They were not Clyde Headrick, but 60-year-old Robert Abel - a former NASA engineer who owns a ranch near the oil fields. But Abel became furious and very defensive. Just before he shook my hand good-bye, he said, Do I really look like a killer? It is known as the killing fields, and it is a lonely, spooky patch of land: In the stillness of the day you can hear the yips of small wild animals and the distant rumble of traffic along Interstate 45 about a mile away. eventAction: 'click_adunit' "My life has been destroyed; my reputation ruined I didn't kill any of those girls. He is a former NASA engineer. All suspicions are based on behavorial clues and psychological profiling by the FBI. My throat suddenly went dry: Was I looking at a serial killers scrapbook? Mark Young, a highly respected FBI criminal profiler from the agencys Houston office, has talked with Abel, and a profiler from the behavioral sciences unit at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, has analyzed his relationships with women. There was no evidence, in fact, that he had committed any crime. And although two photos were of a semi-nude woman, she later told the police that she had willingly posed for Abel when they were dating. I couldnt have picked a girl up. But he could never shake loose of the past. Sometimes, at night, the wind would begin to blow, and the house would start to shift, and the bed in Lauras room would start to squeak, says Laura Smithers mother, Gaye, a gentle woman who sometimes swallows when she talks, trying to keep her voice in control. dle aday olacak oyuncular, Akademi'nin sadece oyunculuk branna . Upon the ensuing investigation by officials, a whole set of near skeletal remains came to light, identified as that of Heide, who was killed by blunt force trauma to the head. The Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre patch of land in the area along the Interstate highway 45 between Houston and Galveston. One time she wrote about sports. Gomez added that the murderer was in all likelihood preoccupied with the media accounts of the crimes and perhaps had kept newspaper articles about them; he also could possess jewelry or clothing from the dead women to serve as his trophies. Gomez gave Bittner a list of other characteristics about the killer, including superior attitude, multiple sex partners, a history of cruelty to animals, usually described as a troublemaker, and will act out his anger. Bittner was intrigued: Gomez could have been describing Abel. Is it possible that Robert Abel is a cold, calculating murderer, one who is consumed by a twisted need to prey on young women but also patient enough to wait years between attacksand smart enough to leave almost no clues behind? They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. Whats more, he has never been arrested for any crime, nor is there any known record of a criminal complaint filed against him. By Dan Girolamo November 18, 2022. During one of our meetings, Abel loaned me a box of legal documents about the case and about himself. [2] Content Warning: Article contains topics of self-harm, domestic violence, and animal cruelty Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, the third entry in Netflix's Crime Scene series, suggests many possible suspects responsible for the murders of the killing field victims. The first body discovered in Calder Road Field (aka The Texas Killing Field) was 25-year-old Heide Fye, whose skull was found by a dog. 'Sister Wives' star Kody Brown feels ex-wife Christine Brown's engagement to David Woolley is 'staged for TV' amid family drama, Jacob Stevens: Family shares heartbreaking photo of teen who died attempting viral TikTok challenge, 'I'd do the same again': Donna Delbono, who turned in killer teen son to cops, says she has 'no regrets'. Located near Galveston, the Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre stretch of land only a mile from Interstate 45. He was hit by a train while traveling on his golf cart. Walter Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, ve Claude Raines. But nothing turned up, which Abel says should have been no surprise, because what the hell did they think they were going to find after all those years? However, there was no evidence linking him to the crime, according to The. All I want to do is prove my innocence, he said. Gomez told Bittner that the murderer probably lived close to the comfort zone and could very well have insinuated himself into the investigation, either to establish an alibi or to provide false leads. Lise: By the time Janet Doe's body was found in 1991, Robert Abel owned the land where the Killing Fields was. Abel shrugged, appearing neither anxious nor relieved. Paula also said that she had seen several photos of nude women in his desk drawer at the house, and that Abel not only owned handguns but also carried one with him during the later months of 1991. But there would be no peace. "My life has been destroyed, my reputation ruined," he told Texas Monthly, "I didn't kill any of those girls. (Jane told me that the split was amicable, really just caused by us growing in different directions over the years.) Abel started spending his evenings meeting women at the little bars and restaurants around the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake; sometimes hed stop by Elan, Houstons hottest nightclub. Tim Miller in "Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields" on Netflix. Abel denied that they had a physical encounter. Memorial site on Calder Road. We get to hear the side of their families and how they coped with the trauma. But that doesnt mean we will stop looking for her. In fact, Texas Monthly reporter Skip Hollandsworth explained Roberts ordeal by saying, Once his name came out, he was this pariah in south Texas. I