"Killing Field" in League City, Texas- Calder Rd Cold Cases

[JeannieC]

Originally Posted by vlpate

San Leon was on the way to where either of them lived so to take her back to a place to dump her body wouldn't have been that far out of the way. I think it was a place they knew - and it makes me wonder if they were involved in any other of the disappearances in the area.

Have you any idea why King was in El Paso? He was a long way from home there.

I haven't a clue. He might have gone there to get away from the area of his crimes or he might have gone there to find other victims.

[JeannieC]

Originally Posted by scriptgirl

I don't get the feeling this is the fist time they had hurt a woman. Did they ever dig up their property?

I doubt if it was the first or the last. jmo. I don't know if they dug up the property but they did search the property.

[KateB]

From 1971 into the 1990s, more than 30 bodies—all of them schoolgirls or young women—have been found dumped along a 40-mile stretch of Interstate 45 between here and Galveston Island, an area that’s become known as the Killing Fields.

A decade ago, BBC news asked: “Is this the most dangerous road in America?” Even then, no one was optimistic about a breakthrough. The nine law enforcement departments with jurisdiction over the murders failed to identify a pattern.

much more at link, including quotes from Tim Miller.



http://www.texasobserver.org/highway-injustice/

[amber1]

This article refers more to all the I-45 murders, but it was a good update, and I wanted to share it!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...red-there.html

**I must add it's so eery how Marilyn Monroe was possibly murdered, and decades later, her neice was too:/ (Krystal Jean Baker)

[bessie]

Originally Posted by amber1

This article refers more to all the I-45 murders, but it was a good update, and I wanted to share it!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...red-there.html

**I must add it's so eery how Marilyn Monroe was possibly murdered, and decades later, her neice was too:/ (Krystal Jean Baker)

And practically a miracle that her killer was caught 14 years later.

According to a Texas Department of Public Service DNA analyst, it would take one billion planets with the same human population as earth before finding someone other than Kevin Edison Smith who would match the DNA profile that was found on the dress of Texas City teenager Krystal Jean Baker.

Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/ne...#ixzz2GzPpmoxK

Of course, that leaves one to wonder how many other victims were left behind and might never be found.

[amber1]

Originally Posted by bessie

And practically a miracle that her killer was caught 14 years later.

Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/ne...#ixzz2GzPpmoxK

Of course, that leaves one to wonder how many other victims were left behind and might never be found.

I agree, it is an absolute miracle that Krystal's case was solved!!! But I am sure there are many other unfortunate families and victims who are within these stats that will never see justice...technology is advancing though...just look at the two UIDs found in the Killing fields-now we can have knowledge about them through NAMUS and Doe network, whereas years back, we wouldn't even know they existed unless it was through a national news or newspaper-it's much easier to spread awareness now, so I don't think these cases are impossible to solve.

[Lyssav]

Hi
New here!

I am from the same county as Jessica Cain. I was 8 when she went missing in 1997 its when my parents taught me about stranger danger. I have always wondered what happened to Jessica and its so hard for me to believe that she is connected to the string of murders along i45.
Jonathan David Drew is the only suspect in her disappearance, the only thing released to the public was that he was a suspect in her disappearance because he had access to a cherry red Isuzu around the same time Jessica went missing. I also know that his home was searched and police found a vial containing several human teeth, women's underwear, and ski masks. I wonder if any of the items found in his home belonged to Jessica? I just don't get how he got her to pull over in the dark at almost 2am. There was no damage to her vehicle so she wasn't in an accident. She wasn't out of gas and there was no engine trouble. WHY did she pull over? The articles state that Jessica was a very kind girl and would help anyone she could, but Jessica was also smart I don't think she would have pulled over to help some STRANGER she didn't know, but perhaps she would stop for an acquaintance?

Jessica was a beautiful and talented girl and I think she knew whoever abducted her.

Any thoughts?

