Texas has a long and disturbing history of notorious serial killers who have terrorized the state for decades. These individuals have committed some of the most heinous and gruesome crimes in the state’s history, leaving a lasting impact on the families of their victims and the communities they affected. These serial killers have left a dark mark on Texas’s history and remain some of the most notorious and infamous criminals in American history.
Dean Corll
Dean Corll was active in the early 1970s. He was known as the “Candy Man” because his family owned a candy factory in Houston, Texas. Corll would lure young men and boys with the promise of alcohol and drugs, and then kidnap, torture, and kill them. He committed at least 27 murders between 1970 and 1973, making him one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history.
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Corll’s victims were mostly teenage boys, with the youngest being just eight years old. He would often kidnap them from the streets, but also lured some through classified ads that he placed in newspapers. Once he had them in his grasp, he would sexually assault and torture them before killing them. He would then bury the bodies in various locations around Houston, including in the city’s boat house district, and on a beach in High Island.
Corll’s killing spree came to an end in 1973 when he was shot and killed by one of his accomplices, Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. Henley had been one of Corll’s victims, but managed to escape and then killed Corll in self-defense. The police discovered the remains of 27 victims at the various locations where Corll had buried them. The discovery of the mass graves shocked the city and horrified the nation. The case became known as the “Houston Mass Murders” and it remains one of the most gruesome and disturbing in American criminal history.
Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas was active in the 1970s and 1980s. He was convicted of killing 11 people but claimed to have killed over 600 people in total. He is considered one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history.
Lucas was born in 1936 in Virginia and had a difficult childhood, marked by poverty and abuse. He had a strained relationship with his mother and was put in a juvenile detention center at the age of 14. He was in and out of prison throughout his life, serving time for various crimes such as burglary and assault. Lucas was also known to have a serious drinking problem.
In 1983, Lucas was arrested in Texas for the murder of an unidentified woman. During his questioning, he made a shocking claim that he had killed hundreds of people across the United States. He was subsequently charged with 11 murders and confessed to most of them. Lucas was sentenced to death for one of the killings, but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
However, many of Lucas’s confessions were later proven to be false or highly exaggerated, and several of the murders he had confessed to being closed as solved by other criminals. He was found to have had a tendency to confess to murders he had no connection to and would change his story multiple times, making it hard to prove his guilt in several cases.
Despite the doubts surrounding his confessions, Lucas remains one of the most notorious and mysterious serial killers in American history. He died in prison in 2001 from natural causes.
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr.
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was active in the 1970s. He is best known for his role in the Houston Mass Murders, which were committed by his accomplice Dean Corll. Henley was convicted of six murders and sentenced to six consecutive life sentences in prison.
Henley was born in 1956 in Houston, Texas, and was a teenager when he became involved with Corll. Corll was known as the “Candy Man” because his family owned a candy factory in the city, and he would lure young men and boys with the promise of alcohol and drugs. Henley helped Corll lure and kidnap victims, and also assisted in the torture and killing of at least 27 young men and boys between 1970 and 1973.
Henley’s role in the murders came to light in 1973 when he shot and killed Corll in self-defense. After the police discovered the remains of 27 victims at various locations around Houston, Henley was arrested and charged with six murders. He initially denied any involvement in the killings but later confessed to his role in the crimes.
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Henley’s trial was widely covered by the media and he was portrayed as a victim who had been manipulated and controlled by Corll. Despite this, he was found guilty of six counts of murder and sentenced to six consecutive life sentences in prison. He has been eligible for parole since 1990 but has been denied release every time.
Henley’s case is considered one of the most disturbing and gruesome in American criminal history and is still remembered as one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history.
Kenneth Allen McDuff
Kenneth Allen McDuff was active in the 1970s and 1980s. He was convicted of three murders but is suspected of committing many more. He is considered one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history.
McDuff was born in 1946 in Texas and had a difficult childhood, marked by poverty and abuse. He was in and out of prison throughout his life, serving time for various crimes such as burglary and assault. In 1966, he was convicted of the rape and murder of a woman named Edna Sullivan and was sentenced to death. However, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the death penalty in 1972.
McDuff was paroled in 1989 after serving less than 20 years in prison. After his release, he began a killing spree that lasted for two years, targeting young women in Texas and Missouri. He was convicted of three murders and sentenced to death.
