A Galveston County jury convicted James Elmore Jr. of manslaughter Wednesday, Sept. 2, in the 1984 death of Laura Miller, marking the first guilty verdict in the decades-old Texas Killing Fields case.

Jurors deliberated about an hour before finding Elmore, 61, of Bacliff, guilty of felony manslaughter and using a deadly weapon in the death of the 16-year-old League City girl, the Houston Chronicle reported. The two-day trial featured nine witnesses and roughly 12 hours of testimony.

Elmore is the first person found guilty in connection with the deaths of four women whose remains were discovered in a field off Calder Road in League City between 1984 and 1991. The remote area became known as the Texas Killing Fields.

Laura Miller disappeared Sept. 10, 1984. Her remains were found Feb. 2, 1986, in an overgrown field off Calder Road, alongside the remains of Audrey Cook, who was not identified until 2019 through DNA technology.

Prosecutors alleged Elmore prepared a vial of cocaine for his friend Clyde Hedrick, the prime suspect in the Killing Fields murders, to administer to Laura. Hedrick died by suicide while in Texas Department of Criminal Justice custody in March 2026, as prosecutors were preparing to take the cases to a grand jury.

Tim Miller, Laura's father and founder of the search-and-rescue organization Texas EquuSearch, got emotional as the verdict was read. A group of supporters, many of them EquuSearch volunteers, surrounded him as the jury was dismissed and followed him into the hallway, according to the Chronicle.

Speaking to KPRC 2 outside the courtroom Wednesday, Miller described the weight of the moment.

"It's been a long 42 years … just kind of reliving these last four years after getting with Mr. Elmore and him telling me all the facts and keeping my composure, it was difficult, difficult at best," Miller told the station.

Miller testified that Elmore first contacted Texas EquuSearch in 2022, saying he wanted to discuss a missing person case and "get something off his chest." Over the following years, Miller said he paid Elmore nearly $33,000, including $25,000 in reward money and additional support Miller said he gave partly because of Elmore's financial and medical struggles.

Elmore took Miller to the site where Laura's body was found and pointed out a nearby cemetery where Hedrick used to watch Laura. Miller testified that detail had never been made public.

The defense argued Elmore fabricated his confessions to collect money. Defense attorney Bill Agnew told jurors Elmore did not live in the League City area or know Hedrick in 1984. Two of Elmore's sisters, Debra Warren and Pamela Croft, testified he made up the story. Prosecutors revealed during cross-examination that one sister had lied on the stand about her criminal history, according to the Chronicle.

A proposed immunity agreement between Elmore's former defense attorney Jessica Ebbs and the previous Galveston County District Attorney's administration surfaced during trial Wednesday, outside the jury's presence. District Judge Jeth Jones said he did not believe evidence of a finalized agreement existed.

Elmore faces up to 20 years in prison. He elected to have the jury decide his sentence. The punishment phase was scheduled to begin Thursday, Sept. 3.