http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Wrongful-death-suit-latest-turn-in-EquuSearch-5717081.php#/0Wrongful death suit latest turn in EquuSearch founder's quest for daughter's killer
Suit against ex-neighbor is latest turn in quest to unmask daughter's '84 killerBy Brian Rogers
August 27, 2014
Tim Miller is a man who will not quit.
He has spent 30 years relentlessly searching for missing people, first with area law enforcement agencies, then by creating Texas EquuSearch. He has found dozens of people and the bodies of more than 180 victims from across the nation and in several countries.
All that work is rooted in the pain of searching for 17 months for his teenage daughter after she disappeared three decades ago.
The man who has worked to help so many other families continued his own quest this week to try to unmask his daughter's killer.
He filed a $110 million wrongful death lawsuit against Clyde Hedrick, the man who Miller believes killed his 16-year-old daughter, Laura Lynn.
"I'm OK with Laura's death today. Because of her death, we've done tremendous things with EquuSearch," Miller said Wednesday. "But I'm just doing what any other father would do who loves their child."
His daughter disappeared on Sept. 10, 1984. Her remains were found scattered in a wooded area off Calder Road in League City. The notorious "killing field" became known as a dumping ground for victims.
Hedrick, who never has been charged in the death, lived on the same street as Miller at the time of the disappearance. Five months ago, Hedrick was convicted in the 1984 death of Ellen Rae Beason, prompting Miller to renew his calls for a closer look at his onetime neighbor.
"He's always been my 'person of interest,' " Miller said. "I have no doubt in my mind Clyde is responsible for Laura, Heidi and Jane Doe's deaths, and I will continue to fight to get him indicted and convicted."
Beason's body was not in the same area where Miller's daughter and the bodies of the three other women were found. Miller said building materials and old shingles were dumped near each. Hedrick was a roofer who was familiar with that area, according to Miller.
"Everything pointed to him from the very beginning," Miller said. "But the investigation was grossly mishandled by the League City Police Department."
It is a criticism that Miller has leveled at the small department in the past.
Assistant Chief Gary Ratliff said that months of exposure to the elements reduces the amount of evidence at a crime scene.
Roller coaster of grief
"I can definitely understand his frustration and his concern about things," Ratliff said. "But this case has never been closed and we have had detectives through the years that have continued to work that case as we still do today."
He also said Hedrick remains a suspect in Laura Miller's death.
"We're not ready to expose our reasonings why we feel he's a suspect or the other things we're doing," Ratliff said. "Clyde knows we're looking at him for these killings."
For Miller, the decades of grief have been a roller coaster.
Two years ago, he bought a Bible for Hedrick and inscribed, "I forgive you from my heart."
It was part of the grieving process.
"I knew I was either going to commit a homicide or a suicide if I didn't get busy forgiving," Miller said. "It's crazy what all these emotions will do to you."
Even after he had resolved to forgive Hedrick and bought the Bible, he considered taking the law into his own hands. He put five guns in his car and started driving, intending to find and kill Hedrick. A friend was able to talk him out of it.
"It's been a struggle," Miller said. "I almost made a terrible choice."
Miller said his lawsuit is unlikely to secure the $110 million, but he hopes the process will lead to developments in the case.
"I want to know what happened to Laura," Miller said. "Chances are we're going to come out of this 100 percent empty-handed, but if I do nothing, there's no chance that anything will ever happen."
Experts said a civil suit can be a legitimate way to expose a private investigation for prosecutors to consider. A favorable verdict is also better than nothing for grieving families.
'I will not quit'
"From the standpoint of principle, it's the next best thing to establish the righteousness of your position," said Geoffrey Corn, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston. "At least it's a denunciation by a jury of peers, based on evidence, of the individual he believes killed his daughter."
Miller said his daughter's death drove him to drink heavily and divorce his wife. He also rented 25 acres of the area where Laura's body was found to search for clues by himself.
In 2000, he founded Texas EquuSearch with two horses. He can now marshal more than 50 mounted riders. The nonprofit also has access to divers and boats, pilots and aircraft and an army of volunteers trained in operating infrared and ground-scanning devices. The organization recently won a court case to use unmanned drone aircraft for their searches.
"We even use satellites," Miller said.
He takes solace in the organization's accomplishments, and said his daughter's death was not in vain.
"This is not what I would have chosen to do with my life," he said. "I wouldn't be doing this if Laura was still alive."
And the quest to see someone held responsible continues to drive him.
"I will not quit," Miller said. "Sorry Clyde, but I'm never going to quit."