In April of the next year, a dog dug up Villareal-Fye's bones in the rural oil field and carried her skull to its owner, The Washington Post says. MISSING: 79-year-old man with dementia last seen in NW Harris County, Texas GOP officially censures Rep. Tony Gonzales, Houston forecast: Get ready for a picture perfect weekend, Damage reported throughout North Texas area during severe weather, Man confesses to a Texas Killing Field murder. The series was released on November 29 but the grisly story of the 'Texas Killing Fields' has been told in books, a 2011 film, and numerous Houston Chronicle reports on the series of murders dating back to the time they began. Her mother reported her missing after finding Alison had disappeared from their apartment near. The filmmakers hired officers Goetschius and Land as consultants while making the movie. Dozens of other bodies of women and young girls were found in the area, although not at the same site, from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. From 1971 until 2006, over 30 women were found dead along an area of Interstate 45 that runs for 50 miles between Houston and Galveston. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! More than 30 young women and girls either disappeared or had been found murdered in that corridor, and the mysteries surrounding the cases have never been far from the minds of the Texas authorities that investigated the crimes, including Brian Goetschius and Michael Land, from Texas City. It is a 25 acre abandoned lot. King and Zwarst were convicted of aggravated kidnapping, and received life imprisonment sentences in 1998. In 2015, his DNA was matched to the killer of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston, who was found murdered in Oklahoma in 1997. July 7, 2012 - CBS News The real-life mystery of Texas' killing fields According to reports, some time later, two boys on dirt bikes found another body. He remained a prime suspect until his death in April 2019. 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. One of Netflix's latest true-crime docuseries,Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, tells the story of the unsolved murders of four Texas women that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s in League City. Over 30 victims mostly women or girls were found along the 1-45 corridor south of Houston between 1971 and 2016. That ride took them south to League City and a field off Interstate 45 and Calder Road. [5], In 1972, a gas station operator and convicted sex offender from Galveston, Michael Lloyd Self, became a suspect in the murders of Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw. Copyright 2008 - The Texas Killing Fields are part of a 50-mile stretch that runs along Interstate 45, between Houston and the Island city of Galveston, Texas, dubbed the "highway to hell.". Debbie Catherine Ackerman 23 Jun 1956 - 16 Nov 1971 . Bell was able to name some of his victims: Despite his alleged confession, Bell was never charged with the murders and there was no physical evidence against him. These bodies joined the one other body that was found in the Calder field in 1983. She had been beaten, raped and strangled. Since the 1970s, 30 bodies have been found in and around the area, leading to the. Heidi Fye and Laura Miller were the other two victims previously identified. If he is, in fact, clearing his conscience, he's doing so in great detail. Her family believes police found a white blouse that belonged to her after one of her convicted kidnappers, Gerald Peter Zwarst, drew them a map of where to find her body, but she still has never been found. The population was 86,911 at the 2000 census. [1] The first victim was a 23-year-old League City bartender named Heidi Fye. 19 relations. There was also William Reece, who this year admitted he was responsible for the 1997 murders of Jessica Cain and Laura Smither. 21 Breathtaking Images Of The Golden Gate Bridge, Five Fascinating People Who Inspired Your Favorite Fictional Characters, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Over the next three decades, over 30 women turned up dead along the corridor. The below map shows the more than 500 cases in our Highway Serial Killings Initiative database; the red dots mark where bodies or remains have been found along highways over the past 30 years. Bell lived on a property near the beach in Galveston, where he was a silent partner of a surf shop. The fact that dedicated people like Ferrarone, Land, and Goetschius were on the job brings as much comfort to the families of the victims as one might think could be had. The young woman with Stallings would be the fourth in the Texas Killing Field. There has been little evidence to go on, and nothing to connect the four victims. Her body was ultimately discovered under an interstate bridge. Since 1971, dozens of murder victims have been found in a 25-acre area near Interstate 45, between Galveston and Houston. 