TN ADRIANNA & JENNIFER WIX: Missing from Cross Plains, TN - 25 March 2004 - Age 2 & 21 (1 Viewer)

Adrianna's photo is shown age-progressed to 11 years. She may be in the company of her mother, Jennifer Wix. Jennifer's photo is shown age-progressed to 31 years. They may still be in the local area. Adrianna has a birthmark on her right thigh and she may go by the nickname Nina. Jennifer has a tattoo on her back.
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Adrianna and her mother, Jennifer Wix, were seen together between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. on March 25, 2004. Jennifer's live-in boyfriend, William Benton, initially stated Jennifer and Adrianna left home with an unknown individual.

He later altered his story and said he and Jennifer had an argument and he dropped her and Adrianna off at an Exxon gas station near Exit 112 off Interstate 65 in Cross Plains, Tennessee. After five to ten minutes, Adrianna and Jennifer got into a white four-door early 1990's model mid-size car, at a gas station near Exit 112 off Interstate 65 in Cross Plains, Tennessee.

Benton stated Jennifer went to their home, without Adrianna, the next afternoon. She was driving the car she'd gotten into the previous day. She asked for her income tax return but her boyfriend's parents were not at home to give her the money so she left and said she would come back for it. She never did.

Jennifer and Adrianna have never been heard from again. Neither of them had any personal items, money, or extra clothes when they disappeared.

Jennifer and Adrianna may still be in the Cross Plains area, or they may have traveled to Florida. They are believed to be in danger, as it is uncharacteristic of Jennifer to be out of touch with her family.

NCMEC -

Have you seen this child? ADRIANNA WIX

Missing From: CROSS PLAINS, TN. Missing Date: 03/25/2004. Adrianna's photo is shown age-progressed to 11 years. She may be in the company of her mother, Jennifer Wix. Jennifer's photo is shown age-progressed to 31 years. They may still be in the local area. Adrianna has a birthmark on her...

api.missingkids.org

NamUs -

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Charley Project -

Adrianna Nikol Wix – The Charley Project

Adrianna Wix has been #missing from #CrossPlains #Tennessee since 2004! SEND IN THAT TIP, NO MATTER HOW SMALL!

Sunday, March 27, 2004, in Robertson County, Tennessee, 21 year old Jennifer Wix went missing along with her 2 year old daughter, Adrianna Wix. The two were living with Jennifer’s boyfriend, Joey Benton, and his family. Joey Benton was not...

www.crimewatchers.net

ADRIANNA & JENNIFER WIX: Missing from Cross Plains, TN since 25 March 2004 - Age 2 & 21

Before they vanished, they had been living in rural Robertson County, Tennessee with Jennifer's boyfriend, Joey Benton, and his family. Joey was the last known person to see Jennifer and Adrianna.

www.crimewatchers.net

 

[Tresir]

Presumably they could now search his property for the remains of Adrianna and Jennifer.

This report indicates that could possibly happen now. There was only a limited search there previously and a cabin was built since then so the local authority may now search the whole site.

 

[Kimster]

LE on the ball would have arrested him on the courthouse steps on release if there was a current warrant on him.

The warrant came later, when ole Joe didn't show up for a visit with his probation officer.

 

[Kimster]

Presumably they could now search his property for the remains of Adrianna and Jennifer.

This report indicates that could possibly happen now. There was only a limited search there previously and a cabin was built since then so the local authority may now search the whole site.

I'm not sure if this will work because ole Joe had a restraining order against him whereas he wasn't allowed on the property. Would a judge sign off without a reason to believe old Joe didn't obey the restraining order? Not sure. Need more info on that one.

 

[Cousin Dupree]

Some states won’t list a person as deceased unless the body part found is something they cannot live without (skull). Otherwise they keep the case open.
Do I think it’s likely he cut off his own leg and went on the run? No.

No pun intended I assume.

