Reason First: The Candy Man- Dean Corll

From the autumn of 1970 to the summer of 1973, Dean Corll and his two accomplices, Wayne Henley and David Brooks, lured at least 27 young boys to Corll's home where the three men then tortured, mutilated and murdered the boys. Henley ended up killing Corll before he could pay for his crimes, but Corll is still the best known of the three. He was given the name "The Candy Man" because his mother ran a sweet shop where Corll would dispense sweets to boys who fit his ideal "prey," as a way of grooming them to be more receptive to his invitations.

No psychiatrists profiled Corll, and few if any record of analysis of Brooks or Henley exists or is available to the public. But it's hard to say what they'd have found. What we know is none of them demonstrated a capacity for empathy; from the way they planned their crimes, to the brutality with which they carried them out, it was obvious they felt nothing resembling human compassion. Nothing about their actions spelled highly adjusted and emotionally sound individuals.

All three men seem to have enjoyed committing these murders. A certain glee remained in their acts. They all threw away rational self-interest to lead their lives of depravity, to acquiesce to the part of their psyches urging them to kill, and to do it repeatedly. These men not only destroyed the lives of 27 other human beings, they destroyed any chance they might have had to become rational, freedom-respecting, life-loving individuals.

Corll, Brooks, and Henley formed a trio drenched in blood. Their monstrous behavior, similar in its psychopathy to other serial killers, was no more or less pronounced in any one of them, but Corll definitely served as the ring-leader. He held the plans to dispatch Henley and Brooks to aid in his disgusting behavior. Perhaps Henley blew him away because of that, because he wanted to dominate their acts of domination over their victims. Henley felt emasculated at being a mere minion in Corll’s bloody mission.

Henley ended up getting life in prison for his role in the murders, and in the killing of "The Candy Man" himself. He is currently serving six consecutive 99-year terms in the Mark W. Michael Unit, a correctional facility in Texas. Brooks died in prison in May of 2020 from complications due to COVID-19. But while their ultimate fates were very different, the fortunes of these three men were inextricably bound by their shared impulse to kill. The sickness in all of them will never be determined but they all held onto ideals that only produced toxicity.

We will never really know what drove Corll, Henley, and Brooks to commit these despicable crimes. Many will be quick to point to likely neurological or personality disorders, but doesn't this just mean they felt like it? The impotence of these men led to their horrific crimes. If they had possessed just a shred of morals, ethics, and virtues they would not have ended up in the two most likely fates for despicable behavior: the grave or a jail cell. After all, nothing stopped them from allowing their drives, their emotionalism to take control of their brains, and steer them down the path of evil. Something in them failed to champion more rational thoughts. Had they used rationality in even the smallest way, they would’ve sought to be productive, selfish individuals.

No matter what, we the rational left behind must remember the young boys whose lives were cut short by The Candy Man and his accomplices. We cannot allow our curiosity and fascination with the demented amongst us to overshadow the memory of those whose futures they stole. The victims should be remembered as victors.