WEBVTT - The Candy Man – Part Two [10] 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.680 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.879 those of the authors and participants and do not necessarily 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.360 represent those of I Heart Media, Stuff Media, or its employees. 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:20.200 Listener discretion is advised from my Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV. 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:28.520 Monster presents Insomniac. I'm Scott Benjamin and everything I'm about 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:44.879 to tell you is real. This is Insomniac. Beginning in 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.760 nineteen and all the way through August of nineteen seventy three, 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.400 there was a pattern forming in the community of Houston 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:58.120 Heights in the northwest central area of Houston, Texas. Young boys, 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:03.640 lots of them, were disappearing, more than forty in all 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:10.320 before it finally ended. Parents were frantic reporting the missing 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.560 children to the Houston police, but the police were quick 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:19.000 to dismiss the cases, all of them as runaways. It 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.840 was a decision that they would later regret, as community 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.280 backlash was intense when the real nature of the disappearances 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:32.119 was soon uncovered. Occasionally, the parents would receive a note 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.560 from their missing sons, written in their own handwriting, stating 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.240 that they had moved away to find work, or they 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:40.839 were going to stay with a friend for a while. 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.720 Some even received telephone calls and their missing sons stating 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:52.120 the same. Of course, none of that was true. The 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.520 boys were forced to write those notes or to make 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:59.800 those calls to their parents. Now that the circle of 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.600 rust included Elmer Wayne Henley, Dean Coral raised the stakes 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:09.280 in his deadly game. He offered both of his young companions, 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.880 Brooks and Henley, two hundred dollars for each boy they 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:19.120 could lure into his house as a victim. Henley waiter 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:23.839 claimed that he ignored Coral's offer until early nine, when 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:28.360 his family was in need of the money. The truth is, 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.160 we'll never really know the first time Henley claimed his 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:35.200 two bounty for the life of a friend, but we 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:40.280 do know that it became a regular occurrence. Here's the 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:44.359 way it worked. Henley and Coral came up with a 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:48.880 plan that coincidentally was almost identical to what John Wayne 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.720 Gacy was doing in Chicago at the very same time. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.400 They thought of a way to get a team to 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.680 willingly wear a pair of handcuffs. It was almost like 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.040 a game him to them. Henley would first wear the 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:06.200 cuffs himself behind his back, and he would somehow escape, 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:11.239 making it look easy. The secret was he had a 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.480 key hidden in his back pocket. The teenage victim would 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.200 attempt the same, but when the cuffs didn't release, Dean 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.800 would pounce on the victim, quickly binding and gagging them 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:27.080 so that no one could hear them scream. Henley claimed 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:29.760 that's when he would leave the victim alone with Coral, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:32.680 believing that he was to be delivered to the Dallas 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:37.960 based sex slavery ring. Again, there was never any evidence 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:42.920 of Dean Coral belonging to such a group. Maybe the 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.440 most chilling part of all this, at least so far, 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.280 is that the teens and younger kids in the neighborhood 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.480 that Brooks and Henley were delivering to Dean Coral for 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:58.120 just two dollars each were their neighbors and childhood friends, 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.080 the same kids they grew up with and the same 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:12.640 kids they went to school with. The date was auguste 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:20.760 and Henley, now aged seventeen, had invited a friend, Timothy Curly, 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:26.760 aged nineteen, to a party at Dean's house. When Henley 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.960 and Curly made it to Dean's house that evening, they 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:34.240 drank alcohol, had sniffed paint fumes before leaving around midnight 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:38.760 to buy some sandwiches David Brooks was not at Dean's 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:44.320 house that evening. Along the way, the two teens stopped 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.960 near Henley's house, and Henley walked to the home of 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:52.440 Rhonda Williams, aged fifteen. She was a friend of Henley's 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:56.080 and her drunk father had beaten her early in the evening. 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:58.560 She said she wanted to get out of the house 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:03.280 until he was sober. Henley invited her to join them 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.640 at Dean Coral's home that evening, and the three teens 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:11.280 drove to Dean's house in Pasadena. It was about three 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:16.880 am on August eight when the three arrived at Dean's house. 