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Man charged in connection with some of ‘Texas Killing Fields’ deaths of dozens of women

HOUSTON (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a man allegedly connected to some of the deaths linked to the “Texas Killing Fields,” an area near Houston where the bodies of dozens of women were found beginning in the 1970s, saying they have solved a piece of a tragic mystery that has inspired books, movies and a Netflix documentary.

A stretch of land along Interstate 45 southeast of Houston was dubbed the “Texas Killing Fields” after the bodies of more than 30 women were found there. Investigators believe multiple perpetrators may be responsible for the deaths of mainly girls and young women.

A Galveston grand jury has indicted 61-year-old James Dolphs Elmore Jr. for his alleged role in the deaths of 16-year-old Laura Miller and 30-year-old Audrey Cook, whose bodies were found in the infamous area in 1986, Galveston County District Attorney Kenneth Cusick said Wednesday.

Court and jail records did not list an attorney who could speak on behalf of Elmore, who was arrested Tuesday and is being held without bond in the Galveston County Jail.

Miller and Cook were two 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 two women were 25-year-old Heidi Fye-Villareal and 34-year-old Donna Prudhomme.

Cusick said after being appointed as district attorney in October that he would to take a harder look at these cases.

“Due to the concerted efforts of the law enforcement agencies in this county, this 40-year cycle of violence by these defendants against women, we’re trying to make headway on it, and I think we made significant headway yesterday in getting a charge against Mr. Elmore and having him arrested,” he said.

Elmore has been charged with manslaughter and felony tampering with evidence in the death of Miller and with tampering with evidence in Cook’s killing.

Cusick said prosecutors had also presented evidence to a grand jury seeking indictments against Clyde Hedrick, who authorities allege was the person responsible for the deaths of the four women and had been Elmore’s longtime friend.

But the 72-year-old Hedrick died by suicide last month before the grand jury came back with a decision in his case, Cusick said.

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 in 2022 and was still on parole at the time of his death, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Relatives of the victims on Wednesday said they were relieved an arrest had been made but expressed frustration it had taken so long.

“I think with everything that they had in the past, it’s inexcusable that Clyde Hedrick had the opportunity to die without never been indicted, convicted,” said Tim Miller, the father of Laura Miller. After his daughter’s death, Miller founded Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit that helps look for missing people.

Miller said that in the last four years, he had met 30 times with Elmore who had shared information but he declined to elaborate on what Elmore told him because he didn’t want to jeopardize the case against him.

Nina Jager, Fye-Villareal’s niece, celebrated Elmore’s indictment but said it was also “bittersweet” because her grandfather had investigated the case and long believed Hedrick was responsible but his efforts were ignored by authorities.

“Maybe today is a result of all the work that he put in, all the searching the fields, going and talking to people and doing his own investigation because he just didn’t feel supported,” she said.

Cusick said he’s committed to continue working on these cases and that there are active leads that can be pursued “to bring to justice some people who may have escaped justice thus far,” he said.

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

In 2022, William Reece, an Oklahoma death row inmate, pleaded guilty to three murders in Texas, including those of 12-year-old Laura Smither and 17-year-old Jessica Cain in Galveston County, and 20-year-old Kelli Cox, who was from Denton in North Texas but whose body was found hundreds of miles away in Brazoria County, located next to Galveston County. He received life sentences for all three murders.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

Grandfather recovering from surgery after bison attack at Yellowstone sent him flying

By WTOP Staff
(CNN) — What started as a yearly trip for a grandfather and his grandson turned into a visit to a Montana hospital after a bison attack at Yellowstone National Park.Carl McDaniel, 65, was hospitalized with a broken femur after a bison charged and tossed him into the air Friday evening at the park’s Bridge Bay Campground, according to McDaniel and the National Park Service.He was visiting the park with his 13-year-old grandson when they decided to take a walk after dinner.Along the way, they encountered a large bison that appeared to be rolling around in the dust and was not bothering anyone, McDaniel told CNN.“We were about a hundred yards away,” McDaniel said. “He was not aggressive; he was not having problems and we took some pictures and decided to walk on.”McDaniel and his grandson snapped a quick photo and continued with their walk, video of the encounter shows. At the same time, a truck drove by, and the driver laid on his horn in what appeared to be an attempt to get the bison to move, McDaniel said. There is no audio on the video.The bison then appeared to become agitated and began running toward the pair.“There was little time to decide what to do. At that point, he was within 100 yards; he could be to us in seconds, so I told my grandson to run in one direction and I went the other to try and draw him away,” McDaniel said.The animal then pushed McDaniel with the top of its head, sending him flying into the air before he hit the ground, the grandfather said.“When I was on the ground immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me. He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life, and he did not do so,” McDaniel said.After McDaniel hit the ground, photographer Mike MacLeod, who captured the encounter on video, had to step in, he told Cowboy State Daily.“I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” MacLeod said.After the bison took off, people rushed over to McDaniel, who was in a lot of pain, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. Yellowstone EMS arrived soon after, he said.“Park emergency medical personnel responded and transported him to a nearby hospital,” the National Park Service said in confirming the incident in a statement to CNN.This is the second bison attack at Yellowstone this year. A 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano on June 26, according to the agency.After Friday’s attack, “all the people that were there were amazing; they were all positive, they were trying to help as best they could,” McDaniel said. A nurse started tending to his leg, while another bystander held his head.He was then transferred to a hospital in Bozeman, a two-hour journey during which he was in intense pain. He said he was grateful for the paramedic who helped him along the way.McDaniel broke his femur, the body’s strongest bone, in four places near his hip and suffered several bruises. He had surgery Sunday and could stand by Monday.“I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,” McDaniel said.The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison at all times and to never approach the animals. “If the bison follows you, spray bear spray as you are moving away, and seek cover behind nearby trees or cars,” the agency said.Correction: An earlier version of this story understated how far visitors should stay away from bison. The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards from them.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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