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Thread: Kelli Cox (20) was found dead 19 years after she went missing-serial killer William Reece convicted of her murder

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  1. #1
    Senior Member kevansvault's Avatar
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    Kelli Cox (20) was found dead 19 years after she went missing-serial killer William Reece convicted of her murder

    This case is very sad for me. Though I have no ties to this young lady, her daughter and my son are the same age. She went missing 20 miles from my home. She is still missing, and there have been no breakthroughs in her case in a long time.

    http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1833dftx.html

    Kelli Ann Cox
    Missing since July 15, 1997 from Denton, Denton County, Texas
    Classification: Endangered Missing

    Circumstances of Disappearance
    Cox was last seen at a Conoco gas station at the intersection of East McKinney Street and Railroad Avenue in Denton, Texas on July 15, 1997.
    Kelli was a student at the University Of North Texas in Denton, Texas. On July 15, 1997, she attended her morning classes and took a field trip with her criminal justice class to the Denton Police Department. She drove her 1989 Nissan 240-SX to the facility and parked her car in a nearby lot. Cox was not allowed to bring her purse or keys into the facility and she locked her belongings inside of her vehicle. She planned to use a spare key hidden under the vehicle's fender to open the car after the tour.
    Kelli discovered that her spare key did not work after the tour dismissed. She walked back to the police department and attempted to call her boyfriend, Lawrence Harris III. Cox was unable to reach him for unclear reasons and officers directed her to a pay phone two blocks away. She reached Harris from the telephone outside of the Conoco gas station and convenience store near East McKinney Street and Railroad Avenue.
    Harris arrived at the police department between 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM. He discovered Cox's car abandoned inside the parking lot. There was no indication of her in the area and she has never been heard from again. No witnesses observed her departure from outside the Conoco station.
    Cox left all of her personal belongings behind at her family's residence, including $200 in cash. There has not been any activity within her bank account since July 1997. She was devoted to the daughter she was raising and would never leave her behind willingly.



    Investigators
    If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

    Denton Police Department
    Detective Mike Leverton
    940-349-7948
    940-349-8181
    --
    Texas Department of Public Safety
    1-800-346-3243

    Agency Case Number: 97-043747 (DPD)
    Agency Case Number: M9708010 (TXDPS)

    NCMEC #: NCMB1018707

    NCIC Number: M-042088208
    Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

    Source Information:
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  2. #2
    Senior Member queenaevadamthng's Avatar
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    Odd case but I speculate it was someone there that day that knew she locked all her stuff in the car. I think it's odd that she wasn't allowed to stay at the station until she reached someone to come get her. There is always a lobby with a waiting area at most PDs. I would be checking out officers that were there that day.


    "Theoretical physics can prove that an elephant can hang from a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy. But use your eyes, your common sense".... JIM GARRISON

  3. #3
    Senior Member becoming's Avatar
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    It does seem really odd that police officers would "direct" her to a pay phone when she was locked out of her car and obviously having trouble getting someone to pick her up... Wouldn't they normally just bring her home or something? Or at least drive her to the gas station and back to the police station to make sure she got there and back okay? Seems weird to just turn her loose, "sorry, not our problem."

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    Senior Member kevansvault's Avatar
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    I feel the same way as you guys. It is horrendously irresponsible of the officers to have done what they did to her. What kind of an asshole does it take not to let a girl make a phone call? If she indicates she's having a bit of trouble, is it not your job to see what you can do to help? Jezus. There's more on websleuths, people have been bumping the thread over the years but nothing really new. It just tears me up inside that she has been gone all this time, that her daughter never knew her mother.
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    Senior Member morbidT's Avatar
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    My question is why the cops didn't unlock it for her with one of these.



    I've had cops unlock my car numerous times and that was just from me looking like I needed help (hahahah) to waving them to come over.

    I wonder if she "wasn't able to reach him for unclear reasons" was because it was long distance and they didn't allow long distance calls so that's why they directed her toward the gas station. It was 1997 after all. I dunno. Probably drawing at straws because I just can't understand why the cops would direct her out of the station to use a freaking phone.


