robert abel texas killing fieldsrobert abel texas killing fields

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. He went so far as to consider the possibility that the killer was Henry Lee Lucas, who was said to have wandered through this part of Texas. I wondered if she was on her knees, begging for her life. As it turns out, Tim Miller might have found an old garbage dump.. }); LEAGUE CITY, TEXAS: With the Netflix true crime documentary 'Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields' being on the top 10 of the streaming giants service, it is a show that is not at all to be missed. The murders and disappearances documented in Netflix's The Texas Killing Fields date all the way back to the early 1970s, and to this day, only pieces of the decades-long mystery have been. 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. In 1991, a fourth woman was found in the same area but was unidentifiable. Every day Bittner would sit behind his battleship-gray desk, flip through his case files, repeat to himself all the relevant details, and then stare at the autopsy photos, hoping that the dead women could tell tales. Abel told Grant that if he had been in charge in 1991 when the fourth body was found, he would have searched a nearby pond because the killer might have thrown something in there. Since the early 1970s, 33 bodies of murder victims have been found along the I-45 area. 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. 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. She had been reported missing by her family in . When I went to visit him at his horse stables, he was certainly odd, but what became clear to me was that there was no evidence he had committed murder. I sat on the tailgate of a pickup truck with Millers construction buddies watching the late-afternoon sun turn red and then a sullen orange before it began to sink beneath the horizon. It was Robert Abel, the retired Nasa engineer, and he owned a ranch right next to the killing fields. Its time to try to live out the rest of my life in peace, he says. In the mini-documentary series, Netflix brings light to the Calder Road killings. He said he was afraid for his lifeone father of a murdered girl even left aggressive messages on his answering machine, at least one of which threatened to kill him. 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. Yesterday in another thread on this sub, u/talllongblackhair posted this very interesting long form article published in 1999 about Robert Abel, a suspect in the Texas Killing Fields murders. They vacuumed the carpet, looking for hairs of the victims; confiscated three .22-caliber weapons to see if any of them matched the bullet found next to one of the bodies; hauled away more than 6,200 slides and photographs; took a gold tooth found on a dresser to see if it came from the mouth of one of the women; and clipped a cord off a curtain to see if it matched a strangulation mark. Moreover, there was nothing in common between the four victims except for the location where their bodies had been disposed of their age range, styles, appearances, and physiques were all different. (Part of a bullet turned up with her remains at the medical examiners office.) Abel also had no criminal record or had ever been in trouble with the law before. Thats all I want to do., Abel is aware that the police and the FBI have studied every inch of his life. But what of the accusations by his ex-wives? Seventeen days later her nude body was found at the edge of a retention pond in Pasadena. In June 1989 he married Cindy Jacobs, a secretary for an accounting firm whom he had met earlier that year at the Hilton hotel bar. Robert Abel died in 2005, aged 65. Suspects: Robert Abel, the owner of Calder Field, was considered a suspect, along with an employee of his, Mark Stallings. I began to think, Why would he get upset over such a standard question?, He was cocky, and I was offended by his tone, Abel told me, revealing for the first time a flash of what I had been told by some officers was a hostile temper. Shed walked down there to use a pay phone on September 10, 1984, just to never be seen or heard from alive again. Well, who knows what happened out here? he said. 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. Located near Galveston, the Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre stretch of land only a mile from Interstate 45. It was on April 4, 1984, when a womans dog suddenly ran off into the wilderness near the field, but the shocking aspect was that he returned with a human skull in his mouth. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. In our conversations Abel always denied every allegation they had made against him. }); A few days later I returned to League City. Robert Abel died in 2005, aged 65. Do I really look like someone who would want to kill pretty young girls?. 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. let gads_event; He even made suggestions about what we should be doing in our investigation.. They were not Clyde Headrick, but 60-year-old Robert Abel - a former NASA engineer who owns a ranch near the oil fields. Bordering the Calder oil field and League City, the location is relatively remote and was even more so back in the 1970s. . (Heide Fye and Laura Miller lived less than half a mile away, but Abel told me he never knew them.) The 25-acre patch of land in League City along Interstate Highway 45, between Houston and Galveston, is known as The Texas Killing Fields. A couple of detectives think youre talking to me because you want to draw attention to yourself, I told him. He had no conscience.. ga('ads.send', { 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. Content Warning: Article contains topics of self-harm, domestic violence, and animal cruelty }) He seems like someone who should be washing windows instead of being a police detective.. A fourth body was also found six years later in 1991 in the same area and was identified as Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme in 2019. Abel denied that they had a physical encounter. MEAWW is an initialism for Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide. Netflix is now streaming a three-part docuseries on the murders, titledCrime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields. In 1994, Abel filed a lawsuit against League City Detective Pat Bittner for slander, but it was dismissed by a judge who argued that Abel had only been identified as a suspect. "When I'm near him, I feel like I'm in the presence of evil.". Then, mere months later, another local resident, Laura Miller, also disappeared from a nearby store. Another. He had tracked down the owner of the 25-acre oil field and persuaded him to lease it for $10 a year. And, indeed, one former girlfriend did tell me that Paula had contacted her, asking that she, too, go to the police and talk about Abels behavior when she had dated him. He turned part of it into riding stables. 