Between 1984 and 1991 the bodies of four women were found in an abandoned oil field at the end of Calder Rd. in League City, Tx. The murders of Heide Villareal Fye, Laura Miller, Audrey Cook and Donna Prudhomme have never been solved.
In our four-part episode of KPRC 2 Investigates nationally recognized show ‘The Evidence Room,’ we examine the lives of these women and the work their families have done to find justice.
“It was crazy. I don’t know if I can, I really can’t even put my finger on all the emotions that I was going through,” said Tim Miller, father of Laura Miller and founder of Texas EqquSearch.
Heide Fye is believed to be the first victim of the so-called “Texas Killing Fields.”
Fye was a mother to a five-year-old girl who worked as a waitress and bartender at a then popular bar In League City called the Texas Moon. Fye disappeared in October of 1983 after spending the day with her father. In April of the following year a dog found a skull in a field off Calder Road. Dental records identified the remains as belonging to Fye.
“As you can imagine it fractured us,” Heide’s niece, Nina Jager. “It was never the same again after that and I wonder how differently all of our lives would have been.”
Five months after Fye was found, Laura Miller disappeared from her League City neighborhood. The family had just moved to League City from Dickinson and their new phone had not yet been connected. Laura’s mom drove her to a payphone at a near-by convenience store to call her boyfriend to invite him over to the house for a bar-b-que. Laura’s mom then went to work, and Laura said she would walk the mile and-a-half back to their house. That was the last time she was seen.
“September 10th, 1984, I’ll never, ever forget that day,” said Tim Miller.
In February of 1986 young boys riding dirt bikes found Laura Miller’s body in the same area as Fye. When police arrived, they found a second victim, who at the time was listed as “Jane Doe.”
In September of 1991 a fourth body was found in the field off Calder Rd. This victim was originally known as “Janet Doe.”
In 2019 a technique known as forensic genetic genealogy help identify Jane and Janet Doe as Audrey Cook and Donna Prudhomme. Cook was from Memphis, Tennessee and the last contact she had with her family was when her mother wired her money via Western Union on Dec. 17, 1985.
League City police reported Audrey held various jobs in and around the Houston area including working as a mechanic for a golf cart company and National Rent-A-Car, as well as working at Harrison Equipment Company and Balloon Affair.
“It was just like she had died that moment, even though she’d been gone long and I had been looking for all that time, " said Shirley Love, Audrey’s sister-in-law.
Love said Audrey’s mother, father and brother passed away before she was identified.
Donna Prudhomme was originally from Port Arthur, but moved to Austin, then Seabrook and was last seen in 1991 in Nassau Bay, Tx. according to police. Prudhomme had two boys who were 12 and 16 years old when she disappeared.
“There were decades and days and months and nights of nightmares and fear,” said Dianne Gonsoulin, Donna’s sister.
Gonsoulin said Donna’s youngest son passed away due to complications from a car accident before his mother was identified.
“All Chad ever asked for was his mama,” said Gonsoulin.
Gonsoulin said when Donna was identified it brought some comfort to her oldest son, Brad.
“He knows she didn’t abandon them. So even though this is a tragic, tragic thing for him, he knew that his mama loved him, and she didn’t just walk out of their lives,” said Gonsoulin.
During our four-part documentary we take you inside the lives of the Laura, Audrey, Donna and Heide. You’ll hear the decades-long searches their families have endured to find justice and you’ll hear the stumbling blocks in the investigations.
A suspect has been named, but no charges have ever been filed against this person.
‘The Texas Killing Fields’ continues next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. exclusively on the KPRC 2+ livestream. You can also catch up on past seasons here.
