July 24, 2025 • 43 mins
Holly Bobo, a beautiful young nursing student, disappears from her family home in Darden, Tennessee. She is last seen by her brother, Clint, walking into the woods at the back of their property with a man wearing camouflage who looks familiar.
The Holly Bobo murder case returns to court years after a Tennessee man’s conviction. A new legal filing has emerged, requesting a new trial based on statements made by a key trial witness who now claims to be recanting his testimony—the same testimony that helped convict his friend. Holly's case has already faced several setbacks over the years; could this be another?
At the time of her disappearance, Holly Bobo was a 20-year-old nursing student at the University of Tennessee at Martin, attending classes at the Parsons Center. She lived with her parents and brother. On the morning of her disappearance, Clint, Holly's brother, was awakened by a noise outside the home.
Believing he heard and saw his sister talking with her boyfriend, he thought nothing was wrong. However, when Clint spoke to their mother, she immediately sensed something was wrong and frantically called 911.
That morning, Holly had woken up at 4:30 a.m. to study for an exam. Around 7:30 a.m., she answered a call from her boyfriend, Drew Scott, who was out turkey hunting.
By that time, Holly's parents had already left for work, and Clint was still asleep. Twelve minutes later, Holly made her final cell phone call.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Ben Powers - Criminal Defense Attorney, Facebook: Legal Powers
- Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, AngelaArnoldMD.com, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital,
- Todd G. Shipley, CFE, CFCE - Cyber Crime Expert, and Author: “Investigating Internet Crimes: An Introduction to Solving Crimes in Cyberspace;" X: @webcase
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), NEW Podcast --- launching on April 7th, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Shane Deitert - Former Assignment Editor for WATN in Memphis
- Dave Mack- Crime Stories Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young nursing student,
Holly Bobo walks into the woods and vanishes forever. At tonight,
her brutal killer to walk free. I'm Nancy Grace. This
(00:22):
is Crime Stories.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, oh my stars, you are hearing the heartbroken mother
(01:02):
of Holly Bobo begging, begging for law enforcement to go
immediately to her home. You hear her stating, I'm at school,
she's a school teacher. I'm trying to get to my home.
Neighbors heard her screaming, and somebody in camouflage got Holly
and that is how this case her disappearance kicked off.
(01:23):
Listen to more of that nine one one call off.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
The pain in the mother's voice is almost unbearable.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It's excruciating to hear it. You were hearing Holly Bobo's
mother raising the alarm her daughter has been taken by
a man in camo. Joining me an all star panel
to make sense of what we are learning. Straight out
to Shane Dieter joining us from Tennessee form our assignment
(02:08):
editor wat and Memphis Chane, thank you for being with us.
Just hearing Holly's mother is heartbreaking in the nine to
one one call. Her voice is sometimes a scream, and
then she's begging and she's crying, and the excruciating trip
(02:29):
from work trying to get home. Describe where was the
mother when she learns this is happening, Shane. She was
at work.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
She is a school teacher and she was at work.
I know she was so upset that she had to
have a friend or a coworker driver home. I just
couldn't imagine, you know, getting that call and then making
that call. It was heartbreaking as you heard. I could
(03:00):
not imagine the scared that that mother had. That was
her baby.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That is Holly Bobo's mother. But who is Holly?
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Holly Bobo a beautiful twenty year old nursing student at
the University of Tennessee Martin. She lives with her parents
and brother Clint at the family home in Darden, Tennessee.
April thirteen, Holly awakens at four thirty am to study
for an exam. Brother Clint wakes up to the sound
of the family dogs barking around seven forty five am.
Looks out to see Holly and a man dressed in
camouflage in the garage, Clint thinks Holly and her boyfriend
(03:34):
Drew Scott are having an argument.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
As I listened a little bit closer, I could tell
that that was Holly's voice, So I knew it was Holly,
So in my mind the male's voice I knew to
be Drew.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
You know who is her boyfriend? That's who of my
our friends at ABC twenty twenty again joining me at
All Star panel. You know, it's very disconcerting to doctor
angel Arnold joining us fronaw psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction,
and you can find her at ANGELA Arnold md dot com.
