A man considered a suspect in the so-called ‘Killing Fields’ murders is facing a review of his parole conditions, according to Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady and Texas EquuSearch founder, Tim Miller. Clyde Hedrick was paroled from prison in 2021, sent to live at halfway house and placed under the state’s highest level of supervision known as the Super Intensive Supervision Program (SISP).
Both Roady and Miller said they received notices the state was reviewing whether to relax some of the conditions of his release as part of a parole review process. Both said they immediately filed objections with the state.
“I don’t think there’s any way possible that Clyde is finished doing what he’s accused of doing in the past, I think Clyde is still extremely dangerous,” Miller said.
Roady sent a statement to KPRC 2, “On Monday I contacted a member of the Parole Board directly to lodge our formal objection, after learning that the Parole Board was considering a reduction in Clyde Hedrick’s supervision level.”
Roady further wrote “we will continue to vigorously protest any type of clemency or reduction in supervision for Hedrick until he has served the full remainder of his sentence.”
Roady confirms Hedrick remains a suspect in the murders of Miller’s daughter, Laura, Heidi Villareal Fye, Donna Prudhomme and Audrey Cook. The women’s bodies were found in the mid-80s, early 90s in an area off Calder Rd. in League City. The area came to be known as the ‘Killing Fields.’ Hedrick has never been charged with any of these murders and has stated he had nothing to do with the deaths.
In 2014, Hedrick was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Ellen Rae Beason and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Beason died in 1984 and at first her death was ruled undetermined. Hedrick was originally convicted of abuse of a corpse after admitting to hiding Beason’s body under a discarded couch along Old Causeway Rd. Hedrick claimed Beason drowned while the pair was swimming and said he hid her body because he panicked. A re-examination of Beason’s body in 2011 determined she died from a blow to the head.
Hedrick was released from prison under now defunct ‘mandatory release’ laws. The laws were originally intended to alleviate prison overcrowding by allowing inmates to accrue so-called ‘good time.’ The law passed in 1977 called for the release of an inmate under mandatory supervision if the amount of time spent in prison, plus accrued good time equaled their sentence. The law was later changed to exclude violent felons and to give the parole board discretion, but the changes could not be applied retroactively.
“When Hedrick was considered for parole release back in 2019, I personally appeared before a Parole Commissioner to object to any form of clemency at all, including any type of supervised release. His parole was denied in 2019. However, Hedrick was released to mandatory supervision in 2021, due to the requirements of the parole law as it existed in 1984 (when the homicide was committed),” Roady wrote in his statement to KPRC.
Miller said until the investigation surrounding Hedrick reaches a conclusion one way or another he worries he’ll take off if conditions of his supervision are relaxed.
“He’s high risk and is on an ankle monitor, he’s being supervised and he needs to stay exactly where he’s at with that ankle monitor and under supervision,” said Miller.
Miller filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hedrick over the death of his daughter and won a $24 million judgement in 2022. Once a decision is a reached regarding Hedrick’s level of supervision we will update our story.