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The Serial Killer's Apprentice by Katherine Ramsland & Tracy Ullman
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The Serial Killer's Apprentice

The True Story of How Houston's Deadliest Murderer Turned a Kid into a Killing Machine

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Narrator Christina Delaine

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Length 10 hours 39 minutes
Language English
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Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. was only fourteen when he first became entangled with serial rapist and murderer Dean Corll in 1971. Fellow Houston, Texas, teenager David Brooks had already been ensnared by the charming older man, bribed with cash to help lure boys to Corll's home. Corll baited Henley with the same deal he'd given Brooks: $200 for each boy they could bring him.

Henley didn't understand the full extent of what he had signed up for at first. But once he started, Corll convinced him that he had crossed the line of no return and had to not only procure boys but help kill them and dispose of the bodies, as well. When Henley first took a life, he felt doomed. By the time he was seventeen, he'd helped with multiple murders and believed he'd be killed, too. But on August 8, 1973, he picked up a gun and shot Corll. When he turned himself in, Henley showed police where he and Brooks had buried Corll's victims in mass graves.

The Serial Killer's Apprentice tells the story of Corll and his accomplices in its fullest form to date. It also explores the concept of "mur-dar" (the predator's instinct for exploitable kids), current neuroscience about adolescent brain vulnerabilities, the role of compartmentalization, the dynamic of a murder apprenticeship, and how tales like Henley's can aid with early intervention.

Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and criminology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. The author of seventy books, she has appeared as an expert on more than 250 crime documentaries, podcasts, and news shows. She was an executive producer of Murder House Flip and Confession of a Serial Killer and consulted for CSI, Bones, and The Alienist.

Tracy Ullman is a documentary producer, director, and writer living in Chicago. She has produced dozens of nonfiction television programs for Discovery Networks, Oxygen, AETN Networks, and PBS. Her most recent production is a six-part limited documentary series about serial murderer John Wayne Gacy and the new discoveries made in his case for NBC's Peacock streaming service.

Christina Delaine is a SOVAS Voice Arts Award and multiple AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator who has recorded over 100 audiobooks. She is also an Audie Award nominee. An accomplished stage and voice actor, Delaine has appeared on stages across the country and has voiced scores of commercials and video games. She has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MFA from Brown University.

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Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks when you make the switch!

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