Corll's Houston Hut

The Serial Killer:  Dean Arnold Corll (December 24, 1939-August 8, 1973).  Assisted by two young men, Corll kidnapped, raped, and murdered teenage boys from Houston and Pasadena, Texas.  The crimes, which took place between 1970 and 1973, became known as the Houston Mass Murders, as the term "serial killer" had not yet been established.  Corll murdered at least 28 boys and young men, whom he had lured to his house with the offer of a party.  Once the victims had passed out from too much alcohol or drug use, they would be restrained to a wooden board or kept in a wooden box and tortured for several days.  When Corll had exhausted his use for them, each victim was strangled or shot with a .22 caliber pistol.  After, Corll and his accomplices would bury the boys in a rented boat shed, a woodland area near Lake Sam Rayburn, or on Crystal Beach near the Bolivar Peninsula.  In the early morning hours of August 8th, one of Corll's accomplices, after having enough of being manipulated by Corll, shot and killed the serial killer in the hallway of his Pasadena home before calling the police.  Upon investigation, Corll was found to be the most prolific serial murderer in United States history at that time.  As such, he became known as "The Candy Man," since his family had previously owned a candy factory in an area of Houston known as The Heights.

The House:  After living in several apartments throughout Houston, Corll moved into a small house owned by his father a few months prior to his murder.  He had previously worked in his family's candy factory located in Houston Heights, but he moved to the green and white frame house after obtaining work as an electrician for Houston Power and Light.  Built in 1952, the small two-bedroom, one-bath house was located in Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston.  When the crime scene was investigated, a rear room was found to contain a long plywood board with several sets of handcuffs, ropes, and cords attached to its four corners.  A small pillow was placed on the board where a victim's head could rest.  On the floor beneath this "torture  board" was a large piece of plastic designed to keep blood off the carpet.  On the floor near the board was a toolbox containing a knife, a huge dildo, binding tape, glass tubes, and petroleum jelly.  Across the hall in Corll's bedroom, a gas mask filled with poppers lay on his bed.  In his garage was a white van he was known for driving, and a shed in his backyard held a wooden box with airholes drilled into the top.  The house was thrust back into the news in 2021, when the backyard was excavated for possibly more victims.  When that search turned up nothing, the house was destroyed in 2023.

The Floor Plan:  Based on pictures made available online, the floor plan below is a guesstimate of how it looked on the morning of August 8, 1973.  Based on my research, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1)  Since Corll had moved into the house in March of 1973, the house was sparsely furnished.  Several boxes were also found throughout the dwelling with items that had not yet been unpacked.

2)  Vince Bayou ran directly behind Corll's house.  His accomplices stated that Corll hosted cookouts on the banks of the bayou for intended victims that had been lured to his house.

3)  After being sexually assaulted and tortured for several days, one of Corll's victims bled to death in the bathroom tub.

4)  The urban legend of a creepy man in a white van giving out free candy to children goes back to Corll, as he drove a white van and gave out free candy from it when he worked in his family's candy factory.

5)  Of all Corll's 28 victims, 8 of them were murdered and tortured in this house.  The other 20 had been raped and murdered in Corll's previously rented apartments.

6)  Although Jeffrey Dahmer and Dean Corll were approximately 20 years apart in their killing endeavors, both had an aquarium of fish in their living rooms.

7)  Years later, the house was renovated to include a larger kitchen, a third bedroom, and a breakfast nook.

Sources:

Bardsley, Marilyn.  "Dean Corll."  Crime Library.  December 2013.  www.web.archive.org/web/20131202233207/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/corll/index_1.html/index.html.  Accessed 10 March 2024.

Conaway, James.  "The Last Kid on the Block."  Texas Monthly.  April 1976.  Accessed 10 March 2024. 

Gurwell, John K.  Mass Murder in Houston.  Cordovan Press, 1974.

Haines, Max.  "Houston Mass Murderers Had two Private Graveyards."  Ottawa Citizen.  February 1984.  Accessed 10 March 2024.

Hollandsworth, Skip.  "The Lost Boys."  Texas Monthly.  April 2011.  Accessed 10 March 2024.

Olsen, Jack.  The Man with the Candy: The Story of the Houston Mass Murders.  Simon & Schuster, 1974.

Rahr, Larry.  A Cop for 43 Years.  Page Publishing, Inc., 2016.

Reddit.  "Diagram of Dean Corll's House . . ."  October 2023.  www.reddit.com/r/serialkillers/comments/15luxwv/diagram_of_dean_corlls_house_where_he_was_shot/.  Accessed 10 March 2024.

Willey, Jessica.  "What's Next for the Property Where Candy Man Dean Corll's House Once Stood?"  ABC 13 Houston News.  February 2023.  www.abc13.com/candy-man-murders-pasadena-texas-dean-corll-home-demolition-elmer-wayne-henley/12875230/.  Accessed 10 March 2024.