Convicted
killer William Reece sentenced to die for 1997 murder
If the death penalty was
not imposed then "wrong really has finally totally triumphed over right
and all civilised society, all we hold dear, is the loser." - John
Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington
On this date, August 19,
2021, Oklahoma Serial Killer, William Lewis Reece sentenced to death for the
murder of Tiffany Johnston in 1997. He is now suspected of
killing four women in total. As terrorists, serial killers and mass
murderers had changed me from a death penalty opponent to supporter, Davis
should get the needle and he should not be allowed to keep his life at all.
Hopefully, he will meet the Bali Bomber, Amrozi one day.
A confessed serial
killer who preyed on young Houston girls -- and killed at least two of them --
was formally sentenced
to death Thursday by a judge in Oklahoma City. William Reece, 61, was
tried for the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Tiffany Johnston, a
19-year-old newlywed in Bethany, Oklahoma.
Murder trial begins for man accused of
serial killings in Oklahoma, Texas
Nolan Clay
Oklahoman
Tiffany Johnston
After being linked by DNA to a cold case in
Oklahoma, Texas inmate William Lewis Reece began confessing.
By the time he was done, he had admitted to the
killing in Oklahoma and three more in Texas, prosecutors say. All were in 1997,
after he got out of an Oklahoma prison after serving time for rape.
He led investigators in Texas to two bodies after
prosecutors there agreed not to seek the death penalty for his cooperation.
Texas Rangers pushed Oklahoma County District
Attorney David Prater to do the same. The district attorney refused.
Now — almost six years after being charged — Reece,
61, is going on trial in the Oklahoma murder case.
Jurors questioned about death penalty
Jury selection began Monday morning in Oklahoma
County District Court. The trial is expected to last three weeks.
District Judge Susan Stallings is having potential
jurors questioned one at a time, and away from others, about their opinions on
the death penalty.
Potential jurors also are being asked about any
exposure to pretrial publicity.
Reece made his confessions to two Texas Rangers and
a police detective from Friendswood, Texas, according to testimony at pretrial
hearings and court filings.
At trial, "these officers will testify that
the defendant stated his reasoning for confessing to these crimes was that he
wanted to clear his conscience and let the families have closure,"
prosecutors wrote in a legal filing.
"At no time did the defendant express remorse
for his actions."
Victim abducted at Bethany car wash
Reece confessed to strangling Tiffany Johnston
after abducting her on July 26, 1997, from a car wash in Bethany. Her partially
nude body was found the next day in tall weeds in Yukon, just south of Interstate
40.
Johnston was 19 and a newlywed.
He said he sexually assaulted her inside a horse
trailer and strangled her with his hands and then a rope, according to evidence
and testimony in the case. She hit him with a horseshoe at one point.
"He didn't know why. He just said it
happened," a Texas Ranger testified at the 2017 preliminary hearing.
Reece also has confessed to killing Kelli Ann Cox,
a 20-year-old student at the University of North Texas in Denton, and Jessica
Cain, 17, who was from the Galveston area, authorities say. He said he used a
bulldozer both times to bury their bodies. Their remains were found in 2016.
He also confessed to killing Laura Kate Smither,
12, of Friendswood, Texas, while working in the area at a construction job.
He claimed he accidentally hit her with his truck
while she was jogging in the rain. He said he then snapped her neck to stop her
from screaming and dumped her body in a retention pond. Prosecutors allege
there is evidence he raped the girl, but he denied any sexual contact.
Her body was found 17 days after she went missing.
Reece was in prison in Texas for abducting a
19-year-old woman in 1997. The victim escaped by jumping from his moving truck.
Held at Oklahoma County jail
He has been held at the Oklahoma County jail since
being brought from Texas. There, he has helped out on the medical floor as a
trustee, court records show.
Trials involving serial killer suspects are rare,
and Reece's case is getting international media attention.
The FBI has described serial murder as "the
unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate
events." The FBI put out the definition after hosting a symposium of 135
experts in 2005.
The FBI noted in the same report that a federal law
in 1998 described serial murder as a series of three or more killings.
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=114298550786143&id=101692122046786
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/05/11/man-accused-being-serial-killer-goes-trial/5027190001/
Snakes are poisonous
wherever they are. You can't underestimate a snake just because there's only
one. It's dangerous wherever it is. - Ashin Wirathu
Judge Seals Fate of Oklahoma Serial Killer
After Jury Recommended Death Penalty in Slaying of Teen
Adam Klasfeld
Aug 19th, 2021, 2:47 pm
A little more than two months
after an Oklahoma jury recommended a death sentence, serial killer William
Lewis Reece’s fate has been sealed by a judge over the death of a teen,
according to news reports and the case’s docket.