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.640 Dean was extremely angry with Henley for inviting a girl 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.640 to his house, telling him that he had ruined everything. 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.280 Henley explained the situation to Coral, and he seemed to 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.400 calm down as he offered the three of them more 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:35.760 alcohol and marijuana. As they continued to sniff paint fumes, 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:43.120 Dean sat back and watched. After two hours, all of 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:48.320 the teens had passed out. When Henley finally awoke, he 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.800 was lying on his stomach and Dean Coral was placing 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.080 handcuffs on his wrists. He already had his mouth taped 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.800 shut and his ankles were bound together. Both Timothy Curly 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.279 and Rohnda Williams were lying beside Henley on the floor 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.159 similar to his situation. They were both gagged with tape 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:16.719 and bound with nylon rope. Timothy Curley was already completely naked, 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:22.800 while Ronda Williams still had her clothes on. When Dean 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.080 noticed that Henley was awake, he removed his gag just 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:28.400 long enough to tell him that he had made a 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:33.120 fatal mistake in bringing a girl to the house. He 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.919 was going to kill all three of them after he 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:40.960 tortured Curly. Dean then shoved a twenty two caliber pistol 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:46.279 into Henley's stomach and threatened to shoot him. Henley was 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.719 able to calm Coral by telling him that he would 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.080 assist him in the torture and murder of the other 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.880 two teens, but he would have to release him from 0:06:53.920 --> 0:07:00.080 his restraints. Surprisingly, Dean agreed to this and untied Henley 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.120 and then tied Curly and Williams to opposite sides of 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:08.080 his torture board. Dean's plan was for Henley to rape 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:12.480 and kill Williams while he raped and killed Curly. By 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.280 now the other two teens had awakened and the reality 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:22.320 of the situation was sinking in. Both were terrified, and Williams, 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:26.760 whose gag was now also removed, asked Henley is this 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:31.840 for real? Henley told her it was, and then as 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:36.280 Dean if he could take Williams into the other room, 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:43.400 Coral was busy violating curly and ignored Henley's request. It 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:45.800 was at this point that Henley made a grab for 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.160 Dean's pistol and began shouting a Dean that he had 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:54.200 gone far enough. He couldn't go on any longer. He 0:07:54.240 --> 0:08:00.680 couldn't have Dean killing all of his friends. Dean shouted 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:05.560 back defiantly and taunted Henley by yelling kill me, Wayne, 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:09.720 and then as he moved closer to Henley, he yelled, 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.960 you won't do it. That's when Henley fired the first shot, 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.760 hitting Dean Coral in the forehead, but the bullet didn't 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:24.640 go through his skull. As Dean moved even closer, Henley 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:29.240 fired another two rounds into Coral's left shoulder. This stopped him, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.880 and Dean staggered out of the room. As Henley fired 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:37.000 three more rounds into his lower back and shoulder, Dean 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:42.880 was dead. Henley had killed Dean Coral and saved the 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.600 lives of two of his friends as well as his own. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.839 Curly and Williams were released in the torture board by Henley, 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.760 and the three of them dressed and talked about what 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:59.280 they should do next. Henley just wanted to leave, but 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.760 Curly said l they should call the police. They all 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:24.320 agreed and Henley made the call. Aside from the Corvette 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.160 that Dean Coral had purchased for David Owen Brooks, which 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:31.520 Dean still had limited access to, he owned another flashy car, 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:37.400 a Plymouth GTX. It wasn't a coincidence that he drove 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.280 a car like this. It was fast and loud, and 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:43.360 it seemed to attract the attention of all the teenage 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:50.959 boys in the neighborhood, exactly what Dean wanted. Coral, along 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.040 with Brooks and Henley, would cruise the neighborhood looking for 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.640 potential victims and then lure the boys either into the 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.880 car or to Coral's home with a promise of candy 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:07.439 or alcohol, or even a party. But the g t 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:11.280 X wasn't Dean's only car. He owned another vehicle that 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.560 served a more useful purpose afford a con line van. 