Despite an alleged verbal confession, a conviction could not be secured without additional evidence. Most of the victims were aged between 12 and 25 years. [5][6][7] Filming began on May 3, 2010,[5] in Louisiana, United States. He was the Miller family's neighbor but has denied any involvement in Laura Miller's death. Though the swampland crime scenes are outside their jurisdiction, Detective Heigh is unable to turn his back on solving the gruesome murders. 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. She had an aptitude for music, but then she started having seizures, which impacted life as she knew it. The DNA matched Smith, who had been arrested for a minor drug offense in 2010. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! People pass away. The fourth was a young mother. Galvestone County Sheriff's Office/texasequusearch. King and Zwarst were questioned about their involvement in other killings in the 1980s, but both denied having any involvement. [83] It was rated as the top docuseries on Netflix, with 23,880,000 total hours viewed,[84][85] and received positive reviews.[86]. Director Ami Canaan Mann Writer Don Ferrarone Stars Sam 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. One was a 30-year-old mechanic. They never found or heard from their daughter again. [2] They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. It would take decades to identify the final two victims, until a breakthrough came in January 2019. Updated: 12:03 PM CST February 16, 2016. In 2013, convicted kidnapper Mark Roland Stalling confessed behind bars he had killed a young girl in 1991 and had dumped her body in the Texas fields. He planned to drive her to the hospital but feared that he would be suspected of murder and instead left her body behind, in the open. Smith admitted to abducting and killing Baker, then leaving her remains beneath a bridge. Texas Monthly reporter Skip Hollandsworth says thatmany police detectives and FBI agents are convinced that this is the personal graveyard of a vicious serial killer. FBI agents and forensic accountants found the leader of an Oregon foster care agency stole nearly $1 million while employees went without pay and children without basic necessities. He was sentenced to life in prison. Fye's father spent the rest of his life searching for answers, ultimately dying before he could ever get one. ", RELATED:EquuSearch Founder Awarded $24 Million In Teen Daughters 1984 Abduction, Murder. Members of the community have left a memorial site for each of the four victims, though, to acknowledge the horrors that happened there and honor the women whose lives were cut too short, according to the FBI. But the years went by without word from Donna. After this revelation, Reece confessed to killing Jessica Lee Cain and Kelli Ann Cox, leading the investigators to the bodies' burial sites. Director Ami Canaan Mann Writer Don Ferrarone Stars Sam Bordering the Calder oil field and League City, the location is relatively remote and was even more so back in the 1970s. Get FBI email alerts The site has also increased in notoriety and today has the attention of law enforcement, people interested in true crime cases, and those who visit a memorial in the fields dedicated to some of the victims. He saw the same anguish in her eyes that he felt when Laura was missing. 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. Location in Texas which is the scene of 30+ murders, mostly unsolved, "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (, Murders of Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw Michael Lloyd Self, List of fugitives from justice who disappeared, List of serial killers in the United States, "The Killing Fields: Decades Later, Investigators Still Searching for Answers in Murders of Four Women", "The real-life mystery of Texas' killing fields", https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3FZ-4BP, "True crime podcast 'What About Holly?' Nevertheless, on September 18, 1974, Self was convicted of killing Shaw and received a life imprisonment term, despite the fact that his confessions showed great discrepancies concerning the victims' clothing, the date of the murders, the locations of the bodies, how they were killed, and various other details. In May 1997, he was arrested for the kidnapping and attempted murder of 19-year-old Sandra Sepo and received a 60-year sentence. Later that year, Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson, who spent time in the same places as Shaw and Johnson, also disappeared. There have been several other arrests in relation to the Texas Killing Fields. Donna kept in touch with her family, and Gonsoulin-Hastings thought her sister seemed happy. Cook was a 30-year-old mechanic who had moved to Houston for work and, according to ABC13, last contacted her family in 1985. For me, I just cant get into the justice part of it, because for me, its about healing our family, she said. If you have any information on these cases, visit tips.fbi.gov or call your local FBI field office. Its hard to remember significant details from that long ago.. Booking photo of Clyde Hedrick and a portrait of Laura Miller. 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. They were all young women, left naked against a tree with their arms folded, according to a 1999 Texas Monthly article. "[9] Metacritic gave the film a rating of 49/100, based on 17 reviews. The fire in Castro Countyspread quickly through holding pens where the cows were trapped. WebThe Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre patch of land in League City, Texas [1] situated a mile from Interstate Highway 45 and approximately 26 miles southeast of Houston. Advancements in fingerprint technology helped the FBI and state law enforcement partners find and bring to justice a man who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a young girl in Pennsylvania two decades ago. In that rural field off Calder Road, four people were found dead from 1983 to 1991. As recently as 2018, Hedrick wrote to U.K. newspaper The Guardian maintaining he did not kill anyone. After a long search, they were able to find the rest of Fye's body in the field. That September, Laura's mother drove her to a payphone so Laura could make a call to her boyfriend. In retaliation, Edward killed him and fled, but was subsequently apprehended by police. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The women seemingly had little in common. ", In that rural field off Calder Road, four people were found dead from 1983 to 1991. However, in 2014, her death was ruled as a homicide, and Hedrick was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Speaking afterwards, Tim Miller told the KPRC 2 News: "I filed the wrongful death suit to let Clyde Hedrick know that, 'Clyde, I'm still here, I am still here, and I'm not going to quit until the day I die. [61] Despite this, Bell was never charged with these murders, since no evidence, biological or otherwise, incriminated him. 