Will You Help Catch Peggy Cox's Killer?

💜Peggy Cox💜

She was a single mom, who divided her time between church, work and her kids. She descended from local "die-hard Catholic" lineage. She seemed to find happiness in little things. She could read a romance novel a day and had a thing for Sean Connery.

Peggy was born on February 1st, 1942.

She got married in her early 20's to Donald Cox. She met him through a church group. He was a union man who followed in his dad's footsteps to work at the same phone company. Peggy and Donald had three kids together named Desiree, Jude and Rachel.

In 1973, a car crash left him in a vegetative state.

Although her family helped out with Donald, who died in 1983, caring for him took a toll on her. And she had short bouts of depression. 

A short time after Donald passed away, Peggy moved the family to Thompson's Station, where they'd be closer to her parents and siblings. Their house was on a gravel road with water from a well.

Her kids taught her to swim.

"She was the only mom at the pool who would do forward somersaults into the pool," Desiree Cox recalled.

Peggy worked at Hardee's. Co-workers called her "Mama," and her children's friends would swing by the drive-thru just to say hello.

Jude Cox, who lived at home after graduation, said "she was about my best friend in high school."

When they worked at Hardee's together, she'd give him rides to the restaurant. They could talk about anything.

On Peggy's 49th birthday, February 1st, 1991, she hadn't even been scheduled to work that evening, but there she was, working the drive-thru. 

The restaurant at 1315 Murfreesboro Road in Franklin Tennessee. Which was located on a sparse commercial strip along Highway 96. 

It was 15 minutes from closing time. It was dark, and no pedestrians passed by in the chill. No customers were in the restaurant. And the manager who was doing paperwork in a back office. There was no surveillance camera  to capture the face that went to the male voice that ordered a roast beef combo at the drive-thru. As her son Jude, prepared the order, he heard two gunshots and saw his mother get shot in the back of the neck as she turned away from the window to run.  Peggy dropped to the floor and so did Jude. He didn't know whether more bullets might be flying. He went to his mother immediately and held her until help arrived. 

The manager made the frantic 911 call. Within moments, a Franklin police officer, Kevin Teague, arrived at the scene. But by then the killer was gone. Jude was clutching his mother's bloody glasses as he talked with police. This is when Rachel showed up and Peggy was taken to the hospital, where she died from a single gunshot wound to the neck. The second bullet was recovered from behind a vending machine.

Two vehicles were seen speeding away from the scene and headed north on Interstate 65. One was a blue or gray Nissan Sentra and a late model Chevrolet Impala, which might have had a pest control company logo on the side. About a month later, police identified and ruled out the driver of the Impala. But they never found the Sentra.

Early on, police said the shots may have come from someone in a small blue-gray car or a white Impala. Investigators thought that maybe Peggy's murder was a random shooting or a botched robbery attempt where the perpetrator got spooked. They also were entertaining the possibility that it was a gang initiation.

In 2013, the Vidocq Society, a members-only elite cold case organization in Philadelphia was looking at the case. The Vidocq Society is made up of members from 70 different specialties, like forensic professionals, like FBI profilers, investigators, scientists, psychologists and others.

With no evidence left behind and no direct witnesses, Peggy's case went cold. 

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for this crime.

If you have any information concerning this person, please contact the Franklin Police Department's "Catch Peggy’s Killer" tip line at (615) 550-8404, or text 615FPD along with their tip to 847411.