OK - Tiffany Johnston, 19, abducted & murdered, Bethany, 26 July 1997

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Bethany cold case reopened in hopes 19-year-old woman's killer will be found (Daily Oklahoman)
BETHANY — Investigators have reopened a 15-year-old unsolved homicide case with the hope a renewed focus will generate a resolution, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced.

Tiffany Johnston, 19, was abducted July 26, 1997, from Sunshine Car Wash, 7709 NW 23. The next day, her body was found on Gregory Road in Canadian County, just south of Interstate 40. She had been strangled, the medical examiner's office determined.

Despite numerous tips and leads, the case went cold in 2005.
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more, link above
 
I learned this myself from LE when reporting about unsolved homicides and am surprised so many writers fail to have learned it as well. An unsolved murder case can never be re-opened because they are never closed. Reactivated perhaps, but not reopened.
 
Just a matter of usage, really. The statute of limitations never runs out on a murder case. Thus, they can never be "closed" per se. But many thousands will never again be "opened" - they'll never see the light of day. Thus, using the term "reopened" to describe a case which has lain dormant for a time, like this one, is a perfectly suitable usage.
 
http://newsok.com/charges-filed-in-1997-bethany-homicide-case/article/5448457/?page=2

A convicted rapist has been linked to an 18-year-old homicide because of advancements in DNA testing, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reported Monday.

William Lewis Reece, 56, of Houston, Texas, was charged Monday in Oklahoma County District Court with first-degree murder and kidnapping...

DNA evidence collected from Johnston's body was tested multiple times, but it was recent forensic advancements that provided investigators with new information on this cold case. DNA found on Johnston's body led authorities to Reece.
 
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Tiffany Johnston

http://www.news9.com/story/31320512/texas-cold-case-could-be-linked-to-case-in-oklahoma

A man charged with murder for an 18-year-old cold case in Oklahoma may now be connected to a mystery unfolding down in Texas.

Police and Texas Rangers are digging up a field in Southeast Houston, and news crews there say it may be connected to some other cold cases in the area...

News 9 was told multiple agencies are involved, but so far they aren't saying much about their progress. They are also not revealing the reason for the dig. They do say it’s an active investigation.
 
The process to resolve several-decades-old murder cases hit a standstill over whether prosecutors in another state will seek the death penalty against the prime suspect. William Lewis Reece is suspected of killing several young girls and women in Texas and Oklahoma in the late 1990s.

The only person Reece has been charged with murdering is Tiffany Johnston. The 19-year-old newlywed was murdered near Oklahoma City in 1997. However, it wasn’t until September of 2015 that Reece was charged with her murder. Johnston’s mother, Kathy Dobry, said she'll accept nothing less than the death penalty.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/cases-against-accused-killer-at-a-standstill
 
http://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/process-started-to-move-accused-killer-out-of-state

An accused killer being held in the Friendswood City Jail was served with legal paperwork Thursday, notifying him Oklahoma prosecutors were seeking his transfer to their state. William Reece, who is a suspect in three Texas murders, is charged with capital murder in Oklahoma....

“At this point it is our intent to get him back to Oklahoma, where he can answer for those charges,” said Galveston County prosecutor Kevin Petroff.
 
It is terrifying how he may have killed 3 other girls in such a short space of time. Thank goodness he was caught!

I hope there is justice for Tiffany's family.
 
'Serial killer', 61, is convicted in cold case murder of a teen newlywed | Daily Mail Online

"During his recent trial for Johnston's slaying, it emerged that Reece confessed after the Texas Ranger told him he would be treated like a 'rock star' when the bodies were found.

As part of his plea deal, Reece wanted a guarantee that he would not be given the death penalty in Texas.

Oklahoma prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty for his recent conviction in Johnston's slaying.

The sentencing phase of Reece's Oklahoma trial is expected to begin Tuesday.

Johnston and the three other females Reece is suspected of killing were all murdered within a four-month period in 1997."
 
Jury sentences William Reece to death for 1997 murder of Tiffany Johnston

"A jury in Oklahoma County sentenced William Reece to death for the 1997 murder of Tiffany Johnston.

The suspected serial killer was found guilty last week of killing Johnston and then dumping her body on the side of the road. Investigators linked Reece to Johnston's murder in 2015 after his DNA was matched to DNA found at the scene."
 
Johnston's murder remained unsolved for close to two decades and finding the trinkets on her grave upset Dobry. She could not figure out who was leaving them. Then, in 2005, Dobry says the items stopped appearing. It would be another 10 years before there was an arrest in Johnston's case, and that's when Dobry thought back and had an idea about who might have been leaving those trinkets at the cemetery all along.

Tiffany Dobry Johnson

Tiffany Johnston was 19 and newly married when on July 26,1997 she disappeared from a car wash in Bethany, Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City and about an hour from Anadarko, Oklahoma, where she grew up. Johnston's car was found abandoned at the Sunshine Car Wash with the keys in the ignition, her money inside the car, and her floor mats hanging in the car wash bay.
 

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