Because your day is going along as normal until it's not.
(04:08):
And you hear the mother just she can hardly talk.
She screams, then she begs and she cries, trying to
get the entire community out pronto to help find her daughter.
All she knows at this juncture is that a male
wearing camo led her daughter, took her daughter after an
(04:29):
argument in their car port into the woods that goes
along the Tennessee River. That's all she knows when she's
calling nine one one. There she is at work, she's
a school teacher, and she gets this call, and her
life will never be the same, Doctor Angie.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
Imagine Nancy. She has literally no control over what is
happening to her daughter. All she can do is try
to get there as fast as she can and try
to get as many people there as fast as they
can get there. But she knows that she has no
control over the situation. I can't even imagine a more
(05:07):
horrible feeling for a mother.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Now, we just heard from our friends at ABC twenty twenty,
Clant Bobo speaking. He was stating, as I listened a
little closer, I could tell it was Holly's voice. So
I knew if it's Holly, then she must be talking
to her boyfriend Drew. Okay, how did he come to
(05:32):
the idea? Shane Deeter joining us from Tennessee, that Holly
was talking to the boyfriend.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Nancy The night before the brother and Drew, the boyfriend,
were talking. They were also friends, and Drew talked about
going Honey. So when Holly's brother heard die and saw
her going out towards the wood with this man in camouflage,
he thought it was her boyfriend or was a boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
This one critical mistake may have cost Holly her life
when the brother, by all accounts, well intentioned, looks out.
He sees his sister with a guy. They're talking and
he thinks it's the boyfriend. Listen.
Speaker 7 (06:25):
Clint calls his mother, Karen, at work, telling his mother
it looks like Holly and Drew are having an argument
air walking towards the woods. Karen says that is not Drew.
Grab a gun and shoot whoever is with Holly. Drew
is turkey hunting on Bobo family property. Clint asks, you
want me to shoot Drew. Karen Bobo immediately calls nine
to one one around eight am.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I said, that's not Dree. You get a gun and
shoot him. And Clint said, you want me to shoot Drew?
And I think that's when I hung up and call
nine one one from our friends at ABC. So what
she didn't know, out to Dave Matt Crime Stories Investigative reporter,
what he didn't know is when he's told Mom, some guy,
(07:06):
I guess the boyfriend is leading her down the trail
to the river into the woods. Her response is she knew.
She did not have time to explain. Dave mac She says,
get a gun and shoot him, and the brother Clint
is just groggy. What he's just waking up. He's like,
(07:29):
you want me to shoot Drew. But what the mother
knew and the brother didn't know was at that very moment,
the boyfriend wasn't even there. He was miles away turkey
hunting with his own father. But the brother didn't know that.
He's like, what explain it, Dave.
Speaker 8 (07:50):
That's exactly what happened, Nancy. All right, Clint was just
waking up and he here's the dog's barking. You mentioned
that Parry knows that Drew is hunting because he's turkey
hunting on Bobo family property. It's actually Karen's grandmother. That's
the property they're hunting on. So he's thirty miles away,
and so she knows it's not brou It can't be Drew.
(08:12):
And Clint has no clue. He's just blurry eyed and
he's like, here's his sister. He hears her voice, but
he hears a tinge in her voice that he feels
like they're arguing. And I think he said he heard
the word no, but the way that he briefly saw
it just in his mind, he couldn't think who I mean,
think about it. It's early in the morning. Who else
(08:32):
would you be talking to. You wouldn't be talking to
somebody who didn't know out by your car, getting ready
to go to school. That's why Clint was kind of
out of it and just assumed it was Drew right then.
And Karen obviously knew it couldn't be. She knew it
could That's why she grab a gun and shoot him.
That was hervice. She could go shoot him. She knew intuitively,
a mother's intuition, knew her daughter was in trouble, and
(08:53):
that man meant no good.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
With your mercy.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Somebody has my daughter.
Speaker 9 (09:00):
Now, cars some money and pull kemel what got Holly?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
Please get everybody looking me out.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
They're on their way, sweetie.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
I got everybody on their way right now already.
