Authorities found the remains of a Mississippi woman on Sunday, following a map provided by an inmate who revealed the location of her body prior to his execution on Nov. 17.
David Neal Cox gave a letter and the map with detailed instructions on the location of the remains to his attorneys before his execution. He also admitted that he killed Felicia Cox in 2007. The information was presented to John Weddle, the district attorney for several northern Mississippi counties, two days after David's execution.
Felicia Cox, David's brother's wife, was last seen in 2007 in a neighboring county. According to Felicia's daughter, Amber Miskelly, David was the last person to see her mother alive. He has been a long-time suspect in his sister-in-law's disappearance.
After pleading guilty to murdering his estranged wife, Kim Kirk Cox and sexually assaulting her 12-year-old daughter, David received the death penalty. According to court records, he was sentenced to death for the capital murder conviction in 2012 for the May 2010 shooting death. He also pleaded guilty to multiple charges, such as sexual assault.
David became the first inmate executed in Mississippi in nine years. Before the state Supreme Court set the date of his execution, he had dropped his appeals and filed court papers calling himself "worthy of death."
David's attorneys began communicating with Weddle's office during the summer "regarding the possibility of a disclosure ... of the whereabouts of the body of Felicia Cox," the latter stated.
Officials searched around the Cane Creek road property on Sunday morning, WCBI-TV reported. The search took nearly three hours of digging before remains were located shortly after 1:00 pm. The police discovered what is believed to be the body of Felicia on land that had once belonged to her family in Pontotoc County. According to Pontotoc County Coroner Kim Bedford, the remains will be handed to the state crime lab for an autopsy and DNA testing to confirm the identity.
"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."
