The Texas Killing Fields: who are victims in Netflix docuseries, what happened and are there any suspects?

Netflix true crime docuseries Crime Scene is back for its third instalment, investigating the Texas Killing Fields.

Created by Emmy Award-wnning filmmaker Joe Berlinger, who brought us The Times Square Killer and The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, the third instalment will look into the unsolved murders of four Texas women whose bodies where discovered in the 1980s and 1990s.

Dubbed the Texas Killing Fields, the mysterious 25-acre stretch of land in League City, Texas is responsible for the disappearance of over 30 girls and women since the 1970s.

The three episode docuseries will investigate what happened to four young women whose remains were discovered in the 1980s and 1990s, and the battle one father has fought to uncover the truth about what happened to his daughter.

Here’s everything you need to know about the victims whose stories are told in Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields.

What are The Texas Killing Fields?

The Texas Killing Fields is a large plot of land in League City, Texas where more than 30 girls and women have disappeared or been found dead since the 1970s. Spanning a distance of 25-acres, it gained notoriety after the bodies of four women were discovered there between 1984 and 1991.

Who were the victims?

Since the 1970s over 30 girls and women have gone missing in the area dubbed the Texas Killing Fields. The four victims whose stories are told in the new Netflix docuseries were found in the Calder Road oil fields. It would take until 2019 for two of them to be formally identified.

Heidi Villareal-Fye

The 25-year-old bartender went missing in League City on 10 October 1983. Reported by The Washington Post she left her home to catch a ride to see her boyfriend in Houston but never arrived. Her remains were discovered in 1984 by a dog and its owner out for a walk.

Laura Miller

In 1984, 16-year-old Laura Miller went missing after going to call her boyfriend from a payphone. Her mother had dropped her off to make the call, with Miller planning to walk the half mile back home, she never arrived. Reported by ABC 13, her remains were discovered 17 months later in February 1986 by two kids playing on their dirt bikes in close proximity to where Fye has been found.

Audrey Lee Cook

Cook’s remains were discovered by chance, after police combed the area following Miller’s discovery. Her body remained unidentified for 33-years, until she was eventually named in 2019. Cook, who was 30-years-old and working as a mechanic, was last seen by her family in 1985. Her remains showed she had sustained a gunshot wound in her back and several broken ribs.

Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme

In 1991 the remains of Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme were discovered by people passing by the fields, the mother-of-two would not be identified until 2019. Her sister, Dianne had not heard from her since the 1980s when she sent her her birth certificate.

But it’s not just the victims covered in the Netflix documentary that were discovered in this stretch of land. Reported by The New Zealand Herald and The U.S. Sun the remains of an additional 12 victims have also been discovered in the area including:

Who are the suspects?

The four murders still remain unsolved and open, however there have been a few suspects over the years who have came to the attention of local law enforcement.

Clyde Hendrick who holds a previous conviction for “abuse of a corpse” in relation to 30-year-old Ellen Beason in 1984 was immediately on the police radar, but no evidence tied him to the crimes. Another suspect was Nasa engineer Robert Abel who owned a ranch right next to the land where the women had gone missing. In 1993 following an FBI profile, police were granted permission to search his property which turned up no evidence.

Both have denied any connection to the killings.

Where can I watch The Texas Killing Fields?

The three-episode docuseries is now available to stream on Netflix.