A retired NASA engineer named Robert Abel was suspected of being one such killer, but few seem to agree on whether Abel was responsible for any of the Texas Killing Field murders. Far south in Texas, near the bay city of Galveston and with the Gulf of Mexico just beyond, is a stretch of land that's gained a fearsome reputation. 2. They were all young women, left naked against a tree with their arms folded, according to a 1999 Texas Monthly article. Authorities also questioned Smith about other unsolved murder cases related to the Texas Killing Fields. They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. While leads have dwindled over the years, science and technology have advanced. Abel, whom Miller described as a "strange character," maintained his innocence, and no evidence directly connecting him with the murders was ever uncovered. He stated that he did not remember the names of most of his victims, but confidently stated that he had killed Debbie Ackerman, Maria Johnson, Colette Wilson and Kimberly Pitchford, as well as two other then-unnamed girls whom he had abducted from Webster in August 1971, later identified as Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw. [79], A film adaptation of the deadly events that occurred along the Interstate Highway 45 highway was released on September 9, 2011, with the title Texas Killing Fields. HOUSTON A Texas prisoner has admitted he killed one of the young women whose body was dumped in the so-called "Killing Fields" of League City. WebTexas Killing Fields (also known as The Fields) is a 2011 American crime film directed by Ami Canaan Mann and starring Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain and Chlo Grace Moretz. Mere minutes passed between when Colette was dropped off and when her mom arrived to find a deserted intersection. As heard in Texas Killing Fields, Hedrick was the last person to be seen with Beason. According to CBS News, the isolated nature of the spot makes it the perfect place for taking someone else's life, unseen and unheard. HOUSTON A Texas prisoner has admitted he killed one of the young women whose body was dumped in the so-called "Killing Fields" of League City. Newsweek has everything you need to know. Gonsoulin-Hastings mailed the birth certificate to Donnas home in Clear Lake and never heard from her sister again. Today, it has a paved access road and a housing development has even sprung up nearby, increasing the number of potential witnesses to any crimes committed here. For Rennison, the cases are personal. People pass away. afficher des publicits et des contenus personnaliss en fonction de vos profils de centres dintrt; mesurer lefficacit des publicits et contenus personnaliss; et. The film focuses on the lead police detectives, Captain Brian Goetschius and Mike Land, who dedicated their careers to solving the mysteries of Interstate Highway 45. McCarthy used his speech in NYC to slam President Joe Biden for doing "nothing" to address the nation's financial crisis. He was convicted of Dickens' murder and was sentenced to 70 years in prison. 18,000 cows killed in explosion, fire at Texas dairy farm may be largest cattle killing ever, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. After this revelation, Reece confessed to killing Jessica Lee Cain and Kelli Ann Cox, leading the investigators to the bodies' burial sites. Rennison later joined the FBI and became the case agent for these killings in 2005. WebTexas Killing Fields (also known as The Fields) is a 2011 American crime film directed by Ami Canaan Mann and starring Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain and Chlo Grace Moretz. Tim Miller, the father of Laura Miller, said he saw the film for what the filmmakers intended to raise awareness about the crimes and to generate new tips. No one ever saw her again. Laura was kidnapped, murdered, and found back in 1986, 17 months after she went missing in the area off I-45 in League City known as the "Texas Killing Fields." Her older son was paralyzed in a serious car accident and asked his aunt about his mother every time he saw her. Her body was ultimately discovered under an interstate bridge. But in 1986, her body was found in the same field Fye's had been located. In that rural field off Calder Road, four people were found dead from 1983 to 1991. It was linked to Robert E. Lee High School in nearby Houston, with the year 1975 inscribed on the ring. [2] The monkier is chilling enough, but once you delve into the Texas Killing Fields murderous history, its easy to fall down a true-crime rabbit hole. Years after finding the four bodies in that field near Calder Roadpart of an area that became known as the Killing Fieldsinvestigators are still trying to find the murderer(s). One man has received plenty of attention for his possible link to multiple crimes in the area, as Houston Public Media reports. She was a mother of two who had left her husband after he allegedly became abusive, said her sister. It may be labeled a cold case, but that doesnt mean its sitting on a shelf and isnt being worked, said Special Agent Richard Rennison in the article from the FBI. [10], Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun Times gave the film two out of four stars and said, "Texas Killing Fields begins along the lines of a police procedural and might have been perfectly absorbing if it had played by the rules: strict logic, attention to detail, reference to technical police work. Cook had worked as a mechanic and lived in the Houston, Channelview, and Heights areas of Texas. More remains, of women both known and unidentified, would be discovered in the same fields. One of the first known victims found in the Texas Killing Fields was Colette Wilson, a 13-year-old girl who was abducted from an intersection in Alvin, Texas. Debbie Ackerman And Maria Johnson. Lorsque vous utilisez nos sites et applications, nous utilisons des, authentifier les utilisateurs, appliquer des mesures de scurit, empcher les spams et les abus; et. While the League City Police Department remains the lead agency, the FBI has brought significant resources to the cases. Yet, beginning in the early 1970s, this place