Suspect Asks Psychiatric Examination
by Houston (AP)
With authorities continuing the search that has unearthed 23 bodies so far, one of the youths accused in some of the homosexual slayings here goes into court today to ask for a psychiatric examination. Sheriffs from both Chambers and Galveston counties start digging again today along the Gulf of Mexico beach at High Island in the area where two bodies were found Friday. Elmer Wayne Henley, 17, faces his first court appearance. Police say Henley has admitted slaying nine of the young victims. Also today, Houston Police Chief Herman Short is to hold a news conference to answer charges from parents that police should have discovered sooner the series of murders , that stretched over a three-year period.
Henley has been charged with two counts of murder here in the slayings and three counts of murder in San Augustine County in East Texas, where four bodies have been discovered. Another Houston youth, David Owen Brooks, 18, has been charged with one count of murder. He says he witnessed some of the slayings but took no part in them. The body count is just two short of that in California’s Juan Corona mass murder case, the worst in the nation’s history. The search for bodies began Wednesday after Henley told police he had killed 33-year-old Dean Allen Corll, who according to the boys was the instigator of the slayings. Only five of the badly decomposed bodies found in Houston and the other two locations have been identified positively. Medical examiners worked through the weekend trying to identify the others. Henley’s attorney, Charles Melder, said on Sunday that he would ask State District Court Judge George Walker today to set a time and place for Henley to be examined by a psychiatrist of the youth’s choice. “Henley’s defense will be insanity,” Melder said. “Its’ got to be. It’s the only route.”
Melder said he also would ask that the case be tried here in Harris County, not moved elsewhere as is often done in cases that receive massive publicity. “I want a Harris County jury to decide this. I think Harris County jurors are more intelligent and have been around more than some East Texas and West Texas jurors.” After visiting Henley on Sunday, Melder said the youth “needs medical attention badly. He doesn’t foam at the mouth, but you can look at a person and size him up, and the boy’s not all there.” Melder also said he may ask the judge to reduce the $100,000 bond on each murder count that has been set for Henley. And he said he would ask Judge Walker to stop police from taking Henley with them to search for bodies unless his attorney is present.
Henley went with officers to San Augustine County, and both Henley and Brooks helped officers locate the two bodies found at High Island. San Augustine Deputy Sheriff Robert McCroskey said officials there do not plan to do any more digging today in the area where the four bodies were found. “Our sheriff, John Hoyt, is in Houston working with officers down there,” the deputy said. Seventeen bodies were found Wednesday and Thursday in a Houston boat shed rented by Corll.
Officers here say they plan to go back to the shed soon and re-dig the entire 12-by 30-foot dirt floor. Sheriff Lewis Otter of Chambers County said on Sunday that he is confident more bodies will be found in the High Island area. The 1-mile-long strip where Brooks and Henley indicated as many as six bodies may be buried is in both Chambers and Jefferson counties. “There are supposed to be two in one grave that we haven’t found,” said Otter. “There may be four or six bodies left to recover. I know for sure about two in Chambers County.” Sheriff R. E. Culberson of Jefferson County said on Sunday from his Beaumont, Texas home that his men will use heavy equipment today in their search. “It’s strictly going to be by guess,” Culberson said.
“I feel as though Henley and Brooks have told us just about as much as they know about these places.” “We might have to search a greater area than originally planned,” Culberson said. No court appearance has (been scheduled for Brooks, and authorities here said they have not even been notified that Brooks has an attorney. In a statement Friday, Brooks told officers he helped procure victims for Corll, watched as Corll and Henley sexually abused, tortured and killed them but did not take part in the activities. However, on Sunday, Melder said: “Henley told me he saw Brooks kill several people.” He said Henley made the assertion after being told about Brooks’ statement. Because of the condition of the 23 bodies found, medical examiners have had to rely on denial records, clothing and, in a few cases, fingerprints.