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. The search for culprits spanned decades and eventually revealed that two serial killers had allegedly committed the crimes independently of each other. .css-azif86{color:#000000;display:block;font-family:GTWalsheim,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-azif86:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-azif86{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-azif86{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.3;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-azif86{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3;}}Is "Daisy Jones & The Six" Based on a True Story? Last seen accepting a ride near an island ice cream shop with Maria Johnson. Since the 1970s, a 50-mile desolate area has often been referred to as the Highway of Hell between Houston and Galveston. I-45 near Calder, TX, 30 Bodies Discovered to Date Since the 1970s, more than 30 young women have disappeared or been found dead along Interstate-45 in Texas. After investigating the death of a young woman, Texas City Detectives Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) and Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) find time to inquire into the welfare of Ann . Most of the cases related to the 30 bodies recovered so far remain unsolved, but there are some striking similarities among the victims: Young girls with similar physical features and hairstyles, between the ages of 10-25. Dickens removed the keys from Bell's vehicle and refused to return them. In 1971, these two reportedly outdoorsy gals disappeared while hitchhiking, only to have their bodies discovered in the killing fields. The monkier is chilling enough, but once you delve into the Texas Killing Fields' murderous history, it's easy to fall down a true-crime rabbit hole. The documentary dives . [2] Furthermore, many additional young girls have disappeared from this area; these girls' bodies are still missing. [6], The soundtrack was scored by Dickon Hinchliffe (formerly of Tindersticks) except for three tracks credited to The Americans. Yet another body was found by two horseback riders while police discovered Laura Mills in the same location as well. The three-part documentary investigates the strange disappearance of young women in the 1980s and 1990s, only to be discovered dead on Calder Road in Texas. 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. According to the FBI, Miller was driven by her mother to a nearby store to use a pay phone and didn't return home as she had planned. Mark Roland Stallings is clear and convincing in his account of what happened 25 years ago. But for a handful of families in the area, a serial killer's confession means they finally have answers. In May 1997, he was arrested for the kidnapping and attempted murder of 19-year-old Sandra Sepo and received a 60-year sentence. She was a mother of two who had left her husband after he allegedly became abusive, said her sister. These were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. Though Texas Killing Fields is a particular spot, the entire I-45 corridor saw multiple murders take place throughout the 50-mile stretch. While not the official name, the "Killing Fields" has become a term used to describe the 25-acre stretch of an abandoned oil field located in League City, Texas, not far from the Gulf of Mexico. [3] A year after Villareal-Fye's disappearance, 16-year-old Clear Creek High School student Laura Miller went missing. They were unable to identify this victim, and she became known as a Jane Doe. In 1978, Bell, while masturbating on the street in front of a group of teenage girls, he was confronted by 26-year-old former Marine Larry Dickens, while his mother called the police. According to law enforcement officials, the qualifications are simple: a mix of hot, humid climate and hungry wildlife to ensure the quick destruction of evidence, and a location remote enough to prevent unwitting visitors from stumbling across a body, but not impossible for the perpetrator to reach in the dead of night. But according to the documentary, investigators learned Reece was in prison in Oklahoma during the span of the Calder Field murders. The Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre patch of land in League City, Texas situated a mile from Interstate Highway 45 and approximately 26 miles southeast of Houston. 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. Last seen at a convenience store located off of West Main Street and Hobbs in League City, Texas. The three-episode limited series titled Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields tells the story of the victims whose bodies were dumped (and later found) in a desolate oil field along a 50-mile stretch of highway that runs from Houston, Texas, to the nearby beach town of Galveston. After leaving her grandmother's house during a fight they were having, Krystal was last seen using a phone at a local convenience store to ask her friend if she could stay with her. The term "killing fields" originally referred to the sites of mass genocide during Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime. Netflix has recently dropped a three-part docuseries titled "Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields," which explores the unsolved murders of four Texas women that occurred between the '80s and . In 2019, the League City Police Department was finally able to identify the two women found dead in Calder Field. Seventeen picks products that we think you'll love the most. [47][48], Clyde Hedrick was named as a suspect in the 2022 documentary series Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields. It took decades of work before two of the four women were identified. Texas Killing Fields on Pluto TV | Thrillers | 1hr 45 min | In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective (Worthington) teams up with a cop from New York City (Morgan) to investigate a series of unsolved murders. Fye's father spent the rest of his life searching for answers, ultimately dying before he could ever get one. [43], An investigation by the League City police and the FBI in the 1970s identified another local resident, Edward Harold Bell, a known exhibitionist, as a suspect. Last seen with Georgia Geer at the U-Totem convenience store off of FM 517 and I-45. The Texas Killing Fields is term that's been used to describe 33 murders that have taken place along the I-45 corrdior since the 1970s, many of them still unsolved. But in 1986, her body was found in the same field Fye's had been located. [2] After visiting some of the sites of recovered bodies in League City, Ami Canaan Mann, director of the film Texas Killing Fields, commented: "You could actually see the refineries that are in the south end of League City. Netflix released the third installment of the popular docuseries Crime Scene on November 29, and like the first season, The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, these crimes have never been solved. In September 1974, he was convicted of killing Shaw and was sentenced to life in prison, despite questions over the credibility of his confession. The place is described as "a perfect place for killing somebody and getting away with it". 