Sulla scena del delitto: i Texas Killing Fields

Split across 3 episodes, this docu-series tackles a spate of mysterious deaths arising in Texas and, more specifically, along the I-45 highway in Houston. In the mid 1980's, the bodies of three women are found in the Calder Road field. Fast forward to 1991 and another body is found, with the area eventually dubbed as "The Texas Killing Fields."

As more victims are found - all the while showing bad police work, suspicious culprits and shocking revelations - it soon becomes apparent that this case is much bigger than it initially appears. But who is responsible? Is it a serial killer? Are there multiple killers? Or is there a conspiracy with law enforcement? All of this is investigated in more detail, although those looking for all the answers may find themselves a little dismayed by the ending.

The 1970's saw a boom in Houston, Texas, construction grew, people flocked in, and a stretch of waste land was used to dump the bodies of several young women.

It's a very well made documentary, it's insightful Nd thought provoking, looking at several of the victims, the fact that they were largely ignored, and the potential suspects.

Very powerful interviews from those that were affected by the deaths, acts that still haunt people to this day. I thought Tim Miller in particular was a hugely impressive man, his words hit home.

Some pretty horrible crimes are explored, over a long period of time. What struck me was the way in which The Authorities jumped into action over the death of one young girl, the fact that it took that tragedy before anything really happened.

I liked that it was over three episodes, and that it wasn't stretched out into six or seven, Netflix does have a habit of fleshing things out.

Texan laws, insane or what.

8/10.

Obviously a hideously horrendous story, in terms of the victims and family left behind. However, this actual documentary... I don't feel it did any of that justice.

Sooo many shots of photos on a table, random streets, woods, the sky, etc etc. Genuinely in every five minutes of screentime, three minutes of that are just random scenery shots or the exact same repeated shots of headstones/photos.

I also felt it was really quite disjointed and jumped about on the timeline and victims with no real cohesion.

A LOT of time is spent with one of the victim's fathers. Of course the viewer feels deeply for him, but so, so much time is spent with him with not a lot of information gleaned from it. He seems incredibly miserable and I wanted someone to just say to him, "you can stop." The documentary also kind of jumps over the fact that he harassed and possibly drove a person of interest to suicide as he became obsessed with him and pinning the crime on him. That was... unsettling.

In relation to that, there's very, very little actual critique of the police department and the absolute farce of so much of the initial investigations. It's again kind of mentioned then glossed over.

And a more nitpicky critique - when they're talking about the court records and it's stated that the murderer "had sex with and then murdered (victim)" - Jesus wept, he did not 'have sex with', he raped her. A huge difference.

Again; a horrific story. Just... very poorly documented.

Every now and then Netflix comes out with a good true crime docuseries. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields is one of them and certainly worth watching if you're into that kind of documentaries. There are better ones but this one is only three episodes long so you can easily binge watch the entire season in a day. Some other reviewers thought it was too long but those are just inpatient people. What struck me the most was the incompetence of the investigating police forces. A real disgrace if you ask me. As for the justice department it wasn't much better. Obviously there will always be a difference in who's dying and/or missing. If an "important" person would be missing they would turn over every rock until they found him, which was clearly not the case here. Good interviews from all kind of people involved in the case. Worth watching.

I agree with most of the critiques. Lots of unanswered questions. I also had a problem with them saying the killer "had sex with" their victim and then killed them, implying possible consent? They were RAPED and then killed. That was unsettling. The ending was confusing to me, and I forgot about Reece, who apparently confessed to the initial couple of murders. Very disjointed. What's strange is that I grew up in that area during those years and really never heard a thing about these murders. Just maybe how someone went missing, but there wasn't very much publicity. I wish they would have stressed more how the small town cops totally bungled the investigation. It all seemed to wrap up very tidily and let the League City police off the hook. I wished it was them who were sued for $24M. I give it a 6, because it kept my interest, but if there were supposedly tens of victims, why not mention them too instead of just focusing on three families?