LEAGUE CITY, Texas – More than four decades after 16-year-old Laura Miller disappeared, her father faced the man prosecutors say helped cause her death.
Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller delivered emotional testimony Tuesday in the trial of James Elmore Jr., who faces manslaughter and tampering with evidence charges connected to the deaths of Laura Miller and Audrey Cook.
Elmore has pleaded not guilty.
“Laura was Dad’s girl,” Miller told the jury.
Laura Miller’s disappearance
Miller testified that he last saw his daughter on Sept. 10, 1984.
Laura was wearing a blue one-piece jumpsuit, flip-flops and a gold cross necklace. Before Miller left for work, Laura asked whether her boyfriend could come over that night.
Miller told her he would see her later.
When he returned home that evening, Laura was gone.
“I knew something happened to Laura,” Miller testified. “I just knew it. Just didn’t know what it was.”
Her remains were found 17 months later in a field off Calder Road in League City, near the remains of three other women.
The Calder Road site became known as the Texas Killing Fields. The name has also become associated more broadly with the disappearances and deaths of women and girls along the Interstate 45 corridor beginning in the 1970s.
Miller testified that he repeatedly returned to the field after his daughter’s remains were identified. He eventually built a cross where she was found.
“I’d hear this little voice say, ‘Dad, don’t quit. Please don’t quit,’” Miller told jurors.
Miller did not quit.
His search for Laura eventually led him to begin helping other families find their missing loved ones. He founded Texas EquuSearch in 2000.
Miller testified that the organization has conducted searches in 42 states and 11 countries, recovering more than 400 deceased people and finding many others alive. He described the organization as Laura’s legacy.
Elmore contacts Miller nearly 40 years later
Miller testified that a possible break came in 2022, when Elmore contacted Texas EquuSearch and said he wanted to discuss a missing person case and get something off his chest.
According to Miller, Elmore identified Clyde Hedrick and Laura Miller as the subjects of that conversation.
Miller said he was initially skeptical because he had received countless false leads over the years. Hedrick had also been publicly identified as a possible suspect.
But Miller testified that Elmore began directing him to locations and describing details he believed were not publicly known.
He said Elmore pointed out Hedrick’s former Dickinson home, which was located two houses away from a home where the Miller family had previously lived. Miller said Elmore also identified an area near a cemetery where Laura used to spend time.
“Nobody knew Laura hung out at the cemetery,” Miller testified. “I knew then that, hey, this guy’s real.”
Miller describes Elmore’s alleged account of Laura’s death
Miller testified that Elmore eventually described being present inside Hedrick’s home on the night Laura died.
According to Miller, Elmore said the group had been using drugs and that Elmore mixed cocaine in a syringe before injecting himself.
Miller testified that Elmore said Hedrick then asked him to prepare another syringe.
“He said he mixed up another rig. He handed it to Clyde,” Miller testified.
According to Miller, Elmore claimed he warned Hedrick not to use it. Miller said Elmore told him Hedrick injected Laura.
“Mr. Elmore said he’d seen Laura shaking and shaking, laying back down, taking her last breath,” Miller testified. “I said, ‘My God, what did he do next?’”
Miller said Elmore told him Hedrick then covered Laura with a Western-style shirt.
A shirt was found near Laura’s remains. Miller testified that Elmore described the shirt and later recognized it in a photograph.
Miller said Elmore first described Laura’s death and implicated himself before learning about a $25,000 reward.
Detective says information matched investigation
A Dickinson detective testified that some information attributed to Elmore matched details uncovered through her investigation.
That included information about a Western-style shirt, Hedrick’s home and the death of Audrey Cook, whose remains were found near Laura’s.
The detective testified that Elmore described Cook being shot in the back with a .22-caliber weapon after rejecting Hedrick’s sexual advances. Cook’s autopsy showed she had been shot in the lower back with a .22-caliber round.
The detective also testified that information Elmore provided about another missing woman and a trip to Louisiana was supported by an interview with that woman’s son.
Investigators believed Hedrick killed Laura, Cook and other women. The detective testified that authorities were preparing to seek indictments against Hedrick in four killings.
She confronted Hedrick at a Houston hospital in March 2026 and told him she intended to return with an indictment. The detective testified that Hedrick died by suicide the following morning, before he could be charged.
Defense focuses on nearly $33,000 paid to Elmore
Elmore’s defense raised questions about the credibility of the information he provided and the money he received from Miller.
Miller acknowledged paying Elmore nearly $33,000 over several years.
He testified that $25,000 was reward money. Miller said he provided approximately $8,000 more because Elmore was experiencing financial and medical problems and because Miller wanted to keep him close as a potential source of information about other missing women.
“He was the last person standing that knew anything,” Miller testified. “Any father would have done what I did.”
The defense also pointed to an interview in which Elmore appeared to say he met Hedrick in 1991—seven years after Laura disappeared.
The detective testified that other evidence and witnesses placed the two men together before 1991.
Miller denied paying Elmore to fabricate a story. He repeatedly emphasized that Elmore had already described Laura’s death and his alleged involvement before receiving any money.
Miller told the jury he believes Elmore bears responsibility because he prepared the cocaine and gave the syringe to Hedrick.
“Mr. Elmore, you handed it to Clyde Hedrick,” Miller testified. “You handed it.”
Testimony is expected to continue Wednesday. If convicted of manslaughter, Elmore faces up to 20 years in prison.
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