Authorities have uncovered the remains of a Mississippi woman following a tip from an inmate who revealed the location of her body prior to his execution on other crimes last month.
On Sunday, police discovered what's believed to be the body of Felicia Cox on land that had once belonged to her family in Pontotoc County. The remains will be taken to the state crime lab for an autopsy and DNA testing to confirm their identity, according to Pontotoc County Coroner Kim Bedford.
Last month, David Neal Cox became the first inmate executed in Mississippi in nine years, put to death for killing his estranged wife, Kim Kirk Cox, and sexually assaulting her young daughter as her mother lay dying. Cox pleaded guilty in 2012 to capital murder for the May 2010 shooting death. He also pleaded guilty to multiple other charges, including sexual assault.
Cox had dropped his appeals, filing court papers calling himself “worthy of death” before the state Supreme Court set his execution date.
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Questions had remained about whether David Cox was responsible for the 2007 disappearance of Felicia Cox, his brother’s wife, who was last seen in a neighboring county. Her daughter, Amber Miskelly, recently told NBC affiliate WTVA of Tupelo that David Cox was the last person to see her mother alive.
Ahead of the scheduled execution, which took place Nov. 17, Miskelly wrote Cox a letter pleading for a location of the remains.
"I thought I had more time," Miskelly said to WTVA.
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On Oct. 26, David Cox told his attorneys he killed Felicia Cox in 2007, providing detailed instructions on where investigators could find her remains and waiving his attorney-client privilege after death, according to John Weddle, the district attorney for several northern Mississippi counties. It's not clear if this followed Miskelly's letter.
The information was presented to Weddle’s office two days after Cox’s execution, the district attorney said last week, adding that David Cox has been a longtime suspect in his sister-in-law's disappearance.
“Our office is greatly indebted to many as we reflect on the discovery of what appears to be the remains of Felicia Cox today in Pontotoc County,” Weddle said Sunday in a statement posted to his official Facebook page. “We are thankful the family can now begin the process of giving Felicia Cox a burial."