 

[Tresir]

I'm not sure if this will work because ole Joe had a restraining order against him whereas he wasn't allowed on the property. Would a judge sign off without a reason to believe old Joe didn't obey the restraining order? Not sure. Need more info on that one.

Not a leg to stand on

- it might not have been old Joe who buried them and built a structure over them. Reminds me of the Daybell plans.

 

[Tresir]

This article makes it sound like no particular agency is doing anything about these two. I don't understand this. They seem more interested in the missing old creepy Benton.

Remains tied to well-known Tennessee cold case found in Springfield. Wix family sues Bentons

Authorities ID remains found in Springfield as belonging to the father of missing Jennifer Wix's boyfriend.

www.tennessean.com

Springfield authorities have confirmed a leg found near a creek in July belongs to a man accused in a wrongful death lawsuit, filed a month before the severed appendage was discovered, of murdering a mother and daughter at the center of one of Robertson County's most prolific cold cases.
Springfield spokesperson Zachary Clark said in an Aug. 25 email that decomposed leg remains found July 4 at Sulphur Fork Creek belonged to 68-year-old Joseph Frank Benton. The remains were found about 10 miles from Benton's Owens Chapel Road home.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed with The Tennessean on Aug. 25 that they made the identification through a DNA analysis. Joseph Benton's DNA was found through the nationwide Combined DNA Index System after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of prohibited weapons in June 2024.
The 68-year-old is the father of William Joseph "Joey" Benton, who was the boyfriend of Jennifer Wix at the time she and her daughter Adrianna were reported missing in 2004.
A spokesperson with the Robertson County Sheriff said there were no missing person reports on file for Joseph Frank Benton despite his wife saying she hadn't seen him in months.
Attempts to reach members of the Benton family for comment on this case were not successful.

Who is leading the investigation?​

It's not clear who's leading the investigation into the Benton case.
TBI spokesperson Josh DeVine said Robertson County law enforcement was leading the investigation.
When asked for comment, the Robertson County Sheriff's Office said Springfield Police was the lead investigator.
"We are assisting the Springfield Police Department as well as the TBI in the (case), but we are not the lead agency," sheriff's office spokesperson Jessica Drake said in a statement, sent via email Aug. 25.
Springfield City spokesman Clark said the Robertson County Sheriff's Office and 19th Judicial District Attorney General's Office were leading the investigation.
A call to the 19th District Attorney's Office was not returned.

The case of the missing Wix and her daughter​

On March 25, 2004, Joey Benton told authorities his girlfriend, Wix, 22, and her 2-year-old daughter Adrianna got into a white four-door sedan at a gas station in Cross Plains.
The mother and daughter were reported missing by their family on March 27, 2004. They were never seen again.
Wix, Adrianna and Joey Benton were living with his parents at the time of their disappearance. Adrianna was not Joey Benton's daughter.
The case was reclassified from missing persons to homicide in 2013.
Joey Benton gave investigators two accounts of what happened on March 25, 2004, records show.
At first, he said he last saw Wix when she left with a friend he didn't know. He then said he took the pair to a Cross Plains grocery store at Wix’s request. He left them at a local Exxon afterward and watched as they got into the white car.
In the years since Wix and Adrianna's disappearance, several searches were conducted on 100 acres of land owned by the Benton family along Owens Chapel Road.
That's where Wix and Adrianna lived at the time they were reported missing.
In 2021, scent and cadaver dogs roamed 51 acres of the property in search of possible human remains, the Wix family told The Tennessean in February.
Cadaver dog alerts and ground-penetrating radar led to a dig that resulted in a shelf of clay being found, but no remains.

