Overview
- A Galveston County jury found 61-year-old James Dolphs Elmore Jr. guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday and the same jury sentenced him to 20 years in prison on Thursday for the 1984 death of 16-year-old Laura Miller.
- Prosecutors built the case largely on recorded statements Elmore gave to Tim Miller, Laura’s father, including a video showing where Elmore said he helped dispose of Miller’s body and testimony that he supplied the cocaine that led to her death.
- The trial record shows Tim Miller paid Elmore about $33,000 over several years for information, investigators corroborated parts of Elmore’s account, and police presented evidence that child sexual abuse images were found on Elmore’s phone.
- Elmore still faces two pending tampering-with-evidence counts and separate child-pornography charges, he plans to appeal the manslaughter conviction, and he will be eligible for parole after serving roughly half his sentence.
- The verdict is the first conviction tied to the Calder Road victims, comes after longtime suspect Clyde Hedrick died by suicide before new charges could be filed, and prosecutors say they will continue investigating other deaths linked to the Texas Killing Fields.