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? Still, perhaps because no other legitimate suspect ever emerged in the case, Abel never could erase the suspicions about him. Why wouldnt I be? he asked me. Like Jane Doe, this woman was never identified. Although Tim later apologized for his behavior, it was already too late as Robert was consumed with fear of unwarranted retaliation. 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. Since he had owned the fields, Robert Abel came under suspicion, especially when he had . }); And I understood why everyone was so desperate to hunt down the bogeyman: so they could tell themselves they were safe again. reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader. One of Netflix's latest true-crime docuseries, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, tells the story of the unsolved murders of four Texas women that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s in League . Many people who live in the surrounding towns and bedroom communities wont come near the place. The three-part series explores the unsolved murders of four young women whose remains were found in and around the same location in Texas. Interestingly, in 2013, a fellow League City resident named Clyde Hedrick was arrested for the unrelated murder of Ellen Beason, only for the ensuing legal proceedings to indicate he could be the Texas Fields Killer. 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. },false) "Shy" NASA employee The modest and calm Abel was at NASA right after the university - he helped create the Saturn series of rockets that delivered Apollo teams to the moon. pg.acq.push(function() { Why would a whole set of womens clothes be buried way out here? Miller said, turning off his machine. In League City, Texas, is where the notorious murder spree known as the "Killing Fields" has originated. The Star Dust Trail Rides business once owned by Abel encircles the Killings Fields. Yet despite a variety of sometimes desperate measuresone department followed leads provided by psychics, and another had police officers hide in trees at a cemetery to see if a suspect might visit the freshly dug grave of a murdered teenagerno arrests have been made. Bittner and his team came up with nothing. According to a . However, there was no evidence linking him to the crime, according to The. When you met him, he came across as this country boy, a ranchers son with a thick accent, says Boeings Robert Gottlieb. We had to search for suspects, says Pat Bittner, the League City detective who, at the tender age of 30, was put in charge of the murder investigation. Why would she still be paying money to a private investigator unless she wanted the reward? Abel asked. More than 30 bodies have been found in the area between 1971 to 2006 leading to its very unceremonious moniker. 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. Abel was a retired NASA engineer, who was linked to the disappearance and deaths of many young women. Although Edward Bell has always been associated with the Texas Killing Fields murders, he was not featured in Netflix's series on the case. Then he turned, got into his pickup, and headed down the dirt road, away from the killing fields, disappearing behind the dust like a ghost. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) { Where Is He Now? 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. . But Mr. Abel doesnt want to come down here any more to answer them. Descended from a family that came to Texas seventeen years before the Civil War, Abel was raised on a ranch in Bellville, a tiny town between Houston and Austin. I wanted him to know that I would never forget what he had done, says Miller, who several times a week had been driving out to the site where Lauras body had been found, standing before a wooden cross he had erected there in her memory. Before leaving, Paula told Bittner he needed to talk to Cindy Jacobs, the woman Abel had been married to for 41 days in 1989. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. The Killing Fields September 18, 2019 Decades Later, Investigators Still Searching for Answers in Murders of Four Women The women seemingly had little in common. "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. Investigators also flew over his land in helicopters, and Abel was interviewed by detectives in neighboring towns, but nothing was found. The Texas Killing Fields is a 25-acre patch of land in the area along the Interstate highway 45 between Houston and Galveston. 1 of 2 Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch, says he hopes his lawsuit will lead to developments in his daughter's slaying. Then finally, in 1993, nine years after Laura's disappearance, an unlikely suspect emerged: Robert Abel, a retired NASA engineer. On Monday, members of the House Judiciary Committee met in New York for a hearing on violent crime in the city. Miller, his eyes wild with excitement, put the backhoe into gear and started scooping up earth over a ten-square-foot area. gads_event = event; It remains unclear if Abel had taken his own life. Robert, though, immediately insisted on his innocence and always maintained he was not involved in the murders in any way, shape, or form. Eventually, in 2019 the remaining bodies, Jane and Janet Doe were positively identified as that of Audrey Lee Cook and Donna Prudhomme, respectively. Read More: William Reece: Who Were His Victims? 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. Abel took an energetic part in solving the crimes, which only made him more suspicious. His stepdaughter while out riding located another set of skeletal remains. Its hard to gauge whos telling the truth. In fact, they dont have any. }); The 25-year-old cocktail waitress disappeared after she left her parents' home to hitch a ride to Houston to visit her boyfriend. But she never made it. hitType: 'event', . I really do, he told me. According to law enforcement officials, the killings began in the early seventies and lasted through the late nineties. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Abel was at the now-padlocked Stardust Trailrides waiting for me. 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}} At the bottom of the box I saw a small photo album with the words Robert Abel printed on the cover. 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