The Scientist and the Serial Killer
The Search for Houston's Lost Boys
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Between 1971 and 1973, more than twenty-seven teenage boys disappeared from idyllic, tree-lined neighborhoods in Houston. This is the true story of how one dedicated forensic scientist finally identified the victims of the "Candy Man," one of America's most prolific serial killers. Houston, Texas, in the early 1970s was an exciting place—the home of NASA, the city of the future. But a string of missing teenage boys, many from the same neighborhood, hinted at a dark undercurrent that would go ignored for too long. While their siblings and friends wondered where they’d gone, the Houston Police Department dismissed them as thrill-seeking runaways, fleeing the Vietnam draft or conservative parents, likely looking to get high and join the counterculture. It was only after their killer, Dean Corll, was murdered by an accomplice that many of those boys’ bodies were discovered in mass graves. Known as the “Candy Man,” Corll was a local sweet shop owner who had enlisted two teenage boys to lure their friends to parties where they would be tortured and killed, and then buried. All of Corll’s victims’ bodies were badly decomposed; some were only skeletal. Known collectively as the Lost Boys, many were never identified. Decades later, when forensic anthropologist Sharon Derrick discovered a box of remains marked “1973 Murders” in the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office, she knew she had to act. It would take prison interviews with Corll’s accomplices, advanced scientific techniques, and years of tireless effort to identify the young men whose lives had been taken. But one by one, nearly all of their names have been returned to them. Investigative journalist Lise Olsen immerses readers in this astonishing story, simultaneously bringing to life the teens who were hunted by a killer hiding in plain sight and the extraordinary woman who would finally give his victims back their dignity and their names. The upside-down murder mystery reveals new information about this case and astonishing facts about why these victims were forgotten in the 1970s—and why what happened to them remains relevant.
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I was a kid growing up in Louisiana when the events at the heart of The Scientist and the Serial Killer took place. Houston was barely a blip on my radar, and I never heard of Dean Corll or all the boys who went missing in that part of the work. This book was, in a word, mind-boggling.
Dean Corll was a familiar figure in parts of Houston. He was the “Candy Man,” the owner of a local candy store. But the Candy Man had a darker side. Boys – teens and young adults – went missing. Reports were made, some sooner, some later. But the police didn’t put much effort into looking for the boys, assuming they’d run away. When one of his teen accomplices murdered Corll, then the killings came to light. By that time, bodies had decomposed, and with the technology of the day, identification simply wasn’t possible. Remains were dug up, boxed up, shelved away, and eventually pretty well forgotten. But forensic anthropologist Sharon Derrick brought them back into the light.
The science in this book is fascinating, and Lise Olsen describes it not only in detail but also in a way that’s accessible to those who might not be forensic scientists themselves. Between the times of the murders and Derrick’s dogged effort to identify Houston’s Lost Boys, forensic technology made tremendous advances. I took a Law and Medicine class in law school, and it included a visit to the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas. Reading this book had me wishing I’d given more consideration to forensic science as a career. It was amazing how Derrick could take what seemed like a tiny clue and use tools to ferret out details from that little piece of information. And I can only imagine the relief for families to get closure on their loved ones after so many years of not really knowing what happened to them. Sharon Derrick’s tireless work on behalf of Corll’s victims was truly a labor of love and the product of a deep desire to see justice finally served.
Olsen doesn’t just look at the hard science of the investigation, but includes details of Derrick’s conversations with the men who helped Corll commit his crimes. The fact that Corll involved other teens in his murder spree and the offhand way these men seem to discuss their participation in the torture and killing of boys roughly their age (and sometimes boys they knew) brings an undercurrent of horror to the scientific details.
The book includes photos and diagrams that enhance the reading experience. It’s one thing to read words on a page about multiple bodies found buried in one place, sometimes more than one in a single grave, but when you see a diagram of where they were found, that really gives the words a lot more punch. The depth of Olsen’s research is further demonstrated in the included bibliography. If you’d like to know even more about the facts and people involved in these cases, look up some of the sources Olsen consulted.
True crime aficionados and Texas history buffs, this one’s for you. Pick up a copy of The Scientist and the Serial Killer.
Originally posted at theplainspokenpen.com.