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:21.120 This is the universal sketchy van that your parents warned 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.959 you to stay away from. Prior to his killing, years, 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.640 Coral would occasionally invite the neighborhood kids that lived near 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.439 the candy store to picnic with him at the beach, 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:38.000 using the van for transportation. Of course, according to those 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.600 that had accepted a ride years earlier, it was much 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:49.560 nicer at the time, carpeted and clean. However, by the 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.600 time the authority sees the van immediately after Dean's death, 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.760 it was just as creepy an awful inside as you 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:03.640 might guess. By then, it was in regular use to 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.200 haul dead bodies from Dean's house to one of several 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.760 burial places. It was even rumored that he used this 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:13.240 as a mobile torture van, similar to the torture room 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:15.000 he had set up in the bedroom of his house, 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:20.319 complete with pegboard like walls featuring drilled holes that served 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.040 the same purpose as his torture board did in his home. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.760 The van's room windows were completely covered by thick blue curtains, 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:33.520 impossible to see in and impossible to see out. The 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.240 cargo area of the van was no longer neatly carpeted, 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.040 but instead hold a worn out section of a beige rug. 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.560 It was covered in stains. Police also found a length 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.280 of rope and a handbuilt wooden crate with air holes 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.440 drilled in the sides. Around the same time, police found 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.800 a similar wooden crate in Dean Coral's backyard, but inside 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:01.880 that one they also found strands of human hair, leaving 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.520 little doubt that Dean used these creates to secure and 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:12.000 transport some of his victims. The sad truth is all 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:13.920 of the young boys that we're seeing getting into the 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.640 van or car along with Dean and his two accomplices 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:21.800 between the years of nineteen seventy in ninety three, well, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:31.880 they never came back. Initially, Henley was treated as a 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.280 hero saving the lives of two of his friends from 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:40.800 a real life monster, but Henley soon began to tell 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.880 the authorities a lot more than they ever bargained for. 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.600 He told them how he and David Brooks were in 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:55.200 charge of finding teenage boys for Dean Coral's rape, torture 0:12:55.480 --> 0:13:01.040 and murder fantasies. He also told them he himself had 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:05.079 assisted in several abductions and murders and helped to torture 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.920 and mutilate six or eight victims before they were killed. 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.360 He told them about the Southwest Houston boat storage shed 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.600 that Dean Coral had rented, where most of the victims 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.160 had been buried, while others were buried at High Island 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:25.800 Beach and Lake sam Rayburn. Police didn't want to believe 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:29.320 his stories initially, that is until he mentioned a few 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:31.319 specific names of the boys he had helped to a 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:36.800 Ductford Dean. All of the names he provided were listed 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:46.559 as missing children. Later that very same day, AUGUSTE. Henley 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.439 agreed to go to the Southwest Houston boat storeage shed 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:53.480 with the authorities. He claimed he could lead them to 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:57.800 the bodies of the missing children. When they opened the 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.960 door to the enclosed boat shed, there was some sort 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:05.000 of junk to be moved, a half stripped stolen car, 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:11.600 a kid's bicycle, two sacks of lime, and boxes full 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:16.440 of teenage boy's clothing. When it came time to dig, 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.560 the work was done by prison trustees and the soft 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.960 dirt inside the boat shed was relatively easy to move. 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.200 Almost right away they uncovered the body of a young 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.600 teenage boy, wrapped in clear plastic and buried beneath a 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:39.040 layer of lime. As they continued to dig, they found 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.200 several more sets of human remains, each in different stages 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:48.320 of decomposition. Most of the bodies were wrapped in the 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:54.920 same thick, clear plastic sheeting. Some had been strangled and 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.200 the ropes were still wrapped around their neck, while others 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:03.720 had been shot. Digging up to cane bodies in an 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:07.520 enclosed metal shed is hard enough to imagine, but when 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.720 you also consider this was Texas in August, the heat 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:18.280 and the smell must have been unbearable. On that first day, 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.840 the bodies of eight young boys were pulled from the 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:27.200 ground in the boat shed. All of them had been sodomized, 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.600 and all of them showed evidence of sexual torture, including 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:36.680 chew genitals, objects inserted into the rectums, pubic hair is 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:43.520 plucked out, and one other particularly sadistic treatment. Authorities learned 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.880 through examining the bodies the dean coral had inserted glass 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:51.480 rides into the boy's penises, and then he would snap 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:56.440 them off and shatter them while they were inside. The 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.400 pain that's inflicted would make a person beg to be 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.200 put out of their misery. The coral would keep the 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.280 teens alive for several days of this type of abuse. 