The "Eleven that went to Heaven." Confessions Of A Cold-Blooded Killer

Edward Harold Bell

By Travis Uresk

9/1/24

Edward Harold Bell, an admitted sex offender, convicted murderer, and self-described serial killer, has given multiple chilling confessions from his locked prison cell of abducting and slaying teenage and adolescent girls in the 1970s, describing crimes even now unsolved.

In disturbing letters sent to Harris and Galveston county prosecutors in 1998 but kept secret for 13 years. Ed claimed to have killed seven girls, including two Galveston 15-year-olds who were shot as they stood tied up and half naked in the chilly waters of Turner Bayou, according to excerpts and descriptions of Ed's letters obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

In July and September, in exclusive interviews, Ed, a skinny and pale-faced at 72, told a Chronicle reporter that the tally of lives was not just seven, but 11, the "Eleven that went to Heaven."

Ed claims a brainwashing "program" forced him to "be a flasher," to "rape girls," and ultimately to be a killer.

Several senior investigators familiar with Ed's letters of confessions told the Chronicle they have long believed he committed multiple murders and found evidence to corroborate his claims.

Texas killer's death leaves unanswered questions in 11 girls' deaths.

Edward Harold Bell died in a Texas prison, leaving unanswered questions about the unsolved murders of 11 girls he claimed to have killed.

A spokesman confirmed that Ed, who was 82, died at the Wallace Pack Unit, a prison that houses many elderly prisoners.

Ed was already a Texas inmate serving a 70-year sentence for the murder of Larry Dickens, an ex-Marine from Pasadena, when, in 2011, he told the Houston Chronicle that he had committed a string of other homicides. Bell described abducting and murdering girls as young as 12 who had disappeared from Galveston, Dickinson, Houston, Clear Lake, and Alvin between 1971 and 1977.

But Ed was never prosecuted for any other murder besides that of Dickens, whom he shot and killed on Aug. 24, 1978, in Pasadena. Ed shot Dickens several times with two different guns minutes after Dickens confronted Bell, a serial sex offender who had just exposed himself to a group of neighborhood girls. Dickens' mother, who could see her son being shot from a kitchen window, immediately called 911. In minutes, Pasadena Police arrested Bell and found murder weapons and pornography in his pick-up.

Ed made bail in Harris County and went on the run for 14 years.

Tips finally led to his arrest poured in after Bell became the subject of a 1992 Unsolved Mysteries episode. The show featured Matthew McConaughey as Dickens in the actor's first TV role. A former Harris County District Attorney investigator, Larry Boucher, helped coordinate Ed's arrest in 1993 at a yacht club in Panama where he'd been living with a teenage girl.

A few years after Ed made his 2011 jailhouse claims to be a serial killer, retired Galveston homicide detective Fred Paige and a Chronicle reporter teamed up to try to find proof of whether Ed had been in the right places at the correct times to murder the girls in the 1970s as he claimed in interviews and the letters.

As a result of discoveries in that investigation, featured in a 2017 documentary on A&E called "The Eleven," Galveston prosecutors reopened the murder cases of Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson, two island girls whose abduction and deaths Bell described in detail in both letters and interviews.

Ed admitted in a recorded interview that he had picked up the two girls on the day they disappeared at a Baskin Robbins on the island. In a letter, he described how he had shot and killed them. Their bodies were found dumped, as Ed explained, in an isolated bayou near a pasture where Ed kept a trailer, public records and interviews show.

Ed was never charged with those two homicides, but he remained the prime suspect at the time of his death. He was also the suspect in several other unsolved murders, but no DNA evidence or weapons were located by the departments in charge of the 11 cold cases Ed Bell described.

Galveston Police Officer Michelle Sollenberger, who reinvestigated the murders in recent years, posted on Facebook that she believed Ed's death would bring some comfort. "Today, these girls may finally rest in peace because their killer has gone to hell."

Rita Brestrup, who lost her sister Maria Johnson in 1971, said she had no words for Bell but was glad that he "no longer walks this earth and will never be paroled.

"I believe he took a life precious to me, and my life has never been the same since. Maria's death impacted my life more than any other single event. Nothing can take her memory away."

Edward Harold Bell's possible victims

Maria Johnson, 15 The Galveston surfer girl and experienced water skier disappeared, along with Debbie Ackerman, after hitchhiking on Nov. 15, 1971. Their bodies were found in Turner Bayou three days later.

Brooks Bracewell, 12 Bracewell disappeared from Dickinson along with 14-year-old Georgia Geer in September 1974. They were last seen at a convenience store. Bell did not name Bracewell, but her murder fits one of his descriptions.

Colette Wilson, 13 The Alvin teen reportedly went missing on June 17, 1971 when she failed to return home after a summer band camp. Her bones were later recovered from a reservoir in Houston on Nov. 26.

Debbie Ackerman, 15 The Galveston surfer girl and experienced water skier disappeared, along with Maria Johnson, after hitchhiking on Nov. 15, 1971. Their bodies were found in Turner Bayou three days later.

Georgia Geer, 14 Geer disappeared from Dickinson along with her friend Brooks Bracewell, 12, after the middle school students skipped classes Sept. 6, 1974. They were last seen at a convenience store. Bell did not name Geer, but her murder fits one of his descriptions.

Gloria Ann Gonzales, 19 The Houston girl reportedly went missing in west Houston on Oct. 28, 1971. Her bones were eventually found in a reservoir mingled with those of Colette Wilson.

Kimberly Rae Pitchford, 16 Pitchford disappeared after attending a driver's ed class in Houston in 1973. William Howard Bell named her as one of his victims.

Rhonda Renee Johnson, 14 Johnson and her friend Shaw disappeared from Galveston in August 1971. A friend last saw them at the Wix Water Ski School. In January 1971, a group of kids found her remains in a bayou north of Taylor Lake. Bell did not name Shaw and Johnson as his victims, but the circumstances of their deaths match his descriptions.

Sharon Shaw, 14 Shaw and her friend, Rhonda Renee Johnson, disappeared from Galveston in August 1971. They were last seen alive at Wix Water School and were reportedly headed to a party. In January 1972, a group of kids found Shaw's bones in a bayou north of Taylor Lake. Bell did not name Shaw and Johnson as his victims, but the circumstances of their deaths match his descriptions.

Source: Houston Chronicle