A Mississippi man who was executed last month for the fatal shooting of his wife confessed to another killing before the execution, said a prosecutor Monday.
Cox had penned a letter to the district attorney’s office that provided the location, and it was hand-delivered by the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel two days after Cox was put to death. Cox had agreed to the confession shortly before his death, according to the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel in a statement.
“Mr. Cox felt deep remorse and wanted to bring closure to her family,” the agency said in the statement Tuesday.
It’s not clear if the remains were located yet. The Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Department, DA’s Office, and staff with the Archeology and Anthropology unit in Mississippi State University joined the effort, said officials.
“We would like to stress that locating the remains of Felicia Cox is not a foregone conclusion,” Wedle said. “We are hopeful that the information is accurate and that recovery efforts will be successful so that Felicia’s family may give her a proper burial.”
Felicia Cox’s daughter, Amber Miskelly, was present at the news conference, standing next to her husband. She was silent as Weddle spoke, but wiped away tears. Miskelly had just turned 18 when her mother went missing.
“All that he said was that he was sorry for taking my mom away and that her death was senseless, and that he should have never harmed her,” Miskelly told the New York Times on Tuesday.
A letter from David Cox’s lawyers said the suspect expressed remorse for her mother’s slaying, she said.
“I felt relieved, but it upset me all over again,” Miskelly said.
Cox pleaded guilty in 2012 to capital murder for the May 2010 shooting death of Kim Kirk Cox. He also pleaded guilty to multiple other charges, including sexual assault. A jury handed down the death sentence.
Cox was the first death row inmate to be executed in the state of Mississippi in nine years.
Meanwhile, before the inmate took his final breath last month, he told those who were present: “I want my children to know that I love them very much and that I was a good man at one time.”
