David Neal Cox: Mississippi investigators find remains at location mapped by convicted killer before his execution
Cox was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to murdering his estranged wife and sexually assaulting her 12-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to death for murder in 2012, according to court records.
Cox was previously a suspect in the disappearance of sister-in-law Felicia Cox, Weddle said in a news release.
Cox’s attorneys began communicating with Weddle’s office over the summer “about the possibility of revealing … the whereabouts of Felicia Cox’s body,” Weddle said.
Prosecutors agreed to grant Cox immunity in the missing Felicia Cox case in exchange for him revealing the location of her body. Cox agreed to waive attorney-client privilege, allowing his attorneys to turn over the information after his death, Waddle said.
After prosecutors received the information, they assembled a team to search the site in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. That team included members of the Mississippi State University Department of Archeology and Anthropology, who used ground-penetrating radar to help guide the recovery team.
Investigators also used satellite imagery to compare the location outlined by Cox in 2007, when Felicia Cox went missing, with what it looks like today, the report said. “It fits what he says,” Weddle said.
On Sunday, investigators found the remains at the site and sent them to the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy and DNA testing to confirm identity, Waddle said in the statement.
Felicia Cox’s daughter Amber Miskelly and other family members were at the site and were able to view the restoration, the statement said.
CNN has reached out to the Pontotoc County Coroner’s Office and the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
CNN’s Chris Boyette and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.
