"Let God Take His Own Vengeance": An AP Newsreel from the Houston Mass Murders, August 1973

Name: "Let God Take His Own Vengeance": An AP Newsreel from the Houston Mass Murders, August 1973
Uploaded: 2015-07-23T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 58 s
Description: Associated Press coverage from the week the Houston Mass Murders came to light: the search of High Island beach, Henley held in isolation, and a grieving father who came to ask how his son died.

Associated Press coverage from the week the Houston Mass Murders came to light: the search of High Island beach, Henley held in isolation, and a grieving father who came to ask how his son died.

Subject: Dean Corll
Recorded: about August 14, 1973
Runtime: 1:58

Content warning: Concerns the murders of teenage boys and the recovery of their bodies; the narration calls the case a "sex perversion and murder case". No graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Dean Corll, who was dead before the case became public. It is a short Associated Press newsreel from August 1973, the week the Houston Mass Murders came to light. An AP narrator reports the search of High Island beach and the state of the case, and the father of one of the murdered boys, who is not named, speaks on camera about his grief and his feelings toward the accused.

Historical Context

Dean Corll, a 33-year-old electrician who had once worked in his family's candy business, was shot dead by 17-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. at Corll's home in Pasadena, Texas, on August 8, 1973. Henley then told police that Corll had been abducting and killing boys, with Henley and David Brooks helping to lure them. Over the following days Henley and Brooks led police to three burial sites: a rented boat shed in southwest Houston, Lake Sam Rayburn, and High Island beach on the Gulf coast. By August 13 the count of known victims stood at 27. At least 28 victims, boys and young men aged 13 to 20, are now attributed to Corll.

Circumstances

AP dated the story August 15, 1973. The narration reports that four more bodies had been found "yesterday" on a beach about 35 miles east of Galveston (the four High Island bodies found on August 13), that large plows had been brought in to dig a stretch of beach a mile and a half long, and that Henley was being held in isolation in a Houston jail because of reported threats from other prisoners. Henley and Brooks had been indicted by a Harris County grand jury on August 14.

What the Recording Covers

The narrator summarizes the case as it stood: the total of 27 dead, the belief that all the bodies had been recovered, Henley's public statement that he had shot Corll, and the charges that Henley and Brooks had procured boys for Corll and taken part in some of the murders. The narrator then reports that the father of one of the dead boys had come to police headquarters to ask Brooks how his son died and whether he had suffered, and had been told he might be allowed to meet Brooks later. In his own words, the father says he feels "great animosity", but that Henley's mother is suffering as the families are and should not be condemned, and that vengeance should be left to God.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is contemporaneous coverage from the days when the scale of the case was still being established, and it preserves the voice of a victim's parent before any trial: a statement of grief that refuses to blame Henley's mother.

Archival Importance

The item is part of AP's own archive of syndicated news film, posted by AP Archive with a licensing link, and is a companion to AP's August 10, 1973, story with Henley's telephone call to his mother.

Important Caveats

Corll, Henley and Brooks are not heard. The father is not named in the video, and his son is not named; do not add names. The narration says his son disappeared "in December 1971"; no Corll victim is recorded as missing that month, and the two boys who disappeared after a religious rally in Houston Heights did so on December 13, 1970, so the year may be wrong. The narration's count of 27 was the count at the time, and its description of the case as "the largest recorded sex perversion and murder case in U.S. history" is the narrator's, not a verified fact. The narration describes Henley and Brooks as "accused"; both were later convicted.

Narrator: Four more bodies were found yesterday on a beach about 35 miles east of Galveston. Large plows were brought in to dig up a stretch of beach one and a half miles long, where sheriff's deputies had been told by two of the accused murderers in the case that other bodies could be found. The total number killed in the largest recorded sex perversion and murder case in U.S. history now stands at 27. Authorities believe they may have recovered all of the bodies.

Narrator: 17-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley, who has been charged along with another youth with murder, is being kept in isolation in a Houston jail because of reported threats on his life by prisoners. Henley has said publicly he shot and killed Dean Corll during a party for young boys at Corll's home. Corll is alleged to have done most of the killing, while Henley and 18-year-old David Brooks are charged with procuring young boys for him and committing some of the murders themselves.

Narrator: Today, the father of one of the dead boys showed up at police headquarters to ask David Brooks how his son died and if he suffered much pain. He was told he may be allowed to meet with Brooks in private at a later date. His son disappeared in December 1971 following an evening church service he attended.

Father Of A Murdered Boy: I feel that, I feel animosity, I really do. After all, what person wouldn't feel some animosity? But the mother of this boy, Henley, I know that she's going through probably the same thing as we are, and people shouldn't try to condemn the mother for what the son has done. Although my animosity, I'm deeply grieved, and I have great animosity of what I'd like to do, but yet I go back that the vengeance, [no words, about 01:31 to 01:41] no vengeance, strictly let God do it. Let God take his own vengeance. These boys have a conscience they have to go through. These boys have to meet God someday, and someday I'll meet my son in heaven.