Director of Houston Serial Killer Drama Uncovers Shocking New Evidence

This is really quite remarkable. In the process of researching his drama based on the ghastly 1970-1973 acts of Houston serial killer Dean Corll, writer-director Josh Vargas pinpointed what appears to be a heretofore unknown additional victim.

Per a recent Houston Press item by a writer who bylines himself as Jef With One F, Vargas has been working in tandem with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences to try and get the public to help identify the young boy shown in the picture. The killer, together with accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, sadistically kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed more than two dozen young boys. So how exactly did Vargas obtain this new evidence? From the Houston Press report:

Conversations with Henley at the Mark W. Michael Unit in Anderson County led Vargas to seek out Henley's mother, who gave him permission to examine and use Henley's personal effects for the film. She had boxed and sealed all his possessions and left them in an abandoned school bus.

In February of this year Vargas rummaged through the boxes, securing clothes for costumes, posters for set design, and ultimately the never-before-circulated picture... “How do you arrest someone for such a crime without going through the room that he lived and slept in?” said Vargas. “Had they done that, they would have found the picture, rather than my producer and I."

He's right, of course. More to the point, let's hope that in addition to In a Madman's World, music video maker Vargas also considers spinning off a companion doc. Were the two films to be released side by side (end of 2012 is the target for the film), it would make for a truly unique and powerful Texas indie event.

Vargas says he first became aware of the monstrous, 40-year-old killing spree through a best friend related to one of Corll's vicitims. After "The Candy Man" was shot and killed in an argument with his accomplices, Henley and Brooks were sentenced to life and multiple-life, respectively (although Henley is currently up for parole review!). Read the full Houston Press interview with Vargas here. Meanwhile, anyone with information about the boy shown in the photo is encouraged contact the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences at (713) 796-9292.

The story Vargas is retelling, with Joe Grisaffi starring as Corll, will obviously become even more devastating and chilling if the boy depicted is identified and confirmed as Corll's 29th known victim. The lw-budget drama is still in currently production, with wrap penciled for sometime next month.