During Reece’s trial for
strangling newlywed Tiffany Johnston to death in a car wash, jurors reportedly
heard the man’s confessions to four separate slayings in 1997: three in Texas
and one in Oklahoma. Reece had been previously serving a 65-year sentence for
the aggravated kidnapping of Sandra Sapaugh, who jumped out of a car and lived
to tell police about her brush with a man authorities called a “true predator,”
according to the ABC-affiliated TV station KTRK.
Johnston was not able to escape
Reece with her life. The killer choked her to death at age 19 that same year.
The teen disappeared in July 1997, when authorities spotted her Dodge Neon with
her keys in the ignition. But she reportedly was not in the car.
Authorities found the victim’s
naked body the next day in a field in Oklahoma’s Canadian County.
Nearly two decades would pass
before DNA evidence linked Reece to Johnston in 2015, after examiners
reportedly took vaginal and rectum swabs from the slain newlywed. Reece, who
had been incarcerated for Sapaugh’s kidnapping at the time, confessed to the
four killings when confronted by authorities the next year.
Oklahoma County District Judge
Susan Stallings, who affirmed the death penalty for Reece on Thursday, let
prosecutors show the jury his confessions during his trial this past spring,
the Oklahoman reported.
As reported by the Oklahoman, Reece
agreed with detectives that he had a dark side right after his confession.
“Well, yeah, ain’t no doubt about
it. I ain’t going to lie to you,” Reece reportedly told the detective.
In 2016, Reece also reportedly
confessed to killing Kelli Ann Cox, 20; Jessica Cain, 17; and Laura Kate
Smither, 12. He used a bulldozer to bury Cox and Cain’s bodies, the paper
reported.
“He likes to abduct, sexually
assault girls and young women and sometimes kill them,” Assistant District
Attorney Jimmy Harmon reportedly told the jury during closing arguments in late
May. “It was his thing.”
An Oklahoma jury previously
sentenced Reece to death in June, some 24 years after the deaths of the young
women and girls.
Records show that Reece filed his
notice of appeal on Thursday. Reece’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Jacob
Benedict, did not immediately respond to a voicemail requesting comment, but
press accounts suggests he did not dispute that his client is a killer.
Instead, Benedict reportedly told jurors that his client confessed because a
Texas Ranger had promised that prosecutors would not seek to put him to death
in Texas.
“A promise he couldn’t keep, but
still a promise,” Benedict told jurors, according to the Oklahoman.
Oklahoma authorities refused to
sign onto the deal.
When Reece was being tried on
death-penalty counts this past spring, Jessica Cain’s father released a
statement that the family would be at peace, whatever the outcome.
“I’m just glad that he
can never harm another innocent young woman,” C.H. Cain told KTRK in a statement. “We will
miss Jessica every day of our lives, but as for Reece, my heart had been at
ease for a very long time, because I know that the final judgement belongs to
God. What happens on Earth is temporary. What God decides is eternal.”
(Photo via KTRK screengrab)
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=166663468882984&id=101692122046786
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/judge-seals-fate-of-oklahoma-serial-killer-a-jury-sentenced-to-death-for-slaying-teen/
William Reece, 62, was
convicted in June of kidnapping and murdering Tiffany Johnston, 19, in the town
of Bethany, Oklahoma.
‘He’s not really sorry’: Convicted
killer, William Lewis Reece, formally sentenced to death
An Oklahoma judge affirmed a
jury’s death sentence for a man accused of a string of murders in 1997.
William Reece, 62, was convicted
in June of kidnapping and murdering Tiffany Johnston, 19, in the town of
Bethany, Oklahoma.
“There’s an old
saying the law, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ Justice will not be
delayed any longer in this case. I sentence you to death,” Oklahoma County judge Susan Stallings said during
the hearing.
Johnston’s mother, Kathy Dobry,
also spoke during the hearing.
“Tiffany was my shadow,
we talked and shared her thoughts about the future, having children and me
being a grandparent. William Reece’s actions left me with just my memories,” said Dobry. “William Reece
might have taken my baby, but he can’t take my memories.”
Reece is also charged with
murdering Laura Smither in Friendswood, Jessica Cain in La Marque and
kidnapping Kelli Ann Cox from Denton before murdering her and burying her body
in a Brazoria County field. All of these murders were committed in 1997, but it
took two decades for Texas Rangers and several law enforcement agencies to
gather enough evidence to charge Reece.
