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Thread: William Lewis Reece - Oklahoma Death Row

  1. #31
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    PTSD from being a serial killer..sigh. That's a new one.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #32
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Jury recommends death sentence for William Lewis Reece. Will update accordingly.
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  3. #33
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Admitted serial killer William Lewis Reece gets death sentence at Oklahoma trial

    By Nolan Clay
    The Oklahoman

    A jury has decided admitted serial killer William Lewis Reece should be executed for strangling to death a 19-year-old newlywed more than two decades ago.


    Reece, 61, twiddled his thumbs twice but showed no emotion as Oklahoma County District Judge Susan Stallings read the verdict Wednesday. Formal sentencing was set for Aug. 19.


    He never testified at his trial but jurors heard hours of his confessions to one killing in Oklahoma and three in Texas in 1997. His victims were all females, ages 12 to 20.


    The jury took only one hour and 45 minutes to decide his punishment for killing Tiffany Johnston after abducting her from a Bethany car wash.


    Jurors on Friday took only one hour to find Reece guilty of first-degree murder.


    "We're all so happy that he got the death penalty," Johnston's mother, Kathy Dobry, of Anadarko, said afterward.


    "Even though it helped families in Texas … it was for Tiffany," she said of the verdict. "After 24 years, and 10 months, this is Tiffany's time."

    Oklahoma County juries have chosen death penalty three times

    The outcome was the third time this year a jury in Oklahoma has opted for a death sentence. It represents another departure away from the societal trend against capital punishment.

    "If there was ever an appropriate circumstance for a death sentence, ladies and gentlemen, this is the case," Assistant District Attorney Jimmy Harmon told jurors Wednesday.


    Reece began killing in April 1997, months after he was released from an Oklahoma prison. He had been serving time for sexual attacks on two women in 1986.

    In their verdict Wednesday, jurors agreed with prosecutors that he murdered Johnston to avoid going back to prison.


    They also agreed that he was a continuing threat to society, that he had been convicted of violent felonies before and that the Oklahoma murder was heinous, atrocious or cruel.

    Reece confessed to string of murders

    Reece began confessing in 2016 after DNA linked him to the cold case in Oklahoma.

    He was serving 60 years in prison for kidnapping a topless dancer in Texas in 1997 after offering to help her with a flat tire. She got away by jumping from his pickup on the interstate after he ordered her to take off her pants.


    He eventually disclosed to a Texas Ranger where he had buried the bodies of two of his victims, Kelli Cox and Jessica Cain.


    He had hoped to avoid a death sentence in exchange for his cooperation. Prosecutors in two of the Texas cases agreed not to seek that punishment. Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater, however, refused to make a deal.


    "F--- it," Reece said on a recording played for the jury. "They can go ahead and give me the needle. I ain't got no family anyway."


    In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors portrayed Reece as an opportunist who was driven by violent and cruel sexual urges. They told jurors he tricked his victims to get access to them, killed them to avoid arrest and lied to police about what he did.


    He admitted to raping only one of his four homicide victims, Johnston. "I can't explain it," he told the Texas Ranger in 2016. "I don't know why."


    "Maybe he's not being honest because maybe he can't come to terms with what the truth is," his attorney, Jacob Benedict, said in closing arguments.

    Reece's first victim was 12 years old

    Killed first was Laura Smither, 12.

    Smither disappeared on April 3, 1997, while jogging in the Houston suburb of Friendswood.


    Next was Cox, a 20-year-old student at the University of North Texas. She disappeared on July 15, 1997, after touring the Denton Police Department for a criminal justice class. Her remains were found after days of digging in a rice field in Brazoria County, Texas, in 2016.


    Johnston disappeared from the Sunshine Car Wash on July 26, 1997. Her mostly nude body was found in tall grass along a dirt road the next day.


    Reece claimed he killed Johnston after she complained he had sprayed her at the car wash. He said he had pulled over to clean up his truck and horse trailer after an oil filter came loose.


    He said he lost it, grabbed Johnston and threw her in the tack-room of the horse trailer. He said he raped her, then strangled her when she hit him in the head with a horseshoe. He said he had never seen her before.


