How a teen survivor became Dean Corll’s willing accomplice: Inside ID’s The Serial Killer’s Apprentice

The new Investigation Discovery special, The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, set to release on August 17, 2025, looks back at one of Texas’s darkest cases. It raises a blunt question: how did Elmer Wayne Henley, a boy who narrowly avoided becoming a victim, end up helping Dean Corll lure and kill other teens, then finally shoot Corll to stop him? The film features fresh interviews and archival evidence to map that shift from target to participant.

It also revisits the scale of the Houston Mass Murders. Between 1970 and 1973, at least 28 boys and young men were assaulted and killed, many buried in a boat shed, at Lake Sam Rayburn, or on remote beaches. The case surfaced only after Henley shot Corll in Pasadena in 1973 and led police to burial sites. The special airs on Investigation Discovery, with streaming on Max, and centers on a long phone interview with Henley conducted by criminologist Dr. Katherine Ramsland.

---

Grooming, money, and the pull of The Serial Killer’s Apprentice

Accounts in The Serial Killer’s Apprentice show how contact began through David Brooks, a neighbor who introduced Henley to Corll in the Houston Heights area. Corll handed out candy, hosted pool games, and gave small gifts. That public image lowered suspicion.

Inside his home, the pattern was different. Corll used drugs, threats, and cash. Henley said he was first offered $200 per boy. Over time, he helped bring in teens, some of them even friends. Ramsland described this as a stepwise trap built on attention, favors, and fear, with talk of a shadowy “syndicate” used to keep the boys quiet, according to People magazine (August 2025).

The Serial Killer's Apprentice (Image via HBO Max)

---

The 1973 rupture at the center of The Serial Killer’s Apprentice

The film places the key break on the night Henley arrived with two friends, a young man and a girl; Corll bound all three. After a struggle, Henley grabbed Corll’s .22 pistol and fired. Officers later found restraints, plastic sheeting, and a plywood board in the house and van.

Guided by Henley, digs at the boat shed uncovered multiple bodies, then more at lakeside and coastal sites. Courts later convicted Henley of six murders, with six life terms. He remains incarcerated in Texas and is next eligible for parole in October 2025. Brooks also received a life sentence and died in 2020 of illness in custody. The documentary recounts these outcomes in plain sequence, with no stylistic gloss.

---

Victims, families, and memory inside The Serial Killer’s Apprentice

Relatives labeled these boys as runaways who never came home. Among them was 15-year-old Billy Lawrence, last seen before a planned fishing trip, later found near Lake Sam Rayburn. Friends recall handing out flyers, watching the nightly news as graves were uncovered, and fielding rumors that blamed the kids.

The special includes voices like Debbie Stellas, who speaks for a childhood friend and asks simple questions that still have no easy answers. These segments focus on the victims, while the interview with Henley serves as context, not an excuse.

---

What the ID documentary adds to The Serial Killer’s Apprentice

The two-hour documentary supplies one element that has been rare on camera: extended audio from Henley reflecting on recruitment, tasks he carried out, and the shooting. He states he is not seeking absolution, only a factual record of how a teenager was drawn in and then broke from Corll.

Basic case contours remain consistent with prior reporting, including the discovery trail and the role of the phone call that brought police to Lamar Drive, according to The Independent (August 2025). By sticking to dates, places, and sourced quotes, the documentary establishes a straightforward frame for viewers of the show.

---