Speaker 10 (09:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Clint Bobo can see sister Holly with the man in
Camos on a trail that leads to a logging road,
and Clinton notices the man is bigger than her boyfriend, Drew.
Holly's mother, Karen, tells Clint to grab a pistol and
go outside toward the garage, calling.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Nine one one.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
As he walks in the garage, Clint finds bloodstains. Police
arrive at the Bobo residence in ten.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Minutes, straight back out to Shane Deeter, former assignment editor
w at M Memphis. Shane, what is it that Clint
the brother saw? First of all, a neighbor hears screams.
A neighbor hears a woman we now know to be
Holly Bobo screaming. The neighbor calls the mom at school
(09:52):
where she's working. The mom tells Clint to look out,
get up, son, go look outside, and he's say, well,
you know, she's walking into the woods with a guy
and camera. But Shay, you describe for me what Clint saw.
You know, when he saw them kneeling and the car port, he.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Just thought it was his sister having an argument with
her boyfriend. So again, like we said, he saw the
guy in cameouflaws. He didn't realize that.
Speaker 11 (10:24):
Drew was thirty miles away, and so he's, you know,
he did what most people would do, you know, until
his mom told him to get a gun.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Then he went out and found the blood.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So Dave Mac explained to me, when he looks out,
they're not walking yet, No, they're kneeling, kneeling, Yeah, yeah,
and that's describe that, that's.
Speaker 8 (10:50):
What really set Clint off, Nancy, because he sees hollye
kneeling and he sees the other person also kneeling. It's
not something you see on any time a given day.
And the guy's just waking up and so he sees
what he thinks is Holly and her boyfriend. But they're kneeling.
They're not in a way that he would expect them
(11:11):
to be. And that's a very important point here because
he didn't take immediate corrective action because he thought that
Drew was breaking up with Holly. He sees Holly kneeling,
he hears her say no. You start putting it all together,
and you realize he didn't want to insert himself into
that situation. He didn't see it as dangerous. Somebody on
(11:32):
their knees. If they're both kneeling, that's not a dangerous situation, Nancy.
And that's the way he described.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Todd Shipley joining me from Reno. Former detective sergeant with
the Nevada Police Department, twenty five years in la. You know, interesting,
well back at every crime right and you can say
would have, could have, should have if they should have
(11:58):
known that wasn't Drew the boy friend. He could have
called nine one one, he would have done the right thing.
But the reality is he couldn't see the guy's face. Ever,
he never saw the purpse face. He saw him from behind.
He describes him as wearing camo, a baseball hat, and
(12:20):
that he had dark hair coming out from under his
cap that you know, kind of went under his collar
to show how long the hair was. He said he
was five ten to six feet. Hey, that could be anybody,
and that he weighed one hundred and eighty to up
around two hundred pounds. But he never saw his face.
(12:40):
So all the speculation it's the brother Clint's fought, it's not.
Clint is not the one that kidnapped Holly Bobo. It's
not his fault. He did not see the purpse face.
And isn't it true, Shipley that in every case people say,
if only fill in the blank, if only I had
(13:00):
worn a state belt, if only I hadn't gone to
the liquor store, if only I hadn't gone jogging. I mean,
that could be a million scenarios. Would I could have
should have? But it doesn't fit here because he didn't
see the face. He could not have known who the
purp is.
Speaker 9 (13:17):
No of course, I mean, and we all regret things
that have happened, especially in those stress situations where you know,
the person realizes later that if they had intervened, the
whole situation could have changed. And so that poor young
man is regretting, you know, so many things in his
life and has for years. But had he walked out there,
it would have been a very different situation. But we
(13:39):
don't know whether that person's arm, what was happening. He
could have gotten killed himself too at that point in time.
