The terrifying true story of the 'crazy' docuseries which is gripping Netflix viewers
A new true crime series is gripping Netflix viewers, telling the terrifying story of the Texas Killing Fields.
The new release is part of the streamer's Crime Scene anthology series, which creator Joe Berlinger told the Independent aims to 'turn the true crime genre on its head and not just focus on a story but focus on geography'.
This couldn't be more pertinent for the latest instalment, as it looks at a marshy stretch between Houston and Galveston that was ultimately used as a gruesome dumping ground by numerous killers. You can watch the trailer below:
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Disturbingly, more than 30 young women and girls were killed between the 1970s and 1990s and their bodies were left in the 25-acre patch of land.
As well as exploring the impact the killings have had on the victims' families, the series examines how the suspected murderers evaded capture for so many years.
Per Netflix's synopsis: "In April 1984, a dog carried what his owner thought was a ball out of a field along Calder Road between Houston and Galveston. It was a human skull.
"This was the first body found in what became known as the Texas Killing Fields.
"Two years later, another body was discovered in the same field, then a third. Victims Laura Miller, Heidi Fye, Laura Smither, Kelli Ann Cox, Jessica Cain, Donna Gonsoulin Prudhomme, Audrey Lee Cook and reportedly up to two dozen other women and girls between 12 to 25 years old were killed and disposed of along this route by 1991."
Three men have been convicted for just a few of the murdered women found at the area, including Kevin Edison Smith who was charged for beating, raping and strangling Krystal Jean Baker.
Smith was caught in 2012, 16 years after Baker's body was discovered, after advanced technology that wasn't available at the time exposed a DNA match.
In 1987, a convict named John Robert King rang police and told them that he and an accomplice, Gerald Peter Zwarst, were responsible for the disappearance of Shelley Sikes, whose abandoned and blood-stained car was found at the side of the road near the site.
Although her body was never found, officers offered the men the ability to avoid life sentences if they helped them locate the remains.
Although they provided information, it was not accurate and they were sentenced to life on aggravated kidnapping charges.
What's even more shocking about the Texas Killing Fields is that many of the cases remain unsolved.
Speaking to the Independent, director Jessica Dimmock said: "I think there’s possibly more bodies.
"I think it’s three serial killers operating in very similar territories... One kind of gets away with it, and it becomes more possible because it’s kind of shown that the police are not going to chase it down.
"Each decade has its own [serial killer] - you know, it’s not like three different [killers] operating over 30 years.
"It’s like one in the 70s, there’s one in the 80s, there’s one in the 90s... there’s pretty good indications that that’s the case. And yes, of course, there might be other victims."
As for the location, Dimmock added: "It’s wet, it’s damp, it’s swampy. And that is really one of the factors.
"It’s not the only factor, but that’s really one of the factors that kind of leads to these circumstances. Water destroys evidence."
If you want to learn more about this shocking and ongoing case, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields is available to watch on Netflix now.
Daisy Phillipson