Lawsuit against Benton family sheds new light on Wix case​

Wix's mother, Kathy Nale, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joseph Benton, his wife, Cynthia Benton, and Joey Benton on June 5 in Robertson County Circuit Court seeking a jury trial for damages in connection with her daughter and granddaughter's deaths.
"The wrongful acts of William (Joey) Benton, Joseph Benton and Cynthia Benton, including the acts of killing Jennifer and Adrianna Wix, of hiding their bodies and of otherwise hiding or destroying evidence to impede the investigation into their deaths have been intentional, fraudulent, reckless and malicious," the lawsuit said.
Wix's sister, Casey Robinson, declined to comment on the lawsuit. She also declined to comment on the Joseph Benton remains case.
The lawsuit says that Joey Benton told Wix's family that his father killed Wix and her daughter and he helped cover it up.
The lawsuit also lays out several details in the Wix case.
In the fall of 2003, it says Joey Benton pulled out a gun and pointed it at himself, Wix and Adrianna and threatened he would kill all of them.
Wix and the child left the Benton home to stay with family, the lawsuit said.
Wix and Benton reconciled in December, and mother and daughter returned to the Benton home.
On March 24, 2004, during a phone call with Wix, Nale could hear screaming in the background and was told by Wix that Cynthia Benton had thrown Wix and Adrianna's dinner outside and told them they could eat like dogs, the lawsuit said.
The day the two went missing, Wix called her father and told him she was scared of her boyfriend's mother and that she was "acting weird," the lawsuit says. It also notes that Wix broke up with Joey Benton while the three were driving, and he dropped her off at a gas station to be picked up by a friend.
In a July 9 filing responding to the lawsuit, Cynthia Benton and Joey Benton denied the allegations, saying they had no knowledge of, involvement in or connection with the disappearance of Wix or Adrianna.
Cynthia Benton counter-filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it failed to show how she and Joey Benton caused injury or harm to Wix and Adrianna.
Joey Benton said in his response to the lawsuit that Wix and Adrianna left the Benton home on their own.
Cynthia Benton said she has not communicated with Joseph Benton since his release from jail in March and did not know where he was.
Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.
This story was updated to add a video.

 

[Kimster]

This article makes it sound like no particular agency is doing anything about these two. I don't understand this. They seem more interested in the missing old creepy Benton.

Remains tied to well-known Tennessee cold case found in Springfield. Wix family sues Bentons

Authorities ID remains found in Springfield as belonging to the father of missing Jennifer Wix's boyfriend.

www.tennessean.com

Springfield authorities have confirmed a leg found near a creek in July belongs to a man accused in a wrongful death lawsuit, filed a month before the severed appendage was discovered, of murdering a mother and daughter at the center of one of Robertson County's most prolific cold cases.
Springfield spokesperson Zachary Clark said in an Aug. 25 email that decomposed leg remains found July 4 at Sulphur Fork Creek belonged to 68-year-old Joseph Frank Benton. The remains were found about 10 miles from Benton's Owens Chapel Road home.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed with The Tennessean on Aug. 25 that they made the identification through a DNA analysis. Joseph Benton's DNA was found through the nationwide Combined DNA Index System after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of prohibited weapons in June 2024.
The 68-year-old is the father of William Joseph "Joey" Benton, who was the boyfriend of Jennifer Wix at the time she and her daughter Adrianna were reported missing in 2004.
A spokesperson with the Robertson County Sheriff said there were no missing person reports on file for Joseph Frank Benton despite his wife saying she hadn't seen him in months.
Attempts to reach members of the Benton family for comment on this case were not successful.

Who is leading the investigation?​

It's not clear who's leading the investigation into the Benton case.
TBI spokesperson Josh DeVine said Robertson County law enforcement was leading the investigation.
When asked for comment, the Robertson County Sheriff's Office said Springfield Police was the lead investigator.
"We are assisting the Springfield Police Department as well as the TBI in the (case), but we are not the lead agency," sheriff's office spokesperson Jessica Drake said in a statement, sent via email Aug. 25.
Springfield City spokesman Clark said the Robertson County Sheriff's Office and 19th Judicial District Attorney General's Office were leading the investigation.
A call to the 19th District Attorney's Office was not returned.