We just don't know, because it's all what is after
the fact, and that's the unfortunate thing.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
Extensive searches of the area around the Bobo home are
conducted on foot and with dogs. An hour and a half,
her cell phone traveled throughout Decatur County. The phone tracks
north to a wooded area forty stops moving between eight
thirty am and nine am, and begins moving again as
it pings back south toward the Bobo residence, but not
(14:09):
on the same route today.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Matt Crimestory, investigative reporter. We heard earlier that when the
brother Clint goes into the garage, he sees blood stains
on the garage floor and there were at least two bloodstains,
as I recall, one about the size of a fist
(14:30):
and one a much smaller blood drop. Drop. That's significant
that it was a drop, not a smear, not a transfer,
but a drop. Describe the blood the brother Clint finds
in the Bobo family garage.
Speaker 8 (14:49):
The blood drop is you just mentioned, Nancy. That's actually
the real big indicator that there was probably an injury
that was bleeding profusely enough that it would fall off
of her body. And by the way, the blood did
test as for Holly Bobo. Now Clint has to assume
it's his sister's blood when he sees it, which most
of us would. The bigger of the two could have
(15:13):
been put. It could have happened anyway. You know. You
can fall down on something, you can sit on something.
You know, we know that she was kneeling in the garage.
And it's the blood drop that actually is the biggest
part of this because it shows it's a fresh cut
that is bleeding enough that it's not just a smear.
You didn't just cut your finger and smear it on
the on the floor. It's actually dropping from your body
(15:36):
freely onto the floor, and it actually can indicate. They'll
look at that blood to see if it's going towards
her car or away from her car. Was she attacked
on her way to the car, was she surprised on
her You know, there's any number of ways that they'll
use that blood droplet to find out exactly how she
was attacked, when it happened, and who probably did it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What does it mean when you take this blood spatter
conjunction with the story that Clint the brother is telling.
It's a very very disturbing story. The search is on
on foot with dogs. The phone. Her phone tracks north
to a wooded area near I forty. It stops moving.
Remember all this is happening in the early morning hour.
(16:18):
She gets up study at four point thirty a m.
She's heading to school, Mom's at work, Dad's at work.
The phone stops moving. By nine am, it begins moving again,
pinging back south toward the Bobo home, but on a
different route than a discovery.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Several items belonging to Holly are found scattered throughout the
area on country roads. Her lunch homework, a receipt with
her name on it, a card from school, her cell phone,
and a SIM card which have been removed from the
phone Meany.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Would argue that the discovery of her belonging, school papers, homework,
her lunch is random. No joining me is a veteran
trial lawyer criminal defense attorney Ben Powers, and you can
find him at legalpowers dot com. Ben, Please, if possible,
take off your defense hat just one moment. The fact
(17:15):
that her items were scattered along various country roads is significant.
It sounds like they were thrown out a window of
a vehicle. So now we have to figure out she
was walking, being forced to walk by a guy and
camo of atrail that leads down to the Tennessee River.
But yet her items she would have had, like in
(17:37):
a backpack or in her arm, are scattered along various
country roads. What if anything can I deduce from that,
Ben Powers?
Speaker 10 (17:48):
So the first inference that I have is something's already
happened to Hally by that point, something very serious has
probably already happened to or something grave has already happened
to her, Because now they're trying to distance themselves from
her and her belongings, and they're just throwing them out
the window as they draw because they think that's the
best way to get rid of this backpack of contents
(18:10):
that they now have that they're trying to get themselves
away from, and in turn, what they've done is basically
create a trail of breadcrumbs in the direction that they
went to help Pon in the investigation in that direction.
But my first impression is that it's a sign that
something bad had happened prior to that moment, and now
they're trying to distance themselves from that by getting rid
(18:32):
of any evidence that can tie them to Holly Bobo.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Investigators put together a timeline of what happened to Holly Bobo.
Waking up early to study for her test. Holly gets
a call boyfriend Drew at seven thirty Drew his turkey
hunting on Bobo family property with his dad about thirty
minutes away. Holly sends a text at seven forty two am.
Holly did not send or answer another text or call
after seven forty two am. At seven forty three am,
(18:57):
Holly walks to the carport to get in her car
and go to school.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
The so called A train word gets around that the
A train may have had something to do with Holly
Bobo's disappearance. What is the A train? I'll tell you
it's Zach Adams, Shane Austin, Jason Autrey, and Zach Adams's brother,
(19:24):
John Dillon Adams, Adams Adams, Austin Autrey. Why is it
that people cannot shut their pie holes? How is it?
