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Jun 29, 2022 · HOUSTON – William Lewis Reece was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to the murders of Laura Smither, Jessica Cain and Kelli Ann Cox. All three were murdered in 1997.
Jun 29, 2022 · Reece was also indicted in Brazoria County for the murder of Kelli Ann Cox, a University of North Texas student who also went missing in 1997 and whose body was also found in 2016.
- John Wayne Ferguson
- Reporter
- April 3, 1997: Laura Kate Smither Abduction and Search
- April 20, 1997: Laura Kate Smither's Body Found
- May 17, 1997: Sandra Sapaugh Abduction and Escape
- July 15, 1997: Kelli Ann Cox Disappearance
- July 26 & 27, 1997: Tiffany Dobry Johnston Abduction and Murder
- Aug. 17, 1997: Jessica Cain Disappearance
- October 1997: Reece Arrested and Named Prime Suspect
- 1998
- 2015
- March and April 2016
On the morning April 3, 1997, Laura Kate Smither went out jogging in her Friendswood neighborhood. Then she failed to come home. For more than two weeks, 6,000 volunteers searched over 800 square miles for the 12-year-old girl.
On April 20, 1997, 17 days after Laura disappeared, her body was found in a water retention pond near Pasadena several miles from her home. RELATED: Parents of murdered Friendswood girl thank police, neighbors for support
In the early morning of May 17, 1997, Sandra Sapaugh stopped at a Webster store to call a friend. She observed a white pickup truck and its driver staring at her. She went back to her van, and headed to a nearby restaurant where she was to meet a friend. Sandra heard a strange noise coming from her tire, but managed to pull into the parking lot of ...
On July 15, 1997, Kelli Ann Cox took a daytime tour of a Denton, Texas jail with her fellow University of North Texas classmates. When she left and went to her car, the 20-year-old Criminology student discovered that she had locked her keys in her car, and the spare key would not unlock the door. Kelli walked across the street to the gas station’s ...
On July 26, 1997, Tiffany Dobry Johnston went to Sunshine Car Wash in the town of Bethany, Oklahoma. She never returned home and her car was found left behind at the car wash. The 19-year-old's body was found the next day in a field in Yukon.
On Aug. 17, 1997, Jessica Lee Cain went to a party at a restaurant to celebrate her performance in a high school musical. Later, her father's truck, which she was driving, was found abandoned and operational on I-45 in LaMarque. It was along the route to her home on Tiki Island. Her purse was left inside.
William Reece was arrested for the aggravated kidnapping of Sandra Sapanaugh, five months after the incident. The Friendswood Police Department also publicly named Reece as a prime suspect in the death of 12-year-old Laura Smither. But ultimately, no charges were filed against him in that case.
In 1998, Reece was convicted for the aggravated kidnapping of Sandra Sapaugh that also occurred in 1997. He was sentenced to prison for 60 years.
In 2015, an Oklahoma State Investigative Bureau agent linked Reece's DNA to the kidnapping, rape, and strangulation death of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston. Months later, the OSIB charged Reece with first-degree murder and knapping for the case, while he was serving his 60-year sentence in Harris County Jail. Reece pleaded not guilty in the case.
Reece began cooperating with prosecutors and confessed to murders in Texas. His defense attorney would later reveal that Reece admitted to the killings because a Texas Ranger had promised that prosecutors wouldn’t seek the death penalty. The convicted kidnapper was temporarily released from state prison into local law enforcement custody to help wi...
Oct 22, 2023 · Twenty-five years after the murders of Laura Smither, Kelli Cox and Jessica Cain, their families finally got their day in court. William Reece pleaded guilty in Galveston and Brazoria Counties...
Jun 29, 2022 · After pleading guilty in Galveston County, Reece pleads guilty to the murder of Kelli Ann Cox in Brazoria County. He is sentenced to up to 99 years in prison and will be eligible for parole after...
Jun 29, 2022 · William Lewis Reece, 62, was sentenced to life in prison for slaying Laura Smither, 12, and Jessica Cain, 17, in Galveston County, Texas, during a spate of four killings in 1997. He is going to Brazoria County, Texas, expected to admit to killing Kelli Ann Cox, 20.
Jun 2, 2021 · Cox disappeared from Denton and Reece led detectives to her body in Brazoria County. Reece was charged with Smither and Cain’s murders in Galveston County and Cox’s murder in Brazoria County.
