The murder of Jessica Cain
Tiki Island, Galveston County, Texas · 1997
Overview
Jessica Cain, 17, of Tiki Island, Texas, left a Bennigan's restaurant in the Clear Lake area after a theater cast party on August 17, 1997 and never made it home. Her vehicle was found abandoned on Interstate 45 with her wallet inside, and volunteers searched for weeks. Tiki Island investigators soon had leads pointing to William Lewis Reece, an Oklahoma parolee who had kidnapped a 19-year-old woman in Webster that May, but nothing to charge him with. Reece got 60 years for that kidnapping in 1998, and the Cain case went cold for nearly two decades. In 2014 Oklahoma investigators retested DNA from the body of Tiffany Johnston, murdered near Oklahoma City in July 1997, and in September 2015 Reece was charged with her murder. Facing the death penalty, he began talking to the Texas Rangers. Under a deal that took death off the table in the Cain case if he led investigators to her, Reece was brought in shackles to a field in southeast Houston in February 2016. Bones were found there in March and the Harris County medical examiner identified them by DNA as Jessica's; Kelli Cox's remains were found in Brazoria County the same way. A Galveston grand jury indicted Reece on September 1, 2016. After an Oklahoma jury sentenced him to death in 2021, he was returned to Texas and on June 29, 2022 pleaded guilty to murdering Jessica Cain and Laura Smither, taking a life sentence for each.
How it was solved
Jessica Cain's case was solved by a confession that was bought with a life. Tiki Island investigators suspected William Reece almost from the start. ABC13 reported that the lead investigator was called the day after she appeared on television by a man she had met at a horse auction, who said he knew Reece and would not let him near his wife and daughter; she said there was evidence placing Reece in town on the day Jessica went missing and that the coincidences were far too strong not to believe he was involved. But Reece was convicted that year only of the Webster kidnapping, a case in which the victim survived, identified him, and was sentenced to 60 years. The Cain case stayed open for nineteen years. The break came from Oklahoma. CBS News reported that in 2014 investigators retested DNA recovered from the body of Tiffany Johnston, developed a partial male profile, and eliminated every suspect in her file except Reece; he was charged with her murder on September 21, 2015. The Texas Rangers then went to see him in prison. According to a Galveston County assistant district attorney, Kevin Petroff, Reece started opening up about the Texas cases after the Oklahoma charge, and the district attorney reached an agreement to take the death penalty off the table in the Cain case if he would lead investigators to her remains. Reece's attorney said his client had a life-threatening heart condition and cooperated to avoid execution. In February 2016, wearing handcuffs and shackles, Reece walked searchers to a field on East Orem Drive in southeast Houston and gestured at the ground. After a week the Texas Rangers said they had not found a shred of evidence; crews dug more than six feet and tore down a barn. In March bones were found. Investigators then followed Reece to a Brazoria County field near Highway 288, where remains believed to be Kelli Cox were found on April 5. The Harris County medical examiner confirmed through DNA that the Houston bones were Jessica's; an autopsy could not determine how she died. A Galveston grand jury indicted Reece on September 1, 2016, and prosecutors sent him to Oklahoma first. Hours of his taped confession to a Texas Ranger were played at his 2021 trial there, which ended in a death sentence. He was returned to Friendswood in March 2022 and pleaded guilty three months later. DNA identified the remains; it did not identify the killer. Reece did.
Sources
- Remembering Jessica Cain, 24 years after her disappearance (August 17, 2021)
“The Tiki Island teen's vehicle was found abandoned along I-45, with her wallet still inside. Volunteers searched for weeks, with no sign of the missing teen.”
- Tracking the Devil: The William Reece confessions (October 5, 2021)
“Jessica, 17, was celebrating at a theater cast party. Her friends saw her leave a Bennigan's restaurant in Clear Lake, but she never made it home.”
- Portrait of a serial killer (May 3, 2016)
“In August, a Galveston-area teenager, Jessica Cain, vanished off I-45 while driving home from a theater cast party. Her car had also been abandoned, with her wallet still inside.”
- Man seen at Jessica Cain body search site linked to young girls' disappearances (February 26, 2016)
“April 1997: Laura Smither, 12, vanished while jogging near her Friendswood area home on April 3. Her body was found later that month in Pasadena. Reece was the main suspect in her murder but never charged.”
- Investigator in case of Sandra Sapaugh speaks about William Reece (March 1, 2016)
“The case went to trial in 1998. Lovel took the stand and remembers looking at Reece in the courtroom. "He just sat there and kind of snickered," said Lovel. Reece was sentenced to 60 years in prison.”
