A Texas man was found guilty of manslaughter for his role in a death linked to the “Texas Killing Fields.”

James Elmore Jr., 61, was sentenced to 20 years in state prison on Thursday, Sept. 3 in connection to the 1984 death of 16-year-old Laura Miller, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Elmore was also found guilty of evidence tampering for concealing the remains of the teen and Audrey Cook, a 30-year-old mechanic who was found naked with a gunshot wound to the back in 1986, according to KHOU-11.

During the trial, jurors were shown evidence of more than a dozen images of child sex abuse material that was allegedly discovered on Elmore’s phone while authorities were investigating him, according to the Chronicle.

In March, Elmore was indicted by a Galveston County grand jury in the deaths of Laura and Audrey. The indictments followed a renewed push by local law enforcement to “bring to justice the murderers responsible for the deaths of approximately 30 women whose bodies were found in an area commonly referred to as the ‘Texas Killing Fields,’” the prosecutor’s office said, per a March news release.

Tim Miller, father of Laura Miller.FBI
Since 1971, the bodies of more than 30 women have been discovered in a 25-acre area near Interstate 45, between Galveston and Houston, known as the “Texas Killing Fields.” In one area, centered near the intersection of Calder Road and Ervin Street in League City, four bodies, including the remains of Audrey and Laura, were discovered between 1984 and 1991.

Laura, a Clear Creek High School sophomore, was found on Feb. 2, 1986, by two boys riding their dirt bikes along Calder Road in League City. She was last seen at a pay phone nearly two years before.

In 2024, the Galveston County DA’s Office started looking again at the evidence in the Killings Fields cases related to Clyde Hedrick, who was the “prime suspect for the murders of several women in the Calder Road Field,” according to the news release.

James Elmore.Galveston County District Attorney’s Office
District Attorney Kenneth Cusick said during a press conference on April 1 he believed Hedrick was responsible for the deaths of the teen and mechanic, and that Elmore helped, per the Houston Chronicle.

Hedrick was convicted of abuse of a corpse related to the death of Ellen Beason, another woman who went missing around the same time as Laura. In 2014, Hedrick was convicted of manslaughter in Beason’s death and sentenced to the maximum term of 20 years in prison. He was paroled after only serving eight years.

The district attorney’s office sought grand jury indictments against Hedrick in connection with the deaths of Laurie and Audrey as well as two other victims, Heidi Fye-Villareal and Donna Prudhomme.

However, Hedrick, 72, died by suicide in March before a grand jury was convened, the prosecutor’s office said.

According to the Chronicle, Elmore approached Miller’s father Tim, who went on to found Texas EquuSearch to help other families find their missing loved ones, in 2022.

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He allegedly told Miller that Laura went to a party at Hedrick’s home where he supplied Hedrick with a large dose of cocaine. Hedrick, he said, gave Laura the cocaine, which she overdosed on.

He then assisted Hedrick in disposing of her body in the Calder Road field, he said, per the Chronicle.

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Miller testified during the trial that he recorded the confession on video and paid Elmore $33,000 with the goal of helping get charges filed against Hedrick, the Chronicle reported.

“It’s been a long 42 years,” Tim Miller told KPRC 2 after the verdict. “These last two days, I didn’t think we were going to get here. I, you know, just kind of reliving these last four years after getting with Mr. Elmore and him telling me all the facts and keeping my composure, it was difficult, difficult at best.”

“Its been a long fight, its been a long battle, any father would have done it, any parent would have done it for their child,” he said.

Elmore’s attorney couldn’t be reached for comment.