[amber1]

Originally Posted by Lyssav

Hi
New here!

I am from the same county as Jessica Cain. I was 8 when she went missing in 1997 its when my parents taught me about stranger danger. I have always wondered what happened to Jessica and its so hard for me to believe that she is connected to the string of murders along i45.
Jonathan David Drew is the only suspect in her disappearance, the only thing released to the public was that he was a suspect in her disappearance because he had access to a cherry red Isuzu around the same time Jessica went missing. I also know that his home was searched and police found a vial containing several human teeth, women's underwear, and ski masks. I wonder if any of the items found in his home belonged to Jessica? I just don't get how he got her to pull over in the dark at almost 2am. There was no damage to her vehicle so she wasn't in an accident. She wasn't out of gas and there was no engine trouble. WHY did she pull over? The articles state that Jessica was a very kind girl and would help anyone she could, but Jessica was also smart I don't think she would have pulled over to help some STRANGER she didn't know, but perhaps she would stop for an acquaintance?

Jessica was a beautiful and talented girl and I think she knew whoever abducted her.

Any thoughts?

That is a good question-WHY did she pull over? I have heard speculation about it being a person in uniform who made her pullover..or maybe someone who impersonated someone in uniform? She also could have pulled over maybe to give someone a ride who needed it or to help someone with apparent car trouble (maybe she thought it was someone or it was someone she knew?). I know many predators use the fact women are kind and sympathetic to their advantage. Look at Ted Bundy-he would be in a crutch and say he needed help w/ something-that's how he'd lure his victims. Just some thoughts!

[Lyssav]

Amber1,

Thanks for the reply. I always enjoy hearing different ideas! I am not sure where you are located, but since I live in the county she went missing and I work in a bank I am familiar with a lot of residents and I hear all kinds of crazy things. And I heard something that I had never heard before about Jessica's case just the other day and it makes sense to me. I could see it possibly being true.
I have always thought that someone was jealous of Jessica, jealous enough to make her disappear.

<modsnip>

I was actually talking to a coworker today about her disappearance and they said "nobody remembers her case anyways"
Sad
But true.

Bumping for Jess

[bessie]

Originally Posted by amber1

That is a good question-WHY did she pull over? I have heard speculation about it being a person in uniform who made her pullover..or maybe someone who impersonated someone in uniform? She also could have pulled over maybe to give someone a ride who needed it or to help someone with apparent car trouble (maybe she thought it was someone or it was someone she knew?). I know many predators use the fact women are kind and sympathetic to their advantage. Look at Ted Bundy-he would be in a crutch and say he needed help w/ something-that's how he'd lure his victims. Just some thoughts!

Driving home very late one night in the 1980's when I was about Jessica's age, I pulled over on I-610 in New Orleans when I saw the flashing blue light on a car following behind me. The driver turned out to be a man who I recognized as an undercover LEO. I knew his face, but not his name. Why did he stop me? To ask me to meet him for breakfast. I refused, and when I reported the incident to a NOPD detective friend, he chastised me for stopping. He warned me never to pull over on the street when driving alone because "anyone can buy a blue light". Drive to a service station or a place where other people are present. Many young women end up hurt that way, he said, and "a real cop" wll understand.

[amber1]

Originally Posted by bessie

Driving home very late one night in the 1980's when I was about Jessica's age, I pulled over on I-610 in New Orleans when I saw the flashing blue light on a car following behind me. The driver turned out to be a man who I recognized as an undercover LEO. I knew his face, but not his name. Why did he stop me? To ask me to meet him for breakfast. I refused, and when I reported the incident to a NOPD detective friend, he chastised me for stopping. He warned me never to pull over on the street when driving alone because "anyone can buy a blue light". Drive to a service station or a place where other people are present. Many young women end up hurt that way, he said, and "a real cop" wll understand.

