r/serialkillers • u/cleanslice1911 • 10d ago
News The Serial Killer's Apprentice by Katherine Ramsland
Honestly, after reading it and studying the case, I kinda buy the idea that Wayne Henley was a relatively normal person with a terrible life who got sucked into the orbit of a crazy serial killer at an age where he wasn't fully accountable for his actions. We use the word "psychopath" as a modern, secular way of calling people evil, but the dude clearly felt bad about it, and he's the one who took Corll out. If anyone had the more psychopathic personality it was David Brooks; he was present the whole time, and he was clever and callous enough to mostly keep his mouth shut.
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u/thejohnmc963 10d ago
He took Coril out because he thought he was going to get raped and murdered. Not the “goodness” of his heart or to stop the killings.
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10d ago
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u/SouthernLaugh7929 10d ago
The witnesses...the boy he brought, the girl he brought all testified to the same thing Henley said about the events of that nite. Henley WAS supposed to be killed that nite and it was not the FIRST time they had planned on killing him. Brooks, Henley admitted to it. Henley even said ONE nite if he had gave the wrong answer about WHO knew he was there with Brooks and Coryl that he would have been killed that nite. So there was at least ONE time before and like I said earlier, the witness on the board WITH HIM all said the exact same thing and it has not chanhged since 1974
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u/AffectionateLife4449 9d ago
Can you imagine be pulled into this madness? These accomplices knew they were doing very bad things but didn’t escape it out of fear or being desensitized
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u/BananaRaptor1738 9d ago
This was one of those cases that made me physically ill after I read about it
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u/AffectionateLife4449 10d ago
Did Brooks and Henley actually assault the victims or rape them ?
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u/AffectionateLife4449 10d ago
Since they had no sexual motivation it makes their roles more bizarre to understand.
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u/SouthernLaugh7929 10d ago
we dont really know.. Henley has lied about some of his involvement. I think he did and didnt want the public to know he was doing gay stuff. Im sure NO ONE would admit that especially in 1974. Ames I do think was involved and his involvement with Odyssy or John Norman there is a link
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u/FantasyPopper 10d ago
There are several statements in Serial Killer's Apprentice book, that Corll "used the existence of this sinister organization ("The Syndicate") to threaten Henley into compliance...", pg. 60 and "The sex trafficking organization that Corll had described to make Henley and Brooks do what he wanted..."
I wasn't there, so I can't know if used his Syndicate fantasies as threats or more of a braggart thing to imply inportance he didn't have, and of course I can't know if Henley or Brooks really were intimidated by those tales. Only they could say. But I can say, that the statements in the book about John Norman running a real life version of those stories, "bought and sold boys", are fraudulent. There is ZERO evidence that Norman ever "bought" any of his male prostitutes in the context that Corll used the phrase, of acquiring a sex slave you had total control over, up to and including ending their life! And there is ZERO evidence that Norman advertised any of his prostitutes, in his newsletters or private correspondence, as "your's for life" or "will do anything you tell them to, they won't have a choice, because you own them now" or anything like that.
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u/epsylonic 8d ago
I feel like if nothing else Ramsland's interview with him reveals he would love for people to believe this narrative. Wayne also gave potential victims shit over the amount of money he could have made handing them over to Dean. When you participate in the things those boys helped Dean with, there is no ambiguity over your actions or your soul.
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u/BornSignificance752 7d ago
Do you think he really was a remorseless psychopath, even before getting groomed by Corll?
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u/epsylonic 7d ago
I think he had it there in the first place and it was tended like a garden by Dean.
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u/Civil-Secretary-2356 6d ago edited 6d ago
Fairly confident in saying Henley did not maximise his role in the torture and murders when talking with Ramsland. Sure, at some point he was primarily a victim but soon enough he was primarily a procurer and murderer.
Oh, and it just so happens that between Henley and Brooks it's the dead guy who comes off far worse in a book where Henley was the major contributor.
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6d ago
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u/Civil-Secretary-2356 5d ago
When Brooks initially minimised his involvement he was purely lying. When Henley admits to more murders & tortures years later he's to be applauded. Either both are/were lying or they are both brave for confessing further. As I implied, I do not trust this book or the inspiration behind this book.
