Texas toll 27; largest U.S.

mass murder

HOUSTON P Four more bodies were unearthed yesterday on a sandy beach about 60 miles east of here bringing the toll in the homosexual torture-slayings case to 27, and making it the largest mass murder in American history.

Deputy sheriffs, using a bulldozer to scrape away the sand at High Island, found two victims in the morning and two more in late afternoon. The grisly toll could mount higher as the search continues.

Deputies planned to resume digging this morning on the five-mile-long beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

The number of victims in the Houston case surpassed the previous record, 25 migrant farm workers found slain in California in 1971. Juan Corona has been convicted and imprisoned in that case.

The 26th and 27th bodies were wrapped in plastic, as were many of the other corpses discovered at three locations since last Wednesday. The 27th body was tied with a sash-like cord.

Digging resumed at High Island yesterday morning after a weekend respite. Two bodies were dug up in the same area Friday.

An unidentified man led officers to the 24th body. He told police he recognized Elmer Wayne Henley's picture in a news. paper and remembered helping him remove a car stuck in the sand about eight months ago.

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