The case of the missing Wix and her daughter​

On March 25, 2004, Joey Benton told authorities his girlfriend, Wix, 22, and her 2-year-old daughter Adrianna got into a white four-door sedan at a gas station in Cross Plains.
The mother and daughter were reported missing by their family on March 27, 2004. They were never seen again.
Wix, Adrianna and Joey Benton were living with his parents at the time of their disappearance. Adrianna was not Joey Benton's daughter.
The case was reclassified from missing persons to homicide in 2013.
Joey Benton gave investigators two accounts of what happened on March 25, 2004, records show.
At first, he said he last saw Wix when she left with a friend he didn't know. He then said he took the pair to a Cross Plains grocery store at Wix’s request. He left them at a local Exxon afterward and watched as they got into the white car.
In the years since Wix and Adrianna's disappearance, several searches were conducted on 100 acres of land owned by the Benton family along Owens Chapel Road.
That's where Wix and Adrianna lived at the time they were reported missing.
In 2021, scent and cadaver dogs roamed 51 acres of the property in search of possible human remains, the Wix family told The Tennessean in February.
Cadaver dog alerts and ground-penetrating radar led to a dig that resulted in a shelf of clay being found, but no remains.

Lawsuit against Benton family sheds new light on Wix case​

Wix's mother, Kathy Nale, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joseph Benton, his wife, Cynthia Benton, and Joey Benton on June 5 in Robertson County Circuit Court seeking a jury trial for damages in connection with her daughter and granddaughter's deaths.
"The wrongful acts of William (Joey) Benton, Joseph Benton and Cynthia Benton, including the acts of killing Jennifer and Adrianna Wix, of hiding their bodies and of otherwise hiding or destroying evidence to impede the investigation into their deaths have been intentional, fraudulent, reckless and malicious," the lawsuit said.
Wix's sister, Casey Robinson, declined to comment on the lawsuit. She also declined to comment on the Joseph Benton remains case.
The lawsuit says that Joey Benton told Wix's family that his father killed Wix and her daughter and he helped cover it up.
The lawsuit also lays out several details in the Wix case.
In the fall of 2003, it says Joey Benton pulled out a gun and pointed it at himself, Wix and Adrianna and threatened he would kill all of them.
Wix and the child left the Benton home to stay with family, the lawsuit said.
Wix and Benton reconciled in December, and mother and daughter returned to the Benton home.
On March 24, 2004, during a phone call with Wix, Nale could hear screaming in the background and was told by Wix that Cynthia Benton had thrown Wix and Adrianna's dinner outside and told them they could eat like dogs, the lawsuit said.
The day the two went missing, Wix called her father and told him she was scared of her boyfriend's mother and that she was "acting weird," the lawsuit says. It also notes that Wix broke up with Joey Benton while the three were driving, and he dropped her off at a gas station to be picked up by a friend.
In a July 9 filing responding to the lawsuit, Cynthia Benton and Joey Benton denied the allegations, saying they had no knowledge of, involvement in or connection with the disappearance of Wix or Adrianna.
Cynthia Benton counter-filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it failed to show how she and Joey Benton caused injury or harm to Wix and Adrianna.
Joey Benton said in his response to the lawsuit that Wix and Adrianna left the Benton home on their own.
Cynthia Benton said she has not communicated with Joseph Benton since his release from jail in March and did not know where he was.
Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.
This story was updated to add a video.

The only part of this report that I know to be untrue is that the whole property has been searched. They keep saying that over and over in the news, but that’s not true. The Bentons have NOT allowed certain areas of the property to be searched. Never.

JOEY DID ADMIT TO JENNIFER’S SISTER WITHIN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS THAT THE GIRLS WERE KILLED AT THE PROPERTY.

The first time he was interviewed after the girls went missing, Joey said he dropped them off and they got into a four-door white Mustang. And then he changed his story after someone brought it to his attention that they don’t make four-door Mustangs. There was someone working at the store/gas station where Joey supposedly dropped them off and they never saw any of that happening.

