COURTESY GREENE COUNTY SHERIFF
Connor Cox confessed to killing his mother, authorities say.
A Missouri man described to a sheriff's deputy exactly how easy it had been to shoot and kill his mother as she worked in the family's home office, authorities say.
Connor Cox, 21, told the Greene County deputy it was only a "matter of me walking into the office" and she "didn't even see it coming," according to a probable cause statement.
Connor's father, Terry Cox, found 53-year-old Angela Cox in their Springfield, Missouri, home on Tuesday evening when he returned home from work. She was still sitting in her chair in her home office. She had been shot through the neck and cheek, according to court records. A set of bloody footprints were near her body.
The newly widowed father told deputies he suspected the couple's son was involved. Terry said he and Connor had argued early that morning about a gun. The father had taken it away about a year ago and hidden it in the attic, but he learned on Monday the 21-year-old had taken it back.
As deputies searched the home, they discovered Angela's 2014 Toyota Rav 4 was missing. The son was also missing, but he was soon stopped about 37 miles south by Taney County Sheriff's deputies.
Connor was driving the Rav 4, and he had still had the gun with him, court documents say. He claimed he had gotten it from a friend, but that his dad had taken it from him. Greene County Sheriff's Deputy David Jolliff interviewed Connor, who reportedly told him he had been annoyed that morning because Terry told him "don't hurt her" before leaving for work.
That "didn't resonate well with me," Connor said, according to Jolliff's probable cause statement.
Connor had been in some trouble in the past. The week before the killing, he had completed a program for youthful offenders — a consequence of a conviction for a hit-and-run in December 2016.
As part of a program, he wrote short essay about his driving.
"Looking out for myself and my community is the proper way to progress as a community/country therefor I shall push myself to be more proactive and observant in regards to defensive driving," he said in the hand-written essay.
After he was taken into custody this week, Connor said his problems in the past had caused his mother pain and she was always "down," Jolliff wrote. He reportedly told the deputy he had decided to "end that."
Connor waited several hours after his father left, walked into Angela's office and then shot her, authorities say.
Terry told deputies he had traded some text messages with his wife during the morning, but she did not respond after about 9 a.m. By the time he returned home, she was dead.
Connor remains in custody. Prosecutors have requested that no bond be set in the case.
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