    Prosecutors suggested he lied about the encounter and that he was tracking her. They pointed out during the trial that Johnston was the daughter of his mother's best friend. They suggested he abducted her at the car wash and then raped her on the dirt road.

    Her autopsy found evidence her wrists had been bound.


    The last victim, Cain, disappeared after leaving a Bennigan's Restaurant in Clear Lake, Texas, on Aug. 17, 1997. Her vehicle was found abandoned along the interstate. She was 17. Her remains were found in a pasture in Houston in 2016.


    Johnston had been married only three months.


    "When Tiffany was taken from this world, a part of me died as well," her husband, Ryan Johnston, said in a victim-impact statement read to jurors Tuesday.


    "I felt numb for years and still feel a bit numb to this day."

    Convicted killer was born in OKC

    Jurors were told Reece was born in Oklahoma City and spent time in a Baptist children's home until his mother remarried. Jurors were told he was sent to the Boys Ranch Town in Edmond when he was 12. There he was in special education classes until leaving at age 16.

    A clinical neuropsychologist, William Ruwe, testified Tuesday that Reece scored 78 on an IQ test taken at the Oklahoma County jail.


    Reece also reported that he has had hallucinations and heard voices, the expert testified.


    A Texas inmate, Terry Lynn Smith, testified Wednesday via video about Reece's decision to confess in 2016.


    He described Reece as a "completely broken-down man" and remorseful.


    He said Reece ran when he first tried to share the gospel with him but later changed. "He had a big problem with the Bible. I don't know what it was," Smith said.

    https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...al/7506390002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #34
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Admitted serial killer caught with smuggled cellphone in Oklahoma County jail

    By Nolan Clay
    The Oklahoman

    An admitted serial killer has been accused of having a cellphone inside the Oklahoma County jail, underscoring again the continuing problem of contraband entering the 13-story facility.

    William Lewis Reece, 62, was caught with the smuggled pink cellphone July 9, a jail investigator reported in a court affidavit.

    "I lost my phone," he later said in a call placed on the inmate telephone system, according to the affidavit.

    He is in jail awaiting formal sentencing for a 1997 murder.

    A Jury in June decided he should be executed for strangling to death Tiffany Johnston after abducting her from a Bethany car wash on July 26, 1997.

    Her mostly nude body was found in tall grass along a dirt road the next day. The newlywed was 19.

    He never testified at his trial but jurors heard hours of his confessions to the killing in Oklahoma and three in Texas in 1997. His victims were all females, the youngest 12.

    Reece began killing in April 1997, months after he was released from an Oklahoma prison. He had been serving time for sexual attacks on two women in 1986.

    Reece began confessing in 2016 after DNA linked him to the Oklahoma case. He eventually disclosed to a Texas Ranger where he had buried the bodies of two victims.

    His formal sentencing for first-degree murder is set for Thursday morning. He was charged Tuesday with a new felony: possession of contraband by an inmate.

    “We have made great strides to keep contraband out of the jail," the jail administrator, Greg Williams, said Wednesday. "However, like in all corrections facilities, inmates will continue to seek ways to get ahold of contraband.

    We need to stay vigilant and alert in our efforts."

    https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...ne/8184622002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #35
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    Self-Proclaimed Serial Killer William Reece Formally Sentenced To Death In Oklahoma

    A self-proclaimed serial killer has been formally sentenced to death in Oklahoma.

    William Reece was convicted of killing Tiffany Johnston. He reportedly told investigators he also killed three other people in Texas.

    Johnston was last seen in July 1997 at a Bethany carwash. Her body was found in a field and was partially clothed.

    An Oklahoma County judge formally sentenced Reece on Thursday to the maximum penalty.

    https://www.newson6.com/story/611e6b...th-in-oklahoma

    Judge's remarks at sentencing

    “There’s an old saying in law, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ Justice will not be delayed any longer in this case, I sentence you to death,”
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #36
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Victim's family responds after confessed serial killer is sentenced to death in another case

    “I wouldn’t say I was hoping for it, but it is justice,” said Gay Smither, Laura Smither’s mother. “He is someone who has worked the system.”