    Quote Originally Posted by blighted star View Post
    ..... it wasn't anything personal, she just mistook him for a serial killer......

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    Senior Member kevansvault's Avatar
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    Fucking thank you, mT!!! Seriously! I used to work at a theme park and we used slim jim's on people's cars to get them in. I even left my keys in my car (and the car running) for 8 hours while I was at work one night and a UTSW police officer helped me get in with one. I just don't understand why there were so many failures to help this girl out.
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    Senior Member CanaryDiam's Avatar
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    Long time ago when I was about 20 I locked my keys in my car at a small concert venue... there was a cop patrolling the parking lot and he came over and allowed me to continue trying to break in to my car but he refused to help, said some crap about not being liable for damages or something, I don't remember his exact explanation but he wanted nothing to do with it.

  8. #8
    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CanaryDiam View Post
    Long time ago when I was about 20 I locked my keys in my car at a small concert venue... there was a cop patrolling the parking lot and he came over and allowed me to continue trying to break in to my car but he refused to help, said some crap about not being liable for damages or something, I don't remember his exact explanation but he wanted nothing to do with it.
    Our cops can't help you break into your own car, but the sheriff deputies and firefighters can. They all work out of the same building but have different rules. The cop will call either a deputy or ff for you even...

    But at the very least they ought to be able to help you get hold of someone who can help.
    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
    lol at Nestle being some vicious smiter, she's the nicest person on this site besides probably puzzld. Or at least the last person to resort to smiting.
    Quote Originally Posted by nestlequikie View Post
    Why on earth would I smite you when I can ban you?

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    Remains found in a rural texas field have been positively identified through dental records as belonging to Kelli Ann Cox. A truck driver, currently serving time for the kidnapping & murder of another woman, lead police to the area.

  10. #10
    Senior Member kevansvault's Avatar
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    http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2016...nce-1997.html/

    By Claire Ballor and Tom Steele

    Related
    Denton police hope found remains will bring 'closure' to missing UNT student's family
    New clues could reveal fate of UNT student missing since ’97
    Detectives digging in Houston for clues in 1997 disappearance of University of North Texas student Kelli Cox
    Staff Writers

    For almost 20 years, family and friends of missing University of North Texas student Kelli Cox could only speculate about what happened to the 20-year-old after she disappeared at midday in Denton.

    But long-awaited answers finally arrived Monday when remains found at a Brazoria County dig site were identified as hers.

    UNT’s Center for Human Identification and Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and the Galveston County medical examiner’s office used dental records to confirm Cox’s identity, Denton police said in a prepared statement.

    William Reece
    William Reece
    Detectives focused on the site almost 300 miles from the woman’s Farmers Branch home after primary suspect William Reece told authorities in March he had buried Cox and another missing woman, 17-year-old Jessica Cain of Galveston, about 30 miles south of Houston.

    Remains found in March at a dig site in West Orem, 10 miles southwest of Houston, are still being tested to see whether they are Cain’s.

    Reece, 56, who was a truck driver when Cox disappeared, is serving a 60-year sentence for kidnapping a young woman in Harris County two months before the UNT student vanished. Last year, he was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the 1997 death of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston, near Oklahoma City.

    Cox, who was a psychology major at the University of North Texas, had toured the Denton jail on July 15, 1997. She called her boyfriend from a nearby pay phone afterward to say that she was locked out of her car, which was parked near the jail.

    When he arrived about an hour later, there was no sign of Cox.

    Her parents were left to raise her 19-month-old daughter, Alexis.

    Kelli’s mother, Jan Bynum, said she and her husband have been sustained through the years by their granddaughter, who is now 20.

    “If Kelli were to walk through that door,” she said, “I want her to walk in, look at Alexis and say, ‘Oh gosh, Mom, you did a great job.’ ”

    For years, Bynum experienced a mix of hope and fear from not knowing her daughter’s fate, but now she has answers.

    “If she is gone, then I want to know. It brings the answers and it brings the comfort that at least she’s not out there hurting.

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  11. #11
    Senior Member kevansvault's Avatar
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    Poor girl. Well, at least her family can now work on putting their lives back together, they no longer need to search for her.