Bessie,
Thanks for sharing, that is definitley something that could have happened to Jessica-of course you're going to pull over if you think you're being pulled over by a cop! I was studying the Colonial Parkway crimes, and many people vanished, only to leave behind their cars pulled over, with their driver's liscense out and driver's windown rolled down, which seems to me they got pulled over by a
"police officer". It didn't help that they were alone and happened to be pulled over in an area with no one around either.
Brandi Wells also vanished from Texas, her car found pulled over and abandoned, but evidence, like a gas canister that was not hers, from her car points to someone who was "trying to help her with car trouble". It does not seem Jessica had car trouble...so why would she have pulled over?

[Lyssav]

She was driving her father's tan 1992 Ford pickup truck with an extended cab and a camper shell back to her family's residence in Tiki Island at the time. One of Jessica's friends saw her vehicle parked on the southbound shoulder of Interstate 45 between Exits 7 and 8 in La Marque shortly after she left the restaurant. The location is near Highland Bayou Park. According to her friend, Jessica was last seen walking towards a 1993 or newer cherry-red Isuzu Amigo parked behind her truck on the shoulder.

I remember reading something a woman from the area posted either on this website or another forum. And she said she was driving one day and a guy started pointing to her tire the woman kept driving and the man kept up with her still pointing at her tire. She states that she passed up her destination and drove until this man stopped following her. When she arrived home she checked out the tire the man kept pointing at and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Wonder if maybe something like this happened to Jessica.
I have had someone roll down their window and tell me my tire is really low and I pulled over right then and there to check it.

[Lyssav]

Wasn't sure where to post this hopefully it can be moved to the proper place.

My boyfriend and I went to our favorite bait hole and noticed some bones located underwater the tide was very low the day we noticed them the photo was shown to a police officer that works in a different county, he says they didn't look human to him. I never called police to the area because I too didn't see anything that resembled a human( hands, feet, or skull) but it has left me wondering. Follow the link to see the image of the bones and post some feedback!!

http://pbckt.com/pJ.RTOE3z

[jnjplus6]

I was reading the article from the Sealy News link noted in post #85 and did anyone notice this comment that was made by JP King? "King said she was pregnant and may have given birth soon before her death." Since Gloria Stringer's son was 6 at the time of her disappearance/murder, then it couldn't be him....so I suppose it is possible that Gloria has a 2nd child that may be looking for a mother or has been lied to for years about who their parents are? I guess a search of hospital records in the area that Gloria was living at the time, give or take 6 weeks to 6 months might find something, providing she had a full term pregnancy and gave birth at a hospital.

I'm new to this forum after watching the "Texas Killing Fields" today. Sadly, I was disappointed in the movie, I don't know exactly what I was hoping for, but it just didn't hit the mark for me. Plus with it being shot in Louisiana instead of Texas didn't help either, in my opinion.
I was raised in the Clear Lake area and have pretty much stayed within 15 - 20 miles or so of the first home I lived in when my parents moved from Florida to Houston when my father was working for NASA and was transferred in 1970. I am currently a resident of Santa Fe. The disappearance of Rene Richerson on 10/7/1988, really stuck in my head, as I got married on the 8th and honeymooned in Galveston.
I'm hoping to that folks will start getting interested in these cold cases again and bring some closure to their families, even after all this time.
Is there any reason that this particular thread is so quiet? Has everyone moved to a different titled thread about these cases that I haven't come across yet? I would love to discuss this more, although I don't have anything personally linking me to the cases other than I lived here and it's a part of our local history. What's even more strange is I was also a sophmore at Clear Creek High School during the same time frame that Laura Miller was attending, and I don't really recall anything about it, or even being warned by the teachers or my parents to be careful and watch out who I talk to when I was out and about.
Hoping to get to know some neighbors, share our interest in these cold cases and maybe help bring someone to justice for all the heartaches.
Jen

[Lyssav]

