Jury selection in the case against James Dolphs Elmore Jr., charged with manslaughter in the 1984 death of 16-year-old Laura Miller in League City, will begin Aug. 31 in Galveston County after a pretrial hearing Friday, Aug. 14.

Elmore, 61, of Bacliff, appeared in a pink jail jumpsuit and handcuffs and confirmed his identity as the judge reviewed his pending cases, KHOU reported. Prosecutors told the judge they plan to try the manslaughter charge first. Elmore also faces two felony counts of tampering with a witness or evidence tied to the deaths of Miller and 30-year-old Audrey Lee Cook.

Laura Miller disappeared in September 1984. Her remains were found roughly a year and a half later in a field off Calder Road in League City, alongside the remains of three other women. The site became known as the League City Killing Field, part of a stretch along the I-45 corridor between southeast Houston and Galveston where the bodies of roughly 30 women have been recovered over the decades.

Tim Miller, Laura's father and founder of the Clear Lake-area nonprofit Texas EquuSearch, sat in the courtroom Friday. He told reporters afterward it was the first time he had seen Elmore in a courtroom.

"Took my breath away. I got choked up. I had to wipe tears out of my eyes," Miller said outside the courthouse.

Miller said he expects to be the lead witness at trial. He spent roughly four years meeting privately with Elmore, at least 30 times by his own count, after Elmore contacted him claiming to have information about Laura's death. That relationship eventually led Miller to approach Galveston County District Attorney Kenneth Cusick in December 2025, asking for fresh eyes on the case. Prosecutors Katelyn Willis and Adam Poole reviewed the evidence and secured an indictment from a grand jury in March.

The judge and attorneys discussed summoning roughly 200 prospective jurors because of the case's high-profile attention. At one point, the judge asked whether 200 was too few. A prosecutor responded that it was not.

Another suspect long tied to the case, Clyde Hedrick, died by suicide March 21 while on supervised parole as his case was being presented to a grand jury. Hedrick had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2014 for the 1984 death of Ellen Beason in League City and was sentenced to 20 years but paroled in 2021, according to Houston Public Media.

Cusick said in April that the investigation is not finished. The DA said at the time of Elmore's indictment that there are other active leads in the case beyond Elmore and Hedrick.

Elmore's bond is set at $3 million.