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. Although the majority of the 33 murders tied to the Texas Killing Fields are unsolved, several confirmed and plausible suspects have been posited. On September 8, 1991, additional remains were retrieved from Calder Field. He died on December 21, 2000, and 16 years later, a number of police officials admitted their belief that Self had been wrongly convicted, according to Fox News. And if you ran, there wouldn't necessarily be anywhere to go. Go listen to episode #2, where we tell the story of the Texas Killing Fields! 2. Before they were known as the Texas Killing Fields, the 25 acres in League City, Texas were regarded as nothing more than an abandoned oil field where people dumped their trash. A man named Robert Abel, a then retired aerospace engineer who was leasing the property and bought a portion of it for a horse stable, said his stepdaughter stumbled upon the corpse while riding. She had been shot in the back, according to the Chronicle. He even knew two of the victims, Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson, who frequented the store. The next victim was a 16-year-old named Laura Miller. Texas Hill Country Facebook page is growing by over 1,000 fans per But . "I mean even though she was in the condition she was in, I should have just let her play her own life out, you know she wanted to waste it and I should have just let her waste it," Stallings said. There is not much around the area. The fact that any of this occurred is unsettling, to say the least. Since the early 1970s, mass numbers of bodies have been discovered in the region, resulting in the area being grimly nicknamed by locals as "The Killing Fields.". 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.. Over the last three decades, more than 30 women have been. Following their arrests, Zwarst told police where he had hidden Sikes's body, but unfortunately Sikes' body has never been found. The Texas Killing Fields is a stretch of abandoned land just off the interstate road the I-45 between Houston and Galveston in Texas. Directors Ami Canaan Mann Starring Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chlo Grace Moretz Genres .css-lec2h6{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;background-image:linear-gradient( to bottom, rgba(241, 220, 225, 1), rgba(241, 220, 225, 1));-webkit-background-position:0 100%;background-position:0 100%;background-repeat:repeat-x;-webkit-background-size:0 0;background-size:0 0;padding-top:0.05rem;padding-bottom:0.05rem;}.css-lec2h6:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-size:.625rem 3.125rem;background-size:.625rem 3.125rem;}The Washington Post reports that on October 10, 1983, 25-year-old bartender Heidi Villareal-Fye went missing in League City, outside of Houston, after leaving her parents' home to catch a ride to Houston to see her boyfriend. A match was confirmed, using advanced technology that was not available at the time of Krystal's disappearance. Her car was found the next day, stuck in mud, blood-stained, and abandoned on the side of an I-45 access road, south of the Galveston causeway. 'Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields' is the latest true-crime documentary to land on Netflix. In 2016, Reece confessed to police he had kidnapped and murdered Laura Smither, 12. However, there have only been two convictions for murder, leaving countless homicides unsolved today. 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. Years later, in 1991, a fourth body was found in the field and became known as Janet Doe, according to the FBI. Last seen at a teen club with her friend, Lynette Bibbs, and a 22-year old companion. The documentary focuses much of its attention on a suspect named Clyde Hendrick, a roofer who lived in League City at the time. I just finished watching the following series (3 episodes) on Netflix, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, which documents the investigations of murders of females along the I-45 corridor south of Houston (Texas City, Friendswood, etc) during the 70's, 80's and 90's. One of those murdered was the daughter of the . Reader discretion is advised. One of Netflix's latest true-crime docuseries, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, tells the story of the unsolved murders of four Texas women that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s in. Maybe a family can then know what happened to their daughter. What to know about the Texas Killing Fields and Netflix's new docu-series on the League City murders, Timeline: How battle between Houston ISD, TEA has reached the point of a looming takeover. Do you have a story that I-Team should investigate? A man named Kevin Edison Smith was charged and sentenced to prison for murdering a 13-year-old girl named Krystal Jean Baker in 1990s. He even founded Texas EquuSearch, a search and rescue organization to help find missing people, according to local outlet Click2Houston. Roadway Killers Are Still Active In United States Today. "The Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre patch of land situated a mile from Interstate Highway 45. The film's screenplay was