Remains identified as missing UNT student

Skeletal remains found in Brazoria County are those of University of North Texas honor student Kelli Cox, who went missing in 1997, Denton police said Monday.

Dental records confirmed that the bones were those of Cox, who was last seen in Denton.

Cox’s mother, Jan Bynum of Farmers Branch said Monday in a telephone interview that Denton police alerted her that authorities had made a preliminary identification a few days ago.

“They wanted to be 100 percent sure, so tests were done over the weekend,” Bynum said Monday. “The detective called me this morning.”

Now, she said, “I’m dealing with a whole new set of emotions. It’s difficult.”

The remains were analyzed by University of North Texas/Center for Human Identification and Laboratory Forensic Anthropology and the Galveston County medical examiner’s office, officials said.

Authorities found them April 5 at a site in Brazoria County. Convict William Reece led authorities to the area where he said he buried the missing UNT student, Cox’s mother has said.

The remains were found in a pasture off Texas 288 near Rosharon.

Denton police spokesman Shane Kizer said the identification means investigators are conducting a homicide investigation and they are looking to file formal charges.

Cox disappeared July 15, 1997, after taking a tour of the Denton Jail with her UNT criminology class. She called her boyfriend about noon and when he arrived to meet her he found only her car.

Bynum said she remembered hearing Reece’s name early in the investigation, but he was never arrested in the Cox case. He had worked as a truck driver and bulldozer operator in the Houston area.

Cox had a 19-month-old daughter, who is now a student at UNT.

Bynum said she told her granddaughter Monday, and encouraged her to attend classes.

“I told her if anyone asked, and she didn’t want to talk about it, that she didn’t have to say a word,” Bynum said.

Before this week, Cox was legally declared presumed dead.

Reece was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1998 for an aggravated kidnapping in Harris County, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records. While in prison, he was also sentenced to three years for theft in Brazoria County.

He was charged in September with the murder and kidnapping in Oklahoma of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston, who was abducted on July 26, 1997, from a car wash in Bethany, Okla. He was charged in that case after DNA evidence linked him to the crimes.

In late February and last month, Reece has guided authorities to locations near Houston. He led them to a pasture in southeast Houston where human remains were found March 18. Medical examiners are working to identify the skeletal remains, which could be those of missing 17-year-old Jessica Cain of La Marque.

Reece is a suspect in her August 1997 disappearance and in the murder that same year of Laura Smither, 12, of Friendswood.

Smither disappeared while jogging, and her body was found a month later in Pasadena, according to multiple news outlets in Houston.

Bynum said she plans to visit the site in Brazoria County where her daughter’s remains were found. She’s been in contact with the property owner.

“We are going to bring her home now,” Bynum said. “She’s in God’s arms.”

This report contains information from The Associated Press.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Remains identified as missing UNT student."