December 16, 2013
With the 10th anniversary of the unexplained disappearance of a mother and her young child rapidly approaching along with new information and the case being reclassified as a homicide, the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office today is making a renewed appeal to the Middle Tennessee community for information that will help provide answers in a case that has strong implications of foul play. Jennifer Wix, 21, and her daughter, Adrianna Wix, 2, were reported missing by Jennifer’s mother on March 27, 2004. The investigation led deputies to the Robertson County home of Jennifer’s boyfriend, Joey Benton, where Jennifer and Adrianna had been living with Benton in an out building on the property. Joey Benton claimed that on the evening of March 25, 2004, Jennifer asked him to take her to a grocery store in Cross Plains to use the phone. Benton said he did so, and then dropped mother and daughter off at a local Exxon. Benton said he pulled across the street and watched as a white four-door car pulled up and Jennifer and Adrianna got inside. Benton also claimed that on March 26, 2004, Jennifer showed up back at his property, collected her belongings and said that she needed some time away. Despite countless hours of investigation and numerous interviews over the past nine years by Robertson County deputies and other law enforcement agencies, Benton’s assertions of taking Jennifer and Adrianna to the grocery store, the Exxon and then seeing Jennifer on the following day were never independently corroborated. The last person known to have spoken to Jennifer was her father, Michael, who, phone records confirm, talked with her at approximately 11 a.m. on March 25, 2004. Michael Wix, who resides in Manchester, told detectives that his daughter spoke of arguing with Joey Benton’s family and that she looked forward to seeing him in Manchester on the following Sunday. Michael Wix has not heard from Jennifer since. In the months that followed Jennifer and Adrianna’s disappearance, the Benton property in Robertson County has been searched on four separate occasions. A pond on the land was even drained and searched. Although the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office since the early days of the investigation has treated it as a homicide case, it has now finally been officially reclassified as a homicide case from a missing person case. No one, including Joey Benton, has been eliminated as having potential involvement in the disappearance of Jennifer and Adrianna Wix.
“As Season to Remember services in memory of homicide victims are held throughout the country at this special time of year, the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office is absolutely committed to not letting Jennifer and Adrianna Wix be forgotten,” Sheriff Bill Holt said. “I strongly believe that there are persons in this community who know what happened to Jennifer and Adrianna, but who have been reluctant to come forward for one reason or another. We today strongly encourage our citizens to help us provide answers and closure to the family, and, as circumstances warrant, justice to these two young persons who chose to live in our area.” Sheriff Holt said a special tip line has been set up so anyone with information can directly contact an investigator working on the case at the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office by calling (615) 478-5763. Anyone with information may remain anonymous, and may also submit information via the Crime Tips section of our website at https://www.robertsonsheriff.com/crime-tips/. There is a reward of $17,000 being offered to anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible. For more information on the case, also see the Major Unsolved Crimes portion of our website.
