US Serial Killer Sentenced To Death After Murdering Woman, Allegedly Killing 3 More

An Oklahoma judge affirmed Thursday a jury's death sentence for a self-confessed serial killer convicted of kidnapping and murdering a woman in 1997.

William Reece, 62, was convicted in June for the death of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston in the Oklahoma town of Bethany, KPRC reported.

Reece was found guilty of killing the newlywed and then dumping her body on the side of the road, a report by KOCO 5 said. Investigators were able to link him to Johnston's murder in 2015 after his DNA was matched to DNA found at the scene.

"There’s an old saying in the law, 'justice delayed is justice denied.' Justice will not be delayed any longer in this case, I sentence you to death," Judge Susan Stallings said upon passing the death sentence to Reece in an Oklahoma County courtroom Thursday, according to Oklahoma's News 4.

Reece had stayed silent in the courtroom as his sentence was read, News 9 reported. He declined the chance to address the court and apologize to the families of Johnston and his other alleged victims.

"He's not sorry. He [doesn’t] have a conscience… He's just a serial killer," Kathy Dobry, Johnston's mother, said during the hearing.

Reece is also charged with the Texas murders of Laura Smither in Friendswood and Jessica Cain in La Marque as well as kidnapping Kelli Ann Cox from Denton before murdering her and burying her body in a Brazoria County field.

The other murders were revealed after Reece was charged over Johnston's death and he attempted to cut a deal with authorities. He wanted a guarantee that he would avoid the death penalty in Texas in exchange for the information, KHOU 11 reported.

It took Texas Rangers and several law enforcement agencies two decades to gather enough evidence to charge Reece over the 1997 murders.

"I’m grateful for the jury’s verdict and that justice has been done," Galveston District Attorney Jack Roady said.

The Galveston County DA reportedly confirmed Reece will be brought to Texas to be tried for Cain’s and Smither’s murders.

Brazoria County District Attorney Tom Selleck, for his part, said his office will decide how to proceed with Cox's case after monitoring the appeal process in Oklahoma and consulting with the victim's family.

"If we don’t have our day in court in Galveston, we can live with it because he’s at least held accountable here," Gay Smither, Laura's mother, was quoted as saying in reports.

"The most important thing is we know now for sure there is absolutely no way this man will ever get out," she said.

Reece was sentenced to 60 years in prison after being convicted in 1998 of kidnapping Sandra Sapaugh in Webster. He served time in an Oklahoma prison for rape prior to the murders and the kidnapping.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said they have no plans to bring Reece back to Texas despite not completing his sentence for Sapaugh's kidnapping as he has been given a death sentence in Oklahoma.

Reece's attorneys said they plan to appeal the sentence.