A Mississippi man became the first person in nine years to die by execution last month for the brutal 2010 murder of his estranged wife and sexual assault of his young stepdaughter in 2010.
Then it turns out he also killed his missing sister-in-law three years earlier after he confessed before his execution.
Mississippi carried out its first execution in more than nine years, 50-year-old David Neal Cox became at least the 150th person since executions resumed in the United States in 1977 to drop their appeals and “volunteer” for execution.
Mississippi State Penitentiar carried out his execution by lethal injection on November 17, 2021 at 6:12 p.m.
According to The Associated Press report:
David Cox took Kim Cox, 40, and two of her children hostage the night of May 14, 2010, at their Sherman home. He fatally shot Kim Cox and sexually assaulted her then-12-year-old daughter multiple times in front of her dying mother.
By the time authorities were able to gain access to the home the following morning, Kim Cox was dead.
The New York Post also reported that David Cox pleaded guilty to the heinous crime. In a statement released on behalf of Governor Tate Reeves, the execution was imminent — Cox himself requested it, saying he was “worthy of death.”
“The governor has reviewed the facts of this case and there is no question that David Cox committed these horrific crimes,” the statement released by press secretary Bailey Martin read.
“Mr. Cox has admitted his guilt on multiple occasions and has been found competent by both the Circuit Court and Mississippi Supreme Court. Further, Mr. Cox himself filed a motion requesting that all appeals be dismissed and his execution date be set. In light of this, the Governor has no intention at this time of granting clemency or delaying this execution.”
“The Attorney General’s Office has the responsibility of ensuring the faithful performance of the laws of the state, which have culminated in the Supreme Court’s order of this execution,” read another statement released by Michelle Williams, Chief of staff for Attorney General Lynn Fitch.
“Beyond that, out of respect for the families of the victims and the condemned, we will not comment.”
David Cox made a surprise confession to his defense team about a second murder, that of Felicia Warren Cox. It was two days after David Cox’s execution, his attorneys hand-delivered a letter in which Cox confessed to the murder and gave details of where her body is located.
Authorities have not disclosed where Felicia Cox is allegedly buried.
Weddle said in a written statement:
“We would like to stress that locating the remains of Felicia Cox is not a foregone conclusion. We are hopeful the information is accurate and that recovery efforts will be successful so that Felicia’s family may give her a proper burial.”
David Cox final words were addressed to his children, according to the Post:
“I want my children to know that I love them very much and that I was a good man at one time,” Cox reportedly said. He thanked the state corrections commissioner for being kind to him and advised, “Don’t ever read anything but the King James Bible.”
According to a statement by Mississippi’s Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, two days after Cox’s death, District Attorney John Weddle’s office was contacted with information of a kind of “deathbed” confession Cox had made, as he had “felt deep remorse and wanted to bring closure.”
Sources: TheWesternJournal, The Associated Press, Nypost