was the site of multiple disappearances and murders, mainly of girls and young women. William Lewis Reece has been convicted of committing murders in the Texas Killing Fields area, but Tim Miller suspects that Clyde Hedrick took his daughter's life. Cook was a 30-year-old mechanic who had moved to Houston for work and, according to ABC13, last contacted her family in 1985. The Guardian reports that Texas EquuSearch has helped to find over 400 living people since it was founded in 2000. Directed by Jessica Dimmock and executively produced by Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger, the third installment in the Crime Scene series explores the unsolved murders of four young women and a father's fight to find his daughter's killer. The 25-acre patch of land in League City along Interstate Highway 45, is known as The Texas Killing Fields. On Monday, members of the House Judiciary Committee met in New York for a hearing on violent crime in the city. Texas Killing Fields (also known as The Fields) is a 2011 American crime film directed by Ami Canaan Mann and starring Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain and Chlo Grace Moretz. DNA may have provided some insights, but it was impossible to recover it from some of the evidence, which had been collected decades ago. There are no known witnesses to any of the killings, and no common person connects all four. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 37% based on 46 reviews, with a consensus that read: "Texas Killing Fields is a competent boilerplate crime thriller, brewing up characters and plots used in better films. They never found or heard from their daughter again. He saw the same anguish in her eyes that he felt when Laura was missing. His arrest and conviction for murder came 16 years after Baker's body was found in March 1996. At about the same time, a detective tested Baker's dress for DNA. To date, the signs point to one killer, although multiple killers cant be ruled out. Theres not a trace, and he said you have two choicesyou can believe shes no longer with us or that she started a new, good life, Gonsoulin-Hastings said. Roadway Killers Are Still Active In United States Today. Located near Galveston, the Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre stretch of land only a mile from Interstate 45. Even when he was on his deathbed, her sister Josie Poarch told Texas Monthly, he brought the family together and made us promise that we would never give up the search for her killer.. Debbie Ackerman And Maria Johnson. Web1. Dianne Gonsoulin-Hastings, sister of murder victim Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme. He confessed after hours of interrogation, but later retracted his confession, alleging he had been tortured into admitting to the murders by the police chief. The Texas Killing Fields is a stretch of abandoned land just off the interstate road the I-45 between Houston and Galveston in Texas. FBI Seeking Clues in Texas 'Killing Fields' Murders, FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice, Born November 25, 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, Believed to be around age 30 at time of death, Lived in the Houston/Channelview/Heights areas of Texas in the years leading up to her death. More importantly, the work of identifying victims and apprehending the killers continues to this day. Earlier this year, Gonsoulin-Hastings received an unexpected phone callher sisters remains had been identified. [81][82] Janet Miller, mother of victim Laura Miller, said in an interview with the Dallas Morning News that she was angry at first about the film, stating "I was upset because no one notified me. William Lewis Reece is the only suspect to be convicted of more than one murder linked to the Texas Killing Fields. A local church owns the land, and church and community members have created a peaceful memorial to the four women. In an interview with CBS News for 48 Hours, actor Sam Worthington said, "People you never know might just go and see the movie and go, 'Oh, I remember when someone went down in the fields, and I remember a certain car and a certain person seemed a bit dodgy.' Detective Mike Souder's AR-15 does not have a rear sight. These days, the field, now owned by a local church, is no longer as remote as it once was: It's across from a housing development and has a paved road. The Calder Road Fields prompted tragedy-stricken father Tim Miller to found the Texas EquuSearch in memory of his daughter Laura Miller, who went missing at the age of 16 in 1984. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Smith was identified as the killer when an officer submitted Baker's dress for DNA analysis. The show primarily focused on four victims who were found in the Calder Road Oil Field, as well as three potential suspects in those cases. Already serving time for the attempted murder and kidnapping of Sepo, Reece was convicted of Johnston's murder and sentenced to death. Donna kept in touch with her family, and Gonsoulin-Hastings thought her sister seemed happy. Bell died in 2019, leaving behind little real evidence for authorities to confirm his story. . As the decades pass, advances in technology are helping to reveal the identities of remains found in the Texas Killing Fields. In 1971, these two reportedly outdoorsy gals disappeared while hitchhiking, only to have their bodies discovered in the killing fields. The movie tells the story of two police detectives frantically working to save a young girl, but the real story of this area in south Texas is far more dark and complicated. WebKevin Edison Smith is the only other killer who has been caught and given a murder conviction in the Texas Killing Fields, for strangling 13-year-old Krystal Jean Baker in 1996. After their phone call, Laura Miller had intended to walk home but she never returned. Sharon Shaw and Rhonda Renee Johnson were among the four "surfer girls," as theHouston Chroniclecalls them, who disappeared that summer. Gonsoulin-Hastings and her family made numerous attempts to find Donna throughout the years she was missing, through letters and reaching out to her friends. What Are The Texas