2 Killing Fields Victims Identified By League City Police

LEAGUE CITY, TX — League City Police released the identities of two young women whose bodies were found dumped in an area along Interstate 45 dubbed the Killing Fields. The body, known for more than 3 decades to police as Jane Doe, was positively identified as 30-year-old Audrey Lee Cook. A second unidentified woman whose body was found in 1991 dubbed Janet Doe, was positively identified as Donna Prudhomme, who would have been 34-years-old when she was murdered.

League City Police Chief Gary Ratliff revealed the identities of the women at a press conference in League City Monday morning.

"Over the years there were several attempts to have models made from the skulls of these victims, as well as sketches to reconstruct what they may have looked like before their death," Ratliff said.

The cases for identifying Jane and Janet Doe went ice cold until 2016 when detectives heard of a company called Parabond that uses a method of analyzing DNA called "phenotyping."

READ ALSO: League City Police To Release Names Of 2 Killing Fields Victims

Ratliff said investigators worked with the company and provided DNA from the remains of the two victims. The skulls of the victims were taken to scientists at Texas State University in San Marcos to help investigators provide a snapshot.

Over the course of a year, the DNA was thoroughly analyzed the phenotyping was completed. In April 2018, investigators began working on the genetic genealogy of both victims hoping to find potential family members to test DNA.

READ ALSO: DNA Could ID Victims Of Killing Fields

After the victims were identified, investigators began to learn more about the victims. The family of Audrey Lee Cook hadn't seen or heard from her since December 1985. Cook had two sons, one of which is deceased, and had worked for several local companies as a mechanic between 1979 and 1985. Police said Cook also was known to use and sell cocaine in southeast Houston and Channelview. Cooks remains were recovered in a clearing along Calder Road in February 1986, a short distance from where investigators found the remains of Laura Miller.

Less was known about Prudhomme, who came to the Houston area from Port Arthur where she was born in 1957. Prudhomme is believed to have moved to Seabrook in 1986 after living in Austin for a year. Investigators said Prudhomme was known to frequent several bars in Seabrook and Nassau Bay. She was last seen in July 1991. Her remains were discovered Sept. 8, 1991 by two people riding horses on Calder Road.

Neither Cook nor Prudhomme were ever reported missing by their families, officials said.

While police know who the victims are, a common thread that links them all together has not led them to a killer.

"We have not been able to see where that nexis is between these two girls,"said League City Police investigator Lt. Michael Buffington.

Anyone with any information on these victims is asked to call Lieutenant Michael Buffington of the League City Police Department at (281) 338-8220.

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