Killing the Devil’: 52 years after murdering young men, Candy Man among Texas’ worst serial killers

Jeffrey Konen was 18 years old when he disappeared from the Houston Heights area on Sept. 25, 1970. He had been hitchhiking from the University of Texas to his parent’s home in Houston.

Three years later, his naked body was found buried at High Island Beach under a large boulder. His hands and feet were bound, and he was wrapped in plastic and covered in a layer of lime.

He died of asphyxiation after a cloth was placed in his mouth, and he was manually strangled.

Konen was the first known victim of the infamous Candy Man serial killer.

This Candy Man didn’t have a hook for a hand and a swarm of bees at his disposal like in Bernard Rose’s 1992 horror classic with the same name. Instead, the real-life killer, named Dean Arnold Corll, was much more terrifying.

Corll was given the nickname for being known as the “pleasant, smiling candy man of the Heights,” who would give candy to children who stopped by his family’s factory, the Corll Candy Co., according to Texas Monthly.

From December 1970 to July 1973, Corll abducted, raped, tortured and murdered at least 28 young men from the Houston and Pasadena areas. He would lure teenagers and young adults to one of his many residences by saying he was having a party or offering them a ride.

Konen was the first known victim of the infamous Candy Man serial killer.

This Candy Man didn’t have a hook for a hand and a swarm of bees at his disposal like in Bernard Rose’s 1992 horror classic with the same name. Instead, the real-life killer, named Dean Arnold Corll, was much more terrifying.

Corll was given the nickname for being known as the “pleasant, smiling candy man of the Heights,” who would give candy to children who stopped by his family’s factory, the Corll Candy Co., according to Texas Monthly.

From December 1970 to July 1973, Corll abducted, raped, tortured and murdered at least 28 young men from the Houston and Pasadena areas. He would lure teenagers and young adults to one of his many residences by saying he was having a party or offering them a ride.

Corll had two teenage accomplices, 18-year-old David Owen Brooks and 17-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley, who helped lure the victims to Corll’s residences. Multiple reports said the two teens, who were sentenced to life in prison, participated in the sadistic acts before helping Corll bury the bodies.

The victims ranged in age from 13 to 20, and many of them were acquaintances of Brooks or Henley or had worked at the candy company. Eleven of the victims had attended the same junior high school, according to Texas Monthly.

Corll befriended Brooks in 1967, who was 12 at the time, and after about two years, the pair started a sexual relationship, although Brooks said he wasn’t gay and saw Corll as a father figure.

Just after Konen’s murder, Brooks walked in on Corll sexually assaulting two teenage boys who were strapped to a bed. Instead of turning Corll in, Brooks was given a Chevrolet Corvette in exchange for his silence. Corll later told the boy that he had killed the two teenagers and offered Brooks $200 — equivalent to about $1,400 in 2022 — for each boy that he could bring to Corll.

Henley was recruited in 1971 after Brooks lured him to Corll’s apartment likely to be killed, but instead Corll offered Henley the same deal he made with Brooks. Henley initially refused but changed his mind months later because his family was in dire financial circumstances.

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