told him about the clothes that Miller had dug up and that after a subsequent search no evidence of a body had been found. }); According to CBS News, the isolated nature of the spot makes it the perfect place for taking someone else's life . By March 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Texas Monthly interviewed Abel in 1999. The Astrodomes Decline From Eighth Wonder to Eighth Blunder of the World, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Best Little Steakhouse in Texas Turns Forty, A Backsliding Joint Got New Owners and a Whole New Level of Barbecue, Miranda Lamberts Five Must-have Home Goods, A Fredericksburg Couple Forges a New Path With Their Cast-Iron Pans, Another, Quieter Comeback for Billy Gillispie. On the other hand, detectives continued to carry out their usual investigative procedure, which included a thorough search of his ranch, house, as well as vehicles. The 25-year-old cocktail waitress disappeared after she left her parents' home to hitch a ride to Houston to visit her boyfriend. The series sheds light on the mystery surrounding the disappearance of women. Although he refused to take a police-administered polygraph test about the killing fields murdershe said he didnt trust the League City Police Department as long as Bittner was on the payrollhe did take two lie detector tests conducted by private examiners, who say he passed. Out came a discolored shirt and then some socks. Between 1971 and 2006, 30 bodies have been found in and around the area, leading to the name. Thats what hes good atsolving problems. I suddenly understood why these coastal communities were linked by fear. In 1984, the first of the four women were found, with the remains of Heidi Fye, 23, being spotted on the patch of land right next to where Laura Millers was found two years later. eventAction: 'click_ads' Long story short, he's the prime suspect in the murder of four women found in an oil field next to property he owns. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), As heard in The Texas Killing Fields, local League City man Robert Abel was linked to the murders, but he has never been convicted. So in November, Bittner presented an affidavit before a state district court judge outlining Gomezs profile and reporting the statements made by two of Abels ex-wives. Abel was at the now-padlocked Stardust Trailrides waiting for me. Does Crime Scene: Texas Killing Fields portray events with accuracy? And theres no doubt they would have kept going uphe pauses, shaking his head like a man under siegeif it wasnt for that so-called detective., That so-called detective was Bittner, who soon after the discovery of the fourth body asked Abel to come to the League City police station for a routine interview. Three episodes make up the docuseries. Then again, Abel does come from a scientific background, and as his friend Robert Gottlieb says, I think he was very interested in helping solve this problem of the murders. Yet, they found nothing to directly connect him to the deaths and thus could not apprehend him. }); Want to Buy a West Texas Ghost Town? Once operated the Star Dust Trail Rides the address which was 3001 Calder in League city, right where the notorious "Killing Fields" victims where discovered. Although Edward Bell has always been associated with the Texas Killing Fields murders, he was not featured in Netflix's series on the case. The medical examiner thought she had been beaten to death with a club. But before Abel died, Miller went to see him to ask for his forgiveness. Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch, won a default judgment in his 2014 wrongful death lawsuit filed against Clyde Edwin Hedrick. He also worked on lunar visibility studies (for which he received top-secret clearance) and regularly flew to Cape Canaveral to brief Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, and other Apollo astronauts on lunar landing and visibility. Its hard to gauge whos telling the truth. In her interview with Bittner, Cindy said that she decided to leave Abel during their honeymoon in Germany after they had a fight over sex. On November 12, 1993, with a search warrant in hand, Bittner and five other League City police officers showed up unannounced at Abels home and conducted a twelve-hour search. The gold tooth turned out to be from Abels own mouth. By 2009, the initiative had identified 600 victims and upwards of 275 suspects. ga('ads.send', { . I wondered if she had the time to call out for me or her mother., After Lauras death, Miller began drinking heavily; six months later, he and Lauras mother, Jan Miller, divorced. The Crime Scene miniseries will . Some refer to this stretch of the Gulf Freeway as a. With Netflix's 'Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields' living up to its title in every way imaginable, we get a complete insight into the dark, twisted, sordid side of human nature many times over. Despite the theories that Abel is behind the murders of several women, there has been no physical evidence linking him to the crimes, nor any witnesses who can position him ever meeting the young women. But not once did I ever think there was anything to fear about him. When I asked her if he abused horses, she replied that she saw him hit one once, when the horse was raring and had her young daughter corneredbut he didnt beat the horse., Still, the damage had been done. During this week in true crime history, Suzanne Rene Richerson was reported missing after she disappeared while working at a Galveston resort in October of 1988. Mom, I love you, reads a note on the nightstand in Krystal Jean Bakers bedroom in Texas City. Nows Your Chance. By conducting lengthy interviews with many such killers already behind bars, the agents have come up with a list of common