    Ugh. What kind of piece of shit does that to someone? Never mind, I've been on here far too long and already know the answer.
    Don't like what I have to say? I respect that. Go fuck yourself.

  12. #12
    Administrator Olivia's Avatar
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    For two decades, Jan Bynum has wondered what happened to her daughter, Kelli Cox. She prayed for a miracle to happen, for the University of North Texas student to walk through the door.

    At the same time, Bynum did not want her to be lingering in pain somewhere.

    Bynum finally has an answer: remains found last week in Brazoria County have been positively identified as Cox, who disappeared just down the street from the Denton Police Department on July 15, 1997. The 20-year-old vanished just after touring the Denton police station for a criminology class.

    "I always said that if she was gone, I'd want to know," Bynum said last week. "Then I can bring her home and put her to rest. I'd know she's not being harmed every single day."

    Cox was identified through forensic analysis of dental records by The University of North Texas – Center for Human Identification and Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and the Galveston County Medical Examiner's office, Denton Police spokesman Shane Kizer said.

    William Reece, a convicted kidnapper, has been identified as a "person of interest" in her disappearance . Reece led authorities to the location where they started digging for remains on March 28. Reece, 56, is serving a 60-year sentence for a 1997 kidnapping.

    http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...ox-7241289.php

  13. #13
    Senior Member Night Owl's Avatar
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    :-( She disappeared not far from where I lived and worked at the time. It's horribly sad but at least her family has some answers now. RIP Kelli.

  14. #14
    Moderator Bewitchingstorm's Avatar
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    RIP Kelli.

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    Senior Member Jezebelle's Avatar
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    I searched MDS for info on other women, besides Kelli Cox, who have crossed paths with convicted killer William Reece, but I couldn't find anything that ties him to these other missing women AND to the notorious Texas Killing Fields.
    Obviously Reece isn't responsible for cases that are 45 years cold, but he's bonafide monster, and I hope he keeps talking.
    This topic branches out as the body count rises, and I'm not really sure how to connect everything, so I started this thread.
    If there's already a thread for this, could a moderator please move or remove this one?

    William Reece, 56, was convicted for kidnapping and sexually assaulting young women in Oklahoma and Texas. After an early release from an Oklahoma prison in 1996, Reece moved to Houston, and women (girls, basically) started disappearing.
    By that time, Reece had decided to kill his victims as well.
    Reece abducted, raped and murdered Kelli Cox (20), Tiffany Johnson (19), and Jessica Cain (17), and he is the prime suspect in the unsolved case of Laura Smither (12).
    But for whatever reason (he says he doesn't want to return to Oklahoma to be tried on the Johnson case), Reece is talking now. In the last few weeks, Reece led police to two different locations where they found Cox's and Cain's remains.
    Authorities are hoping he will help solve other cold cases. They believe Reece is responsible for the kidnap, sexual assault and murder of little Laura Smither, who went for a jog one morning and never came home, After massive searches were conducted over a period of 17 days, her beheaded body was recovered from a retention pond 12 miles from her home.
    Reece is also suspected in some of the many abductions of women who have disappeared near Texas' I-45, dubbed "The Texas Killing Fields."

    About Laura
    http://www.houstonpress.com/news/loo...-laura-6570210

    The Texas Killing Fields
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...red-there.html

  16. #16
    Senior Member bermstalker's Avatar
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    In what was a unique relationship between novelist and convict, Casey shared some of the many letters that Reece had written to her after a jailhouse interview in 2013.

    More: "Deliver Us" by Kathryn Casey

    “I went into the prison and sat down to talk to Bill Reece, which was a fairly disturbing experience,” Casey said. “He is a very cold, very calculating—a very manipulative man. At the same time—at other times, he was laughing and he was charming and he was very much the psychopath.”

    Reece’s criminal past stretches back decades. In 1986, he kidnapped his first known victim at the side of an Oklahoma highway.

    “He had her perform sexual acts and he duct-taped her and zipped her up into a sleeping bag. She very wisely talked her way out of it,” Casey said. “The odd thing was that once he had done this to her, he talked to her about wanting to marry her.”