    Late Thursday night, after a long day of travel, the parents of Laura Smither landed at Hobby Airport in Houston. They had traveled to Oklahoma to watch the man who confessed to killing their daughter in 1997 be sentenced.

    William Reece got the death penalty for the murder of Tiffany Johnston, a separate case in Oklahoma City.

    “I wouldn’t say I was hoping for it, but it is justice,” said Gay Smither, Laura Smither’s mother. “He is someone who has worked the system.”

    Gay Smither, still wearing a gold necklace engraved with Laura Smither’s face around her neck, said she attended the trial in Oklahoma to represent her daughter.

    “Just had to see it through, just had to see it through,” Gay Smither said. “I’m glad we went. I’m glad Bob (Laura Smither's father) was able to come this time.

    Their daughter was just 12 years old when she went missing in Friendswood. Her body was found 2 weeks later in a pond. Smither said she hopes their presence in Oklahoma would have an impact on Reece.

    “I would hope it would spark his conscience,” Gay Smither said.

    However, Gay Smither said the 2 opportunities Reece had in the courtroom to speak, he didn’t take.

    “That was very disheartening that a human being could be so broken that they wouldn’t say anything," she said.

    Reece was always a suspect in Laura Smither’s case, but he wasn’t charged until 2016. That’s when Reece, facing charges in Oklahoma, led investigators to the bodies of Jessica Cain, 17, and Kelli Ann Cox, 20, in the Houston area.

    “This is justice. He’s going to go to death row and be in a cell for the 1st time in a long time and maybe in that isolation he will start to think about his life and meeting his maker,” Gay Smither said.

    Over the years, the Smithers launched the Laura Recovery Center and have been advocates for other families of missing children. They’ve worked hard to make sure what happened to Laura doesn’t happen again.

    Reece is expected to be brought back to Texas for another trial. Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady confirmed to KHOU 11 that is still the plan. But he said it’s a complicated case and it will take time. Reece first has the right to appeal in Oklahoma.

    Laura’s mom says she wants his cases in Galveston County to stay active.

    “You never know what’s going to happen. I want our cases to be ready to be the backup. I don’t want this man to ever have the possibility of getting out,” Gay Smither said.

    (source: KHOU news)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #37
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    According to the TDCJ, Reece is currently jailed in Texas on a county bench warrant. I assume that means they’re gonna try him for the murders he committed there.

    https://inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/Inmate...n?sid=06076393
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

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  8. #38
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    Convicted killer William Reece back in Friendswood to face murder charges

    By Robert Arnold
    Click2Houston

    Convicted killer William Reece was transported back to Friendswood, Texas, on Tuesday.

    According to officials with the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office (GCDAO), Reece was picked up by two Friendswood police officers from the Oklahoma County Jail.

    Reece was convicted last year of murdering Tiffany Johnston in Bethany, Oklahoma.

    He was sentenced to death in that case, but a previously filed extradition request now requires him to return to face murder charges here in Texas.

    In a statement to KPRC 2 Investigates, Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady says his office and the Brazoria County District Attorney’s Office “intend to vigorously prosecute Reece and hold him accountable under the law.”

    Reece confessed to murdering three Texas women: Laura Smither from Friendswood, Jessica Cain from Tiki Island and Kelli Ann Cox from Denton. All were murdered in the late 1990s.

    While Reece remained a prime suspect in these cases, he wasn’t charged with these murders in 2016 when Texas Rangers say he confessed and led detectives to the bodies of Cain who was buried in southeast Houston and Cox who was buried in Brazoria County.

    At the time of the confessions, Reece was serving a 60-year prison sentence in Texas for the kidnapping of Sandra Sapaugh in Webster. Sapaugh escaped Reece by jumping out of his truck. Her testimony secured his conviction.

    The extradition paperwork filed to bring Reece to Oklahoma also required him to return to face charges in Texas.

    “He was picked up this morning in Oklahoma County by detail of seven Friendswood Police officers,” Friendswood Police Chief Robert Wieners said.

    Wieners said that the department would be awaiting directions from the DA’s offices in Galveston and Brazoria on further directions for where to take Reece.

