LEAGUE CITY, Texas – When League City police recently identified two victims from the "Killing Fields" murders, it highlighted a long-standing commitment by the department's police chief.
“For me, it was always unfinished business,” Chief Gary Ratliff said. “It was one of those kinds of things that it just is always something that we carry with us.”
Ratliff started as a patrol officer with the League City Police Department in 1985. During his 34-year rise through the ranks, Ratliff never lost sight of his department's unsolved murder cases.
“I try to never give up on anything,” he said.
A case Ratliff worked as a young detective is among the cold case files. Cheryl Martin was found strangled off FM 646 in 1989. Ratliff said it is believed Martin worked as a prostitute at truck stops.
“We had leads that we followed, but it was difficult,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff was also on-duty the day two of the Killing Fields victims were found.
“I was working patrol the day Laura and, at the time, Jane Doe, were found,” he said.
When Ratliff became assistant police chief he redoubled the department's efforts in working cold cases. Ratliff said he makes sure at least one detective is always working these old cases and the department's budget has money to retest old evidence when new science is available.
“You just have to make the decision that that's the direction you're going to go,” he said.
League City's cold case unit has had notable successes. In 2016, detectives put together enough to evidence to see 58-year old Jesse Dean Kersh charged in a more than three-decades-old triple murder case. Kersh is scheduled for trial this year in what was known as the "Corvette Concept" murders.
More recently, the department was able to identify Audrey Cook and Donna Prudhomme, both Killing Fields victims who went unidentified for decades. These identities brought fresh leads to one of the most notorious series of murders in our area.
“I hope, over time, we're able to bring justice for those girls and the families of them,” Ratliff said. “I always have that feeling deep in my heart that there's something that's going to break at some point-in-time.”
Ratliff also said the case he worked as a detective may soon see a resolution. Ratliff said scientific advances helped reveal new DNA evidence in Martin’s murder, which he hopes will reveal a killer’s identity.
