Cold murder case of KC teen Fawn Cox solved.

Occasionally, when a murder is solved, it brings both a resolution Occasionally, a reckoning. Sometimes the long-awaited answers end up being something you never expected.

This was the case for the family of Fawn Cox. On July 26, 1989, and Fawn Cox came home late after finishing Worlds Of Fun in Kansas City. She normally worked until 11:00 p.m. and so it was not unusual for her family to not hear from her as she often went directly to bed when she had to work the next day.

Fawn was known to be a normal teenager, one who went to church and stayed out of any trouble. The next morning, Fawn's little sister, 16-year-old, heard Fawn's alarm going off within her Elisa room, she wasn't getting up or turning it off. but went in to rouse her sister and shake her awake, but instead, she found her dead.

Elisa remembered that she had been gone for a while by the time she had discovered her. Her mother Beverly also came into the Elisa, sure that Fawn simply had to still be sleeping. During the night, someone had entered Fawn's room through the window. She was assaulted and then strangled and left in her bedroom for her family to find. Her family noted that they hadn't heard anything alarming in that room, which would have indicated something was wrong. But the house was running loud air in the night, which likely hid any sound.

Although they did recall hearing the dog barking that night which sounded as though it was agitated but because the animal was pregnant, it was explained away. Police were sure that the attack was targeted and because the perpetrator chose Fawn's exact window and was able to remain undetected,

it was clear to investigators that the killer probably knew Fawn. They had collected DNA evidence from the conditioners, but at the time lacked the technology to use it to find her killer. Three teenagers were initially believed to be responsible for her death and were even charged, but there wasn't enough evidence at the time to convict them as they couldn't be definitively placed at the scene.

One of the teens spent eight months in jail for the scene, but as the case fell apart, the three teens were ultimately released and the charges dropped. Crime Stoppers eventually joined the search for Fawn's killer.

An enormous billboard with Fawn's face was put up along with a $10,000 reward for any tips that would lead to an arrest, but nothing was uncovered. As Fawn's case went cold, many within the police department were left feeling disturbed. A few had expected that whoever killed Fawn would strike again in crime, then they would be able to catch the, and no one ever surfaced.

Sergeant Benjamin Caldwell previously commented on the case's unsolved killer, saying, "Whoever killed her either has never been charged with a felony or is no longer alive. People don't start killing and then quit and stay out of trouble as if they fell off the face of the earth." But that is exactly what appeared to have happened.

As for 31 status, Fawn's killer was never found. Her family never gave years, though, as Fawn's death-haunted them for decades. They were determined that they would one day find her killer. And over the up, they hosted fundraisers to garner support for Fawn's case to receive the advanced DNA testing that would name her killer.

Her case was solved in 2020 through a partnership between Kansas City Police and the FBI. The advanced DNA testing needed was too expensive for the police department. And though Fawn's family offered to pay the bill, it was the FBI that paid for the analysis. It took only a few weeks to have the answers her family had been waiting for, but what they discovered was completely unexpected and shook them to their core.

The testing revealed that Fawn's attacker and the killer had been her own cousin, Donald Cox Jr. Cox died from an overdose in 2006. At first, the police refused to release Cox's name as he is deceased and cannot be charged, but Fawn's family came forward to the public with the news. As they had always spoken publicly about the years, it didn't appear right to them to withhold the conclusion because the truth was disturbing.

Fawn's family had spoken openly about how painful the lack of answers case, but uncovering the truth adds another level of hardship for their closure. Fawn's sister was, Elisa, saying, "It's a relief there's closure. The answers aren't always what we are asking for, but there's closure."