TX TX - Unidentified victims of Dean Corll, Houston Serial Killer, 1970-1973

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onceuponadecember said:
I think I have a possible ID for the suspected Corll UID victim at Jefferson Beach:
Norman Lamar Prater
Original

Born: June 6, 1956
Disappeared: January 14, 1973

Norman might've been with Joseph Lyles, as that is where Joseph was killed (Jefferson Beach). Dallas and Jefferson Co. are about 3 1/2 hours apart by car. The UID was 13-20 and Norman was 16.

Do y'all think this match might be worth submitting?

UID NamUs: Unidentified Person Case (namus.gov)
Norman's NamUs: Missing Person Case (namus.gov)
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Yes, it is definitely worth it to submit Norman for this case. However, I am not sure he was killed with Lyles, who was apparently killed by Dean alone around February 1 of that year. He would have been kept alive for at least 18 days or so for that to be the case. He might have been buried close to Joseph and just never found though.
 
There are pictures on the special that they assume are the “swimsuit boy” when he was alive, found in the stash left behind. I don’t know why those were not included in NamUs as a just in case... he has a very... hollowed out look. Most of the boys were from Houston but he could have been from outside the area...
 
Panhypopit said:
There are pictures on the special that they assume are the “swimsuit boy” when he was alive, found in the stash left behind. I don’t know why those were not included in NamUs as a just in case... he has a very... hollowed out look. Most of the boys were from Houston but he could have been from outside the area...
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I think it is SB because of the jacket and pants.
 
Hi All, I was noticing a lot of talk about Billy Ridinger. I didn't read every single post on here but scanned most of them. I did not see anyone mention that the Ridinger family knew the Corlls for many years going back to the early 1960s. They were family friends. In the Pasadena police reports Billy and his mother gave an interview to the police and told all about how they knew Dean. Billy of course lied and said he had not seen Dean in some time even though according to Henley he was at the Pasadena house before the final murders. I find it surprising that even after being raped by Dean (Brooks gives this info in his full statement) he continued to visit Dean. Though if Billy had been molested by Dean as a child or even early teen that would help explain his behavoir. The Houston PD have a report which states that Billy was asked to give another interview after they read Brook's statement that Billy had been raped by Dean. Unfortunately I have not found a copy of his second interview. I just have the HPD report stating he gave one. It says its attached but also not in the docs.
 
Regarding Bobby French, has anyone found any information on who he is, family members, missing child report? I only see his name and a photo. Where did the photo come from? Was it at Dean's house? Was it given to the police?
 
Jimmyp said:
Regarding Bobby French, has anyone found any information on who he is, family members, missing child report? I only see his name and a photo. Where did the photo come from? Was it at Dean's house? Was it given to the police?
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The only time I saw French's photo was from what I believe was a YouTube video that mentioned French's photo being in Corll's possession, but I am very skeptical that was true.
 
If he was hitchhiking from Missouri to California he could have run into Dean in East Texas when he was going to or from the Lake Sam Rayburn property. Could be buried out there. One of the many Henley and Brooks didn't know about. Poor guy.
 
I find it really odd that Corll suddenly started killing in September 1970 and then at fairly regular intervals. Is there anything that gives credence to him doing this between him leaving the army in 1965 and September 1970?
I’ve read that he was seen digging, burying ‘spoiled candy’ around 1967?

it’s just odd to go from a supposed nothing to full on murdering like a flick of a switch.

I think Corll’s dark history goes back much further.
 
SirTwangalot said:
I find it really odd that Corll suddenly started killing in September 1970 and then at fairly regular intervals. Is there anything that gives credence to him doing this between him leaving the army in 1965 and September 1970?
I’ve read that he was seen digging, burying ‘spoiled candy’ around 1967?

it’s just odd to go from a supposed nothing to full on murdering like a flick of a switch.

I think Corll’s dark history goes back much further.
Click to expand...

Its been a while since I read Jack Olsen's "The Man With the Candy" but I believe Olsen noted that Dean was around 27 when he was first observed digging in his "pouting room" behind the candy factory, in the areas he later covered with concrete. So around 67-68, two or three years before Brooks walked in on him. His cadence escalated over time, given his early activites, his documented history with Brooks and Henley, and "the ones he got on his own" after Brooks came into the picture and I would speculate his true death toll was in the low to mid forties.
 
Marysel said:
Hello everyone. I recently found out about this forum that there are still people here who are ready to spend their time analyzing this mysterious case. So I wanted to ask you about this article: https://archive.md/20120723181807/h...remains-20-years-later-memories-of-dean.html/
I found a link to this article on the Dean Corll wikipedia page. It has some extremely entertaining testimonies from Sister of Willard K. "Rusty" Branch about the way the parties were held. And I have never seen anyone discuss it or cite it as an example in disputes on reddit or on another page
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I've had this article for years. I finally found a version that has actual clear pictures of Susan McLemore, Rusty Branch, and Connie Cobble Shultz in it. I found McLemore's recollections creepy and disturbing. I had always wanted to hear more details about Dean's parties but found some of what she said hard to believe. For instance, is a group of teenage males going to be sitting nude under a table nude? And the teenagers attending his parties wouldn't be turned off by a thirty something host wandering around nude? And a kid turns blue, is picked up by Dean and taken to a back bedroom and no one says anything about it afterwards?
Did you feel that Susan's descriptions of the parties were believable?
 
AkitasAreLovely said:
Dunno if it's much of an update but the other supposed Corll victim: Jefferson County John Doe (1973)
They finally have an entry there. There's still not much information on this set of bones (the date isn't even correct, since they were supposedly found at High Island beach and that area wasn't searched til August 13), so it was probably a file with little information anyway. Hopefully DNA can provide us with this young boy's identity soon.
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crimsonnate said:
Billy Ridinger

Even searching Websleuths only gives 4 results but to me he has always been the most interesting part of the case.

I believe I found him but I don’t know the rules about posting stuff like that.

57477E2D-90B1-1C17-D1BE960A7BBA0E3A.jpg

pretty sure that’s his HS pic.

Also, this quote: “Main witness, believed to be Billy Ridinger, escaped death with David Brooks' help. Houston DA Carol Vance refuses comment on main witness” [Texas Mass Murders / Indictments | Vanderbilt Television News Archive] is one more of the long list of abrupt and odd stoppages of info every time his name comes up.

I talked to Rhonda via YouTube messenger several years ago. Even she didn’t have anything to say about him and we know she loves talking about the case. She stopped responding once I brought his name up.

I’ve spent countless hours on this case. And the Ridinger situation is why. The pedophile ring is crazy but Billy could have saved a dozen lives after he was released. Why is there such secrecy around him?
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A72CD50C-8A1E-4A31-A645-C5AC8B036C0F.jpeg
Billy wore a paper bag over his head at all times while in court to conceal his identity.

@Ontheriver Good find, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of Billy.

Has anyone read the rumors from a few of the players about other Dean “procurers?” In particular one who ended up dead and one who wasn’t killed?

The Candy Man
 
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