James Carroll Cox was born February 13, 1916 in Lavaca, Sebastian Co., Ar. to Rufus Jackson & Mattie Ethel Sutherland Cox. No marriage record has been found. December 5, 1943 James enlisted in the US Army Air Corps attaining the rank of 1st Lt. before his discharge date of October 21, 1946. No further information has been found about his time with the miiitary. James Carroll Cox died on November 24, 1988 in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas and is buried at the Fort Smith National Cemetery in Fort Smith. The cause of his death is as follows; The Murder of James Carroll Cox In Nov 1988 James was murdered by his attorney William Barry. When he didn't show up for Thanksgiving the family members knew something was wrong. They could not contact him and the police were called. The murderer turn out to be his attorney, William Barry. After Barry admitted to killing James Carroll Cox he showed the police where the body was. Barry killed him for his money and threw his body in a well. If Barry had not told the police where the body was it would have never been found. Barry was charged with 4 counts of Theft Of Property, 2 counts of Criminal Attempt-Theft Of Property, 1 count of Forgery, and 1 count of Murder-1st Degree. He is serving a life sentence at the Wrightsville Unit Prison in Arkansas. More of this story below submitted by Jay Dooly. UPI ARCHIVES DEC. 21, 1988 Lawyer pleads guilty to killing client, sentenced to life imprisonment FORT SMITH, Ark. -- A lawyer who admitted killing a 71-year-old client from whom he embezzled money and dumping his body down a well and was sentenced Wednesday to life imprisonment. William B. Barry, 37, was charged Wednesday afternoon with murder in the death of James C. Cox, of Fort Smith. He entered a guilty plea to the murder charge and six other charges before Circuit Judge John Holland and was sentenced to life imprisonment, said prosecutor David Saxon. The state medical examiner, using dental records and fingerprints, Tuesday identified the body pulled from the well about 20 miles north of Fort Smith as that of Cox, who had been missing since Nov. 23. Police Cpl. Bob Stevenson said Cox was shot several times in the head. 'When the body was found Monday, we knew and the attorneys who were representing this guy knew most of the details of the case,' Saxon said. 'We were waiting on tests from the state crime lab, and once we got them it was pretty much a locked case. 'This was probably the best murder case we've ever had as far as the facts falling into place and being able to go to court,' he added. Barry also pleaded guilty to three counts of theft by deception, two counts of attempted theft by deception and one count of forgery. He was sentenced to the maximum 20 years for theft and 10 years for forgery. Arkansas has no parole system for defendants sentenced to life, so Saxon said Barry's sentence would have to be commuted to a specific number of years before he would become eligible for parole. Barry was arrested Nov. 28 as he left Cox's apartment with a $9,000 check made out to the missing man. Authorities said Barry took the money to maintain a high-flying lifestyle. Cox disappeared Nov. 23, the day Barry was ordered to repay another client, Johnny Ragans, $9,000 that he had embezzled, police said. On the same date, Barry sent a letter to Cox's stockbroker, asking for the sale of $40,000 in stock with the proceeds to be sent to Cox in care of Barry. The stockbroker, who had always dealt in person with Cox, contacted police. A similar letter sent after Thanksgiving to another Cox stockbroker asked that $9,000 in stock be sold and the check sent to Cox. The brokerage sent the check to Cox's apartment and Barry was arrested Nov. 28 as he left the apartment with it. In addition, the day after Thanksgiving, Barry wrote a $500 check to himself, forged Cox's signature and cashed it at a bank, police said. Barry was free on $150,000 bail awaiting sentencing on federal embezzlement charges in an unrelated case when he was arrested and that bail was revoked. In the earlier case, Barry had pleaded guilty to embezzling $225,000 from the estate of a Fayetteville businessman.