From 1971 to 1977, 11 girls and young women were murdered in communities between Houston and Galveston.

The similarities in victims and crimes made them seem like they were the work of a single

killer who traveled Interstate 45 between the two cities.

For a while, people believed the killer was a young man named Michael's self.

He was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison for one of the murders,

and he maintained his innocence throughout more than 25 years behind bars.

While Self was in prison, a far more likely suspect emerged.

He was Edward Bell, and if the big three of criminal investigations are motive, means, and opportunity, then Edward

Bell had at least two of the three when it came to the murders known as the Galveston

11.

Unlike Michael Self, who had no history of violence and only a minor record for a couple petty

offenses, Edward Bell had actually committed murder.

He shot a man multiple times in broad daylight, and then fled the country and went on the run for 12 years.

When Michael Self went to prison, the murders along Interstate 45 did not stop.

When Edward Bell went on the run, the murders stopped.

Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not.

And the murders didn't necessarily stop in 1978 when Edward Bell fled to Central America.

They just paused. Between 1983 and 1991,

three women and a teenage girl were killed, and their bodies were placed in an overgrown field along Calder Road in League City, Texas.

Two suspects emerged, Clyde Hedrick and Robert Abel, though neither could be conclusively tied to the crimes.

But during that same stretch of time, a fifth woman, Ellen Beeson, died.

She died while she was with Clyde Hedric.

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