    That victim was able to escape and Reece was charged, but his crimes didn’t end there.

    “While he was under indictment on that case, he crawled in a window at another woman's home after seeing her at a bar and sexually assaulted her,” Casey said.

    Reece was sentenced to 25 years in prison but, according to Casey, because of a technicality flaw he only served 10 years and was released in 1996.

    Casey says Reece grew up in the country outside Oklahoma City and was part of a fairly well respected middle-class family. His mother, father and sister died during his most recent stint in prison.

    “At that point he had a sister and an ex-wife who were both living in the Houston area and Bill Reece relocated to Houston,” Casey said.

    A few months later, girls began to disappear. In April 1997, 12-year-old Laura Smither of Friendswood vanished. Her body was later found in a Pasadena pond.

    Then months later, on July 15, Kelli Cox from Denton, Texas, disappeared. Authorities are currently digging for her possible remains in a private field in Brazoria County.

    Eleven days later, Tiffany Johnston disappeared from Oklahoma—her body was also found. After 18 years, there was a break in the case that connected Reece and he was charged with Johnston’s murder.

    “In the Johnson case, they did find semen, which is where they got the DNA,” Casey said.

    And then there’s Jessica Cain, the 17-year-old La Marque girl who vanished after attending a theater cast party with friends.

    In March of this year, Reece was spotted leading authorities around in a southeast Houston field, telling them where to dig for Cain’s remains. On March 18, remains were found; however, autopsy results are pending to determine if they’re Cain’s remains.

    Reece is currently in prison on a kidnapping conviction from 1997. That victim was able to escape. The question many people are asking: Why is Reece helping now?

    “My understanding is he does not want to go to Oklahoma where the case is a death penalty case and that he is cooperating now with Texas officials, maybe to forestall that,” Casey said.

    Authorities are staying tight lipped about why Reece is talking, but Casey believes it has nothing to do with remorse.

    “He is a cold-blooded calculated psychopath and whatever he's doing he's doing for Bill Reece,” she said.

  17. #17
    Senior Member Jezebelle's Avatar
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    I was trying to quote berm's last post and add bold to this part:
    >>Reece was sentenced to 25 years in prison but, according to Casey, because of a technicality flaw he only served 10 years and was released in 1996.
    But I can't figure out how to quote -and- bold only part of that quote too. And yes, I read several pages on the site about how to do stuff, but I still couldn't find it.

    He served ONLY 10 YEARS?! Dammit. If he had served the entire 25 sentence, he would never have been able to get his disgusting paws on Kelli, Tiffany, Jessica, possibly Laura, and God knows how many others. These young ladies wouldn't be Forever 19, or 20, or 12.
    It. Just. Breaks. My. Heart.
    I live not too far from many of Reece's victims. I remember when these girls disappeared. My step granddaughter works with a friend of Jessica Cain. That friend is pushing 40. Jessica never got the chance (to make it to 40). And I'm pretty much convinced that at least *some* of young women I knew back then crossed paths with this bastard. Who knows? Maybe I saw him. It's just happenstance that one of my nieces weren't on the side of the road with a flat tire when Reece drove by. It's just so random.
    Ok RANT OVER. I'm sure many (most? all?) of you guys are empathetic, and it feels good to preach to the choir. When I talk about these kinds of cases irl, most people are uncomfortable about the subject and some even kind of look at me like I'm a ghoul. If that make sense? But if that's so, then HELLO FELLOW GHOULS!

  18. #18
    Senior Member bermstalker's Avatar
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    Jezebelle- to quote somebody just click on the bottom of their post that says "reply with quote" (circled in red)

    The one icon all the way over to the right (also circled red) is what you put a check mark in if you want to quote many people.

    To BOLD somebody's post- Just underline it with your mouse and click the B (which is at the top of a box beside the I and U.

    [IMG][/IMG]

  19. #19
    Senior Member Jezebelle's Avatar
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    Thank you bermstalker!

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    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
    lol at Nestle being some vicious smiter, she's the nicest person on this site besides probably puzzld. Or at least the last person to resort to smiting.
    Quote Originally Posted by nestlequikie View Post
    Why on earth would I smite you when I can ban you?