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.360 While conducting my research for the Dean Coral story, I 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.040 kept returning to the one fact I simply couldn't wrap 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.400 my mind around for the longest time, and to be 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:36.680 honest with you, I still can't completely understand it. My 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:41.120 question was this, why weren't the Houston police more concerned 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:46.160 about the pattern of missing teens Over a relatively short 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.840 span of time, Around two and a half years, there 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:56.240 were approximately fortys missing from the same neighborhood. Two families 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.800 had lost not just one son, but two kids each, 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:06.760 teen brothers, all taken at separate times. What had to 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:10.359 happen for the authorities to finally take action? What was 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:15.760 the hesitation? Well, I think I found the answer, or 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.879 at least the best explanation I've heard so far. It 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.600 comes from a book written in four by a man 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:27.800 named Jack Olsen titled The Man with the Candy The 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:33.200 Story of the Houston mass Murders. In it, Olsen states 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:36.080 that it was not just one factor, but rather a 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:42.879 combination of factors that led to the oversight. First, the 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.199 Houston Police Department simply lacked the resources to search for 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:52.280 missing children's request to do so, or often declined. It's 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.439 also true that teens occasionally choose to leave home in 0:17:55.520 --> 0:18:01.200 pursuit of something new, different and exciting, a perceived new 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:06.679 life just somewhere else. It was easy for the police 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:08.879 to tell the parents that they're missing teen was merely 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:14.040 a runaway, easy because that's what they truly believed it happened. 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.320 It's also important to remember that the term serial killer 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:25.399 wasn't even coined until ninety Before that it was almost 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.320 unimaginable that a killer of this sort was living in 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.640 the same neighborhood along with the families of the kids 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:36.879 he was killing. Unimaginable, that is until Henley shot and 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:41.920 killed Dean Coral in the early morning hours of auguste, 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:49.160 and the truth was then known. Any way you look 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.040 at it, this was an especially dark time for the 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:56.679 community of Houston Heights, the senseless destruction of dozens of 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.879 young men, all with the rest of their lives ahead 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:04.680 of m as they were taken far too young, being 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:11.280 Coral's oldest victim was twenty years old, his youngest was 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:24.560 only nine. David Brooks turned himself in at the Houston 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.240 Police Station. He was accompanied by his father as He 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.399 denied being involved in the murders, but stated that he 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.000 did know that Coral had raped and killed two boys. 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:44.240 In the next day, August nine, Henley accompanied the authorities 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.600 to Lake sam Rayburn, where two additional bodies were found 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:53.840 in shallow, lime covered graves. At the same time, police 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.840 continued to search the boat shed, and they discovered an 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:02.680 additional nine bodies on their second day of digging. Henley 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:06.000 insisted there were still two more bodies inside, but they 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:12.160 were never located. Later that evening, David Brooks finally gave 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.600 a full confession, admitting to being present while some of 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.840 the killings occurred and helping to bury some of the bodies. 