Reece has been in prison since
1998. He was also charged with kidnapping Sandra Sapaugh from a parking lot in
Webster. Sapaugh escaped by jumping from Reece’s truck and her testimony was
crucial in securing a 60-year prison sentence for Reece.
Both Kelli Ann Cox’s and Laura
Smither’s families traveled to Oklahoma for today’s hearing.
“I am just thankful he
will not ever be out on the streets again, I mean ever,” said Jan Bynum, Cox’s mother.
At the time Cox was kidnapped and
murdered she had a 19-month old daughter. Alexis Bynum also attended the
hearing and spoke about the pain of growing up not knowing what happened to her
mother.
“I remember looking for
her,” said Alexis Bynum.
Cox’s body was not found until
Reece confessed in 2016 and led detectives to the spot where she was buried.
“Disgusting, he’s
disgusting,” Alexis Bynum said. “I mean you could feel the evil enter the room and leave it
when he was coming in and out.”
Reece also confessed to Cain’s
murder in 2016 and finally led investigators to her remains. Cain’s family
declined to comment.
Smither’s body was found a few
weeks after she disappeared while jogging near her Friendswood home.
“You would hope for
something in a person to say I’m sorry,” said Gay
Smither.
The judge did give Reece a chance
to speak, but he declined. Gay Smither said that silence told her all she
needed to know.
“It confirms that even
though we have confessions he’s not really sorry for what he did,” said Smither. “That’s
always disheartening to recognize that somebody is so broken that they don’t
even know what they did was wrong.”
Reece’s attorneys say they will
appeal his sentence. Prosecutors in Galveston and Brazoria counties have not
yet decided whether to continue pursuing their cases against Reece.
Smither said she wants
prosecutors to keep Laura’s and the other women’s cases active, at least until
the appeal process in Oklahoma is finished. While he had not completed his
60-year sentence in Oklahoma, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials
said they will not seek his return now that he has been sentenced to death.
Prior to the murders, Reece
served time in an Oklahoma prison for rape.
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2042783905872970&id=1299628893521812
https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2021/08/19/convicted-killer-formally-sentenced-to-death/
If the criminal taking of a human life does not merit forfeiture of
one's own life, then what value have we placed on the life taken? - Pat
Buchanan
‘There is no closure on love.’ Victims’
families speak out after judge sentences convicted serial killer to death
Emily Akins/KFOR
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An
Oklahoma family finally sees justice 24 years after a young newlywed’s murder.
“There’s an old saying in the
law, ‘justice delayed is justice denied,’ justice will not be delayed any
longer in this case, I sentence you to death,” said Judge Susan Stallings.
Judge Stallings sentenced accused
serial killer William Reece to death in an Oklahoma County courtroom Thursday.
William Reece after being
sentenced to death.
A look back at the trial and
grisly confessions of a serial killer sentenced to death in Oklahoma
In 1997, Tiffany Johnston was
abducted from a Bethany car wash.
Her body was found in a field in
Canadian County a day later.
Investigator connected Reece to
Johnston’s murder.
The jury found him guilty in
June.
Johnston’s mother has been
fighting for answers for more 20 years.
“He might’ve killed
her, but he can’t take my memories,” said
Kathy Dobry. “I believe in God and all that, but I’ll
never forgive him… and I’m glad people can, but not this momma.”
Convicted serial killer sentenced
to death for murder of Oklahoma teen
Tiffany wasn’t Reece’s only
victim.
Reece is also accused of and
confessed to killing three other young women in Texas around the same time
Johnston was murdered.
In 2016, Reece led investigators
to a grave in Texas, containing remains of 20-year-old Kelli Cox’s body.
Cox’s mother and daughter were
both in the courtroom Thursday.
“He will not be able to ever do
this to anyone else,” said her mother, Jan Bynum.
“No one needs to go
through this, not even William Reece himself would I wish this upon him,” said Kelli’s daughter, Alexis.
Alexis was only 19 months old
when her mother was murdered.
“It flipped my entire life upside
down,” she said.
The family of 12-year-old Laura
Smither, a Texas child Reece admitted to killing, was sitting alongside the
Coxes.
“He will never be able to get out
and harm another child, that’s very important,” said Laura’s mother, Gay
Smither.
An image of William Reece next to
images of his victims.
Smither carries a picture of Laura
on necklace that sits close to her heart.
“Keep dancing baby,” she said,
“Laura loved to dance and she’s free to dance for all eternity now.”
