Kelli Ann Cox Memorial
Kelli Ann Cox, portrait bronze monument at University of North Texas, Denton
A University of North Texas student vanished in broad daylight; years later she was found murdered.
Monumental bronze sculpture honors Kelli's life and the University pledge: "Safety for students is just as important as educating them."
Tom White was asked by G. Brint Ryan, chairman of the University of North Texas Board of Regents, to create a memorial portrait bronze sculpture of Kelli Ann Cox for the campus of UNT in Denton, Texas. Tom had worked with Mr. Ryan for the past few years and was honored to create this statue inspired by a tragic, local event.
Kelli Ann Cox, a UNT student, went missing from a school field trip to the Denton County Jail in 1997. She was a single mom studying psychology and criminal justice. Students had been asked to keep their keys locked in their cars during the tour of the jail, however, Kelli was unable to get her key out of her hide-a-key and called for assistance. When her boyfriend arrived, she had vanished in broad daylight. Some 19 years after her disappearance, her body was discovered, murdered by a serial killer who lead police to her remains among several others in Brazoria County, Texas.
Tom and Marcey talked at length with Kelli’s Mom, Jan Bynum, to uncover her personality and spirit. Kelli’s greatest joy in life was being a mom to her young daughter, Alexis, so Tom felt he had to capture the joy between them in this sculpture. As a child, Alexis released balloons up to heaven every year in hopes that her mom would return some day. When Kelli’s body was discovered 19 years later, the door of their home was covered in balloons for Kelli, including a heart-shaped balloon. Tom decided the best way to show the enduring, never-ending love this family had was to incorporate these balloons into the sculpture. …Tom & Marcey White
In 2021, The Oklahoman reported that William Lewis Reece, 61, was on trial for the strangulation of a young woman. Oklahoma County District Judge Susan Stallings allowed prosecutors to put on evidence linking the defendant to three other deaths in Texas, including the death of Kelli Ann Cox, based on DNA evidence that linked him to several other murders.
It was later found that Reece had been sentenced to 25 years for a kidnapping and rape conviction in Texas. Because of a technicality, he only served nine years and was free that fateful day in 1997. On trial, again as a serial killer where prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, his attorneys offered a plea to not execute him if he disclosed the whereabouts of bodies for other missing victims, including Kelli Ann.
Reece directed investigators to an area not far from the “Highway to Hell” where they would find bodies; at a nearby old farm, investigators found the remains of Kelli Ann in a shallow grave. “I can be comforted that I know she’s in God’s arms,” said her mother Jan Bynum, “and I know that she’s not in harm’s way every minute of every day. And I can bring her home and put her to rest the way I want to.”
Jan and her husband Nyles adopted Alexis. The cute toddler Kelli Ann left behind is a young woman following in her mother’s steps as a student at the University of North Texas.
