HOLLY BOBO (OCTOBER 12, 1990 TO APRIL 13, 2011)

  

Holly Bobo

Holly Lynn Bobo (October 12, 1990 – c. April 13, 2011) was an American woman who disappeared on April 13, 2011, from her family home in Darden, Tennessee. She was last seen alive by her brother, Clint, shortly before 8 a.m., walking into the woods outside her home with a man wearing camouflage. In September 2014, partial remains were found in northern Decatur County, Tennessee, and her death was ruled a homicide via a gunshot to the back of the head.

Six men have been arrested for varying degrees of involvement in the crime. However, only three of the six men arrested have been prosecuted. Most of the arrests were made on the basis of a confession by a mentally disabled man named John Dylan Adams, who told police he saw his brother, Zach, and another friend, Jason Autry, with Holly at his brother's home after her kidnapping. It is unknown what led police to question Dylan about Bobo's disappearance. Three men, Dylan Adams, Zach Adams, and Jason Autry were charged with especially aggravated kidnapping, first-degree murder and rape. Of the other three men arrested, charges against two men were dropped, and one committed suicide without any charges being filed against him.

The case has been met with several setbacks such as the death of a suspect, multiple changes to the prosecutorial team, and disputes with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). The prosecution has been heavily criticized for their refusal to produce evidence against the defendants, missing multiple discovery deadlines, and for making frequent changes to the charges against the defendants with little explanation. The TBI even briefly withdrew its services to the entire district after the prosecutor accused them of compromising the case by proceeding "so slowly that the culprits were always one step ahead and that TBI... was leaking information and possibly covering up evidence". Defense attorneys for the men complained that they still had yet to receive a bill of particulars detailing the case against their clients and the results of forensic testing done on evidence from the case over a year after the arrests were made and that the prosecution had missed multiple discovery deadlines, leading attorneys for the defendants to file motions to dismiss charges on the grounds of "silence or stonewalling". The arrests took place in early 2014, but it wasn't until July 2015 that it was announced that the defendants finally received access to all the evidence against them.

On September 22, 2017, a jury found Zach Adams guilty on all charges, including first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years on September 23, 2017.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Holly_Bobo