Remains of Kelli Cox Found, College Student Who Vanished in 1997 at Hands of Suspected Serial Killer
LatestAuthorities in Brazoria County, Texas have confirmed that human remains found on a remote patch of private land belong to Kelli Cox, a 20-year-old college student who vanished in 1997. William Reece, a former truck driver serving 60 years on a kidnapping charge, told police he buried Cox there. Reece is linked to the disappearances of at least five women in Texas and Oklahoma.
Cox was a student at University of North Texas in Denton at the time of her disappearance; she was the mother of a 19-month-old daughter . She disappeared on July 15, 1997, after she toured the Denton City Jail with her criminology class. Cox locked herself out of her car and walked to a nearby gas station to phone her boyfriend to bring her a spare; the police wouldn’t allow her to make a long-distance call from the station. After finishing the call, Cox bought a soda and began walking back to the car. She never made it.
Denton police said William Lewis Reece became a suspect early on in the Cox investigation; he was never charged and the case went dead for decades. Reece, a trucker, lived in both Texas and Oklahoma and did prison time for a series of violent crimes against women. He was convicted of first-degree rape in 1987, as well as kidnapping and sodomy charges, and was sentenced to 25 years. An appeal brought that down to 15, and Reece ended up serving nine. He was released in 1996, and came to Texas the same year.
Authorities have since named Reece as a suspect to attacks on at least five girls and women, all in 1997. Laura Smither, 12, vanished while jogging in April of that year; her body was found later that month. Tiffany Johnston, 18, and Jessica Cain, 17, went missing from Oklahoma City and La Marque, Texas, respectively, a month apart from each other.