Kelli Cox went to her morning classes on July 15, 1997, and attended a field trip with her criminal justice class to the Denton Police Department. Since you cannot bring anything into the jail area of the building, Kelli stuffed a $5 in her pocket and left the rest of her belongings in the car. Kelli took the tour and then left the building and returned to the parking lot. She had locked her key in the car, so she walked back into the police station and asked to use the phone. The female at the desk would not allow her to make a call. She then asked for change for the pay phone and they would not give her change for the pay phone located in the building. She then asked if they could at least call someone for her and the woman told her NO. There were several witnesses to this. She was directed a block down the road to a convenience store. (I do hope that the public servant that refused to help Kelli sees her face in her dreams every night)
The police officers I spoke to the next day were upset about the way she was treated and felt that she would not be missing if someone would have helped her that day. Kelli walked down the road and got change from the clerk in the convenience store and used the payphone outside on the corner of the building. It is my understanding she left a voicemail first. She also scribbled a note explaining that she locked herself out of the car. The note was found wadded up in the trash by the phone.
Although McKinney street is very busy, Railroad street is not. This is what I think.
If I were Kelli there would be only one person I would get in the car with and you know who Im talking about. A police officer. The parking lot was empty of students. It was not visiting hours for inmates. Railroad Avenue was quiet. The police officer drives up, tells her he will help her.. She wads up her note and throws it away. He tells her she will need to ride in the back seat (policy) and that he needs to pick up something first before he can help her and off he goes with her down McKinney Street toward the desolate and back roads of the lake. Kelli was a smart girl and she probably figured out real quick that something wasnt right. She probably left evidence in the car, perhaps a dollar bill with her finger prints stuffed deep between the seat of the car.
This makes me wonder if all the unusual suspects were questioned that day? I rather doubt it.