HOUSTON – The father of a young woman who vanished in 1997 confirmed to KHOU 11 News that searchers in southeast Houston are looking for his daughter's body.
C.H. Cain said investigators called him to let him know a prisoner named William Reece told them where to find Jessica's body. They've been searching a field 6100 block of East Orem since Wednesday.
Jessica Cain was 17 when she went missing just days before her high school graduation. She had dinner with friends at a Bennigan's in Clear Lake, but her truck broke down on the Gulf Freeway as she headed home. She was never seen again.
Reece, who is serving time for aggravated kidnapping, was spotted at the search scene in handcuffs Friday. He was also a suspect in the 1997 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Laura Smither of Friendswood. She disappeared while jogging and her body was found a month later in Pasadena.
Reece, 56, has never been charged in either case. But he was recently charged with murder in a 1997 cold case in Bethany, Oklahoma. DNA evidence linked Reece to the murder of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnson, according to investigators.
Meanwhile, C.H. Cain said he still has hopes that his daughter will be found alive.