    Johnston’s mother, Kathy Dobry, who lives in Oklahoma expressed disappointment that Reece has been able to put off justice for this long.

    “It’s aggravating because he plays games with all the law enforcement. He knows how to work it,” Dobry said.

    She said she will never forgive him for taking away her daughter.

    “I want him so that he doesn’t see daylight. I want him to have no communication with anyone, and I would personally like to see him eat bread and water,” Dobry said.

    Dobry said her daughter was a loving person who will never be forgotten.

    “Tiffany was a very loving person. She was carefree. She would help anyone,” Dobry said.

    https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...o-friendswood/
    Last edited by Mastro Titta; 03-09-2022 at 02:33 AM.

  9. #39
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    William Lewis Reece sentenced to life in prison for murders of Laura Smither, Jessica Cain and Kelli Ann Cox

    By Cathy Hernandez and Robert Arnold
    click2houston.com

    HOUSTON – William Lewis Reece was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to the murders of Laura Smither, Jessica Cain and Kelli Ann Cox. All three were murdered in 1997.

    “Twenty-five years is an awfully long time to be waiting for justice and there were number of years in there where we truly didn’t think we’d ever see this day,” said Laura’s mother, Gay Smither.

    Reece first pleaded guilty to Cain and Smither’s murder in Galveston County before being shuttled to Brazoria County, where he pleaded guilty to Cox’s murder. Cox was kidnapped from a service station in Denton, killed and buried in a Brazoria County field.

    “I am just relieved that now the official record will show he was found guilty and convicted of taking my daughter away from us,” said Kelli’s mother, Jan Bynum.

    Smither and Bynum gave victim impact statements, telling Reece of the lives he stole and the pain he caused. Cox had a 19-month old daughter when she disappeared. Alexis Bynum also told Reece how she spent years searching for her mother.

    “At the end of the day we’re ale to shut the chapter on this part of it and not have to worry about him hurting anyone else,” said Alexis Bynum.

    Prior to these guilty please, Reece was sentenced to die in 2021 for the murder of Tiffany Johnston near Oklahoma City.
    Johnston, a newlywed, was also murdered in 1997. Prior to his killing spree, Reece served ten years in prison for raping two women.

    A previously filed extradition request saw Reece returned to Texas in March after his conviction in Oklahoma. Court documents read once Reece answers for his Texas crimes, Friendswood police have 5 business days to notify Oklahoma of when Reece will be returned to face a death sentence.

    Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice tell KPRC 2 Investigates Reece will first be sent to prison here while they work out the extradition paperwork.

    In 2015, Oklahoma officials used DNA to link Reece to the murder of Johnston, and a calling card also put him in the area where she disappeared. After he was charged in her death, Reece looked to cut a deal and started talking about the Texas murders.

    At the time of the confessions, Reece was serving a 60-year prison sentence in Texas after kidnapping Sandra Sapaugh from a parking lot in Webster. Sapaugh escaped by jumping out of Reece’s truck as he drove down I-45. Sapaugh was also kidnapped in 1997 and her testimony secured his conviction. Reece was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 1998, which explains why the murders stopped.

    During her victim impact statement, Gay Smither thanked Reece for finally telling the truth and while she does not condone his actions, she said she did forgive him. Smither later explained forgiveness was necessary for her and her family to begin healing.

    “I was in such a prison of anger before I came to forgiveness, forgiveness is very misunderstood,” said Smither. " I was in such a prison of anger and rage about what happened to our family. Nothing prepares a family to go through something like this.”

    Jessica Cain’s parents did not attend the hearings and stopped making public statements regarding their daughter’s case several years ago.

    https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...outputType=amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  10. #40
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
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    According to the current information on Wikipedia.com, William Lewis Reece is incarcerated at Polunsky: https://archive.is/MZg3x

    Is that out-of-date information? Or did they bring him back to TX to be tried for another murder? Aside from those two possibilities, I don't see why/how he would be incarcerated at Polunsky, given that he has no death sentences in the state of Texas.
    I don't care whether murderers go to heaven or hell; I just care about getting them there.

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