Netflix's chilling new documentary series, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, delves into the murders over of 30 women from the 1970s into the 1990s.
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The three-parter looks into the tragic deaths of 35 - and potentially more - women, whose bodies were discovered along a 25-acre stretch of land connecting Houston and Galveston in what became known as The Texas Killing Fields. But who was behind the murders?
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It has long been considered that more than one person was responsible for the string of killings that took place across three decades.
One person who made it their life's mission to pin down the culprit was Tim Miller, the father of 25-year-old victim Heide Villareal-Fye. For years, he believed retired NASA engineer Robert Abel to be behind his daughter's death. However, despite being cleared by the police and receiving an apology from Tim after several years, Robert was fatally struck by a train in 2005 in what looked to be a suicide.
While many families are still in the dark about what really happened to their loved ones, a breakthrough came in 1997 when William Reece was arrested for the kidnapping of 19-year-old Sandra Sapaugh.
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Sandra was on her way to meet a friend when she noticed her tire had been slashed while stopping at a gas station. After offering to help her, William forced her into his truck at knifepoint before speeding along the highway a mile from the Killing Fields.
© Photo: NetflixTim Miller has dedicated his life to finding his daughter's killer
Thankfully, Sandra managed to escape, throwing herself out of the moving van onto the road, where she was rescued by passersby.
William was sentenced to 60 years for the crime before DNA evidence later connected him to the 1997 murder of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston. He later confessed to the deaths of 12-year-old Laura Smither, Kelli Ann Cox, 20, and Jessica Cain, 17, all of whom were found on the marshy 25-acre stretch. He was sentenced to life in prison.
William, however, was behind bars during the 1980s when the bodies of Heide Villareal-Fye, Laura Miller, and two other women, Audrey Lee Cook and Donna Prudhomme, who remained unidentified until 2019, were uncovered.
Another major suspect in the investigation was Clyde Hedrick, who was convicted of the 1984 killing of 30-year-old Ellen Beason, concealing her body under an abandoned sofa on a road in Galveston County.
© Photo: NetflixThe FBI is still appealing for new information
Clyde, who lived nearby the Millers and would often visit the bar where Heide Fye worked, was never connected to any of the Killing Fields murders and was paroled last year after serving eight years of his 20-year sentence. Tim Miller firmly believes the killer to be responsible for his daughter Heide's death and won a default judgment in the wrongful death suit he filed against him in 2014.
Many of the victims' families are still no closer to finding out the truth behind their loved ones' disappearances and murders.
Richard Rennison, a supervisory special agent for the FBI in Texas, has been working on the case since he began his career and is still appealing for new information.
© Photo: NetflixIt is believed that more than one killer was responsible for the murders
"We're still getting information on the Calder Road Killings," he said in the Netflix series. "If you have any information about any of these four victims, please reach out to the FBI. You can remain entirely anonymous.
"I retire in about a year and a half from now - so I’ve got some work to do."
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