Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields

Docuseries finally on Netflix that's worth watching, tells a coherent story and comes together in the end.

I'm not sure all 3 episodes were necessary- I think all the information could have been sufficiently parsed out in 2 episodes, but 3 isn't an overreach.

It's crazy that these producers could tell a solid story yet not interject their insane political narrative into the stories- there are some vaguely political points but they're very relevant to the telling, and while it revolves around law enforcement, it is deservedly so- what the aforementioned police department did (or rather, lack thereof effective policing) deserves a spotlight and the attention of the public eye. It's one thing to espouse the common thread amongst departments of the time and claim runaway/wait 48 hours- which was incredibly obtuse and shortsighted even then, but even now, when we all know better to not at least acknowledge you're wrong and accept public responsibility for your department failings speaks volumes about your department.

My only concern is the lack of transparency and wishing there were more transparency among the departments and accountability to the public. Naming names would be a good start to getting public attention rightly focused on this group.

My request is that someone do an extensive documentary on Tim Miller and his Equusearch group- his is a fascinating story and one worth telling. Even though he's not particularly interested in the spotlight, the amount of good he's put into the world on behalf of his daughter is invaluable and I fear he's not much longer for this world. Keep fighting the good fight Tim- this may not be the path you chose but it is your path nonetheless. You've helped so many people through one of the most incredibly difficult times in their lives with experience, care and compassion and for that you deserve our unending gratitude and support.

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?

The only spoiler in this review is that there are no spoiler's because we all know how Netflix documentaries turn out. Netflix, please pull yourself together. There were at least 2 dozen victims. Episodes 1 and 2 were ok but 3 was just tunnel vision. This reminds me of the Netflix documentary with the catholic nun. There was a whole series of events with multiple victims, but the documentary goes off on some singular tangent. These documentaries are getting worse in terms of telling a story about multiple victims. The subject in these Netflix documentaries ends up changing at some point in the series. Just like their other documentaries, we are led down a path in one direction but then we are pushed off a cliff so we land in the opposite direction. Definitely worth the watch if you want to learn about the area, but do not expect to learn about more than 1.5 victims stories out of a few dozen victims.

In the end, they throw a name out that I don't even remember hearing in the first two episodes, and then they wrap up the whole series. But prior to that they keep bouncing around between this name and that name, reshowing the same pictures and very very slowly building up to some of the actual facts in the case. When I got to the end I felt like I had been punked. There's not really enough data to make a determination, as a member of the audience. But I do think for the police or FBI there is definitely enough information to make a determination. Another review claims that this was a missed opportunity to spotlight the shoddy police work. Well I kind of disagree because I believe that it was blaringly obvious, but I also disagree that this is about them. I remember the 70s as a teenager the '80s and '90s were times when we were taught about not getting into strangers cars not getting out of our car if we have a flat tire, not hitchhiking alone and things like that. Believe it or not we didn't have the elaborate bus systems that we have now in large and small cities, we had to hitchhike or find a ride or walk. I believe, in that sense, the producers here have assumed that all or most of the audience watching is familiar with the way in which some serial killers will disable a potential victims car and then show up to help them. That's the kind of thing they didn't need to say out loud. What bothers me most about this series is that - now trust me I'm bad with math - but they said 35 murders took place in those fields, and yet they only focused on four of them. Why? I appreciate the real life people that have kept these girls deaths in their hearts and tried to help their families, I hope that Tim Miller actually sees some of that money he won. But what about the other 31 girls? I mean if they're going to mention it why not tell us more. I guess I'll have to look online to find out if Reese - who I've never heard of through the whole series until the last 5 minutes - is the one responsible. And early on in the film they tell us that whoever did the murders in the seventies couldn't have been Clyde because he was in prison but then they try to blame him for all of them because he apparently did kill one. And in my mind that's the problem : there is a serial killer and then there is this one guy who is a killer and a pedophile but not necessarily a serial killer. And God bless his heart but have they completely ruled out Adam? Did they check his property before it was sold after his death? I mean being bullied has been a reason for people to take their lives, just ask any High School principal. And Psychopaths don't normally kill themselves unless they're about to go to prison. But after profiling him as a suspect when was he cleared by the fbi? And with such shoddy police work, are we sure that it was either a suicide or an accident? So I feel like this series is really more of a piece of cheese that never leads you to anything. I'm not sure what it's intent is because while I appreciate the four victims it is focused on why did it bring all this other information in and then just leave it dangling in the air like a faulty internet connection? I think what Netflix accomplished here is getting these victims back into the public's eye, or into the public's eye for the first time perhaps, and spotlighting the people who have devoted their time and resources to pursuing leads and helping others. Overall not a big waste of time but for me solid five stars.