april, 2025
Event Details
Some stories feel distant. Others hit close to home. Investigative journalist Lise Olsen uncovers one of Texas’ most chilling true crime cases—the story of Dean Corll, the so-called “Candy Man,” and the teenage boys who vanished from Houston in the early 1970s. While police dismissed them as runaways, their families never stopped wondering. It was only after Corll was killed by an accomplice that the full horror was revealed: mass graves, unimaginable violence, and lives cut short.
For years, many of Corll’s victims remained nameless, buried without identities. Decades later, forensic anthropologist Sharon Derrick discovered a box of unidentified remains marked “1973 Murders” and knew she had to act. Through prison interviews, advanced forensic techniques, and tireless dedication, she gave these young men back their names—and their dignity.
In The Scientist and the Serial Killer, Olsen brings this harrowing history back into focus, not just as a true crime account, but as a story of resilience and justice. What happens when the system fails victims and their families? How do we make sense of past horrors that linger in the present?
Join us for a conversation that delves into the depths of a case many have heard whispers about but few truly understand. A story about Texas, about memory, and about the pursuit of truth—no matter how long it takes.
Lisa Olsen will be in conversation with Steve Monacelli
About the author
Lise Olsen is an investigative reporter and editor and the award-winning author of Code of Silence and The Scientist and the Serial Killer. Her reports have contributed to the prosecutions of a former congressman and a federal judge, inspired laws and reforms, helped solve cold cases and identify murder victims, and freed wrongfully held prisoners. Her writing has appeared in the Texas Observer, NBC News, the Houston Chronicle, Texas Monthly and elsewhere. She is featured in Netflix’s The Texas Killing Fields, Paramount+’s The Pillowcase Murders, CNN’s The Wrong Man, and the A&E series The Eleven. She lives near Houston, Texas, where she and her husband raised two boys of their own.
Steven Monacelli is a freelance investigative journalist in Dallas. His reporting has been featured in the Texas Observer, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, The Real News, Dallas Observer, Dallas Weekly, and more. He is also the publisher of Protean Magazine, a nonprofit literary publication