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Here?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
We go to doctor Kendall Crowns joining us. Now his
expertise is dead bodies. But how do the dead bodies
get there? And how do we solve cases? Doctor Kendall
Crowns is with us the chief medical Examiner Terran County.
That's Fort Worth, never a lack of business. He is
the star of a podcast about to hear the airwaves
(19:58):
Mayhem and the more. He is the esteemed lecturer at
the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, Dodger Kendl Crowns.
For every dead body that is a victim of homicide
that you see on your table, I guarantee you fifty
percent of those cases are solved by loose lips that
sink ships. When you look at one of the victims
(20:24):
that you autopsy, that you cut apart to determine cause
of death, can you imagine that somewhere out there a
killer is bragging. Yeah.
Speaker 12 (20:35):
Often when I'm doing the autopsies. I think about what
the individual who may have done this is doing right
at that present time. Often they're already in custody, but
sometimes they're not, and you kind of always have to wonder,
did you walk past them on your way into work
that day, did you run into them at the grocery store,
or something of that nature. You never know, but you
(20:56):
are right, Nancy. People really love to boast about the
things they do and the evil that they commit on
other individuals.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace, nothing is stronger than a
mother's love. Nothing stronger on this earth than a mother's love.
It is said, much like Natalie Holloway's mother Beth confronted
Natalie's killer trying to get the truth. Of course, gor
(21:33):
and Van der Sloot totally blew her off such an
a whole technical legal term. Here, Holly's mother hears the rumblings,
hears their rumors that a train had something to do
with Holly's disappearance. At this time, she has no idea
where her daughter is, and she confronts.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Them Karen Tadd, Zach Adams, and Jason Audrey when they
were in grade school and knows the type of men
they are all deny any involvement.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I asked them, did they know anything about our daughter's abduction?
Of course they all denied it. That from our friends
at ABC twenty twenty. Well, to use a technical legal
term on you, doctor Angela Arnold, she's got balls the
size of coconuts.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Well, she sure does. And Nancy, you need to have
balls the size of coconuts to take care of your
own children when things like this happen, because you can't
leave it in anyone else's hands. I don't blame her
in the least for going after these kids and confronting
them and asking them what they did.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Why are you calling them kids? Well, I believe on
a train I called them kids. I believe you did
when she taught them they were kids. These are grown men.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
And you know what, Nancy, maybe that had something to
do with the fact that she was able to confront them.
Also because maybe she thought of them as kids because
they were kids when she.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Knew them and taught them.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
I understand that they're grown men and they should all
go away for grown men consequences for what they did
to this beautiful girl.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, you know what you said something really interesting right there. Well,
a lot really interesting. But the fact that she knew them.
She taught two of them fourth grade. And yes, the
word is they took Holly Bobo out of her own
car port on her way to nursing school, a girl
(23:24):
they knew. If this is true. So at that juncture,
straight out to Shane Dieer, what did the A train
have to say back? I bet they got a big
laugh off Holly's mother coming to ask them where's Holly.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
They claimed that they had nothing to do with it.
And you know, they were out brigging about it, and
the mother was listening to these stories and you talking
about someone that's involved. It was her daughter. And then
she taught these kids. She knows them, and this is
(24:00):
Bobo is a mama bear. She went after them, I mean,
and that's you know, I hear a bunch of stories.
Is that's how cases are solved, is a parent gets
involved in has to go after the people. And that's
so dangerous. That shows you how brave the mother is.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Shane Dieter, You are so right, Shane Deeter joining us
from this jurisdiction off Tennessee, who is on the case
of the very very beginning. So the mom goes after
them the so called A train and they laugh her off.
