Michael Anthony Cox (born May 17, 1956) is an American serial killer who was convicted in California for murdering three teenage girls in Placerville and hiding their bodies in the Eldorado National Forest in 1984.

[2] His biological father split with his mother, Jean Stokes, during her pregnancy, and she later married a man named Forest Jayne.

[2] After high school, Cox worked with a youth forestry conservation crew, where he became acquainted with several adolescents, among them were sisters Debbie and Denise Galston, both 14, who lived in a foster home in Placerville.

He offered to drive her to a party at a nearby park, and she agreed, but when they got there, he made an unwanted sexual move toward Napoletano, grabbing her breast and causing her to flee.

[4] On June 29, 1984, Cox visited a club in downtown Placerville, where he met a 17-year-old girl named Lynda Burrill.

[6] The discovery of the bodies caused a stir among city residents, with investigators concluding a single killer was responsible.

The officer discovered a gun protruding from under the driver's seat and determined it to be a fully loaded .357-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver.

[9] During the penalty phase, Cox's lawyers attempted to persuade the jury to not impose a death sentence because of his troubled childhood.