PASADENA, Texas — Early morning rain forced Texas Equusearch to hit the pause button today on the search for more possible victims of Houston serial killer Dean Corll and two teenage accomplices. KHOU 11 News was the only station there as crews began digging in a Pasadena backyard Wednesday.
Equusearch says there could be up to 20 more victims buried behind the home of the sadistic killer known as the "Candy Man."
"It's my understanding there's some really good information there as to why we're concentrating on this particular plot of land," victims' advocate Andy Kahan said.
From 1970 to 1973, Elmer Wayne Henley and David Brooks would lure victims to Corll's home where they were raped, tortured and killed. They met many of them in the Heights where Corll's parents owned a candy shop near a school.
"You have accomplices knowingly marching young men to a very sadistic and insidious death," said Kahan.
Before they were killed, some of the victims were forced to write post cards telling their parents they'd taken jobs out of town. Police wrote them off as runaways so nobody was searching for them when they vanished.
The murders only stopped when Henley turned on Corll and killed him at the Pasadena home. After he confessed, police found 28 bodies buried all over the Houston area.
"This is one of the largest serial killings in this country's history," said Kahan, who's spent many years making sure Henley never leaves prison. Brooks died in prison in 2018.
Kahan said there's always been rumors there were more victims. The leads this time, he believes, are promising.
"We're cautiously optimistic something is going to come from this one way or another."
Wednesday's search yielded nothing, but there's more digging to do.
"There are other areas that will be looked at if this one doesn't pan out," Kahan said. "There are families out there that don't have answers that deserve answers."
Texas Equusearch says the digging is set to resume Friday morning.
