By Dennis Romero -
NBC News
A hand-drawn map released to authorities the day after the murderer David Neal Cox was executed in Mississippi led investigators to where the remains of a woman who disappeared years ago are buried.
The man was convicted in 2010 of the murder of his ex-wife, Kim Kirk Cox, but
was also a longtime suspect
in the 2007
disappearance
of Felicia Cox, his sister-in-law.
Shortly before her execution on November 17, the woman's daughter, Amber Miskelly, wrote a letter to Cox begging him to tell her where she had buried her mother.
"I thought I had more time," he told the Tupelo WTVA station.
Pontotoc County Coroner Kim Bedford reported Monday that the remains found Sunday at the location Cox marked on a map appear to be Felicia Cox's.
"We have reason to believe that this is the case," he
said.
David Neal Cox's hand-drawn map Capture via NBC News
Prosecutor John Weddle said in a statement Monday that the DNA will be used to make an official determination.
Miskelly and other relatives of Felicia Cox were present and witnessed the excavation of the remains, Weddle said.
Cox made "an admission of guilt" on October 26 to his attorneys in connection with this disappearance.
It is unclear if Miskelly's letter had anything to do with it.
Nor if the defendant formally acknowledged that he was responsible for the death.
["It's evil." A Mississippi woman will witness the execution of her stepfather, guilty of killing her mother]
At a press conference on December 6, the prosecutor said: "There is no indication that anyone other than Cox is responsible for the death of Felicia Cox."
The Mississippi Post-Conviction Counseling Office said in a statement that Cox had waived the attorney-client privilege, with postmortem effect, so the family could be informed
where the missing woman's remains were.
The case developed quickly after the execution: His attorneys turned over the map of what appears to be a family property on Cane Creek Road in Pontotoc County during a meeting with prosecutors on Nov. 19, Weddle said.
The prosecutor said Sunday's search was done with the help of ground-penetrating radar, provided by Mississippi State University, and
with corpse-sniffing dogs
from Columbus, in the same state.
"Cox is deeply sorry and wanted to bring closure" to Felicia Cox's family, the state attorney said in a Dec. 6 statement revealing his confession.
[A man confesses to murder two days after being executed with the lethal injection for another death]
Miskelly said he was always suspicious of him because his mother had come to visit his sister before he was reported missing.
"He was literally the last person to be with her when she was alive," Miskelly told WTVA.
