Airdate: The Clown & The Candyman

US true crime documentary The Clown & The Candyman screens on Seven from next week.

The 4 part series from Cineflix Productions reinvestigates two of America’s most sinister killers – John Wayne Gacy, the ‘Killer Clown’, and Dean Corll, ‘the Candyman.’

When a Houston man is shot dead by one of his teen accomplices, the depraved world of the murderous Candyman begins to unravel.

In 1973, Houston police unearthed the bodies of 28 boys—all victims of Dean Corll, a sadistic pedophile known as the Candyman. America viewed Corll as an isolated incident but a thousand miles north another killer was abducting young men and burying them in his basement—John Wayne Gacy, a.k.a. the Killer Clown. Still, many believed the two were lone psychopaths. But this series investigates possible links to a nationwide network of pedophiles; uncovers a hidden conspiracy of child killers, and in never-before-heard conversations, offers a glimpse into the twisted world of the Killer Clown.

When 33-year-old Dean Corll is shot dead by one of his teen accomplices, a dark secret world begins to unravel. In all, Houston police uncover the bodies of 28 boys in three mass graves. The gory details of rape and torture shock the nation, as does the backstory of the Candyman’s two teenage henchmen who actively participated in this orgy of murder over three years. Meanwhile, with most of the victims from the same Houston neighborhood, angry parents blame an unsympathetic police force for failing to notice an obvious pattern.

Nearly 50 years later, a victim’s brother shares his haunting tale, a Houston man offers a chilling first-hand account of being stalked by the Candyman, and a Texas medical examiner is determined to reveal the identity of the last nameless boy who died at the hands of one of America’s worst serial killers.

8:30pm Thursday 22nd April  (Syd / Bris) 10pm (Melb / Ade / Per) on Seven.