Cox, a former Air Force computer operator, was imprisoned in North Carolina in 2019 after being charged with Housman’s death. Prosecutors at the time said new DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
According to sources close to the inquiry, the new lead came from reexamining clothing evidence found at the crime site.
Angie Housman vanished after getting off her school bus on November 18, 1993, less than a block from her house in St. Ann. Her body was discovered nine days later in the August A. Busch Wildlife Area of St. Charles County. Her official cause of death was hypothermia.
Cox pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and child molestation in August 2020. As part of the plea agreement, he surrendered his right to appeal and consented to serve the remainder of his life in prison.
Tim Lohmar, then-St. Charles County Prosecutor, stated that several reasons, including Cox’s age and ill health, influenced his decision to grant him a plea agreement. He stated at the time that Cox would most certainly die before being executed, having exhausted all of his appellate rights.
Cox’s criminal history of assaulting minors extends back roughly 40 years.
The federal government designated him as a Sexually Dangerous Person following the takedown of an international child pornography ring in which Cox had a key role. He completed his term for that offense. Because of the categorization, he remained in detention, but as a patient in a government facility dedicated to the rehabilitation of sexual predators. He was sent to a Missouri prison following his guilty plea.
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