the culmination to the end is far more interesting.

basically, elmer henley's girlfriend walked in on their crime scene.

dean didn't trust her and wanted to kill, despite only really killing boys. elmer tried to plead with him which indicated to dean that their twisted relationship was no longer the main priority for elmer. so both elmer and his girlfriend were drugged.

elmer woke up to find himself tied down on a board with dean preparing to torture and kill him and his girlfriend. he lied to dean, pretended that his girlfriend was not really the priority and that he was still willing to be an accomplice.

dean believe him and untied him. as he prepared to torture and rape the boy they picked up, elmer shot him multiple times and called the police.

elmer has since been remorseful to this day. reasoning that dean corll had this magical effect on him when he was a boy.

my recollection could be quite off but this is the gist of it. anyone who's curious about the story here's the link to the podcast: https://www.lastpodcastontheleft.com/episodes/2017/12/29/episode-210-dean-corll-part-i-the-pouting-room