Further reading for Dean Corll:
January, 1997 in a super hipster part of Hollywood CA there was a an actual silent movie theater created for and by movie buffs who wanted that long gone day of silent movie sparkle to live on. The theater was owned by Larry Austin, Larry had started out at the theater as an employee and was mentored by the previous owner John Hampton and his wife Dorothy, the three of them were more then just employers and employee they were friends and spent most of their time and lives preserving silent films.
The theater itself had been opened by Hampton in 1942, they closed the doors in 1979 and John passed in 1990. It was then that Dorothy gave her blessings to Larry to reopen the theater. Larry hires a contractor named James Van Sickle, whom then starts a relationship with Larry as they put their heart into the renovations. Van Sickle stays on as the theater opens and works as the projectionist.
Three nights a week Larry would play the song “Pomp and Circumstance” while parading down the theater aisle and present the himself as the owner of the “worlds only silent movie theater” he would give an introduction of the movie to be watched that night. This happened every time, until one night 30 minutes into the movie gun fire was heard from the concession stand, where Larry and a young employee were working, then they entered the crowded theater clearing a path to the back door.
Larry had been shot dead, and the young employee injured, everyone’s first guess was that it had been a robbery gone bad. But slowly the true story came out, Van Sickle had been the beneficiary in Larry’s will in which he stood to gain not just the theater but more then a million dollar estate.
Sadly, James Van Sickle had hired hitman Christian Rodriquez to murder Larry Austin and make it look like a robbery. Both Van Sickle and Rodriguez were sentenced to life in prison.
Even more sadly, the theater for a short time was turned into an event space and regular movie theater before closing down completely.
And there was a big time heavy hitter.
Dean Corll known as the candy man was a serial killer who took on teenage accomplices, he murdered at least 28 teenage boys between 1970 and 1973 in Houston, Texas. He was found out after he was shot to death by one of his accomplices, its a crazy wild story that must be read.
Episode 89
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