Miller, his eyes wild with excitement, put the backhoe into gear and started scooping up earth over a ten-square-foot area. He is the prime suspect in the murders of the four women found in the oil field, which is next to property he owns, and his name quickly surfaces whenever a teenager or a young woman disappears or is found dead in the area. Suspects: Robert Abel, the owner of Calder Field, was considered a suspect, along with an employee of his, Mark Stallings. However, his life took an even darker turn after suspicion faded. hitType: 'event', Robert Abel died in 2005, aged 65. Others push their daughters out of sight so that he cant get a look at them. 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. They often take you into their daughters bedroom, many of which still look exactly as they did when the girls were alive. According to Cindy, Abel said to her, If you ever deny me sex again, Ill kill you. Cindy also confirmed Paulas stories about a stash of nude photos and Abels anger with horses. For several weeks I tried to learn the truth about a brilliant but sometimes baffling man who, as one FBI agent told me, is not your average social encounter. During that time, I headed down to the killing fields to see if Tim Millerwho had become so frustrated with the polices inaction that he had launched his own investigationwas going to find more bodies, as he had predicted, or whether he was merely chasing ghosts. You might have been trying to deceive them, to provide false leads, I said. After all, several of his ex-wives as well as partners had accused him of domestic violence and mental torture, with one claiming he even hurt his horses by beating them with a pipe. She had been reported missing by her family in . He suggested that Abel left the womens bodies on the pastureland because he knew theyd be ravaged by animals. They were mainly the bodies of girls or young women. 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. Johnny . I really do, he told me. let gads_event; gads_event = event; Abel also had no criminal record or had ever been in trouble with the law before. Again, Abel just shrugged. You see those high weeds? Miller said. In fact, Texas Monthly reporter Skip Hollandsworth explained Roberts ordeal by saying, Once his name came out, he was this pariah in south Texas. By Benjamin Hedda Published Dec 10, 2022 Robert Abel was put forth as a potential suspect in the Texas Killing Field murders. Read more here about the series. Theres only one problem: They dont have enough evidence to arrest him. The oil field where the four women were found is located next to the property and land that Abel owned in League City. Abel allegedly. Netflixs The Texas Killing Fields is an eye-opening documentary series that chronicles how several bodies of missing girls and women were recovered from a stretch of marshy oil field along Calder Road in League City, Texas, between the 1980s and 1990s. He turned part of it into riding stables. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. I couldnt have overpowered her and gotten her into my car. Several of Abel's ex-wives and partners had accused him of being aggressive, as well as beating animals, all of which Abel denied. On the advice of another father whose daughter had been murdered in another town, Miller checked himself into the psychiatric unit of a hospital for ten days, promising when he left not to hurt Abel but vowing that he would keep pressuring him to confess. Nevertheless, even they could not directly tie Robert to the heinous offenses, driving Tim to back off and the investigation to gradually move in another direction. } Subsequently, Bittner contacted the FBIs National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime in Quantico and provided details of the League City killings to David Gomez, an agent who specializes in serial sexual homicides. There was no evidence, in fact, that he had committed any crime. While the discoveries gripped the city in fear, the police were faced with several challenging murder inquiries, which had more twists and turns than they could ever imagine. In League City, Texas, is where the notorious murder spree known as the "Killing Fields" has originated. Speech, Jim Jordan's Crime Hearing Takes Surprising Turns, China's 'Artificial Sun' Smashes Nuclear Fusion Record, Putin Issues Ominous Warning About How Russian Navy Could be Deployed, Who Is Ralph Yarl? A few minutes later two dogs began barking at the same spot by a tree. LEAGUE CITY -- A Texas prison inmate has confessed to killing as many as six women in Fort Bend and Galveston counties, including some at the infamous site here known as the "killing . A retired NASA engineer named Robert Abel was suspected of being one such killer, but few seem to agree on whether Abel was responsible for any of the Texas Killing Field murders. Tim Miller, whose sixteen-year-old daughter, Laura, was found dead in the killing fields, is so convinced of Abels guilt that he has left threatening messages on his answering machine, demanding that he confess. Between the early 1970s and as recently as 2016, the