document.querySelector("#google_image_div").addEventListener('click',function(){ eventAction: 'click_ads' Despite being found civilly liable for Laura Miller's death, Hedrick has never been charged with her murder. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields is streaming on Netflix now. After my story was published, Abel moved to some family property in another part of the state, trying to get a new start. Well, who knows what happened out here? he said. There are many days when I think about driving over there, putting a gun to his head, and pulling the trigger, Miller says. Texas Monthly's Function from 1999 leads with the provocative headline: "Does Robert Abel walk away with murder?" Indeed, crime scene Circles around Abel, a former NASA scientist who owns the fields, part of which he converted into horse stables. They were not Clyde Headrick, but 60-year-old Robert Abel - a former NASA engineer who owns a ranch near the oil fields. "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. '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'. Robert Abel - A retired NASA engineer died in early 2005. pg.acq.push(function() { Of course hed want the murders solved. When I later asked Abel directly about the photo album, he acted surprised that I was suspicious. He may sound innocent enough, but he has a dark side. A few days later I returned to League City. Thats where we need to dig.. In2005, he stopped his golf cart on the railroad tracks and waited for a train to slam into him. At the time, no one made the connection that she was last seen alive at the same convenience store where Heide Fye had last been seen. For a moment, the only sound was the wind lightly rustling the trees and the low growl of diesel trucks changing gears out on I-45. Detectives from other agencies, frustrated with their own unsolved murders, began calling the police in League City to ask about Abel. Lise: By the time Janet Doe's body was found in 1991, Robert Abel owned the land where the Killing Fields was. Nearly two years later, in February 1986, four boys riding their dirt bikes past the oil field smelled a putrid odor and came across another decomposed body about fifty yards from the spot where Heide Fye was found. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, a true crime documentary on Netflix, is one of the top 10 shows on the service, thus it should not be missed at all. ga('create', 'UA-67136960-15', 'auto', 'ads'); Abel spoke to the media about how this has affected him. (Abel denies this ever happened.) 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. Why wouldnt I be? he asked me. While Robert Abel was a prime suspect in the Killing Fields at one point, he certainly wasn't the only suspect. Sales hit $250,000 in 1991, he says. They greet you at the door, lead you inside, and pull out scrapbooks filled with photos: their girl posing in a soccer uniform, pushing dolls in a stroller, laughing at Showbiz Pizza. With the passing of the years, its harder to deny the probability that a serial killer has been at work since as far back as 1971, when seven young women were murdered over a four-county region in twelve months time. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. 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 the mini-documentary series, Netflix brings light to the Calder Road killings. Bell was identified as a potential suspect as early as the 1970s after the League City Police Department and FBI became aware of his activities in the area. However, there was no evidence linking him to the crime, according to The. ' As such behavior from people he believed to be his friends was difficult to bear, he began living a lonely life and ultimately relocated. 23:57 PST, Dec 6, 2022. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. 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. It is not clear to this day as to whether he had intended to die or if it was accidental. As it turns out, Tim Miller might have found an old garbage dump.. Why would a whole set of womens clothes be buried way out here? Miller said, turning off his machine. Depending on whos counting, at least fifteen and perhaps as many as thirty young femalesall of whom resided in the fifty-mile stretch of coastal plain between Houston and Galvestonhave vanished or been brutally murdered since the early seventies. eventAction: 'render' It's very likely that you're sitting down in front of the TV and are currently searching for something to watch on Netflix. Theres only one problem: They dont have enough evidence to arrest him. ga('ads.send', { window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { A former scientist and engineer for NASA, Robert Abel owned the land where the Calder Road Killings happened. Robert Abel died in 2005, aged 65. One day a group of teenage boys, hoping to prove their courage when they spotted him cruising through town in his pickup, rolled down their car windows and shouted, Hey, Killer! Over the years, he has become such a focus of fear and hostility that in 1997, nearly two hundred people fanned out over his land without his permission, looking for the body of a pretty college student who had disappeared from a Bennigans restaurant not far from League City and who to this day has never been found. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. I wanted kids and families to have the chance to be around horses like I did when I was a kid, he says. As heard in Texas Killing Fields, he remained a suspect in the Texas Killing Field murders until he died. We had our rounds, our arguments and fights. Because the affidavit about Abel had been filed in open court, it was available for the public to peruse. Several young women were disappearing mysteriously. (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. 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. Then a beautiful black-and-white border collie named Jessithe best dog of the bunchrushed over and went into a kind of crazed conniption, whining and lying down. 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. We are one of the worlds fastest growing Although he never hit her, she said she had watched him beat horses with pipes and chains until they submitted to his commands. The man is linked to deaths of four women but was never convicted, according to Newsweek. At that moment, with his back aching and his eyes squinting, he seemed like a kindly old man. This was despite the fact that an affidavit had Abel marked as a serial sexual offender who showed signs of mad behavior that is often seen with serial killers. In League City, where Abel has lived for sixteen years, officers have searched his home and questioned his friends and family. The victims were found in what has become known as the Texas Killing Fields Credit: Netflix. According to sources: gads_event = event; Father whose daughter was murdered three decades ago believes he has finally found her killer, Maine woman shot and killed by longtime partner in murder-suicide 3 years after her parents died the same way. Long story short, he's the prime suspect in the murder of four women found in an oil field next to property he owns. Instead, a dog would dig up her bones in the. ga('ads.send', { window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) { But there would be no peace. As heard in Texas Killing Fields, he. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Once again, without eyewitnesses and only scant physical evidence, the police were stuck. Still, perhaps because no other legitimate suspect ever emerged in the case, Abel never could erase the suspicions about him. Earlier Bittner had learned at a homicide seminar that a police department could get a court-ordered search warrant based solely on the FBIs psychological profile of the potential killer. 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. More than 30 victims have been found since the 1970s and the land is infamously known as the Texas Killing Fields.. hitType: 'event', In fact, Bittner is a bright young man who grew up in Ohio, received a degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University, and moved to Texas to be a police officerhardly the stereotype of the tobacco-chewing small-town lawman. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), 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. He seems almost shyhe tends to put his hands in his front pockets when he speaksand has the soft Texas drawl of a small-town high school civics teacher. Bittner came up with nothing, however, and he wouldnt for nearly five years, until a new set of decomposing remains were found in the field about one hundred yards from where the other bodies had been discovered. Investigators also flew over his land in helicopters, and Abel was interviewed by detectives in neighboring towns, but nothing was found. When Im near him, I feel like Im in the presence of evil., Yet there are problems with the allegations against Abel: Not a shred of physical evidence has ever been found linking him to the four women found dumped in the oil field, no evidence has been uncovered by any police department that can connect him to the murders they have been investigating, and no witness can place him with any of the teenagers or women before they were found dead. Texas Monthly interviewed Abel in 1999. After Tim Miller read the affidavit, he started parking outside Abels League City home at night. The Texas Killing Fields. Law enforcement officials insist that many of the killingssometimes referred to as the I-45 killings because most of them have taken place within a few miles of Interstate 45could have been committed by any number of men, from transients to sex offenders paroled from one of the areas prisons. As long as Pat Bittner and these other police departments have that FBI profile, theyre going to do anything they can to make me fit it.. Donna Prudhomme was among the victims found Credit: League City Police Department. }) The young cocktail waitress was found murdered in the same location as three other females. Him to the Calder Road killings squinting, he remained a suspect in the. few days I. 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