New sketch seeks to identify last unknown victim of 'Candy Man' serial killer from 50 years ago

HOUSTON (TCD) -- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) released a new sketch this week of one of the victims of a serial killer known as the "Candy Man" in the hope of positively identifying him.

The victim, who became known as John Doe 1973, was found deceased Aug. 9, 1973, in Houston, but officials said he had most likely been dead for at least a year. The victim was a white male "possibly with Hispanic admixture" with long brown hair. He was wearing striped Catalina swim trunks and a khaki shirt with a red, white, and blue peace symbol on the back with "USA" underneath it. The victim also had dark blue corduroy pants, a leather ankle bracelet, and brown leather cowboy boots.

His estimated age is between 15 and 18 years old.

According to the NCMEC, the victim had spinal bifida, which could have affected the way he walked.

John Doe 1973 remains the last unidentified victim of the serial killer Dean Arnold Corrl, who was known as the "Candy Man." Corrl kidnapped and killed almost 30 young men in Houston between 1970 and 1973. These victims were known as the "Lost Boys."

Corrl reportedly got the moniker because he worked at his mother’s candy company and handed out free candy to boys in the neighborhood, the NCMEC said in a blog post.

On Aug. 8, 1973, Pasadena Police Department officers went to 2020 Lamar St. and found 17-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley next to Corrl’s dead body on the ground. Henley said he shot Corrl in self-defense.

Soon, Henley and another teen, 18-year-old David Brooks, showed police several places where they hid bodies of their victims, including in a storage shed, a reservoir, and a beach. Investigators located 28 bodies, but the NCMEC says the "true death toll will most likely never be known."

Henley and Brooks helped lure the victims to Corrl’s home "under false promises of fun," and they would later kill the boys. Corrl reportedly paid Henley and Brooks $200 for each victim they brought to him.

KHOU-TV reports the victims had been raped and tortured prior to their murders.

Brooks and Henley were arrested on several counts of malice murder and they both pleaded not guilty. However, they were both convicted. Henley was sentenced to six life terms in prison. Brooks got a life sentence but died in 2020 following a bout of COVID-19.

NCMEC Forensic Services Unit supervisor Carol Schweitzer said, "We remain hopeful that this young man’s family and friends are still looking for him. He may have siblings, cousins, classmates, neighbors, or friends who have always wondered what happened to him."

She continued, "This young man’s friends and classmates would be in their late 60s to early 70s and we hope that this new imagery reaches them and helps bring in that one single lead needed to resolve this case."

MORE:

• Have you seen this child? - National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
• Candy Man Victim: New Clues in Serial Killer Mystery - National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
• 50 years after victim of Houston 'Candy Man' killer Dean Corll was found, there's a new sketch in efforts to identify him - KHOU