In 1997, 12yo Laura went missing. Her body was found in the Texas Killing Fields.

There's a stretch of desolate, swampy land between Houston and Galveston in Texas, located just off the busy interstate I-45 highway. It's around 25 acres in size and was once an oil field site. But now, it's only known as the Texas Killing Fields.

From the 1970s to the late 1990s, the Texas community watched on in fear as more than 30 murdered women were found across this area. And now, this entire case has been re-examined in Netflix's new true crime series Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields. Here's what you need to know about the case that terrified an entire state. 

It all began back in 1971.

Two 15-year-old girls, Maria Johnson and Debbie Ackerman, disappeared in November of that year in Galveston, Texas. Their bodies were shortly found in a marshy pond within the killing fields area. And the bodies continued to pile up just off the I-45 highway, with an additional 11 female victims found over the next six months.

There was no answer as to who was doing it, as the harsh Houston heat and the fact many were found in expanses of swamp or marsh, meant the human remains deteriorated rapidly. 

With no culprit found, the bereaved families were left with zero answers. 

For a few years, no other bodies were found in the area. Then in 1984, it all started up again, when a child was playing in the fields with their dog and noticed that the dog had something round in its mouth. It wasn't a ball or toy like the child initially thought. It was a human skull.

Watch the trailer for Netflix's Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields. Post continues below.

Those were the remains of Heidi Villareal-Fye.

Heidi was a 25-year-old bartender who went missing just outside of Houston, on Oct. 10, 1983. She left her parents’ house to get a ride to Houston to see her boyfriend, but she didn't make it. 

In April 1984, that aforementioned dog discovered her skeleton.

In September 1984, 16-year-old Laura Miller went missing. Laura had asked if she could call her boyfriend from a pay phone, as their family phone wasn't working. So her mother drove her down to the local payphone, and Laura said she would walk the kilometre back home. But she never made it back to the house. 

17 months after her disappearance, her body was discovered in February 1986 by two children playing in the killing field area. 

While police were combing the area for clues, they then came across a third female victim – Audrey Lee Cook, whose identity was only confirmed recently in 2019. These three women, Heidi, Laura and Audrey, were all found within 20 metres of one another.

For Laura's father, Tim Miller, he said in the Netflix true crime series that his daughter's murder and all the additional killings within the area deeply affected him. So much so that he became a strong advocate for other families who have endured similar circumstances, determined to help any family member in the Texas area trying to find their missing loved one.

"I'll never forget the day that my daughter disappeared. It's like it was yesterday," Tim said in the series. 

"Heidi's dad died soon after [his daughter's body was recovered]. That poor man, he died of a broken heart. That's why I founded Texas EquuSearch. Because I know what those families are going through."

Heidi and Laura. Image: Netflix.

The killings continued to occur.

In 1991, people passing the fields found a fourth body, Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme, who was referred to as 'Jane Doe' until January 2019, when her identity was confirmed through DNA testing. 

Then in 1997, three more girls were discovered.

12-year-old Laura Smither went for a run one morning in her local neighbourhood and never returned home, much to the distress of her family. 17 days after her disappearance, a father and son duo were walking around the killing fields area with their dog when they noticed something.

"We were running the dogs around the pond and we picked up a foul odour," the dad said on a news broadcast at the time. "We thought it was a dead animal in the water or something like that. And my son said 'animals don't have socks'."

The human remains were Laura. 

Three months after the discovery of Laura's body, another woman was found murdered. Kelli Ann Cox was 20 years old and had a young daughter of her own. She was using a payphone to contact her boyfriend on the day she disappeared.

Jessica Cain, a 17-year-old also went missing around the same time in the same area, but both her body and Kelli Ann's were not discovered for a long time.

In total, over 30 bodies, mostly women and girls, were found between the '70s and '90s in the killing fields – the victims ranging in age from 12 to 34. 

One of the memorials for a female victim in the desolate Calder Road region. Image: Netflix.

