Who Were the Victims From Netflix's "Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields"?
Content warning: This article contains reference to murder that some may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.
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. 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. 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."
Though the show focuses on the murders of Heidi Villareal Fye, Laura Miller, Audrey Lee Cook, and Donna Prudhomme whose bodies were all found in a specific spot known as Calder Road, there have been over 30 bodies found in the area, and numerous disappearances over the years. 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.
What happened to Heidi Villareal-Fye?
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. 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.
What Happened to Laura Miller?
A year after Villareal-Fye's disappearance, 16-year-old Clear Creek High School student Laura Miller went missing. 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. People reported that her body was found by a group of boys riding their bicycles on February 2, 1986, 17 months after she had gone missing. Her body was found near where Villareal-Fye's had been located, according to the FBI.
What happened to Audrey Lee Cook?
The same day Miller was found, police discovered a third unidentified body that they named Jane Doe. ABC 13 reported that the decomposed body showed that she had been shot in the back and had several broken ribs. After 33 years, the body was identified as Audrey Lee Cook. After using technology to reconstruct her face, showing it on the news, and having the FBI collect DNA per ABC 13 the remains were determined to be Cook. At the time of death, Cook was 30 years old and working as a mechanic living in Houston, Channelview, and Heights, Texas. The last time she had been seen or heard from was in December 1985, according to the FBI.
What happened to Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme?
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. She had lived most of her life in Port Arthur, Texas, and was married with two sons. The FBI reported that she left her husband and took her children when he became abusive. Prudhomme had asked her sister, Dianne, to mail her birth certificate to her home in Clear Lake near the end of 1989. After that, she never heard from Prudhomme again.
When were "The Killing Fields" victims found?
Over 30 victims — mostly women or girls — were found along the 1-45 corridor south of Houston between 1971 and 2016. Here are the names of the other victims that have since been identified, as reported by CBS News:
July 2, 1971: Brenda Jones, 14
November 17, 1971: Debbie Ackerman, 15
November 17, 1971: Maria Johnson, 15
November 23, 1971: Gloria Gonzales, 19
November 26, 1971: Colette Wilson, 13
January 3, 1972: Rhonda Johnson, 14
January 3, 1972: Sharon Shaw, 13
February 25, 1972: Alison Craven, 12
January 5, 1973: Kimberly Pitchford, 16
March 25, 1979: Suzanne Bowers, 12
April 3, 1981: Brooks Bracewell, 12
April 3, 1981: Georgia Geer, 14
July 1, 1982: Michelle Garvey, 15
Last seen October 26, 1983: Sondra Ramber, 14
April 4, 1984: Heide Villarreal-Fye, 23
February 2, 1986: Audrey Cook, 30
February 2, 1986: Laura Miller, 16
Last seen May 24, 1986: Shelley Sikes, 19
Last seen October 7, 1988: Suzanne Rene Richerson
September 8, 1991: Donna Prudhomme, 34
February 3, 1996: Lynette Bibbs, 14
February 3, 1996: Tamara Fisher, 15
March 5, 1996: Krystal Baker, 13
April 20, 1997: Laura Smither, 12
Last seen July 12, 2002: Tot Harriman, 57
July 27, 2002: Sarah Trusty, 23
November 3, 2006: Terressa (or Teressa) Vanegas, 16
March 18, 2016: Jessica Cain, 17
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