League City police determine identities of 2 women found in 'Texas Killing Fields'

A digital composite image and DNA analysis released by the League City Police Department of a woman whose body was found in a field near Calder Road in 1986. The analysis indicates that the woman had family that may have originated in Tennessee. less A digital composite image and DNA analysis released by the League City Police Department of a woman whose body was found in a field near Calder Road in 1986. The analysis indicates that the woman had family ... more Photo: League City Police Dept. Photo: League City Police Dept. Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close League City police determine identities of 2 women found in 'Texas Killing Fields' 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Decades after two unidentified women were found dead in a swampy area off Interstate 45 dubbed the "Texas Killing Fields," League City police announced Thursday that they have identified the women and are investigating the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

A breakthrough in forensic DNA analysis helped detectives identify the skeletal remains of the two victims, a "Jane Doe" whose remains were found in 1986, and a "Janet Doe" found in 1991. Both bodies were discovered in an area off Calder Road known as the "Texas Killing Fields."

OPINION: A Houston DNA company helped catch the Golden State Killer. What does it mean for your privacy? Join the conversation at HoustonChronicle.com.

The League City Police Department will hold a news conference Monday to reveal the identities of Jane and Janet Doe and discuss the cases. The news about the identification was released in advance to allow national media outlets the opportunity to cover the news conference, a police department spokesman said.

Investigators announced in December that advances in DNA technology had provided the potential for unearthing new leads in the cold cases and identifying a suspect. Working with Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company in Virginia, investigators have sought to piece together the appearance and ancestry of the two unidentified women using a new method of analysis called DNA "phenotyping."

However, a spokesman for the League City Police Department said the DNA analysis was only one component of the breakthrough.

"It's a multi-faceted road," said Kelly Williamson, public information officer. "There were a bunch of branches of the road that had to come together and (the DNA phenotyping) was one part of showing us what they would look like."

The "Texas Killing Fields" is a boggy, 25-acre stretch of land along Interstate 45 where four women's bodies were found between 1983 and 1991, including Janw and Janet Doe. No one has been convicted in connection with the four deaths.

The first of the four victims investigators are focusing on — Heide Villareal Fye, a 25-year-old waitress and bartender — left her parents' house in League City on Oct. 7, 1983, to hitch a ride to Houston to see her boyfriend. The following April, her remains were found in the clearing.

'PROLIFIC' SERIAL KILLER: Eerie drawings of his victims continue to surface from his jail cell. See the images, including one from Houston at HoustonChronicle.com.

Another victim, 16-year-old Laura Lynn Miller, disappeared after using a pay phone at a nearby convenience store. Her body was found in the same clearing in February 1986.

Laura Miller's father, Tim Miller, is the founder of Texas Equusearch, a search and rescue organization dedicated to searching for missing persons. Miller could not be reached for comment Thursday. The remains of Jane Doe were found next to Laura Miller's body.

Five years later in 1991, another female body was found in the Calder Road field. The victim appeared to have been killed with a blunt instrument. The woman was never identified and was given the name Janet Doe.

League City investigators learned of Parabon phenotyping software two years ago, and they immediately worked with the company to analyze the unidentified women's DNA and make "predictions" about the color of their eyes, hair and skin, as well as freckling and the shape of their faces. These predictions were combined with forensic facial reconstruction to create the composite images of the victims.

Coroners estimated that Jane Doe was 22 to 30 years old and died six weeks to six months before she was found. DNA analysis determined that Jane Doe most likely had fair to very fair skin, blue or green eyes, blond/brown hair, few or no freckles, and a likely family origin of Tennessee.

Janet Doe was estimated to be 24 to 34 and died six weeks to several months prior to being found. She most likely had fair skin, hazel eyes, brown hair, and few or no freckles, according to DNA analysis. It is believed her relatives were of Louisiana Acadian descent.

League City police have said there are "persons of interest" in the slayings that investigators have not been able to eliminate. In the years since the first bodies turned up, police investigators and prosecutors have claimed that one or two serial killers are likely responsible for all four deaths and that additional murders may be tied to these suspects.

One suspect, Mark Roland Stallings, who is serving two life sentences for a series of unrelated crimes, told author Kathryn Casey that he killed Janet Doe in 1991. Stallings said the woman was a teenage prostitute he strangled and dumped in the clearing off Calder Road. Stallings remains a prime suspect in the 1991 murder and two other slayings in Fort Bend County.

Casey, who published the 2015 book "Deliver Us: Three Decades of Murder and Redemption in the Infamous I-45/Texas Killing Fields," said she took Stallings' admission to a forensic pathologist, who said it was "highly possible" that the 1991 victim died in the manner that Stallings described.

"Stallings told me that he murdered Janet Doe in graphic terms," Casey said. "It will be interesting to see if that holds up or if Stallings was lying."

Another man, Clyde Edwin Hedrick — sentenced in 2014 to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of manslaughter — was linked to the deaths of Heidi Fye and Laura Miller during his trial, but he was never charged. Tim Miller has previously told the Houston Chronicle that he believes Hedrick, a former neighbor, murdered his daughter.

Miller filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hedrick in 2014 and a jury trial for the lawsuit is scheduled for January 2020, according to Galveston County court records.

Nick Powell covers Galveston County for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.com

NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.