- Ex-detective recalls initial search for Jessica Cain (March 21, 2016)
“She told us there was evidence to place Reece in town on the day Cain went missing. Plus, other's that knew Reece said he was frightening to be around.”
- Texas Felon Charged In 18-Year-Old Murder Case In Oklahoma Co. (September 21, 2015)
“DNA evidence links Reece to the crime. On Monday, Reece was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping in the case.”
- Tiffany Johnston murder: Was serial killer William Reece's mother visiting one of his victim's graves? (January 20, 2023)
“In 2016, investigators, including the Texas Rangers, asked Reece if he might be willing to talk to them about Smither's case and two other missing persons cases from 1997: Kelli Cox, 20, of Denton, Texas, and Jessica Cain, 17, from Tiki Island, Texas.”
- Prosecutors: William Reece to face charges in Oklahoma, new information revealed (July 9, 2016)
“An agreement with the district attorney was made with Reece to take the death penalty off the table in the case of Jessica Cain, if he would lead investigators to her remains. Cain's remains were found in Harris County.”
- TX Rangers: No evidence found yet in search for Jessica Cain (March 2, 2016)
“Investigators have not found a shred of evidence after a week of searching a southeast Houston field for the body of Jessica Cain, according to a DPS spokesman with the Texas Rangers.”
- Kidnapper on scene of search for possible body in SE Houston (March 3, 2016)
“William Reece, the convicted kidnapper and suspect in Cain's disappearance in 1997, appeared on site wearing handcuffs and gesturing toward the ground where crews dug.”
- Suspected Serial Killer Leads Officers On Hunt For Bodies (April 5, 2016)
“Investigators also found human remains at a dig site last month in Southeast Houston. Those are believed to be the remains of Jessica Cain who also went missing that same year, but are yet to be positively identified.”
- EXCLUSIVE: Friends of Jessica Cain talk about her remains being identified (April 17, 2016)
“After an exhaustive search, then identification process, investigators confirmed yesterday that the bones recovered are Cain's.”
- Body found in SE Houston field confirmed to be Jessica Cain (dated May 20, 2016)
“The Harris County Medical Examiner confirms DNA led to the identification. Cain was 17 years old when she vanished in 1997. Suspected serial killer, William Reece, led authorities to where he buried her body in a field on E. Orem Road near Hobby Airport.”
- After 24 years, 4 murders and one kidnapping, William Reece is sentenced to death (June 2, 2021)
“Several hours of Reece's confession to a Texas Ranger were played for the jury. Those recordings provided details about all the girls' murders.”
- Accused serial killer William Reece returns to Texas to face charges for 3 murders (March 9, 2022)
“Reece was indicted in Galveston County for the murders of Laura Kate Smither and Jessica Cain and in Brazoria County for the capital murder of Kelli Cox.”
- Texas man on death row pleads guilty in 3 cold-case killings (June 30, 2022)
“William Reece, 62, pleaded guilty in a courtroom in Galveston in the 1997 killings of 12-year-old Laura Smither of Friendswood and 17-year-old Jessica Cain of Tiki Island. He then pleaded guilty in nearby Angleton later Wednesday to murder in the disappearance and death of 20-year-old Kelli Cox of Denton. He was sentenced to life in prison in each case.”
- William Reece pleads guilty to murders of 3 young women 25 years after their deaths (June 30, 2022)
“"It certainly isn't going to bring these girls back but it will make sure William Reece dies in prison," said Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady.”
- William Lewis Reece sentenced to life in prison for murders of Laura Smither, Jessica Cain and Kelli Ann Cox (June 29, 2022)
“Jessica Cain's parents did not attend the hearings and stopped making public statements regarding their daughter's case several years ago.”
- Oklahoma serial killer on death row pleads guilty to 3 Texas killings, gets life sentences (July 1, 2022)
“Houston's Fox 26 reported that Galveston officials have said Reece confessed to the murders committed there but did not give enough detail for prosecutors to seek a death sentence.”
- Oklahoma appeals court upholds serial killer's murder conviction and death sentence (July 11, 2025)
“The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday, July 10, rejected his complaints about his 2021 jury trial.”
- Confessed serial killer William Reece returned to Oklahoma, where he awaits execution (January 12, 2026)
“Drummond announced Monday that Reece was recently brought back to Oklahoma, where he awaits execution at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. An execution date has not been scheduled.”