As for the potential culprits, it's complicated to say the least.

Mark Stallings, a convicted kidnapper currently serving a life sentence, confessed to murdering a woman and dumping her body in the killing fields. This woman was later identified as Donna Prudhomme.

Kevin Edison Smith was given a murder conviction for strangling a 13-year-old girl called Krystal Jean Baker in 1996.

As for 12-year-old Laura Smither, Jessica Cain and Kelli Ann Cox, their murders were at the hands of a serial killer – a man named William Reece. At the time of the three murders, Reece had just been released from an Oklahoma prison for previous rape and kidnapping convictions.

What led to him being on the investigators' radar was that Reece attempted to kidnap and rape 19-year-old Sandra Sapaugh in 1997, who managed to escape him. Reece was convicted of the kidnapping and sentenced to 60 years' imprisonment. Investigators also believed Reece was responsible for the murders of Laura, Jessica, Kelli and another girl, Tiffany Johnston, in 1997. But it wasn't until 2015, that DNA breakthroughs connected Reece to the murders of all four.

Here's a look at all the cases suspected serial killer William Reece is tied to. #khou11 pic.twitter.com/xY3ebXVVuo

— Stephanie Whitfield (@KHOUStephanie) September 1, 2016

While in prison, Reece provided a map of the burial sites and afterwards offered to fully help investigators in order to avoid the death penalty. But authorities refused the deal, while still using the map to find the remains.

He was found guilty on all counts of murder by a jury verdict and in 2021 was sentenced to death by the Oklahoma County District Court. He remains on death row today.

Edward Harold Bell, a serial sex offender, was believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 11 young girls who went missing in the early 1970s.

Another suspect in the 1980s murders was a man named Clyde Hedrick.

In 1984, Hedrick was convicted with "abuse of a corpse" in connection to the death of a woman named Ellen Beason. She had gone missing after a night out with Hedrick. Her remains were then discovered some time later in the marshes of the killing fields. Hedrick argued that Ellen had accidentally drowned and he had panicked and hidden her body. He went to prison for one year as a result of conviction.

Only years later, he was convicted of manslaughter over Ellen's death and in 2021 he was released from jail after serving eight years.

#ClydeHedrick was first accused of "abuse of a corpse" in connection with Ellen Beason's #death, as detailed in the new docuseries, which premiered on November 29. #netflixhttps://t.co/Mq7wx7d71P

— Vizaca (@vizacamagazine) December 1, 2022

It is alleged by investigators and bereaved family members of the Texas Killing Fields victims that Hedrick was responsible for the murders of multiple victims.

Laura Miller's father Tim has always said he strongly believes Hedrick killed his daughter. Just this year, Tim brought a wrongful death lawsuit against Hedrick and was awarded $24 million. Criminal charges have never been brought against Hedrick for Laura Miller's murder.

In Netflix's Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, it was reiterated that the FBI is "still getting information" on the mass murders, and urged anyone with further information to come forward.

Jessica Dimmock, the creator of the Netflix series told The Independent she believes there were three serial killers operating on the killing fields.

"I think there are possibly more bodies. I think it's three serial killers operating in very similar territories ... One kind of gets away with it, and it becomes more possible because it’s kind of shown that the police are not going to chase it down," she said.

"Each decade has its own [serial killer] – you know, it's not like three different [killers] operating over 30 years. It's like one in the '70s, there's one in the '80s, there's one in the '90s ... there's pretty good indications that that's the case. And yes, of course, there might be other victims."

For the bereaved families, it's been decades and decades of pain and frustration, trying to get answers. And that's always been at the heart of Tim Miller's drive – to find justice.

"Tim Miller is one of the loudest voices for these victims. He keeps asking for someone to be held accountable," one of the interviewees for the Netflix series said. "He keeps insisting that they should find out who did this. He has become a champion and an ally for other families with missing loved ones."

Feature Image: Netflix.