the fact that the only outstanding missing person's reports relating to youths from the Houston area dated between 1970 and 1973 which fit the forensic profile of this unknown youth hold these surnames. In addition, the shirt this youth had worn bore a handwritten inscription believed to read either 'LB4MF' or 'LBHMF'.

Regardless of the date when the unidentified victim buried in the boat shed had been killed, there still remains a gap of four months between February and June 1973 when no known victims had been claimed by Corll. In March 1973, a Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy had reported to Galveston County authorities that they had observed three men carrying and burying a 'long, wrapped bundle' at Galveston Beach. The couple identified two of the men as Corll and Henley. The third individual had long, blond hair - like Brooks. As the couple watched the trio, one of the men (whom they later identified as Henley) advanced upon the car with such a menacing expression that the couple felt compelled to drive away.

Two women had also observed three men digging at the beach in May 1973 - one of whom they positively identified as David Brooks. However, police were again unwilling to extend the search.

In February 2012, a picture was released to the news media of a likely unknown victim of Dean Corll. The color Polaroid image had been found in the personal possessions of Henley which had been stored by his family since his arrest in 1973. The image depicts an obviously horrified blond-haired teenage youth in handcuffs, strapped to an undepicted device upon Corll's floor - alongside a toolbox known to contain various instruments Corll is known to have used to torture his victims. The individual depicted has been ruled out by the Harris County Medical Examiner as being any of Corll's known victims - including his one remaining known unidentified victim. Henley himself has stated that the picture must have been taken after he had acquired a Polaroid camera in 1972 - although he is adamant that he has no idea who this boy is. Given that Henley became acquainted with Corll in 1972, it is likely this boy would have been killed in 1972 or 1973.