Authorities say inmate’s tip before execution led to woman’s remains

The remains believed to belong to a woman whose case had gone cold were discovered Sunday following a pre-execution confession from a death row inmate, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Before death by lethal injection last month, David Neal Cox, who was found guilty of murdering his wife in 2010, told attorneys he also killed his sister-in-law in 2007.

Prior to his execution, Cox shared information regarding the whereabouts of what are believed to be the remains of Felicia Cox, his brother’s wife. Cox has been considered a suspect in Felicia Cox’s disappearance for many years.

Working off the tip, police on Sunday found the body believed to belong to Felicia Cox on land that previously belonged to her family in Pontotoc County, Miss. The remains are still awaiting confirmation through DNA testing and an autopsy, the AP notes.

The discovery comes almost a month after Cox became the first person in almost a decade to be put to death by the state of Mississippi.

Cox was executed after pleading guilty to shooting his wife Kim Kirk Cox and sexually assaulting her 12-year-old daughter over a period of years.

In his final words before his Nov. 17 death, Cox said, “I want my children to know that I love them very much and that I was a good man at one time.”