denominators seen in the killers childhood, in their behavior as adults, and in the way they carry out their crimes. pg.acq.push(function() { In his own way he was very charismatic, says an ex-girlfriend. Her body was found under a bridge by the Trinity River near the Louisiana border. }); But earlier this spring, he closed Stardust Trailrides (Nobody was coming out any more to ride because they were scared of me), gave up his lease on the thousand acres, sold his cattle, and moved most of his horses back to the family ranch near Bellville, and started spending most of his time there. What made Abel a suspect was that he owned the property right next to the land where the bodies were found. Whenever any of them stopped in a certain place and alerted (that is, barked to signify that they smelled something), Miller would head over there and dig. The victim was never identified and became known as Jane Doe. On a stiflingly hot afternoon in late August, at an abandoned oil field twenty miles south of Houston, more than a dozen people hunted for the bodies of dead women. The young cocktail waitress was found murdered in the same location as three other females. Abel also had no criminal record or had ever been in trouble with the law before. Was I the one being paranoid? Samyukhtha L KM, Published on : Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Wikimedia Commons/formulanone. Abel led many of the trail rides himself over the property and through his leased land. Since 1984, the remains of four young women have been found hereeach one nude, on her back, under a tree, with her arms folded. One suspect was Robert Abel, a former NASA engineer, who owned property next to the Calder Road fields. 2023 National City and Regional Magazine Awards Finalists Announced, Texas Monthly Receives a Nod From the American Bar Association, HBO Max Releases Official Trailer for Love & Death, Get Out and Celebrate 100 Years of Texas State Parks, Two Assistant Editors Join the Texas Monthly Staff. In 1999, Texas Monthly reported that a police detective in a sworn affidavit painted Abel as a "serial sexual offender," who displays the violent behavior seen in serial killers. Authorities associate Richerson's presumed murder with a number of unsolved cases connected to the Texas Killing Fields, for which police suspect several serial killers are responsible. Without informing the League City police departmentThey think Im a little crazyMiller borrowed a tractor and a backhoe and persuaded the Greater Houston Search Dogs team to join him in his first dig. The docu-series has three episodes. But what of the accusations by his ex-wives? A slightly built sixty-year-old with thinning brown hair and a mustache, Abel walks stiffly because of a bad back, wears reading glasses, and takes pills for his high blood pressure. father of murdered Laura believes Clyde Hedrick, It's Not the Role of Government to Protect Us From Apps, Don't Put Tiktok Out of Business Based on Hypotheticals, Biden Admin Uses Trump's Own Words to Blast McCarthy's Wall St. window.adsContainer = {"position2":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Above_Next_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position3":{"code":"Article_Mobile_300x250_ATF_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position4":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position5":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle1_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position6":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle2_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position7":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle3_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position8":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle4_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position9":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle5_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position10":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle6_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position11":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle7_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position12":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle8_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position13":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle9_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position14":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle10_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position15":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle11_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position16":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle12_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250}} Nows Your Chance. Audrey had disappeared from the Houston area around December 1985, whereas the Nassau Bay resident Donna had gone missing in July 1991. There was no hair evidence. ), The only thing that Bittner found justifying the search warrant was a collection of newspaper articles found about the investigation into the League City murders and one long Houston Chronicle story detailing the life of a serial killer. Photo by The Signal reporter Agueda Jimenez In 1993, a search was conducted in Abel's home but no evidence was found connecting him to the murders. Look, there are still many questions that need to be asked, Bittner told me. What drew him there, he explains, was Galveston Countys lower tax rate, but he also appreciated the availability of nearby pastureland: He leased about a thousand acres at the edge of town roughly three miles from his house. Behind him sits a picture of him where her body was found. 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