But the word is bubbling around this tiny, tiny town
(24:42):
in Tennessee. The word is bubbling that the A train
is somehow responsible.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
And then a break, a random arrest of Dylan Adams
on a weapons charge cracks the ice. Adams tells police
in April thirteenth, he went to Za's house to get
his truck and saw Bobo sitting in a green share
in the living room, wearing a pink T shirt, with
Jason Autry standing nearby. Adams also tells police his brother
was wearing chemouflage shorts, black cut off sleeve T shirt,
(25:12):
and a pair of green crocs. Adams says brothers Zach
Adams told him he raped Holly Bobo and videotaped it.
This confession led to Zach Adams, Jason Autry, and Shane Austen.
His confession led to Jason Autry agreeing to testify against
Zach Adams.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
And now you're saying that Sane Austen is sitting room.
You're sitting man, Jason Alfrey sitting there, Kim Joy, is
there anybody else us?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
All was Holly BOI.
Speaker 12 (25:43):
Nap will.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Oh my stars, that's for our friends at ABC twenty twenty.
Let me understand has been Powers, so nobody knows what's
happened to Holly. The mom confronts the h about their
potential involvement. Do they know where she is? She's desperate?
You know why? Because Zach Adams has been bragging. Don't
(26:09):
you love a bragger for a client that can't keep
his piehole shut, saying things like to his girlfriend, you
gonna end up tied up in a hole just like Holly,
Or I'll do the same thing to you I did
Holly bragging. The bravado he must have had saying all that,
(26:31):
and it gets around. You can't say things like that
as a small town and nobody find out. Well, mom
found out in confronted him and don't you know, Ben Powers.
The first minute they could arrest the brother, Dylan John
Dylan Adams, brother of Zack the Bragger, they started putting
(26:53):
the screws to him, right yeah.
Speaker 10 (26:55):
I mean once they started really drilling him about the
details and getting him to admit very incriminating things like
you know she's in their home, she's wearing a pink
T shirt. These are the guys that are with me.
This is who did what and this is the condition
of things, and this is what happened. I mean, from
that point, it's just a matter of trying to corroborate
what he's saying. If you're the state, if you're on
(27:16):
the defense side, you're pointing out all the ways his
story doesn't match the physical evidence that they've collected, and
doesn't match other electronic data like self ping data and
other messages that might be recovered from cell phones and
things like that. But that's where it goes next, is
you try to either build a statement or discredit the statement.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Right Todd Shipley joining US former detective Sergeant Reno Nevada
author surviving a cyber attack. Hey Todd. Also the level
of detail in John Dillon's description. He gets to the
house and there he sees Holly Bobo in a pink
shot a pink top sitting there. His brother is wearing
(27:56):
camo shorts, a black cutoff T shirt and green crocs,
and the brother brags that they Holly and videoed it.
That's a lot of detail for somebody to make up.
Speaker 9 (28:10):
Well, it depends on what they're trying to defend themselves with.
Are they trying to put the blame on somebody else
and give very detailed information about what they supposedly did
and when it could have been himself that did it.
I'm not sure that we know all those facts. And
as mentioned earlier by your guest, was the details don't
match up with the evidence, and that becomes problematic and
(28:31):
where the prosecution or the law enforcement is going to
go with the evidence. Do they disprove what he said
or do they try to build their case around that statement,
And that becomes a very difficult thing to live.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Crime Stores with Nancy Grace, what happened to Holly Bobo
and will her killer now walk through? Is that possible?
In what world can that happen? Because not only do
we have the brother of Zachary Adams when he gets
arrested on an unrelated gun charge, spill it all about
(29:13):
Holly being and murdered, now we have another member of
the so called a train singing like a nightingale. Listen,
I'm standing.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Over the top of them.
Speaker 9 (29:28):
On my knees.
Speaker 8 (29:31):
She being rocky, see foot.
Speaker 11 (29:40):
Sound of distress.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Called from I told him, mysage, you're still alive. From
our friends at ABC twenty twenty, that's Jason Autry describing
what happened to Holly Bobo? I mean, did you hear that,
Doctor Kendall Crowns, He just he drives a multicolored blanket
that is in the back of one of the other
(30:05):
perpse truck and he's looking at it, and the foot
moves and he hears an audible sigh and they realize
Holly Bobo is still alive.