McDuff’s case is notable for the way he was able to evade the justice system for so long. He was able to secure parole by lying to the parole board and manipulating the system. He was also suspected in other murders, but due to lack of evidence, he was never charged.
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McDuff’s case is considered one of the most disturbing and gruesome in American criminal history and is still remembered as one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history. He was executed by lethal injection on November 17th, 1998.
Angel Maturino Resendiz
Angel Maturino Resendiz, also known as “The Railroad Killer” was a Mexican-American serial killer who was active in the late 1990s. He was convicted of nine murders and was sentenced to death. He is considered one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history.
Resendiz was born in Mexico in 1959 and immigrated to the United States as a child. He had a difficult childhood, marked by poverty and abuse. He was in and out of prison throughout his life, serving time for various crimes such as burglary and assault.
He began his killing spree in 1986, murdering people in Texas, Florida, and Illinois, using a variety of weapons, including knives, hammers, and a pickaxe. He would usually break into the victims’ homes in the middle of the night, and brutally murder them. He was known to be highly mobile and would use trains to travel across the country, hence the nickname “The Railroad Killer.”
Resendiz was finally captured in 1999, after being identified by a fingerprint left at a crime scene. He was subsequently charged with nine murders and was sentenced to death.
Resendiz’s case was widely covered by the media, and he was portrayed as a drifter who killed for the thrill of it. He was considered to be one of the most dangerous criminals of his time, and his case was considered one of the most disturbing and gruesome in American criminal history. He was executed by lethal injection on July 27th, 2006.
Coral Eugene Watts
Coral Eugene Watts, also known as “The Sunday Morning Slasher” was active in the early 1980s. He was convicted of one murder but is suspected of committing many more. He is considered one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history.
Watts was born in Michigan in 1953 and had a difficult childhood, marked by poverty and abuse. He was in and out of prison throughout his life, serving time for various crimes such as burglary and assault. He moved to Texas in the early 1980s and began a killing spree that lasted for two years. He targeted young women, and was known to break into their homes early in the morning, hence the nickname “The Sunday Morning Slasher.”
Watts was suspected of committing as many as 80 murders but was only charged with one, due to lack of evidence. He was arrested in 1982 and was subsequently charged with the murder of a woman named Helen Dutcher. He pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. However, he was released in 2006, after serving only 24 years due to a plea deal he made with the prosecutors.
Watts’s case is considered one of the most disturbing and gruesome in American criminal history. He died in prison in 2007 from an unknown illness. Despite his release, many police officers and victims’ families believe that he was guilty of many more murders, and his case remains unsolved.
William Lewis Reece
William Lewis Reece, also known as “The I-45 Killer” was active in the late 1990s. He was convicted of three murders and is considered one of the most notorious serial killers in Texas history.
Reece was born in Oklahoma in 1962 and had a difficult childhood, marked by poverty and abuse. He had a long history of criminal activity, including burglary and assault. He was arrested multiple times but never served significant time in prison.
In 1997, Reece began a killing spree that lasted for several months, targeting young women in Texas. He would abduct them, sexually assault them and then murder them. He was known to dump their bodies in rural areas, near the I-45 highway, hence the nickname “The I-45 Killer.”
Reece was arrested in 1997 and was subsequently charged with three murders. He pleaded guilty to the crimes and was sentenced to life in prison. However, he was also a suspect in several other murders and was known to have been involved in the disappearance of at least six other young women.
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Reece’s case is considered one of the most disturbing and gruesome in American criminal history. His modus operandi of using the I-45 highway to move around and dump victims made it hard for police to connect the dots and link him to the other murders. Reece died in prison in 2019 from natural causes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Texas has a dark history of notorious serial killers who have terrorized the state for decades. From Dean Corll to Henry Lee Lucas, Elmer Wayne Henley Jr., Kenneth Allen McDuff, Angel Maturino Resendiz, Coral Eugene Watts, and William Lewis Reece, these individuals have committed some of the most heinous and gruesome crimes in the state’s history. Their actions have left a lasting impact on the families of their victims and the communities they affected. Some of these killers were caught and brought to justice, while others remain at large, their crimes unsolved.