  21. #21
    Senior Member bermstalker's Avatar
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    William Lewis Reece-Suspected serial killer charged in 1997 murders of 2 Texas girls

    A man already charged with abducting and killing a 19-year-old woman in Oklahoma was indicted Thursday in the 1997 slayings of two girls in Texas.

    A Galveston County grand jury indicted William Lewis Reece on murder counts in the deaths of 12-year-old Laura Smither of Friendswood and 17-year-old Jessica Cain of Tiki Island.

    Reece was already serving a 60-year prison sentence in Texas for kidnapping earlier this year when he led police to graves where remains were found of Cain and Kelli Cox, a 20-year-old University of North Texas student who was last seen in Denton in 1997.

    The 57-year-old registered sex offender is charged in Oklahoma with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the 1997 death of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston.

    Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady said Reece wouldn?t be tried in Galveston until the Oklahoma case was resolved.

    The murder indictments were sought because insufficient evidence had been gathered to support capital murder indictments, Roady said. Previously, Reece?s attorney, Anthony Osso, had said his client had hoped to avoid the death penalty by cooperating with authorities.

    Smither?s remains were found near Pasadena, an east Houston suburb, more than two weeks after she failed to return from a morning jog in Friendswood in April 1997. Cain had been missing since August 1997, when her abandoned car was found on Interstate 45 near Tiki Island, a community across from Galveston Island. Her remains and those of Cox were exhumed last March from a pasture on the southern fringe of Houston.

    Though Reece has been linked to Cox?s death, he hasn?t been charged in that case.

    Smither?s mother, Gay Smither, said Thursday that she had prayed throughout the time that her daughter was missing that she would return home. She said that when the girl?s remains were discovered, it at least provided some resolution.

    ?Our prayers weren?t answered the way we wanted, but our prayers were answered,? she said. ?Prayer does work. We may not like the answer we get.?

    Gay Smither said she found comfort in knowing the man she believed to be responsible for her daughter?s death had already been locked up for years. However, she also said she had forgiven Reece and ?would like to tell him that, to let him know he can change his life.?
    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/william-...-jessica-cain/

    Portrait of a serial killer
    http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2...serial-killer/






  22. #22
    Moderator Bewitchingstorm's Avatar
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    Smither's mother, Gay Smither, said Thursday that she had prayed throughout the time that her daughter was missing that she would return home. She said that when the girl's remains were discovered, it at least provided some resolution.


    I cannot imagine what she and the other parents/families have gone through.

  23. #23
    Senior Member Jezebelle's Avatar
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    I live near the infamous I-45 Texas Killing Fields or whatever the heck they're calling it (lots & lots of women have disappeared near the section of this road that goes from Houston to Galveston). There have been waay too many incidents going back to the 70s for it to be the work of one person, but this Reece guy did his share (in addition to the other women he abducted in Oklahoma & Denton, TX).
    I remember when both Jessica Cain & Laura Smither disappeared in 1997, and both cases freaked me out. It easily could've been my nieces- or any of the young women I knew- for whom Reece may have stopped to offer his "assistance." I think that when crime hits close to home, it can feel even scarier than it already is- if that makes sense?
    Now there's a Laura Smither Recovery Center (created by her loved ones after Reece took her) that goes right into assist mode when there's a missing child around here. I think setting up the Recovery Center is a great way to help others and to honor her as well. I admire parents who can take something so heinous and turn it into positive action. There's another "local" named Tim Miller who set up Texas EquuSearch (sp?) after his daughter was murdered. I don't think I could recover from the loss of my loved one enough to do what these people do- God bless them. I'm so glad this sick "bastard" (as John Walsh likes to call them) Reece was finally locked away forever.

  24. #24
    What do you care? Boston Babe 73's Avatar
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    Three names. No trial needed. Guilty.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nic B View Post
    That is too pretty to be shoved up an ass.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nic B View Post
    You can take those Fleets and shove them up your ass



  25. #25
    Senior Member Jezebelle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boston Babe 73 View Post
    Three names. No trial needed. Guilty.
    LOL

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