Elmer Wayne Henley - Early Life

Early Life

Henley was born May 9, 1956 in Houston, Texas, the eldest of four sons born to Elmer Wayne Henley, Sr. and Mary Henley (née Weed). His father was an alcoholic and a wife-beater who also physically assaulted his sons, whereas his mother, although strict and religious, was nonetheless protective of her children and strove to ensure her children received a good education and refrained from trouble. The couple divorced in 1970 when Henley was 14. Henley's mother retained custody of her four sons.

Initially, Henley was a superior student at school; but after his parents' divorce he took a series of menial part-time jobs to help his mother with household finances, and his grades dropped sharply. At the age of 15 Henley dropped out of high school.

Prior to his leaving high school Henley became acquainted with a youth one year his senior named David Brooks. The two became friends and often played truant together. Through his acquaintance with Brooks, Henley became aware that his friend spent a lot of his free time in the company of an older man with whom he himself gradually became a casual acquaintance: Dean Corll. Initially, Henley was oblivious to the true extent of Corll's and Brooks' relationship. He later stated that though he admired Corll because he worked hard, he also suspected that Corll was homosexual, and concluded that Brooks was "hustling himself a queer."

Nonetheless, in 1971 Henley also began spending time in Corll's company. Corll informed Henley that he was involved in organized theft, and he, Brooks and Henley burglarized several addresses, for which Henley was paid small sums of money. On one occasion, in an apparent test of character, Corll asked Henley if he would be willing to kill if required, to which Henley replied "Yes."

The same year, Henley became aware of an insidious pattern of disappearances in his neighborhood: Since the previous December a total of eight boys age 13 to 17 had disappeared. Two of the youths, David Hilligeist and Malley Winkle, who disappeared on May 29, 1971 on their way to a local swimming pool, had been his close friends and Henley actively participated in the search for them.