Donna kept in touch with her family, and Gonsoulin-Hastings thought her sister seemed happy. Most of the victims were aged between 12 and 25 years. At the time, police considered her a runaway and assured the Millers she would call home. In retaliation, Edward killed him and fled, but was subsequently apprehended by police. [64][65][66] He had been suspected of kidnapping and killing Laura Smither and confessed to Friendswood Police, in 2016, that he murdered her. 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, who has worked the Calder Road killings case out of the FBIs Houston Field Office, Texas City Resident Agency, for more than a decade. He was taken to the district prison, later aiding with locating the bodies. She said she'd walk herself the short way back home. Shed gone to a nearby store to use a payphone and never returned. I couldnt believe that [Donna had run away]. The Killing Fields September 18, 2019 Decades Later, Investigators Still Searching for Answers in Murders of Four Women The women seemingly had little in common. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. That September, Laura's mother drove her to a payphone so Laura could make a call to her boyfriend. dvelopper et amliorer nos produits et services. 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. [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. As recently as 2018, Hedrick wrote to U.K. newspaper The Guardian maintaining he did not kill anyone. While Self was locked away in prison, the murders continued. But after that relationship ended, Donna fell on hard times. Someone would have known those fields were a good place to leave a body, Rennison explained. 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. She married and had two sons, but when her husband became abusive, she was forced to leave with her children, according to her sister. 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. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. The parents should know what's going on." The "Killing Fields" is a term used to describe a 25-acre stretch of an abandoned oil field located in League City, Texas. Since the early 1970s, 33 bodies of murder victims have been found along the I-45 area. One man has received plenty of attention for his possible link to multiple crimes in the area, as Houston Public Media reports. They were unable to identify this victim, and she became known as a Jane Doe. Hedrick was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was released from Estelle Supermax Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas in October 2021. No other injuries were reported. Her cause of death was initially ruled as "undermined.". 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. Police initially assumed that Colette was a runaway, leading the Wilson family to round up their neighbors and form an impromptu search party. But the years went by without word from Donna. When her parents and her boyfriend arrived at the house later that day, Laura was not there. [67] In 2021, Reece was convicted of Johnston's murder and sentenced to death. Despite an alleged verbal confession, a conviction could not be secured without additional evidence. 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. 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. Weve got some plans.. 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." It was only after his death that a number of police officials, including the former Harris County District Attorney, stated their belief that Self was wrongly convicted.[60]. 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. [5][6][7] Filming began on May 3, 2010,[5] in Louisiana, United States. After two decades on the run from U.S. police for the murder of former Marine Larry Dickens, Edward Harold Bell was extradited from Panama to the states to face trial in 1993. It competed in the 68th Venice International Film Festival. Detective Pam Stall (Jessica Chastain) is a police investigator from the neighboring jurisdiction and Mike's ex-wife. No one ever saw her again. [2] In the mid-1970s, he acquired a plot of land in Dickinson and lived near the place where two more victims, Brooks Bracewell and Georgia Geer, were last seen alive. This meant that, for much of the history of the murders here, investigations were muddled and dispersed amongst 11 different departments. In 1996, Hedrick was convicted of abusing a corpse and sentenced to a year in jail as there was not enough evidence to prove that Beason had been killed. [2] [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. She missed school, had to leave the choir, and struggled socially. The fields have been described as "a perfect place [for] killing somebody and getting away with it". 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. Web1. Total financial losses could reach tens of millions of dollars, she said, not including destructionof equipment and buildings. emailStay Connected Following their arrests, Zwarst told police where he had hidden Sikes's body, but unfortunately Sikes' body has never been found. [74] This information, along with Beason's second autopsy, resulted in authorities getting an arrest warrant and charging Clyde with murder in 2014. 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. After this revelation, Reece confessed to killing Jessica Lee Cain and Kelli Ann Cox, leading the investigators to the bodies' burial sites. While the Millers waited 17 months, Dianne Gonsoulin-Hastings waited more than 30 years to find out what happened to her sister Donna, who Dianne describes as a beautiful woman and mother who loved to cook Cajun food and go fishing. 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. He referred to them as the "eleven who went to heaven" and provided names for four of his reported victims, as well as details like hair color and the years he committed the crimes. It is believed that many of the murders are the work of multiple serial killers. However, in 2014, her death was ruled as a homicide, and Hedrick was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. It was linked to Robert E. Lee High School in nearby Houston, with the year 1975 inscribed on the ring. She called her mother from a pay phone at the convenience store and then was never heard from again. Fye's father spent the rest of his life searching for answers, ultimately dying before he could ever get one. She was last seen in December 1985. He says his organization has found more than 250 bodies all over the world and has recovered living missing people as well. The body that had been found in the Killing Fields in 1991, previously known as Janet Doe, was Donnas. After his arrest, Zwarst told the police that he had hidden the body in one of the fields, where the other bodies were found. [80], Screenwriter and Federal Agent Donald Ferrarone said he drew information from an interview with a kidnapping victim, Michelle Ann E. and the family of one of the murder victims. 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. Smith admitted to abducting and killing Baker, then leaving her remains beneath a bridge. Gonsoulin-Hastings mailed the birth certificate to Donnas home in Clear Lake and never heard from her sister again. ", "Connecticut State Police assist in Texas homicide case; victim missing from CT since 1982", "Michelle Garvey Identified As Teen Found Slain In '82", "DPS seeks new leads in 1983 murder of Seabrook teen Susan Lee Eads", "Authorities reveal identities of 2 'Killing Fields' victims", "Names, real-life photos of 2 'Killing Fields' victims released", "Can DNA provide answers in deaths of 2 women in 'Texas Killings Fields'? We really claimed that area. Unfortunately, the movie often seems to stray from such discipline. They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. In July 2022, Tim Miller, the father of Laura Miller, won a wrongful death lawsuit against Hedrick for $24 million in liability and damages that he filed in 2014. 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. He was the Miller family's neighbor but has denied any involvement in Laura Miller's death. Despite his alleged confession, he hasn't been charged with murder, but in 2021, he remained a suspect in the murders of Donna Prudhomme and Audrey Cook, according to USA Today. He remained a prime suspect until his death in April 2019. Newsweek has everything you need to know. 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.' I was afraid she was never going to be located, he said. 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 While Fye and Miller were positively identified through dental records, limited scientific options at that time meant that Jane Doe and Janet Doe would remain unknown for more than 20 yearsuntil just a few months ago. Jane Doe, found in 1986, was Audrey Lee Cook. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. [75], In 1987, 30-year-old John Robert King phoned the El Paso police, claiming that on May 24, 1986, he, together with 33-year-old Gerald Peter Zwarst, attacked Shelley Sikes while she was in her car, after which the girl was raped and strangled. 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