How A Serial Killer Used The Highways In Texas And Oklahoma To Help Him Get Away With Multiple Murders

By Shaheen Tokhi, CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

January 22, 2023

It took more than two decades to bring William Reece to justice for the murders of Laura Smither, Kelli Cox, Tiffany Johnston and Jessica Cain.

After serving nearly 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting two women in his native Oklahoma, William Reece was released from prison in the fall of 1996. After his release, Reece briefly stayed with his mother in Anadarko, Okla., before moving to Harris County, Texas where he found work as a farrier (putting shoes on horses) and construction worker. Reece made frequent trips between his new home in Texas and his mother's home in Oklahoma in 1997.

Laura Smither, a 12-year-old aspiring ballerina, went for a morning jog near her home in Friendswood, Texas, but never returned. As days passed, Gay and Bob Smither searched for their daughter with the help of their community, thousands of volunteers and even the US Marines, but no one was able to find a trace of the missing girl.

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