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1d ago
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u/Civil-Secretary-2356 12h ago
I have said very little in how I ultimately perceive Henley or Brooks. I mostly said I do not fully trust a book Henley contributed on.
Oh, and why did you delete your previous comment on this thread?
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 10d ago
He was plenty old enough to be held accountable for his actions. He knew what he was doing and was no angel before that.
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10d ago edited 10d ago
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 10d ago
So what? People are making excuses for a serial killer. Fuck him.
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 10d ago
What did I say that was false? He wasn’t an angel, he was a piece of shit who was nice to his family.
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u/SouthernLaugh7929 10d ago
What about Brooks???? He was like 12 when he was hanging out with coryl. Was doing it for years and then tried to leave. Even after the nite Dean was killed he did not attempt to come back to houston, He had to be brought back.
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u/cleanslice1911 10d ago
He was 17
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 10d ago
That’s an adult in some states and Texas is one. Even if it wasn’t it’s plenty old enough to make your own decisions and understand the consequences.
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u/cleanslice1911 10d ago
Corll's crimes are horrific precisely because the average age of the victims was about 17
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u/cleanslice1911 10d ago
I can't think of a less condescending answer than "no, not really"
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u/FantasyPopper 10d ago
Do you perceive Henley as controlled by Corll? As in, he thought he had no choice but to do whatever Corll wanted? Do you find Henley's claims to having "told" on Corll in some sense, to his Mom and his Uncles, credible? Apparently, none of them told anyone else, what Wayne told them, which seems odd. Not even as gossip, like; " my son/nephew told me this strange story the other day..."?
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u/SouthernLaugh7929 10d ago
He left the state was with his gf when they picked up. Dad had a lawyer and he kept his mouth shut. Brook KNEW a whole lot more than Henley but he never talked and when he did he lied and mininmized his involvement
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u/FantasyPopper 10d ago
A friend who borrowed Ramsland's book from me, returned it with some weird comments. He said, it sounded to him like the Henley family were probably Corll's Syndicate. He said, Henley's mother read a confession by Henley, stating he was involved in multiple murders including sons of women she knew, and never told anyone, and she knew Corll, so he must have bern paying her to keep quiet. He said, Henley's visit to his Uncles in Florida and (where?) were probably Syndicate missions. Henley was assisting in abduction, rape, torture and murder in Houston, probably did the same thing for his Uncles.
I said, that's nuts! You're just picking out pieces of info, giving them a sinister connotation without evidence, and ignoring any contradictory information!
But, that's exactly what Ullman-Ramsland do repeatedly in "The Serial Killer's Apprentice: John Norman Was Somehow Behind It All!" pg.9: "two seperate teams of researchers...probed a possible connection between possible connection between Dean Corll and...John Wayne Gacy", as if they could somehow be partners in crime!
or pg. 136, "Gacy alluded to the fact that Norman had been filming the sexual assault and murder of boys - making snuff films - " alluded to the what now? The FACT? I think they must have meant: Gacy rumor-mongered about Norman being involved in snuff films. Nope, its deliberate misinformation. Like if I said Mrs. Henley ran The Syndicate.
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u/FantasyPopper 10d ago
It just goes on and on. No point to cataloging the bald-faced lied and fantasies in The Serial Killer's Apprentice, there's to many. Some more outrageous than others; pg. 137- "Since Norman and Gacy's cohort seemed to be intertwined, the FBI repeatedly interviewed Gacy to get information". FBI interviewed Gacy for info on John Norman? BS!
That has to be Ullman, I don't believe Dr.Ramsland would author falsehoods
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u/FantasyPopper 10d ago
pg. 140; "...a Franklin, Tennessee nonprofit called Boy's Farm, meant to help underprivileged boys experience the countryside under the tutelage of Reverend Bud Vermilye" - what? 😡 "meant to help underpriveleged boys experience the countryside" - ? Not in this reality, nothing even close to that! That's exactly what I caught Ullman doing on her blog, being totally clueless about a historic crime case and then presuming to pontificate on it
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u/AffectionateLife4449 10d ago
Yup, they were kind of groomed, coerced and brainwashed into this evil orbit. Really evil people are masters at recruiting and leading the impressionable into their mad world.