loosely inspired by true events surrounding the murders of women kidnapped from cities spread along 30-plus miles of the I-45 corridor and dumped in many areas, including various bayous surrounding the oil fields of Texas City, Texas. She is believed to have hitchhiked, but it is unclear how she ended up in Texas. The string of unsolved murders earned the route the nickname "highway to hell." In 2001, he questioned Stallings over five days at the scene and said the suspect confessed back then, too. [44], Despite this, Bell was never charged with these murders, since no evidence, biological or otherwise, incriminated him. You could see the I-45. The Texas Killing Fields is an area bordering the Calder Oil Field, which is a 25-acre patch of land situated a mile from Interstate Highway 45. This is multiple serial killers," true crime author Kathryn . Exclusive: Abbott explains push against diversity hiring programs, Bun B, Badu, J.J. 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[4], The film was distributed overseas by Entertainment Film Distributors, a British company. King died from natural causes behind bars in October 2015,[54] while Zwarst died in prison in November of 2020. 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. This started in 1971 when three Galveston girls disappeared. Page 1. 1. They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. Dozens of murders and disappearances associated with the Texas Killing Fields remain unsolved. ", RELATED:EquuSearch Founder Awarded $24 Million In Teen Daughters 1984 Abduction, Murder. After a long search, they were able to find the rest of Fye's body in the field. (L to R) Atmosphere in Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. [42], Michael Self died on December 21, 2000, still in custody. 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. This led authorities to seek out potential serial killers and other leads, but decades later, these murders still remain a mystery. Previously, he was a reporter for Houston Community Newspapers covering the Bellaire and Memorial areas. This Sat night 5/9, Part 1 of 2 episodes covering the Texas Killing Fields/I45 Murders. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for TEXAS KILLING FIELDS (Blu-ray, 2011) NEW at the best online prices at eBay! "I ended up getting the seat belt and hit her in the head with the seat belt buckle, right, and then wrapped the seat belt around her neck and choked her out," Stallings said. The murders of Laura and Heide and five other women and girls, including two unidentified female murder victims, gave infamy to Calder Road and the fields surrounding it. He posted bail several weeks later and in order to avoid conviction and further incarceration, he fled Texas and escaped from the United States, evading police for more than two decades. We have sent you an . The majority of victims have been young girls and young women, aged between 12 and 25 years old. Over the last three decades, more than 30 women have been found dead along an area of Insterstate 45 that runs 50 miles between Houston and Galveston. An overgrown field and a stretch of highway connect a series of grisly murders spanning several decades as grieving families search for answers.SUBSCRIBE: ht. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! As for the other women found dead along Interstate 45, only one case has ever been solved. Per the FBI, Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme was discovered in September of 1991, but at the time, she remained an unidentified "Janet Doe" until January 2019. For multiple decades on a desolate stretch of road in Texas, a nightmare unfolded. And theyre on theyre own, said Ferrarone. Yes, there have been multiple arrests in the numerous murders that have been associated with the Texas Killing Fields. Between 1971 and 2006, 30 bodies have been found . When no one cares . Her body was found in a ditch two days later. Although it took years for justice to be served, in April of 2012, Kevin Edison Smith was convicted of her murder. Joe Berlinger's next installment in the Crime Scene docuseries examines the eerie connections between the still-unsolved murders of three young women. From 1971 to 2006, over 30 women were . Last seen walking near the Green Caye Subdivision on Halloween night. The other lead role is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, which was inspired by Brian Goetschius. Not knowing the identities of the victims was a major reason behind the stalled investigation that saw no evidence, links, or suspects. Her parents panicked and called the police. Ahead, find everything we know about the Texas Killing Fields victims, including who they were, when they went missing, and when their bodies were found. The woman had a small caliber gunshot wound to the back. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields is streaming on Netflix now, Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Her remains were found 60ft away from where police had found Heide Villarreal-Fye the year before. It was chilling detail such as this, together with the haunting faces of the victims, which inspired him to pen the screenplay for the movie Texas Killing Fields, compelling Sam Worthington to take the lead role. From the 1970s into the 1990s, around 35 slain women were found among a 25-acre stretch of land between Houston and Galveston in what became known as the Texas Killing Fields. 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. Hendrick was arrested in 2013 for Beason's murder and still remains a suspect in the Killing Fields murders. Last seen at a teen club with her friend, Tamara Fisher. Jan 20, 2013. On the same day, the body of Laura Miller was discovered in Calder Field. 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.