In May of 2010, the life of 40-year-old Kim Kirk Cox was brought to a brutal and tragic end in her Sherman, Mississippi home. The horrific events unfolded on the night of May 14th, when her estranged husband, David Neal Cox, forced his way into the residence. What followed was a night of terror that would leave a lasting scar on her family. David Cox shot Kim and then held her and two of her children hostage for over eight hours.
As Kim lay dying from her gunshot wound, David Cox
subjected her then-12-year-old daughter to repeated sexual assaults in her mother's presence. Police surrounded the home and attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution, but by the time they were able to gain entry in the early morning hours of May 15th, Kim had already succumbed to her injuries, having bled to death. Her children were rescued, but the trauma of that night would forever change their lives.
David Neal Cox was taken into custody and ultimately pleaded guilty to capital murder for the slaying of his estranged wife, in addition to multiple other charges, including sexual assault. In 2012, a jury sentenced him to death for his crimes. For years, he remained on death row, but eventually, he relinquished all of his appeals, stating that he was 'worthy of death.'
On November 17, 2021, David Neal Cox was executed by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, the first execution carried out in the state in nine years. In the days leading up to his execution, he confessed to another crime, the 2007 murder of his sister-in-law, Felicia Warren Cox, whose disappearance had remained a mystery. He provided details about the location of her remains before his death sentence was carried out.
