CBS 48 Hours: What happened to Laura Smither, Kelli Cox, Tiffany Johnson, and Jessica Cain?

In 1997, Laura Smither, Kelli Cox, Tiffany Johnston, and Jessica Cain went missing and were subsequently found dead over a span of a few months.

According to reports, the victims were attacked by a serial killer named William Reece. He hunted young girls and teenagers in the area for five long months that year, leaving a trail of dead bodies and terrified people in his wake.

Authorities were only able to connect the four killings after a fifth victim - a survivor - was able to help identify him.

CBS 48 Hours revisits the crimes of serial killer William Reece in its episode titled The Daughters Who Disappeared. The official synopsis of the episode states:

"In 1997 four families are shattered when their daughters go missing. As they grieve, one man claims to have answers. Can he be trusted?"

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Laura Smither and three others became the victims of serial killer William Reece in 1997

Laura Smither, then 12 years old, left her home in Friendswood, Texas, early on April 3, 1997, to go jogging, but never came back. Six thousand people participated in the search for the ambitious dancer, who was found dead nearly 17 days later in the Pasadena pond, which is a few miles away from her house.

On May 17, one month after the attack on Laura Smither, 19-year-old Sandra Sapaugh, was traveling to see a friend when she spotted a man in a white pick-up truck in Webster, Texas. As she stopped in front of a store, Sandra noticed she had a flat tire, and the truck driver who followed her volunteered to assist. However, he assaulted her and tried to kidnap her.

Miraculously, Sandra managed to escape and jumped from the speeding car onto Interstate 45, incurring severe injuries in the process. She made it out alive and was able to provide authorities with a description of her attacker.

About two months later, on July 15, Kelli Cox, 20, a criminology student, and her classmates had just returned from a visit to a Denton prison. The single mother dialed her boyfriend's number from a garage to report having locked her keys inside the vehicle. However, she was never heard from again.

Merely 11 days later, a car belonging to Tiffany Johnston, a 19-year-old newlywed, was discovered abandoned at a car wash in Bethany, Oklahoma. The next day, her body was located on a dirt road close to Interstate 45. She was beaten, strangled, and subjected to s*xual abuse.

17-year-old Jessica Cain of Tiki Island, Texas, went out to dinner with her friends on August 17 to commemorate her performance in a school musical. Later, her car was discovered abandoned on Interstate 45, after which a missing report was filed.

Investigators made a significant discovery, although they were unable to link the five cases. Sandra, the survivor who jumped from her attacker's truck, recognized a face in a series of photos and, while being hypnotized, was also able to get the license plate number. The culprit was swiftly recognized as Oklahoma native William Reece.

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William Reece was convicted in the murders of Laura Smither, Kelli Cox, Tiffany Johnson, and Jessica Cain after decades

William Reece started helping with the investigations into the other killings in 2016 while serving a 60-year jail term for the 1998 Texas kidnapping of Sandra Sapaugh. He then received a death sentence in 2021 for the murder of Tiffany Johnson in Oklahoma City in 1997.

Finally, in June 2022, Reece, 62, pleaded guilty to the 1997 unsolved murders of Laura Smither, Jessica Cain, and Kelli Cox and was given a life sentence in each of the three instances. However, at the time, the serial killer was already facing the death penalty in Oklahoma.