Rural Area Shocked by Graves

by Broaddus (AP)

Residents of this rural community were shocked and sickened by the revelation that mass murderers had used nearby woods to bury at least four of their victims. They were startled into awareness when 17-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley of Houston led officers to three shallow graves no more than two miles from the center of Broaddus, about 150 miles northeast of Houston. Officers recovered four decayed bodies wrapped in plastic and thought to be teenage, boys.

All of the victims were thought to be from Houston. They are part of a gory tally that many mount as high as 30. A crowd of about 40 San Augustine County residents were attracted to the graves last night and were shocked by what they saw. “We moved up here from Houston to get away from this sort of thing and we’ve only been here two months,” Mrs. Gerry Mitchell, said.

We wanted to raise our children in a quiet place and now we find out about this. We’re afraid to go home. It’s a useless, brutal thing.” Other local citizens expressed dismay and disillusionment. This sort of thing just doesn’t go on in Broaddus.” one of them said. Henley told police the secluded graves were chosen because parents of his accomplice in the burial have a lake cabin on nearby Sam Rayburn Reservoir.