Man sentenced to 20 years over a 'Texas Killing Fields' case, decades after dozens of bodies found

A man convicted over a “Texas Killing Fields” death was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday in a rare trial related to the bodies of dozens of women found near Houston beginning in the 1970s.

James Dolphs Elmore Jr. was given the maximum sentence by a Galveston County jury a day after they found him guilty of manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Laura Miller, whose body was found in the infamous area in 1986.

What became known as the “Texas Killing Fields” refers to a stretch of land along Interstate 45 southeast of Houston where the bodies of more than 30 girls and young women have been found. The area has inspired books, movies and a Netflix documentary.

Most of the deaths remain unsolved, and investigators believe multiple people may be responsible.

Miller's body was found 17 months after she went missing. After the long search for her and frustration with authorities, her father, Tim Miller, started Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit that helps search for missing people.

“I begged, I pleaded for somebody to do something,” Miller told jurors. “I knew something happened to Laura, I just knew it. I just didn’t know what it was.”

Charges filed decades after Texas teenager's killing

Elmore, 61, had approached Miller several years ago, telling him he was there when Laura Miller died, and the two men met dozens of times. During the trial, jurors watched a video produced by Tim Miller showing the two men visiting locations connected to his daughter's death.

Elmore was arrested earlier this year, accused of preparing the dose of cocaine that killed her.

She was one of four young women whose bodies were found between 1984 and 1991 in a rural field off a desolate dirt road in League City, located about 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Houston. The other three women were: Audrey Cook, Heidi Fye-Villareal and Donna Prudhomme.

Elmore was accused in an indictment of preparing a vial of cocaine that was administered to Miller by Clyde Hedrick, who authorities have alleged was the person responsible for the deaths of the four women and had been Elmore’s longtime friend.

Hedrick was convicted of manslaughter in 2014 in the death of Ellen Beason, a young woman whose body was found in 1985 after going missing the previous years. He was released on parole in 2022.

The district attorney’s office said in March that they had decided to seek grand jury indictments against Hedrick in the deaths, but the 72-year-old Hedrick died by suicide before the grand jury presentation.

Elmore’s attorney, Bill Agnew, told jurors that his client “didn’t have anything to do with this.” He also noted that had Hedrick lived, Elmore would have likely been called to testify at his trial.

“Clyde killed himself, and once that happened you’ve got one guy standing,” Agnew said.

Few convictions in ‘Texas Killing Fields’ cases

Most of the deaths associated with the “Texas Killing Fields” remain unsolved.

When Kenneth Cusick was appointed district attorney in Galveston County last year, he said he would be taking a harder look at the cases.

In 2022, William Reece, an Oklahoma death row inmate, pleaded guilty to three murders in Texas: Laura Smither, 12; Jessica Cain, 17; and Kelli Cox, 20. Cox was from Denton, north of Dallas, but her body was found hundreds of miles away near the “Texas Killings Fields” area.

Reece received life sentences for all three murders.