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"It is evil." Mississippi woman will witness the execution of her stepfather, guilty of killing her mother

2021-11-17T12:21:51.669Z


David Neal Cox will be executed with a lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2010 murder of his wife, Kim Kirk Cox. It is Mississippi's first execution since 2012.


By Emily Wagster Pettus -

The Associated Press

NEW ALBANY, Mississippi - If all goes according to plan, 23-year-old Lindsey Kirk will be in a Mississippi prison this week to watch the execution of the stepfather who terrorized her family, sexually assaulted her as a child and killed her mother.

David Neal Cox is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection this Wednesday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.

The state Supreme Court set the execution date after Cox waived all appeals.

[Alabama executes a prisoner whom his lawyers considered disabled]

In 2012, he pleaded guilty to capital murder for the May 2010 murder of his estranged wife Kim Kirk Cox, as well as multiple other charges, including the sexual assault of her stepdaughter.

A jury passed the death sentence, and Cox has produced court documents calling himself "worthy of death."

“When I found out that I wanted to go ahead and get this over with, I wasn't very happy.

I just wanted him to sit there, ”Kirk told The Associated Press last week.

"I guess I'm happy now," he added.

This will be Mississippi's first execution since 2012, as states have struggled to find drugs for the lethal injection because drug companies began blocking the use of their products to carry out death sentences.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves will not delay the execution or grant clemency, spokeswoman Bailey Martin said Tuesday.

“The Governor has reviewed the facts of this case and there is no question that David Cox committed these horrible crimes.

Cox has pleaded guilty multiple times and has been found competent by both the Circuit Court and the Mississippi Supreme Court, ”Martin said.

"In addition, Cox himself filed a motion requesting that all appeals be dismissed and their execution date set."

[The Supreme Court suspends the execution of a Latino in Texas who asked to have his pastor by his side during the process]

Kirk misses his mother every day and he has two tattoos in his memory: Kim Cox's birthday in Roman numerals and a dolphin, his mother's favorite animal.

Kirk was a little girl when her mother married Cox, and she was 8 years old before her mother told her that another man was her biological father.

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Cox was a commercial truck driver until he injured his back and began receiving disability checks, Kirk said.

Said he was using methamphetamine in front of her.

He said that he also sexually assaulted her "for a few years" when her mother was away from home, but that she was afraid to tell someone because "she always told me that she would kill us" if she did.

[Biden Administration suspends federal executions]

While staying with his grandparents in the summer of 2009, Kirk steeled himself: "I texted Mom and told her."

David Cox was soon arrested and jailed in northern Mississippi.

Court records show he was charged with rape, sexual assault, child abuse and methamphetamine possession.

He was released from jail in April 2010, without going to trial.

Following David Cox's release from prison, Kim Cox obtained a restraining order against him and moved in with his sister, Kristie Salmon, taking Lindsey and their two minor children.

One day, Kim saw David at a crossroads.

He told his relatives that David raised his hand like a gun and pointed it three times.

Within a few days, he killed her.

On May 14, 2010, 12-year-old Lindsey Kirk was sitting on the couch while her aunt made dinner.

One of his brothers was away playing basketball.

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

"A shot went through the screen door, and he ran in and told me not to move," Kirk said of his stepfather, who kicked his aunt out of the house.

Kirk was not in the room when his stepfather shot his mother in the arm and abdomen, but he soon brought her there.

David Neal Cox in an undated photo, Mississippi Department of Corrections via AP

"Mom was lying on the floor.

I was bleeding, ”Kirk said.

His brother "was in a ball in a closet."

Her stepfather sexually assaulted her three times in front of her dying mother, including as police surrounded the house and tried to get her to free the hostages.

On the day of the attack, Kim's father and stepmother were three hours from home at a track meet with one of their children.

Salmon called them and told them that David Cox had come to their house and started shooting.

Kim, Lindsey, and a son were trapped inside.

[This man was arrested for a crime he did not commit.

When he denied it, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital]

Benny and Melody Kirk immediately started back, and David Cox called while they were on their way.

Benny Kirk spoke to Kim, who had already been shot.

"I told him we were going to go as fast as we could get there," Benny Kirk said.

"And she said, 'Dad, I'm dying."

First woman in nearly 70 years executed in the US.

Jan. 13, 202100: 30

Benny Kirk said Cox blamed him, Melody, Kim and Lindsey for the arrest: "He told me on the phone that he wanted to kill us all."

Melody Kirk reported that dozens of officers, multiple ambulances and a helicopter were at the home when they arrived.

She said that by then David Cox was refusing to speak to the agents, so she had to assume the role of negotiator, trying to persuade him to let the family go.

[A second inmate manages to delay his execution in Texas citing "religious freedom reasons"]

The ordeal lasted more than eight hours before officers managed to remove the two children, recover Kim Cox's body and arrest David Cox.

Authorities said their last confirmation that Kim was still alive was after midnight on May 15.

Kim Cox's father and stepmother describe Kim as a loving and generous mother to others.

They said they did not know that David had been abusive to her or her children until Lindsey spoke.

Benny Kirk wants to witness the execution of his son-in-law if there is a place available, simply saying, "He's evil."

Questions remain as to whether David Cox was responsible for the 2007 disappearance of his brother's wife, Felicia Cox, who was last seen in a neighboring county.

His daughter, Amber Miskelly, recently told WTVA-TV that David Cox was the last person to see her mother alive.

Lindsey Kirk said her mother and Felicia Cox were close friends.

Benny and Melody Kirk said they wonder if Cox will confess to his sister-in-law's death before he is executed.

[New York millionaire Robert Durst is convicted of the murder of his best friend 20 years ago]

Benny and Melody Kirk raised Lindsey and her two younger siblings after Kim's death.

Lindsey calls them Mamaw and Papaw, and they say she's her angel.

The boys are now 18 and 19 year olds.

The couple say the younger son doesn't like to talk about his mother's death or the impending execution of his father, and the older son continues to fear that Cox will come back and hurt him.

"I have told him that a dead person cannot harm anyone," Melody Kirk said.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-11-17

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