Speaker 12 (30:18):
Yes, that can happen occasionally in murders where the individual
is found to still be alive after the initial assault
that they thought they killed him with. Often we see
this in strangulations. And what happens then is they will
use whatever means they have available to make sure they
end that person's life so that person can't wake up
and testify against him at a later date. They may
(30:39):
beat their head into with a rock. If they have
knives available, they may stab them even multiple times. I've
even seen them try to cut heads off, and then
they'll also in this case shoot them in the head
with a gun.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
And Doctor Angela Arnold, did you hear the callous nature?
Did Witch re referred to Holly? He sees the foot move,
he sees her foot and if he hears her sigh,
and he says, this still alive.
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Oh well, Nancy, they never, they never didn't have a
callous feeling towards her. They kidnapped her, they murdered her.
They never had any warm and fuzzy feelings towards her.
So that just describes how all of them are. Okay, Nancy,
there are a bunch of psychopaths. There are a bunch
of psychopaths. They wanted to rape her. And you know, Nancy,
(31:29):
what the sad thing is. You know when we talk
about she was gay, Nancy, not just one of them,
She was gay. This poor woman suffered unmercifully at the
hands of these horrific psychopaths.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Talk about singing like a bird. Listen, an Autrey, good.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Tim William John one up.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Shall underneath that bridge. It was just one shot, but
it echoed underneath the bridge all the way down that
damn river body.
Speaker 11 (32:06):
And when that gun went, birds whatever, all up under
that breed and it was just dead silence or just
a shot.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
From my friends at ABC twenty twenty, Bienpowers, criminal defense attorney,
Why isn't all your clients have guns that just go off?
Nobody ever says he shot her under the bridge and
then it echoed twice. It sounded like three gunshots from
the echo under that concrete bridge, and then the birds
flew up in the air and then everything was dead, silent.
(32:39):
How what all your clients, the gun just goes off.
Nobody pulls it to that.
Speaker 10 (32:43):
I have all my clients that the guns just goes off.
I think the state trust to put a gun in
my client's hands. Instead they used it intentionally. But that
as that doesn't always match the forensic evidence that we
have in the case. But that's certainly what the state
likes to do. Is it's cleaner to say this person Shawn.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Intentionally those pasty guns that just go off with such
incredible precision that they actually kill the victim when they
just go off, And that's what they're saying here. Autry,
he's singing, but he ain't singing on tune because he's
saying the gun went off and boom, boom boom from
(33:26):
the three the shot and the two echoes underneath the
bridge and the birds fly off. Now we have a problem.
We've got John Dillon Adams confessing. We have Autry testifying
(33:49):
in the hopes that someday, somehow he'll get a plea
a cheap plea, but yet it's still a no body
k how hard is it to prove and nobody tastes
being powers.
Speaker 10 (34:04):
Well, I think it's really hard for the state because
they're going to rely on probably not the most outstanding
witness or witnesses, and you know, they're probably not the
first choice for the state on who they put on
a stand because I'm sure they have a lot of
character flaws, possible drug abuse histories, things like that. I
believe one or all of them were pretty familiar.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Character flaws.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Yeah, did you just say possible flaws? You mean a
wrap sheet as long as I seventy five? Is that
a possible flaw in your mind?
Speaker 10 (34:34):
That's one example of a possible flaw. But yeah, that's
a rap sheet. Just bad character. I mean, even the
ones that are testifying are involved. You know, they're not
a good Samaritan. They're just trying to help themselves. And
so that brings into some concern are they really testifying
to do the right thing or are they testifying to
save them to the forensics.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
And with that one, I don't have to worry about
it because it's just Heaven drops another bombshell in the States.
Lat listen.
Speaker 7 (35:06):
Six months after the arrest of Dylan Adams and subsequent
arrest of others, Larry Stone is hunting ginseeing in a
wooded area about twenty miles from Darden. Stone says he
saw a large bucket in the woods and beneath the
bucket he found a human skull. Investigators recover the skull
and other remains in the area and positively identify Holly Bobo.
