League City detectives are requesting assistance from the public in identifying skeletal remains of two female victims who were found years ago in the area known as the Texas Killing Fields. Forensic DNA analysis produced a breakthrough which may help investigators bring closure to the cases of two of the women found near Calder Road, the infamous location of the bodies of several women who were found to be brutally murdered.
The remains of the two victims in question are from 1986 and 1991. Working with a company out of Virginia with extensive expertise in DNA technology, League City investigators are hoping to predict ancestry as well as physical appearance of the two as yet unidentified women. If they do, it would be a huge step in a case which has plagued local detectives for years. This newest method of DNA analysis being implemented is called “phenotyping.” As a result, facial composites of the two victims have been produced, with striking detail.
Photo: Facebook/Whispers Beyond The Grave
The “Texas Killing Fields” is the name given to an area off Calder Drive in League City. The infamous stretch of land is a 25-acre bog along Interstate 45 where several women’s bodies were found. It spurred a detective involved in the case to write the screenplay, shedding light on the matter and its victims in the 2011 movie starring Sam Worthington. To date, there haven’t been any convictions in the case of four female victims, in particular, found between 1983 and 1991, two of which have yet to be identified.
Photo: Facebook/The Morgue Files Cold Cases And Unsolved Mysteries
A spokesman for the League City Police Department, Kelly Williamson, told chron.com that making the correct identification of the two women could possibly lead to a suspect in their murders, but noted, “…Our ultimate goal right now is to find out who these people are and give closure to anybody we can.” Heide Villareal Fye is the first of the four victims that League City investigators have been focusing on. She was a 25-year-old bartender and waitress who left her family’s League City home October 7, 1983. She was hitching a ride to Houston in order to visit her boyfriend. Her remains were located the following April. A second victim, Laura Lynn Miller, was a 16-year-old who disappeared following the use of a pay phone at a local convenience store. Her remains were located in the same area in February 1986. Miller’s father, Tim Miller, has since founded Texas Equusearch, an organization dedicated to the search for and rescue of missing persons. The other two victims’ remains were located next to Miller’s body and have never been identified. It is hoped that by working to develop these latest sophisticated composite sketches, a breakthrough in their identities will occur.
The woman found in 1986 is believed to have had a fair complexion, hair that was blond/brown in color, and blue or green eyes. The phenotyping process has also helped to determine that she would have had little to no freckles, be between the ages of 22 and 30, approximately 5’5” to 5’8” in height, and had a probable family origin of Tennessee. There was also a noticeable gap in her upper front teeth. The second woman, found in 1991, was also determined to have fair skin, brown hair, hazel eyes, and possibly few freckles. She is believed to have a probable family origin of Louisiana. Her age was somewhere between 24 and 34, she weighed between 100 and 130 pounds, and stood 5’ to 5’3” in height. To date, authorities only have “persons of interest” in these four murders, the two of which, noted above, are yet unidentified.
Photo: Flickr/Alan Cleaver
The “Texas Killing Fields” references the location where 22 women’s bodies were found. Their murders began in 1971, and to this day, only one conviction has resulted – Kevin Edison Smith was sentenced to life without parole for the murder of 13-year-old Krystal Jean Baker in 1986. Over the years, there have been other suspects linked to the case, but no additional convictions. The League City Police Department is asking those with information to contact Lt. Michael Buffington at (281) 338-8220. In addition, they ask that those with origins of the same geographic areas noted for these unidentified women speak with family to find out if any female relatives matching their descriptions went missing or may have lost contact inexplicably since 1986 or 1991.
