COX
Frederick Pete

Cox was on a roll. He shot and killed Stephanie Elizabeth Singleton and Mary Ann Voepel within 24 hours of each other.

Voepel had a history of sex work and was addicted to crack. She grew up in the Orlando area. As a child, she learned how to play piano, and attended private school for a few years. As a teenager, she got off track. Voepel was pregnant and married by age 16, but she was single again after just a few months. She has arrests for DUI and drug possession. She was arrested 11 times in a two-year period.

Singleton was also addicted to drugs and performed sex work to pay for them. The women were known to spend time together in the same abandoned house with other drug users.

Both were transient. The two women were dumped in a thicket of scrub, pines and oak. On April 29, Singleton and Voepel were found by a woman walking in a wooded area near Americana Blvd. One of the women had half an ID card wired to her ankle. Both were naked and had been posed in degrading positions. They were about a mile from the home of Voepel’s mother.

Unfortunately for Cox, a different murder and sexual assault occurred in the same area, but a little closer to an area popular with tourists. This prompted media to cover the deaths in detail, drawing more attention to his crimes. Crimeline offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, and Voepel’s mother added her own $5,000 to the reward.

Singleton’s mother had to be hospitalized after learning of her daughter’s murder. She had previously tried to bring Singleton off the street and back home, to no avail. They sought counselling for her, but were unable to break through.

Voepel was 22, and had 3 children. Singleton, a mother of a 7-year-old son, was 26.