The horrific crimes of Killer Clown and the Candy Man – and why ‘nobody cared’ about many victims
They are two of the most notorious serial killers in US history after murdering more than 60 young men and boys between them.
The horrific crimes of Dean Corll and John Wayne Gacy shocked America in the 1970s – but how closely they were linked has only recently been discovered.
Corll tortured, raped and murdered at least 28 victims in Texas after luring them to his home with the help of two teenagers.
The Clown And The Candyman documentary investigates the killers’ links to a wider conspiracy. Pic: Cineflix
The 33-year-old was dubbed the Candy Man because he gave children free sweets from his family’s confectionery business.
His brutal killings – known as the Houston Mass Murders – were only uncovered when he was shot dead by his accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley in 1973.
A year earlier, more than 1,000 miles away, Gacy had murdered his first known victim.
The builder from a suburb of Chicago lured victims to his home by pretending to be a police officer or by promising them work.
He became known as the Killer Clown after performing as Pogo the clown at fundraising events and hospitals throughout the years of his murders.
Police mugshots of Gacy. Pic: Cineflix
Gacy as Pogo the clown. Pic: Cineflix
Gacy was later convicted of killing 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 and was executed in 1994.
Now, a documentary, The Clown And The Candyman, has examined the two killers’ connection to a wider criminal conspiracy.
The four-part series identifies “a link” between the murderers and a network of paedophiles operating in the US at the time, according to its director.
And documentary maker Jacqueline Bynon believes there is “no question” there are more victims of the pair who are yet to be discovered.
She tells Sky News that Corll and Gacy are the most shocking serial killers in US history “because they operated for so long in big cities in plain sight and nobody noticed”.
Corll murdered at least 28 young men and boys. Pic: AP/Houston Chronicle
Many of their victims – who were all boys and young men – would go missing and “nobody cared”.
“The interesting thing looking back from our perspective today is nobody cared about boys then,” Bynon says.
“They called them runaways. They didn’t matter.
“In one high school in one little area, 11 boys were missing and nobody noticed.
“Remember in the early 70s, it was just after Easy Rider; doing your own thing; marijuana – the counter-culture was there. Boys were doing that. And some of them were going to the Vietnam War and not coming back.
Sheriff deputies display Corll’s torture board. Pic: AP
“So when the seats were empty in the classroom, nobody noticed.
“If they had been girls, as one cop said to me, this would have been different.
“If a girl had gone missing, they would have put a lot of time into it.”
After shooting dead Corll in 1973, Henley and fellow accomplice David Owen Brooks confessed to helping the serial killer commit his crimes.
Seventeen bodies were found in a boat shed, four were discovered in woodland by a lake, and the other seven known victims were buried at beaches.
Workers search for more bodies of Corll’s victims. Pic: AP
Bynon visited the Texas cities of Pasadena and Houston where Corll carried out his killings and she says the impact is still being felt.
“For some people, it was like the murders occurred two weeks ago,” she tells Sky News.
“They were still raw over it. They are still almost haunted by it.”
Both of Corll’s accomplices received life prison sentences, with Brooks reportedly dying with COVID last year while still behind bars.
Henley – now aged 65 – remains in prison and Bynon spoke to him several times about doing an interview for the documentary.
Corll’s accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley. Pic: Cineflix
“The problem was COVID hit,” she says.
“Unlike most lifers, he liked being communicated to by journalists. But he always wanted something.
“He was friendly but he was also cautious. When I asked him about certain things, he would go: ‘I don’t know anything about’.
“That’s the one thing I regret – that I never got to sit opposite him… he may have opened up.”
The crawl space inside Gacy’s home. Pic: Cineflix
Gacy claimed all of his killings were committed inside his house in Chicago. Twenty-six bodies were found in his crawl space, three others were buried elsewhere at his property and four victims were dumped in a river.
Eight of his victims were buried without being identified – six still haven’t been named.
After being convicted of 33 murders – then the most homicides by one person in US legal history – Gacy was sentenced to death in 1980, but it would be another 14 years until he was executed by lethal injection.
“His final words when he was executed were: ‘Kiss my ass,'” says Bynon.
Gacy was sentenced to death for his crimes. Pic: AP
The filmmaker says she was given recordings of conversations Gacy had during his time in prison – which feature in the documentary – with a man called Randy White who was “fascinated by serial killers”.
White recorded his talks with Gacy over two years and spoke to the murderer the day before he was executed.
Police recover bodies from Gacy’s home. Pic: AP
Bynon believes some people’s fear of clowns originates from the Gacy case.
“They’re supposed to make you laugh but that’s the way he lured people in,” she says.
“He did it with innocence to cover up.”
The Clown And The Candyman begins airing on Sky Crime at 9pm on Sunday.
Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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Has Charlie Kirk become a MAGA ‘martyr’?
And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
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Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
ChatGPT will soon write erotica for verified adults, according to OpenAI’s chief executive, as well as becoming more “human-like”.
As part of the company’s policy to “treat adult users like adults”, the chatbot will be able to create sexual content once age verification is fully rolled out across the tool.
“In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our ‘treat adult users like adults’ principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults,” said Sam Altman in a post on X.
The announcement wasn’t popular with everyone.
One X user asked Mr Altman: “Why do age-gates always have to lead to erotica? Like, I just want to be able to be treated like an adult and not a toddler, that doesn’t mean I want perv-mode activated.”
“You won’t get it unless you ask for it,” he responded.
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New ‘AI you can trust’
According to the announcement, ChatGPT had become more restrictive and “less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems” while the company tackled problems concerning the chatbot and vulnerable users.
“We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues,” Mr Altman said. “Given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.”
In August, the family of teenager Adam Raine began suing OpenAI over his death. It was the first time the company had faced a wrongful death lawsuit.
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Parents suing OpenAI after death of son
Adam’s parents accused Sam Altman of putting profit over safety after ChatGPT instructed their son on how to end his life, and even offered to write a suicide note for him.
At the time, OpenAI told Sky News it learned its safeguards “can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade” and said it would continually improve those safeguards.
“Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases,” said Mr Altman on Tuesday evening.
“In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!).”
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The latest ChatGPT model, 5o, has faced criticism by users for being less playful and creative than the previous model.
Now, OpenAI will allow 5o to “respond in a very human-like way and “use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend” if users want that option.
Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI. File pic: AP
In response to Mr Altman’s post, one X user said: “About time… ChatGPT used to feel like a person you could actually talk to, then it turned into a compliance bot.
“If it can be made fun again without losing the guardrails, that’s a huge win. People don’t want chaos, just authenticity.”
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Mr Altman responded: “For sure; we want that too.
“Almost all users can use ChatGPT however they’d like without negative effects; for a very small percentage of users in mentally fragile states there can be serious problems.
“0.1% of a billion users is still a million people.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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