The Evidence Room, Episode 36

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, Texas. The murders of Heide Villareal Fye, Laura Miller, Audrey Cook and Donna Prudhomme were never solved.

In our four-part episode of KPRC 2 Investigates’ nationally acclaimed 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 put my finger on all the emotions I was going through,” said Tim Miller, Laura Miller’s father and founder of Texas EqquSearch.

Heide Fye is believed to be the first victim of the so-called “Texas Killing Fields.”

Fye was the mother of 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 1983 after spending the day with her father. In April of the following year, a dog found a skull in a field near Calder Road. Dental records identified the remains as Fye’s.

“As you can imagine, it fractured us,” Heide’s niece, Nina Jager. “It was never the same after that and I wonder how different all 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 hadn’t been connected yet. Laura’s mother led her to a pay phone in a nearby store to call her boyfriend to invite him home for a bar-b-que. Laura’s mother 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 10, 1984, I’ll never forget that day,” said Tim Miller.

In February 1986, 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 1991, a fourth body was found in a field off Calder Rd. This victim was originally known as “Janet Doe.”

In 2019, a technique known as forensic genetic genealogy helps 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 the money via Western Union on December 17, 1985.

League City police reported that Audrey held various jobs in and around the Houston area, including as a mechanic for a golf cart company and National Rent-A-Car, as well as Harrison Equipment Company and Balloon Affair.

“It was like she died at that point, even though she’s been gone for a long time and we’ve been looking for her all this time,” said Shirley Love, Audrey’s sister-in-law.

Love said Audrey’s mother, father and brother died 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, Texas. according to the police. Prudhomme had two boys who were 12 and 16 when she disappeared.

“It was decades and days and months and nights of nightmares and fear,” said Dianne Gonsoulin, Donna’s sister.

Gonsoulin said Donna’s youngest son died of complications from a car accident before his mother was identified.

“All Chad ever asked for was his mom,” Gonsoulin said.

Gonsoulin said when Donna was identified, it brought some comfort to her oldest son, Brad.

“He knows she didn’t abandon him. So while this is a tragic, tragic thing for him, he knew that his mother loved him and she didn’t just walk out of their lives,” Gonsoulin said.

During our four-part documentary, we take you inside the lives of Laura, Audrey, Donna and Heide. You’ll hear about the decades-long search their families have endured to find justice, and you’ll hear the roadblocks in investigations.

A suspect has been named, but no charges have been filed against that person.

“The Texas Killing Fields” continues next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. exclusively on the KPRC 2+ live stream. You can also catch up on past seasons here.