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. More than a year later, her body was found in the same patch of land near Calder Road in League City (known as The Texas Killing Fields) as 23-year-old Heidi Fye, who had vanished in 1983. [78] A jury deliberated for about 30 minutes and found Smith guilty. WebThe Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre patch of land in League City, Texas [1] situated a mile from Interstate Highway 45 and approximately 26 miles southeast of Houston. It soon became apparent that the young girl was missing perhaps in a car that Colette's mother had seen on her way to pick up her daughter. Both men were asked to indicate the whereabouts of Sikes' body in exchange for avoiding life sentences, but their directions failed to uncover it. After some roadblocks, she ultimately brought her children to live with her mother. It later came out that Self's confession was obtained through coercion. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. But after that relationship ended, Donna fell on hard times. One was just a teenager. Yes, there have been multiple arrests in the numerous murders that have been associated with the Texas Killing Fields. Initially, investigators wrote her off as a runaway, despite the fact that she needed medication for epilepsy which had been left at home. Gfeller said malfunctioning farm equipment may have caused the explosion. A man named Kevin Edison Smith was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for murdering a 13-year-old girl named Krystal Jean Baker in 1996, according to The Houston Chronicle. As for Rennison, these are the only cold cases hes worked that remain unsolved. Smith was linked to the murder years later through DNA evidence. 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. Abel, whom Miller described as a "strange character," maintained his innocence, and no evidence directly connecting him with the murders was ever uncovered. In the following months, he retracted his confession, claiming that he had been tortured into confessing, with the interrogators suffocating with a plastic bag, burning him with cigarette butts and a radiator, as well as being assaulted by the police chief, Don Morris. No law enforcement officer would ever carry a rifle in this configuration as it makes the gun almost impossible to aim. But if you yelled, no one would necessarily hear you. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields shared the deadly history linked to the Great Houston area, but there are many things the show left out. Some remains were quickly identified, while others languished for decades without a name to link them to a past and a family that was surely looking for them. A local church owns the land, and church and community members have created a peaceful memorial to the four women. Vous pouvez modifier vos choix tout moment en cliquant sur le lien Tableau de bord sur la vie prive prsent sur nos sites et dans nos applications. Since the early 1970s, the remains of 30 people have been recovered from the Texas Killing Fields, mainly women and girls, according to Bustle. 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. Hedrick allegedly made a jailhouse confession to murdering Laura Miller and Heidi Fye. In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective teams up with a cop from New York City to investigate a series of unsolved murders. He pleaded guilty and received a life sentence. Web1. Janet Doe, who was found in 1991, was identified as Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme. Texas Killing Fields 2011 R 1h 45m IMDb RATING 5.7 /10 21K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 2:14 11 Videos 28 Photos Crime Drama History In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective teams up with a cop from New York City to investigate a series of unsolved murders. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! They were convicted of aggravated kidnap and were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998. The area around the fields has developed considerably since the 1980s and 1990s. Authorities also questioned Smith about other unsolved murder cases related to the Texas Killing Fields. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields shared the deadly history linked to the Great Houston area, but there are many things the show left out. There has been little evidence to go on, and nothing to connect the four victims. As heard in Texas Killing Fields, Hedrick was the last person to be seen with Beason. Hedrick also has been charged with enticing a child, aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault, criminal trespassing, terroristic threat, attempted arson, theft, possession of marijuana and driving while intoxicated. The disturbing unsolved crimes are the focus of the new Netflix limited series "Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields. She had a pretty tough life, but she loved her children so much, and, you know, we all just do the best we can with what we have, sister Dianne Gonsoulin-Hastings told the FBI. See production, box office & company info, Jeff Foxworthy & Larry the Cable Guy: We've Been Thinking, Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #2.14. [70] Hedrick was released from jail in 2021 after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of Ellen Beason in 1984. Rennison and local police need to talk to anyone who can provide additional information. According to theGuardian, Tim Miller, the father of victim Laura Miller, was so convinced that Abel was his daughter's killer that he stalked Abel and even reportedly held a gun to the engineer's head in an effort to get him to confess. Debbie Ackerman And Maria Johnson. Details as simple as where the women worked or the names of friends who havent been interviewed could be key to solving these murders. Hedrick was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was released from Estelle Supermax Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas in October 2021. She struggled with depression and started doing poorly in school, the FBI wrote in a 2019 article on the case. Were changing the name of that place from the Killing Fields to the Healing Fields, Miller said. At the time, police considered her a runaway and assured the Millers she would call home. Culture of Suspicion 51m The case of a missing 12-year-old gets media attention, while more bodies turn up. Baker's killer was finally identified when clothing recovered from the crime scene was tested for DNA evidence. At first, most of the girls were assumed to be runaways, and their stories were little impediment to others spending a summer on the beach. Located near Galveston, the Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre stretch of land only a mile from Interstate 45. [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. Speaking in the documentary, Tim Miller recalls moments when his teenage daughter would say she was "scared" of Hedrick. 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