Man Gets Maximum 20-Year Sentence in 1984 Killing of 16-Year-Old Laura Miller in League City

GALVESTON, Texas – More than four decades after 16-year-old Laura Miller disappeared and was later found dead in League City’s notorious “Killing Fields,” a Galveston County jury has sentenced James Dolphs Elmore Jr. to the maximum 20 years in prison for her death.

Jurors sentenced Elmore on Thursday, Sept. 3, after finding him guilty of manslaughter. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Miller was last seen by her family on Sept. 10, 1984. Her disappearance remained a mystery until Feb. 2, 1986, when two sets of human remains were discovered in a field off Calder Road in League City.

The area became known as the “Killing Fields” after the remains of four women were recovered there between 1983 and 1991. The victims were identified as Heidi Fye Villareal, Audrey Cook, Miller and Donna Prudhomme.

For years, investigators focused attention on local man Clyde Hedrick in connection with several of the deaths and the disappearance of Ellen Beason. Hedrick was convicted in 1986 of misdemeanor abuse of a corpse in Beason’s death. Nearly three decades later, in 2014, a jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter in her death.

The Miller investigation remained unresolved for decades.

A breakthrough came in 2022 from an unexpected source: Elmore himself.

Elmore contacted Miller’s father, Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch, seeking help finding Elmore’s own daughter. Tim Miller founded the nonprofit search and recovery organization after Laura disappeared.

According to testimony at Elmore’s trial, Elmore eventually told Miller he needed to get something about Laura’s death “off of his chest.”

The disclosure led investigators back to the decades-old case and eventually to Elmore’s arrest on a manslaughter charge.

His trial began Aug. 31.

Prosecutors showed jurors photographs from the February 1986 search of the field where Laura’s remains were recovered. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Erin Barnhart testified about the autopsies of Miller and Cook and the difficulties investigators face in determining a cause of death when examining skeletal remains.

Barnhart testified that both deaths were homicides, although Miller’s precise cause of death could not be determined.

Hitchcock police Detective Corey Williams testified about meeting with Tim Miller and subsequently spending two meetings with Elmore and traveling across the country to corroborate statements Elmore made about the case.

Prosecutors played video and audio recordings of Elmore’s statements to Williams.

According to prosecutors, Laura was at Hedrick’s home on the night of her death with Hedrick, Elmore and their friend John Gorom, who has since died.

Elmore told Miller and Williams that he prepared a vial of cocaine that Hedrick then injected into Laura, according to prosecutors.

Tim Miller also testified about his decades-long effort to determine what happened to his daughter. Jurors watched video of Miller and Elmore walking through events surrounding the night Laura died.

Elmore’s defense called three of his relatives who testified that he was not in the Galveston County area when Laura died. Prosecutors challenged their timelines during cross-examination.

The jury deliberated for 47 minutes before finding Elmore guilty of manslaughter.

During the punishment phase, two women testified that Elmore had attempted to kidnap them when they were children. A Texas City police detective also testified that child pornography had been discovered on Elmore’s phone, while a Galveston County sheriff’s sergeant presented evidence about Elmore’s criminal history.

After less than 30 minutes of deliberations, jurors sentenced Elmore to 20 years in prison, the maximum punishment available, and imposed the $10,000 fine.