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Human remains discovered in Mississippi are identified as death row inmate's sister-in-law he murdered in 2007: David Neal Cox confessed to the killing before being executed and gave cops hand-drawn map to her grave

  Mississippi authorities have identified the remains of a woman murdered in 2007 after her brother-in-law - who was on death row for killin...

 Mississippi authorities have identified the remains of a woman murdered in 2007 after her brother-in-law - who was on death row for killing her sister - fessed up to the whereabouts by providing a hand-drawn map before he was executed last month.

The remains found in a field near Pontotoc on Dec. 12 were confirmed to be that of Felicia Cox after officials matched the DNA with that of her daughter, Amber Miskelly, who was 18 when her mother went missing,  said John Weddle, a district attorney for several northern Mississippi counties, on Wednesday.

Cox was 40 years old when she disappeared in 2007 and her brother-in-law David Neal Cox, 50, was always suspected in her murder.  

He would end up killing her sister, Kim Kirk Cox, three years later and pleaded guilty in 2012 to capital murder for the May 2010 shooting. 

During his arrest Cox raped his stepdaughter in front of her dying mother - even as police surrounded the home and tried to get David to release the then-12-year-old girl, along with her two brothers. 

The killer became the first inmate executed in Mississippi in nine years when he was put to death on November 17, but not before coughing up a detailed map of where he buried Felicia's body . 

Felicia Cox's body was identified on Wednesday. Felicia (pictured) has been missing since 2007 and her murderer, brother-in-law David Neal Cox, 50, admitted to the murder before he was executed on November 17 for killing his wife Kim Kirk Cox, 40
Felicia Cox's body was identified on Wednesday. Felicia (pictured) has been missing since 2007 and her murderer, brother-in-law David Neal Cox, 50, admitted to the murder before he was executed on November 17 for killing his wife Kim Kirk Cox, 40

Felicia Cox's body was identified on Wednesday. Felicia (pictured) has been missing since 2007 and her murderer, brother-in-law David Neal Cox, 50, admitted to the murder before he was executed on November 17 for killing his wife Kim Kirk Cox, 40

Her body was found in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, after Cox hand drew a map of its location

Her body was found in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, after Cox hand drew a map of its location 

Her DNA was tested against her daughters Amber Miskelly, 23, (pictured center in jeans). A member of the Pontotoc County Sheriff's Department hugged Miskelly after informing her the remains found were her mother's

Her DNA was tested against her daughters Amber Miskelly, 23, (pictured center in jeans). A member of the Pontotoc County Sheriff's Department hugged Miskelly after informing her the remains found were her mother's 

Cox hand drew a map to lead police directly to her body

Cox hand drew a map to lead police directly to her body 

Cox admitted to the murder because he reportedly 'felt deep remorse and wanted to bring closure' to Felicia Cox's family. He was executed in November, the first in nine years in the state

Cox admitted to the murder because he reportedly 'felt deep remorse and wanted to bring closure' to Felicia Cox's family. He was executed in November, the first in nine years in the state

Cox had dropped his appeals, filing court papers calling himself 'worthy of death' before the state Supreme Court set his execution date.

Questions had remained about whether David Neal Cox was responsible for the July 2007 disappearance of Felicia. Miskelly recently told WTVA-TV that David Cox was the last person to see her mother alive.

Before his execution, David Neal Cox told his attorneys he killed Felicia Cox in 2007, providing detailed instructions on where investigators could find her remains and waiving his attorney-client privilege after death, Weddle said this month.

The information was presented to Weddle's office two days after Cox's execution, the district attorney said. David Neal Cox had been a longtime suspect in his sister-in-law's disappearance, he said.

'There is no indication that anyone other than Cox is responsible for Felicia Cox´s death,' Weddle told a news conference earlier this month. 

The state's Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel said David 'felt deep remorse and wanted to bring closure' to Felicia Cox's family. 

After the discovery of her remains on her family's land west of Pontotoc, located about 200 miles north of Jackson, her relatives told police they were 'thankful' to move on.  

'We are thankful the family can now begin the process of giving Felicia Cox a burial,' he said.


Among the people who witnessed the execution was David's stepdaughter, 23-year-old Lindsey Kirk. She was 12 on May 14, 2010, and staying at an aunt's house with her two brothers and mother after getting a restraining order against David.

Her mother was in the back of the house filling the bathtub for her little brother.

'A gunshot came through the screen door, and he ran in and told me not to move,' Lindsey said of her stepfather, who chased her aunt, Kristie Salmon, out of the house.

Cox was also in jail for sexually assaulting Lindsey Kirk when she was 12 three times in front of her dying mother, who Cox's shot in the stomach. She later claimed that he assaulted her multiple times when he mother wasn't home

Cox was also in jail for sexually assaulting Lindsey Kirk when she was 12 three times in front of her dying mother, who Cox's shot in the stomach. She later claimed that he assaulted her multiple times when he mother wasn't home 

Lindsey was not in the room when her stepfather shot her mother in the arm and abdomen, but he soon took her back there.

'Mama was laying on the floor. She was bleeding,' Lindsey said. Her brother 'was balled up in a closet.'

Her stepfather then sexually assaulted her three times in front of her dying mother - even as police surrounded the home and tried to get David to release Lindsey, along with her two brothers.

The ordeal lasted more than eight hours before officers got the three children out, recovered Kim's body and arrested David.

Recently, Lindsey revealed that David used methamphetamine in front of Kirk, who said that her stepfather sexually assaulted her 'for a few years' when the family was still living under the same roof when her mother would leave.

She said she was afraid to tell anyone because 'he always told me that he'd kill us' if she told on him.

However, while staying with her grandparents in the summer of 2009, Lindsey texted her mother and told her of the assaults.

Soon after that, Cox was arrested and charged with statutory rape, sexual battery, child abuse and possession of methamphetamine. He was released in April 2010, but then-wife Kim Cox already had a restraining order against him and had moved to her sister's home with her children.

But, one day, Kim Cox saw him at an intersection from afar. She told relatives that he held his hand up like a gun and pointed it at her three times. Within a couple of days, he had killed her.

Kim Cox's father and stepmother describe her as a caring mother who was generous toward others. They said they didn't know David had been abusive or her children until Lindsey spoke up.

The boys are now 18 and 19 years old. The couple said the younger son does not like to talk about his mother's death or his father's impending execution, and the older son is still fearful his father might come back and hurt him.

'I've told him,' Melody Kirk said, 'a dead person can't hurt anybody.'   

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