Killing Fields? WebCrime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields TV Mini Series 2022 TV-MA 2h 29m IMDb RATING 6.6 /10 3.4K YOUR RATING Rate POPULARITY 4,250 852 Play trailer 1:41 2 Videos 26 Photos Documentary Crime History An overgrown field and a stretch of highway connect a series of grisly murders spanning several decades as grieving families search for King died from natural causes behind bars in October 2015,[76] while Zwarst died in prison in November of 2020. Since the early 1970s, 33 bodies of murder victims have been found along the I-45 area. Most of the victims were aged between 12 and 25 years. When familiar local girl Anne goes missing, the detectives find themselves racing against time to catch the killer and save the young girl's life. One was just a teenager. Hes from the area and started his career with the League City Police Department in 1993, not long after the fourth body was found. The FBI explains that this is likely because the area has become more developed and populated since the 1990s. All four deaths had one thing in common, they were discovered alongside the interstate corridor connecting Houston and the beach town of Galveston, known as The Texas Killing Fields. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields is the latest true-crime documentary to land on Netflix, joining a host of content such as Unsolved Mysteries, Killer Sally and I Am Vanessa Guillen. For multiple decades on a desolate stretch of road in Texas, a nightmare unfolded. Its important for the public to know that we have not given up. Despite an alleged verbal confession, a conviction could not be secured without additional evidence. All four deaths had one thing in common, they were discovered alongside the interstate corridor connecting Houston and the beach town of Galveston, known as The Texas Killing Fields. Haunting details link some of the murders, including the arrangement of victims' remains beneath trees in the fields, with some investigators going so far as to suggest that they formed a kind of walking trail used by a single killer to linger over the remains. Web1. They were all young women, left naked against a tree with their arms folded, according to a 1999 Texas Monthly article. No Thanks Laura said she would walk back home after the call but never reappeared at the Miller house. Her sons grew up, missing their mother. He remained a prime suspect until his death in April 2019. In 1987, John Robert King, 30, contacted the El Paso police, where he confessed to killing 19-year-old Shelley Sikes while she was in her car. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields is streaming on Netflix now. She had been beaten, raped and strangled. At least 18,000 cows were killed in an explosion and fire at a west Texas dairy farm Monday evening, possibly the most cattle killed in a single incident ever in the U.S. One farmworker at the South Fork Dairy Farm near Dimmitt, Texas, was rescued from a structure and taken to a hospital in Lubbock. Suspected serial killer Clyde Edwin Hendrick was brought in for questioning in 1985 in relation to Beason's suspicious death; he admitted that both of them had gone swimming in a nearby lake upon leaving a local bar but he further stated that she had accidentally drowned while in the water. If they cried for help, its unlikely anyone heard. Detectives Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) and Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) are investigating mutilated bodies dumped in a marsh known as the Killing Fields. In September 1984, Laura Miller was a 16-year-old who had recently moved to League City, Texas. Someone would have known those fields were a good place to leave a body, Rennison explained. It later came out that Self's confession was obtained through coercion. During the search for Miller, police made a gruesome discoverya third body. That September, Laura's mother drove her to a payphone so Laura could make a call to her boyfriend. Bell lived on a property near the beach in Galveston, where he was a silent partner of a surf shop. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Jane Doe was finally named as Audrey Lee Cook, a 30-year-old mechanic who worked in various parts of Texas and had last been seen alive in December 1985. An initial Harris County Medical Examiner's office examination estimated that she was between 15 and 19, and a 2007 analysis upgraded her age range to 17 to 21. Was The Colonial Parkway Killer Pretending To Be Law Enforcement? Nevertheless, he remained a prime suspect in their murders until his death in April 2019. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. [67] In 2021, Reece was convicted of Johnston's murder and sentenced to death. The monkier is chilling enough, but once you delve into the Texas Killing Fields murderous history, its easy to fall down a true-crime rabbit hole. She had an aptitude for music, but then she started having seizures, which impacted life as she knew it. 2. People just simply forget. Since the early 1970s, 33 bodies of murder victims have been found along the I-45 area. They would be identified two decades later as Audrey Lee Cook and Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme. Since the early 1970s, dozens of bodies of murder victims have been found along the Interstate Highway 45 area. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. The 25-acre patch of land in League City along Interstate Highway 45, is known as The Texas Killing Fields. Baker's killer was finally identified when clothing recovered from the crime scene was tested for DNA evidence. Cow deaths: 18,000 cows killed in explosion, fire at Texas dairy farm may be largest cattle killing ever. McCarthy used his speech in NYC to slam President Joe Biden for doing "nothing" to address the nation's financial crisis. 42 years later, 'Baby Holly' has been found", "Connecticut Missing Persons Unit makes progress; cases drop from 243 to 166 in 2 years, NamUs says", "Who Killed Texas Couple Dean and Tina Clouseand Where Is Their Baby? Shed gone to a nearby store to use a payphone and never returned. 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