 

[Tresir]

The only part of this report that I know to be untrue is that the whole property has been searched. They keep saying that over and over in the news, but that’s not true. The Bentons have NOT allowed certain areas of the property to be searched. Never.

JOEY DID ADMIT TO JENNIFER’S SISTER WITHIN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS THAT THE GIRLS WERE KILLED AT THE PROPERTY.

The first time he was interviewed after the girls went missing, Joey said he dropped them off and they got into a four-door white Mustang. And then he changed his story after someone brought it to his attention that they don’t make four-door Mustangs. There was someone working at the store/gas station where Joey supposedly dropped them off and they never saw any of that happening.

Yes, i think they said the property is 100 acres and that article said 50 acres had been searched. This family just seem to be a complete bunch of liars.

 

[GrandmaBear]

This article makes it sound like no particular agency is doing anything about these two. I don't understand this. They seem more interested in the missing old creepy Benton.

Remains tied to well-known Tennessee cold case found in Springfield. Wix family sues Bentons

Authorities ID remains found in Springfield as belonging to the father of missing Jennifer Wix's boyfriend.

www.tennessean.com

Springfield authorities have confirmed a leg found near a creek in July belongs to a man accused in a wrongful death lawsuit, filed a month before the severed appendage was discovered, of murdering a mother and daughter at the center of one of Robertson County's most prolific cold cases.
Springfield spokesperson Zachary Clark said in an Aug. 25 email that decomposed leg remains found July 4 at Sulphur Fork Creek belonged to 68-year-old Joseph Frank Benton. The remains were found about 10 miles from Benton's Owens Chapel Road home.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed with The Tennessean on Aug. 25 that they made the identification through a DNA analysis. Joseph Benton's DNA was found through the nationwide Combined DNA Index System after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of prohibited weapons in June 2024.
The 68-year-old is the father of William Joseph "Joey" Benton, who was the boyfriend of Jennifer Wix at the time she and her daughter Adrianna were reported missing in 2004.
A spokesperson with the Robertson County Sheriff said there were no missing person reports on file for Joseph Frank Benton despite his wife saying she hadn't seen him in months.
Attempts to reach members of the Benton family for comment on this case were not successful.

Who is leading the investigation?​

It's not clear who's leading the investigation into the Benton case.
TBI spokesperson Josh DeVine said Robertson County law enforcement was leading the investigation.
When asked for comment, the Robertson County Sheriff's Office said Springfield Police was the lead investigator.
"We are assisting the Springfield Police Department as well as the TBI in the (case), but we are not the lead agency," sheriff's office spokesperson Jessica Drake said in a statement, sent via email Aug. 25.
Springfield City spokesman Clark said the Robertson County Sheriff's Office and 19th Judicial District Attorney General's Office were leading the investigation.
A call to the 19th District Attorney's Office was not returned.

The case of the missing Wix and her daughter​

On March 25, 2004, Joey Benton told authorities his girlfriend, Wix, 22, and her 2-year-old daughter Adrianna got into a white four-door sedan at a gas station in Cross Plains.
The mother and daughter were reported missing by their family on March 27, 2004. They were never seen again.
Wix, Adrianna and Joey Benton were living with his parents at the time of their disappearance. Adrianna was not Joey Benton's daughter.
The case was reclassified from missing persons to homicide in 2013.
Joey Benton gave investigators two accounts of what happened on March 25, 2004, records show.
At first, he said he last saw Wix when she left with a friend he didn't know. He then said he took the pair to a Cross Plains grocery store at Wix’s request. He left them at a local Exxon afterward and watched as they got into the white car.
In the years since Wix and Adrianna's disappearance, several searches were conducted on 100 acres of land owned by the Benton family along Owens Chapel Road.
That's where Wix and Adrianna lived at the time they were reported missing.
In 2021, scent and cadaver dogs roamed 51 acres of the property in search of possible human remains, the Wix family told The Tennessean in February.
Cadaver dog alerts and ground-penetrating radar led to a dig that resulted in a shelf of clay being found, but no remains.

