Clyde Hedrick was first accused of “abuse of a corpse” in connection with Ellen Beason’s death, as detailed in the new docuseries, which premiered on November 29. 

Although many of the killings and disappearances depicted in Netflix’s The Texas Killing Fields are still unsolved, at least one piece of the long-running puzzle was recently resolved. 

This initial accusation first brought him to Tim Miller’s attention as a potential suspect in the death of his daughter, Laura Miller. Let’s find out more about it.

Who is Clyde Hedrick?

Not much is known about Clyde Hedrick.

The three-part original series claimed that he was actually “a good-looking man back in the day” and had great dance moves, which was just one of the reasons he “thought himself a ladies’ man.”

In reality, though, he was essentially a “Casanova conman” with a lengthy criminal record that listed a number of intricate charges against children, strangers, ex-partners, and the government. 

The latter count, in particular, is related to the disappearance of Ellen Rae Simpson Beason, 30, in 1984. She was last seen with him leaving the Texas Moon Club in League City.

What happened with Ellen Rae?

In July of the same year, Clyde became the prime suspect after the decomposing bones of Ellen were discovered beneath a broken-down sofa and other trash on a dirt road in Galveston County. 

The fact that she inadvertently drowned while swimming with a friend after a night of dancing could not be conclusively refuted at the time.

Officials were forced to rely on his account, according to which he claimed he abandoned her along the lonely route in a fit of rage out of fear of being implicated in a crime, which led to a 1996 conviction for corpse abuse.

Then, in 2012, Ellen’s body was unearthed, and a revised autopsy revealed that she had suffered skull fractures, indicating that she had been struck in the head with a blunt object before drowning.

Was Clyde Arrested? Where is he now?

At the age of 60, Clyde was found guilty in 2014 of the lesser crime of involuntary manslaughter after being charged with one count of murder.

The specifics in the complete court paperwork that connected him to the Killing Fields drew everyone’s attention, and he was ultimately given the maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.

There were two accusatory claims; one stated that he had made love with the victim, Laura Miller, 16, and killed her on September 10, 1984, while the other stated that Heidi Fye, 25, was deliberately slain on October 7, 1983.

Despite this and Laura’s father, Tim Miller’s victory in a wrongful death lawsuit against him in 2022, Clyde has never been formally charged with a crime involving any deaths other than Ellen’s.

As a result of the civil claim Tim had filed against the convicted felon, he was awarded more than $24 million in liability and damages, along with court costs and annual interest. 

However, the motion was only granted by default because the defendant had neglected to appear in court despite notices.

The truth is that Clyde Edwin Hedrick served only eight years on good conduct before being released from the Estelle Supermax Penitentiary in Huntsville in early October 2021 due to a procedural error. 

After that, he was put under strict monitoring and moved to a halfway home in Houston, where he reportedly still resides today.

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