Slain girl's mother would like to meet with admitted serial killer In court, William Reece agreed to be returned to Okla., to face capital murder charges

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows William Reece, a convicted kidnapper who has been linked to the deaths of three young women in the Houston-Galveston area two decades ago. Reece, who appeared at an extradition hearing in Galveston on July 13, 2016, is being transferred to Oklahoma to face capital murder charges there in another young woman's death. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP) less FILE - This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows William Reece, a convicted kidnapper who has been linked to the deaths of three young women in the Houston-Galveston area two ... more Photo: HOGP Photo: HOGP Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close Slain girl's mother would like to meet with admitted serial killer 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

GALVESTON — Gay Smither acknowledges that "forgiveness is a journey," but she said that one day she'd like to sit down and look into the eyes of William Reece, the admitted serial killer linked to the death of her 12-year-old daughter Laura.

"I don't know if he'll agree to that," Smither, 56, told reporters after a court hearing Wednesday. "I would like to share my faith and talk to him about his soul and the only path to redemption is to, really, come forward with the truth of his life if he has any hope of saving his soul. I'd like to share that with him."

Smither made her comments after Reece, a convicted kidnapper and rapist, agreed during a court hearing Wednesday to be returned to Oklahoma to be tried for capital murder in the 1997 death of another young woman.

Reece, who is serving a 60-year prison sentence in Texas for kidnapping, recently led police to the remains of Jessica Cain and Kelli Cox, who vanished in Texas in 1997. His attorney says he has admitted responsibility for their deaths and for the slaying of Laura Smither, who disappeared while jogging in her Friendswood neighborhood that same year. Her body was found two weeks later in Pasadena.

READ MORE: Who is William Lewis Reece? A history of the convicted felon who keeps leading police to new bodies

Accompanied by her husband Bob outside the court hearing, Gay Smither said Wednesday she realized that a meeting with Reece would not be possible until after he had been convicted and sentenced in Laura Smither's death.

"Forgiveness is a journey," she said, "but one day I would like mediation."

Such a meeting would require the agreement of Reece and his attorney, according to Kevin Petroff, an assistant district attorney in Galveston County.

RELATED: Accused serial killer moved to Oklahoma

Earlier Wednesday, a bearded Reece, 57, entered the courtroom of Galveston County District Judge Kerry Neves wearing a blue polo shirt, faded jeans and beige high-topped boots.

Neves asked Reece if he agreed to be transferred to Oklahoma County, Okla., to be tried for the 1997 kidnapping, rape and strangulation of newlywed Tiffany Johnston in 1997.

"Yes sir," Reece said. A Galveston County sheriff's deputy brought Reece a document on a clip board and held it as Reece scrawled his signature.

Watching the proceedings from the gallery were the Smithers.

Before the hearing, Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady had assured the couple that Reece would be sent back to Texas after the Oklahoma trial, even if a death sentence were handed down there, to face trial for the killing of their daughter.

Reece's attorney, who was not present Wednesday, had previously said his client hoped his cooperation with Texas investigators would help him avoid the death penalty in the Oklahoma case.

Oklahoma prosecutors have refused Reece's request to rule out the death penalty, but have not decided whether to seek it.

Gay Smither said she hopes prosecutors don't do so. "I don't believe in the death penalty," she said, adding that she thought life imprisonment was punishment enough.

Even if Reese is convicted and sentenced to death in Oklahoma, the Smithers want Reece to face charges in their daughter's death.

"We want him to be tried here," said Bob Smither, 71.

Gay Smither said she was grateful to Oklahoma prosecutors for allowing Reece to remain in Texas to assist investigators.

"The wheels of justice grind slow and we have learned to be patient," Gay Smither said.

Reese was identified years ago by police as the "prime suspect" in the killing of Laura Smither.

After her disappearance, a massive search was mounted through boggy swamps and woods for the aspiring ballerina, among a select few who had been accepted into the Houston Ballet Academy the year before. Her face was flashed over the nightly news for 17 days until her body, clad only in a pair of socks, was found 12 miles from her home in a Pasadena retention pond on April 20, 1997.

Reese became a suspect after investigators learned he was a registered sex offender working off Moore Ranch Road, where the child was last seen jogging. On that particular day, Reece had been let go from work early because of rain.

However, Reece was never charged, and he even got a judge to restrict officers from interviewing him again without his permission in 1999.

At that time, he told the Chronicle, "Hey, look. Enough is enough. Either file the (expletive) murder charges ... or get off me."

The girl's parents later won a $110 million wrongful death lawsuit against Reece, who chose not to participate.

Reece, a former truck driver, had spent almost 10 years in an Oklahoma prison for two rapes in that state before being released on Oct. 5, 1996. He has been linked to five attacks on young women, four of which were fatal, over a five-month span in 1997.

The sole survivor, Sandra Sapaugh, then 19, escaped by leaping from Reece's truck on Interstate 45. Reece was convicted the following year in her kidnapping and received the 60-month prison term in Texas.

Investigators began to zero in on Reece as a possible suspect in some of the other cold cases after advances in DNA testing connected him last year to the death of Johnston, who was abducted from the Sunshine Car Wash in Bethany, Okla. on July 26, 1997. Her body was found the following day.

Oklahoma authorities agreed to let Reece remain in Texas to assist in the investigation of the other young women's deaths on the condition that he would be returned to Oklahoma to stand trial before charges were brought in Texas.

Reece was transferred from a Texas prison to the Friendswood city jail. He led investigators to the remains of Cain and Cox, who vanished in the summer of 1997.

Cox, a 20-year-old University of North Texas student and mother, went missing down the street from the Denton Police Department after touring the station for a criminology class on July 15, 1997. Her remains were found this past spring in Brazoria County. Cain, a Galveston teenager, disappeared on Aug. 17, 1997, as she was driving home from a high school musical cast party at a Clear Lake restaurant. Her truck was later found on the shoulder of I-45, with her purse locked inside. Her remains were found this past spring in a horse pasture near Hobby airport.