The trial is underway for a suspect accused of murdering Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo, and Monday got off to a grim start when prosecutors said the alleged murderer wrapped the victim in a blanket, thinking she was deceased while she was still “moving around.”
FOX17 reports that Paul Hagerman, the prosecutor in the case against Zach Adams, said that the suspect not only raped and drugged nursing student, Holly Bobo, but he also called in another suspect, Jason Autry, to help him dispose of the victim before she was even dead.
“He took her. He raped her. He killed her. He discarded her. He covered it up. He bragged about it. And he almost got away with it,” Hagerman said.
The prosecutor then echoed Adams’ own alleged words, “I couldn’t have picked a prettier bi***,” while addressing the jury.
According to Autry, he answered Adams’ request for assistance, and when he arrived, Bobo was wrapped in a blanket, presumably dead. Autry said he volunteered to “gut” Bobo, but when he saw her moving inside the blanket, he said there was “still time for grace.” Instead of saving her, however, Hagerman said Adams pulled out a gun and shot Bobo directly in the head.
Adams’ defense attorneys argued that their client did not kill Bobo. In fact, they claimed he didn’t drug, rape, or kidnap her either. Defense attorney Jennifer Thompson said that authorities were under pressure to find someone to pin the crime on and honed in on Adams’ brother, Dylan, and forced a false confession from him, leading to Adams’ arrest.
Thompson continued that Dylan, who has a reported low IQ, gave detectives uncorroborated confessions. The attorney explained that although authorities searched Adams’ home, car, and computers, there was zero physical evidence that backed up his brother’s claims.
Prosecutors begin case against Zachary Adams in murder, rape and kidnapping trial of Holly Bobo. Live Streaming at https://t.co/9TdKbWf1fa pic.twitter.com/FtMmmYUVvU
— wsmv Nancy Amons (@WSMVNancyAmons) September 11, 2017
“It was at this point they decided they would buy and pay for somebody’s testimony,” Thompson said, claiming that the state made a deal with Autry to confess.
Thompson then touched on Autry’s confession, which she said was riddled with inaccuracies, including cellphone data that showed the men weren’t with each other when the murder happened. Autry originally faced the death sentence for Bobo’s death, but Thompson maintained that he made up lies about Adams in order to get a reduced sentenced.
What You Need to Know
Holly Lynn Bobo disappeared from her home in Darden, Tennessee, on April 13, 2011. Three years later, authorities found her deceased in Decatur County, Tennessee, with a gunshot wound to her skull. So far, six men have been arrested in connection with her death, but only three of them have been prosecuted. Charges against two of them were dropped, while another suspect committed suicide.
Prime suspect in Holly Bobo murder trial has lengthy criminal record https://t.co/lzkdpx4I0U pic.twitter.com/K2SSJe2pDf
— FOX13 Memphis (@FOX13Memphis) August 24, 2017
Most of the prosecution’s case was made around what Dylan Adams confessed. After pinning the crime on Adams and Autry, he’s since recanted and said that the confession was coerced.
“If it had gone down the way that Dylan described it, they would have blood in that house. They would have found DNA in that house. They would have found hair in that house. They would have found a fingernail. They would have found something that placed Holly in that house,” Dylan’s mother, Cindy Adams previously said. “There’s no chemical cleanup in that house. There’s no nothing that ever indicated that Holly has been in that house, but if you listen to Dylan’s story, and I’m not going to go into everything he says, but it’s pretty graphic. There’s no way they would not have found something.”
If convicted, Adams faces the death penalty.
Check back with CrimeOnline for additional coverage.
[Feature Photo: Twitter]
