The Candyman

This crime documentary begins unusually with the murder of the serial killer, but in view of the way the case unfolded, this is the logical place to start. Although there was a fairly large number of youths missing from the area, no one least of all the police had a clue any of them had been murdered, indeed they took a great deal of convincing, but once the first body had been unearthed, they just kept on coming. In view of the ages of some of the boys it is difficult to credit there was no intensive search, or that no one in law enforcement or child care services joined up the dots.

Most serial killers murder women, not because of misogyny but due to sexual preference. Dean Corll was a homosexual who was found to have murdered a staggering 27 boys, perhaps more. Known as the Candy Man for an innocuous reason, on August 8, 1973, Pasadena police received a phone call from a youth who claimed to have shot and killed him in self-defense. Elmer Wayne Henley had indeed killed Corll, and this killing was quite likely carried out in self-defense, not of his life but of his two young friends. It was clear from the start however that there was a lot more to Henley's relationship with Corll than met the eye.

If you have not heard of this notorious case, this is as good an introduction to it as any. We hear from some of the men who worked on it; there are also some fairly non-dramatic reconstructions.