Most didn't like the movie as most of it was considered fictional. I currently work with Mike, he was one of the two detectives that the movie was based on. He asked if I had seen the movie and I told him I had but was a little upset because I found myself screaming at the tv "that's not how it really happened". He said although it is mostly fictional some parts are actually part of the real story. Oddly enough, the two detectives that the movie is based on werent even able to work in any killing field case because they are Texas City cops and the "killing fields" are actually located in League City. They had no jurisdiction just as it was in the movie. The opening scene in this movie is supposed to depict Jessica Cains disappearance. The scene where the killer calls and you can hear a woman screaming/dying is untrue. However there were phone calls made to police from a man that claimed to have killed a woman and gave her location. They found her. The movie is based on cases stretching from Galveston to Houston and is not soley based on "the killing fields" in league city. I think the most misleading part is the young girl that these detectives watched out for.

All in all it was a good movie to kind of highlight these cases hoping someone may possibly come forward with information.

[jnjplus6]

"The movie is based on cases stretching from Galveston to Houston and is not soley based on "the killing fields" in league city. "

Thanks for the reply Lyssav. Are you in law enforcement or has Mike retired from LE and doing other things now?

In my reading yesterday, someone, some where on the WWW, mentioned that there were also several young women killed and left between the Killing Field area and Louisiana. I haven't really read too much on it yet, as I was trying to catch up on the Houston/Galveston information that is out there.

What is the likelyhood that the murderer that is guilty of most of these crimes (I really believe that there was more than one, maybe even a copcat or two), is either dead or in jail somewhere? Hasn't it been since 2006, since there has been any disappearances of this nature in the area? Some of those in the 2000's don't fit under the same "killing fields" umbrella, so to speak, as the others, in my honest opinion. Not that it would change anything about their story or the heartache caused by each and every disappearance/murder. It's all horrible and I pray for each and every one of them and their families.

Lyssav, I missed your post #412 that you mention, "And she said she was driving one day and a guy started pointing to her tire the woman kept driving and the man kept up with her still pointing at her tire. " I remember something similar to that happening to me in the late 80's. I had gotten off of work at the Loews theater,that used to be by Pappasito's in Clear Lake, to go to my boyfriend's house in Spring Branch. It was maybe around 11 at night, but someone started tailgating me right around FM 2351, then speeding up beside me, rolling down their window and yelling at me and pointing at my car. That's pretty much all I can remember of it now.
Also what did you hear about the Jessica case last month? If you wrote about it, it was "modsnip"ed from your post. <modsnip>

[bessie]

Welcome to Websleuths, jnjplus6. I'm happy to see you posting with us. You probably noticed that I moved your first post over here to a discussion thread.

The movie was lacking, but as Lyssav said, it has helped to bring attention to the long unsolved murders.

[Lyssav]

Mike is now a retired detective but does side work at my place of work. I work as a teller. Brian, the other detective still currently works for the Texas city police department. I believe the stretch from Louisiana to Texas that you speak of is referred to as "the dead zone" or something catchy like that. I can't find a link for it but I come across it every once in a while.

In response to the question about Jessica, it was nothing significant. A school mate just so happened to like the same boy Jessica liked and I read somewhere else that it was possible Jess was going to meet up with a boy the night she vanished. A lot of kids blamed this school mate for Jessica's disappearance. I always kind of thought it was very possible for someone to be jealous enough to make her disappear.

School mate and family is very well known in the Galveston area and I think it is a theory that still has not been ruled out.

I was emailing the lead detective on Jess's case and she told me she would call and we could talk about the case. Not to my surprise the detective NEVER called me and the emailing ended rather quickly.

These missing and unidentified women are counting on us here!!

[nutkin]

The murder for which Jonathan David Drew was convicted is the death of Tina Marie Flood. He actually "befriended" her at a club and then abducted her from the parking lot of the club. It is quite possible that he did the same thing to Jessica Cain and since she "knew" him, she felt comfortable stopping.