Lawsuit against Benton family sheds new light on Wix case​

Wix's mother, Kathy Nale, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joseph Benton, his wife, Cynthia Benton, and Joey Benton on June 5 in Robertson County Circuit Court seeking a jury trial for damages in connection with her daughter and granddaughter's deaths.
"The wrongful acts of William (Joey) Benton, Joseph Benton and Cynthia Benton, including the acts of killing Jennifer and Adrianna Wix, of hiding their bodies and of otherwise hiding or destroying evidence to impede the investigation into their deaths have been intentional, fraudulent, reckless and malicious," the lawsuit said.
Wix's sister, Casey Robinson, declined to comment on the lawsuit. She also declined to comment on the Joseph Benton remains case.
The lawsuit says that Joey Benton told Wix's family that his father killed Wix and her daughter and he helped cover it up.
The lawsuit also lays out several details in the Wix case.
In the fall of 2003, it says Joey Benton pulled out a gun and pointed it at himself, Wix and Adrianna and threatened he would kill all of them.
Wix and the child left the Benton home to stay with family, the lawsuit said.
Wix and Benton reconciled in December, and mother and daughter returned to the Benton home.
On March 24, 2004, during a phone call with Wix, Nale could hear screaming in the background and was told by Wix that Cynthia Benton had thrown Wix and Adrianna's dinner outside and told them they could eat like dogs, the lawsuit said.
The day the two went missing, Wix called her father and told him she was scared of her boyfriend's mother and that she was "acting weird," the lawsuit says. It also notes that Wix broke up with Joey Benton while the three were driving, and he dropped her off at a gas station to be picked up by a friend.
In a July 9 filing responding to the lawsuit, Cynthia Benton and Joey Benton denied the allegations, saying they had no knowledge of, involvement in or connection with the disappearance of Wix or Adrianna.
Cynthia Benton counter-filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it failed to show how she and Joey Benton caused injury or harm to Wix and Adrianna.
Joey Benton said in his response to the lawsuit that Wix and Adrianna left the Benton home on their own.
Cynthia Benton said she has not communicated with Joseph Benton since his release from jail in March and did not know where he was.
Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.
This story was updated to add a video.

Sounds like one messed up family and I'm left with the impression no one wanted her or her child there.

 

[Kimster]

Sounds like one messed up family and I'm left with the impression no one wanted her or her child there.

I've thought this since day one.

One thing I haven't really zeroed in on in all these years is how much Cindy could possibly have been involved? I've always looked at ole Joe and Joey. Now that we've just gone through the Lori Daybell murders, I'm looking back on what she has said or done. She said she never saw ole Joe after he was released from jail? Did she wonder where he was? If he was a threat to her, was she scared he was out there somewhere and going to "get" her or anything? She's been very quiet all these years and I've hardly heard a thing about her.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I've thought this since day one.

One thing I haven't really zeroed in on in all these years is how much Cindy could possibly have been involved? I've always looked and ole Joe and Joey. Now that we've just gone through the Lori Daybell murders, I'm looking back on what she has said or done. She said she never saw ole Joe after he was released from jail? Did she wonder where he was? If he was a threat to her, was she scared he was out there somewhere and going to "get" her or anything? She's been very quiet all these years and I've hardly heard a thing about her.

Good point. Yes, I too from the start thought the same.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Looks like a skull (likely also Benton Sr's) has been found in the same area.

Human remains found in Springfield renew questions about case of missing woman, child

The first body part was identified as belonging to a man who police say was one of the last people known to see Jennifer and Adrianna Wix before their disappearance.

www.wsmv.com

 

[Cousin Dupree]

Looks like a skull (likely also Benton Sr's) has been found in the same area.

Human remains found in Springfield renew questions about case of missing woman, child

The first body part was identified as belonging to a man who police say was one of the last people known to see Jennifer and Adrianna Wix before their disappearance.

www.wsmv.com

Why did he die there? It sounds like he was never reported missing. So why did he go there and how did he die?