bodies of 33 murder victims have been discovered in the area. When they met, Paula told Bittner she was afraid of what she described as her husbands fits of rage. Sometimes, she said, he would get so angry during their arguments that hed leave the house and not return for as long as a week. Two years ago, FBI statistics showed Texas leading the nation in unsolved serial highway homicides. The chilling discoveries have sparked fears that a serial killer or killers may be on the loose.. Four women were found dead between 1983-1991 and ex-Nasa engineer Robert Abel was among the . I feel for these girls. What has been dubbed the "Texas Killing Fields" is a 25-acre patch of land approximately one mile from I-45 in League City, a mid-size city located in Galveston County between Houston and Galveston. We visited the exact locations where each body had been found. 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. At the time of her disappearanceshe had last been seen walking from her parents home to use the telephone at a convenience storethe League City police had conducted a cursory investigation, and they came across no clues as to where she might have gone or who might have wanted to abduct her. However, there was no evidence linking him to the crime, according to The. Another. Bittner and his team came up with nothing. eventAction: 'render' Before leaving, Paula told Bittner he needed to talk to Cindy Jacobs, the woman Abel had been married to for 41 days in 1989. Memorial site on Calder Road. He wouldnt answer any more questions, left the building, and later went to the mayor and complained about me. After a long search, police officers discovered the rest of the body and identified the remains as those of Heide Villareal Fye, a 23-year-old cocktail waitress who had been reported missing six months earlier. 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 Texas Killing Fields in League City, Texas, is a plot of ground where the bodies of four unsolved murder victims of women were discovered. Netflix Netflix's new docuseries, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, explores the mysterious disappearances and deaths of many young women and girls in southern Texas, dating back to. Black Teenager Shot in Kansas City, Missouri. He was hit by a train while traveling on his golf cart. Laura was only twelve years old when she jotted those words on a message board on the morning of April 3, 1997, a couple of hours before she went jogging through her neighborhood and disappeared. "My life has been destroyed; my reputation ruined I didn't kill any of those girls. Most people whose remains were found in the land were little girls or adult women, all between the ages 12 to 25. At that moment, with his back aching and his eyes squinting, he seemed like a kindly old man. March 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Mosquito Hawks Are Flitting All Over Texas. The whole thing seemed fruitless but understandablea way for a father to deal with his grief. pg.acq.push(function() { eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), (Paula and Cindy would not be interviewed, but they have not retracted the sworn statements they gave Bittner.) We have left it as it was originally published, without updating, to maintain a clear historical record. But that doesnt mean we will stop looking for her. Right here, shouted Tim Miller, a grim, wiry building contractor who was at the controls of a large backhoe. In our conversations Abel always denied every allegation they had made against him. ga('ads.send', { "Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields" is about the victims and the suspects of the famous killings that happened in Texas, mainly around a stretch of I-45 in the late 80s. Law enforcement investigated Robert Abel, a known sex offender, but was not able to link him to the crimes. He grieved until the day he succumbed to cancer. And if I did kill her, I couldnt have carried her out of my house. It was as if he was giving me a scenario of how one of the murders had happened. Its an unforgettable episode in a story that still remains a perplexing and tragic mystery. He was also worried about other private citizens who, he said, might be tempted to tell lies about him to get the reward money (now at $50,000) that the League City Police Department was offering for information leading to the arrest of the killer. Apocalypse Sow: Can Anything Stop the Feral Hog Invasion? But the fact was that he was one of the brightest people down there., In 1978, after 21 years of marriage, the Abels divorced. Thats all I want to do., Abel is aware that the police and the FBI have studied every inch of his life. ' As such behavior from people he believed to be his friends was difficult to bear, he began living a lonely life and ultimately relocated. Some young women have never been found: More than ten years after Ren Richerson, an achingly pretty college student, vanished from a condominium complex in Galveston, her parents are still paying a private detective to search for her. 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