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:25.680 The next day, August t, Henley accompanied the authorities to 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.400 Lake sam Rayburn, where they were able to find two 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:34.600 more bodies. That same afternoon, both Henley and Brooks went 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.520 with the authorities to High Island Beach and led the 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:42.880 police to two more shallow graves. Days later, on August 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.600 Hemley and Brooks returned to High Island Beach with the police, 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:52.680 where they located four more bodies. Again, Henley insisted that 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:54.919 there were still two additional bodies to be found on 0:20:54.960 --> 0:21:00.719 the beach, but they were never located. In total, they 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:04.240 had uncovered twenty seven known victims, with the possibility of 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:09.000 at least four more. According to Henley. At the time, 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.920 it was the worst killing spree in American history, a 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.000 grizzly record that would only stand for five more years 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:21.520 until John Wayne Gaze he was captured in after killing 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.639 thirty three young men and boys and burying them in 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:30.679 his crawl space. In the end, Dean Coral was the 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:35.119 only one who escaped without suffering to consequences. Maybe he 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.960 paid the ultimate price, losing his life, but it was 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:41.919 his young accomplices that eventually had to answer for all 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:45.919 of his wrongdoings, along with her own, of course, and 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:53.560 they're still paying for it today. In David Owen Brooks 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:57.000 was found guilty of abduction and murder and received a 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.919 life sentence. He's been up for p roll several times, 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:04.960 but has been denied every time. His most recent chance 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:09.120 for freedom came in two thousand and fifteen. He's still 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:15.080 locked away. Elmer Wayne Henley is currently serving six consecutive 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:18.639 terms of ninety nine years for a grand total of 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.480 five years in prison for his role in the Houston 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:27.280 mass murders. With no chance of parole. He'll die in prison. 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.080 There's no question my entire view of the world around 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:43.879 me has changed. When I started this journey, I wanted 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.560 to know why serial killers did what they did, what 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:50.480 motivated them, what made them tick and well. I did 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:55.000 find some answers to those questions. I also found darkness, 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:58.480 a lot of darkness to go along with it. I 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.160 know they are good people around us, but we should 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:05.280 also never forget. They're bad people around us too, very 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:07.359 bad people who are capable of doing things you and 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:12.320 I could never imagine everything I've gone through my personal life. 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:15.760 In addition to delving into the lives of these serial killers, 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:18.800 the sadness and death that I've read about every single 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:21.760 day has led me to the biggest question of all. 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:26.879 Is this healthy? We all consume violence in one way 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:29.920 or another on a daily basis. It's on our televisions, 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:32.919 it's on the radio, and in our podcasts. Is what 0:23:33.040 --> 0:23:36.719 drives storylines and plots? We turned to true crime as 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:40.760 a means of enjoyment. I'm guilty of this myself. But 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:44.400 what are the consequences, the long lasting implications on all 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:49.359 of us as individuals, as a society. I don't know. 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:51.160 If I'll ever be able to forget what I've seen 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:53.600 in my third year so years a true crime infatuation. 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:56.800 But I'm hoping some of those vivid images will begin 0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:00.760 to fade into the distance as I grow older. I 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:03.720 haven't been able to entirely stabilize or separate my dreams 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:07.920 from reality. I'm still working on it. For now, though 0:24:08.840 --> 0:24:11.159 I've reached the end of my fascination with true crime. 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:15.840 It's time to take a break, and hopefully with that 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:18.840 break the nightmares that have kept me up all night, 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:28.600 we'll transition back into normal dreams once again. Well, today 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:31.160 is one of those unusual days when I actually got 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:35.240 some sleep last night, about six hours of sleep, and 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:39.199 I feel pretty good. Um it's almost like a like 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:41.400 a fog is lifted from my head, like I can 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:44.400 I can think clearly. I'm kind of ready for the day, 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:48.720 which is really pretty unusual. They's pasted a few uh 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:52.679 well years, but um, yash, I don't know. It feels good. 0:24:52.760 --> 0:24:54.879 It feels like today might be a good day and 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:57.760 I'm kind of looking forward to it. So not all 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:00.800 doom and gloom all the time, um as far as 0:25:00.800 --> 0:25:03.080 sleep goes, But most of the time it is, but 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:05.840 I thought, you know, hey, I'm having a good day. 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:17.439 I'll talk about that too. Insomniac is a production of 0:25:17.480 --> 0:25:21.400 I Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV, written and hosted by 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:26.400 Scott Benjamin and produced by Miranda Hawkins, Alex Williams, Matt Frederick, 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:30.600 and Josh Than. Music composed by Makeup and Vanity, Set 0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:34.520 and cover by Trevor Eisler. Follow on Twitter and Facebook 0:25:34.560 --> 0:25:38.920 at Insomniac Pod, on Instagram at Insomniac Podcast, and at 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:43.680 our website insomniac podcast dot com. For more podcasts for 0:25:43.760 --> 0:25:47.840 my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:50.280 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.