DALLAS — In 2016, William Reece led authorities to a 7,000-yard strip of land along Texas Highway 288 in Brazoria County, about 25 miles south of Houston.
It was there, he told investigators, they would find the remains of Kelli Ann Cox, a University of North Texas student who vanished in 1997.
Reece was correct. authorities found remains, confirmed them to be those of Cox and Reece was charged with her murder.
Now, Cox's case is among those being featured as part of a new Netflix series, "Cold Case: The Texas Killing Fields."
The documentary specifically focuses on a series of murders involving young women and girls who were found dead in the Houston area along Interstate 45.
Four of the killings remain unsolved: Laura Miller, Heidi Fye, Audrey Cook and Donna Prudhomme. The area where their bodies were discovered was dubbed "The Killing Fields."
Cox's remains weren't found in that specific area; Brazoria County is just west of there. But her killer, Reece, was responsible for two other murders involving victims found in the South Houston area around the same time.
Cox was 20 and a senior at the University of North Texas when she was last seen in Denton on July 15, 1997.
Her case went cold until 2016, when Reece, who was imprisoned on a separate kidnapping case, led authorities to her remains.
This summer, he pleaded guilty in the case, bringing an end to more than 20 years of seeking justice for Cox's family. He was sentenced to life in prison.
He also pleaded guilty in Galveston County to the murders of 12-year-old Laura Kate Smither, of Friendswood, and 17-year-old Jessica Cain, of Tiki Island.
Those cases had also remained cold until Reece's confession in 2016 when he led investigators to the bodies of Cain and Cox. Laura's body was found a few days after she disappeared in 1997.
Reece was also convicted of killing 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston in Oklahoma. He received the death penalty for Johnston's death, but he's currently serving his life sentences in a Texas state prison.