“I want everyone to know she was
an absolutely beautiful person,” said Johnston’s cousin, Misty Witt
Even though real ‘closure’
doesn’t exist for any of these families, they feel justice was served.
“It doesn’t change anything… it
just helps everybody so that he can’t hurt anybody else,” said Deborah Maxwell,
Laura’s aunt.
“You do what you got to do to
keep going,” said Alexis Bynum.
“There is no closure on love,”
added Smither.
Reece also admitted to killing
Jessica Cain in Texas.
The victim’s families also want
this to be a reminder that this can happen to anyone.
The defense filed to appeal the
death penalty ruling. They declined to interview.
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2041959985955362&id=1299628893521812
https://kfor.com/news/local/there-is-no-closure-on-love-victims-families-speak-out-after-judge-sentences-convicted-serial-killer-to-death/
It diminishes the
victims when people burn candles and mourn someone who has committed a heinous
crime. People on death row are some of the worst individuals that appear on the
face of the earth. The abolitionists refuse to acknowledge that evil exists and
evil has to be put down. – Marc Klaas
OTHER
LINKS:
On a personal level, do any of you
disagree with the fact that child rapists deserve the death penalty? I used to
be not really pro-death penalty. I'm super pro-death penalty now. – Steven Crowder
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=242342334648430&id=101692122046786
https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/youtube-steven-crowder-i-would-send-out-gangs-retarded-people-lynch-pedophiles
“I care more about how the families feel
than I care about this guy being trapped or not being trapped. And if the
families are telling me that the way they’re going to get closure is by him being
put to the death penalty, then so be it. Because the priority, for me, is the
families that had those lives stolen from them.” – Ana Navarro said, referring
to the alternative of him spending life in prison.
PHOTO: https://www.facebook.com/Surviving-Victims-of-Murderer-Promoters-1299628893521812/photos/a.1935292193288809/2109906249160735
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2095705927247434&id=1299628893521812
https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/10/parkland-gunman-nikolas-cruz-should-be.html
Parents
of Murdered Children Demand Steeper Penalties for Killing Kids
https://vk.com/wall-184585082_352
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2118661191618574&id=1299628893521812
https://news.wttw.com/2021/11/16/parents-murdered-children-demand-steeper-penalties-killing-kids
YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udP09XDUpXY
Anti LWOP/Mass
Incarceration:
3a.
"I believe life without parole is death by another
name, and I do not believe in death sentences," Miranda told her
colleagues on Tuesday. "I do not believe that justice is upholding mass
incarceration in our communities that perpetuates generational poverty, violence
and trauma."
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=195606665988664&id=101692122046786
https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/2021/10/05/life-without-parole-knocked-death-another-name/6010748001/
3b. Mass. Lawmakers Consider Bill Ending Sentences of Life Without Parole
People who have lost loved ones to violence spoke
both in support of and in opposition to a bill that would end life sentences
without parole in Massachusetts
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=195607442655253&id=101692122046786
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/mass-lawmakers-consider-bill-ending-sentences-of-life-without-parole/2509165/
Victims’ Families against parole:
4.
Parents Of Murdered Daughter Need Your Help To Keep Killer
In Prison
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2078721268945900&id=1299628893521812
https://kfiam640.iheart.com/content/2021-10-05-parents-of-murdered-daughter-need-your-help-to-keep-killer-in-prison/
Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/permalink/4364685930313659
Families of homicide victims, including Colleen Ritzer’s
parents, split over parole for offenders
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2078738875610806&id=1299628893521812
https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/10/05/families-of-homicide-victims-including-colleen-ritzers-parents-split-over-parole-for-offenders/
Ritzer Family Speaks Against Bill That Would End Life
Without Parole Sentences In Massachusetts
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2082908501860510&id=1299628893521812
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/10/05/colleen-ritzer-family-philip-chism-massachusetts-sentencing-hearing/
Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/permalink/4369445149837737
Chicago mother fighting to keep daughter's killer in
prison: 'It is torture for me' https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2079474945537199&id=1299628893521812
https://www.facebook.com/Fox32Chicago/posts/10160490323573797
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/chicago-mother-fighting-to-keep-daughters-killer-in-prison-it-is-torture-for-me
Mass. lawmakers introduce bill to end life without parole
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2101863139965046&id=1299628893521812
https://tuftsdaily.com/news/2021/11/02/mass-lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-end-life-without-parole/
RELATED
LINKS:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65004628/tiffany-michelle-johnston