Her skull has a bullet hole in the back and
(35:27):
fracturing her cheekbone as it exited straight out.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
To doctor Kendall Crown's chief medical examiner, Terran County Star
on Mayhem in the Morgue, Doctor Kendall crowns decipher what
we just learned that was found by two gen saying hunters,
they see a bucket, they look under the bucket. Of
course they looked under the bucket. They couldn't help themselves,
and they find Holly Bobo's skull.
Speaker 12 (35:50):
So what they described is the skull had no flesh
on it and had an entrance wound in the back
right side of the head and an eggsit wound on
the left side of the facial bones of the cheek.
So it showed that she was kind of executed by
a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Doctor crowns, how do you explain the fact that only
a few of her bones were found. That doesn't necessarily
mean she was dismembered, does it? It does not.
Speaker 12 (36:17):
Sometimes when an individual dies in a wooded area, animals
come out and they scavenge. The vultures, crows, if there's razor,
hogs in the area, tye oats, anything can come in
and take parts of the body away, and they'll spread
them over a wide, vast area of the wooded spot,
(36:41):
and you will find bones everywhere, and in fact, they
can drag them off for miles and you may never
find all that person again.
Speaker 5 (36:48):
The caate hook years to solve and longer to get
to court, But once there, Prosecutor Paul Hagerman laid out
Zach Adams told Jason Audrey that he, Jane Austen, and
John Dylan Adams had kidnapped and Colly Autrey saw a
blanket in the bed of adams truck. There was a
body in the blanket. Hagerman says, Autry has been offered
immunity to testify, and that's going to tell the jury,
He asked, sag Adams, how did this blank get in
(37:11):
your truck? The plan was to gut her body so
it would sink in the water, but Holly moved and
made a noise. That's when Zach Adams got a gun
and shot Holly in the back of the head.
Speaker 10 (37:22):
He hurt her, he killed, she held her up, she
fragged about it, and he almost got.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Away from our friends that law news. So let me understand,
Shane Deeert. These guys convicted. How is it that's some
way the lee member on the A train could walk free?
(38:06):
How can this be?
Speaker 4 (38:07):
My understanding is Nancy that Audrey has begin did his
testimony and has admitted that he did it to get
a deal. And that's you know where we're staying. When
you lose your star witness, h then.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
You got hold on just a moment, Shane Diner, let
me understand something. So we've got Jason Autrey testifying a
trial with a story so rich in detail it's hard
not to believe, even talking about his own involvement. But then,
let's don't forget about being powers that John Dylon Adams
(38:46):
also took a guilty play to thirty five years behind bars.
So what they're gonna plead guilty to thirty five years
and eight years, respectively, because they didn't do it well.
Speaker 10 (39:00):
I think they're going to take a plea in that
situation because the state's got a witness that they're concerned
about testifying and being able to put it all together
in a compelling way. And what they're looking at is
the possibility of life without parole, or the next best
thing would be life with parole, which is fifty one years.
And so under those circumstances, there's a lot of motive
(39:22):
to take a plea that doesn't always have to do
with guilt or innocence, but rather self preservation.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Now, isn't it also true to Dave Mac that when
I said it was critical where her discarded items are found,
that many of them were found just seventy five feet
from one of the purpose driveways. Another coincidence, Dave Mac.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
The fascinating part about where those items are founding, as
as you pointed out, is these men were familiar so
much with the area that they were driving the first
drive away from the house and then back towards it
on different roads, but back in this day direction, seventy
five feet from Shane Austen's front door. That's where they
found a receipt with Holly Bobo's name on it. Now,
(40:07):
you mentioned a minute ago about the guilty pleas and
things like that, of the four members of the A train,
only Zach Adams actually went to trial. You know, we've
got Audrey rolling over on everybody and creating such an
incredible story on the stand. Is so articulate. The judge
that he was the best witness he had ever seen.
(40:27):
John Dillon Adams, you know, he just he was the
reason that even got an arrest to start with, when
there was no body found. And Shane Austen actually committed
suicide in February of twenty fifteen. So he commits suicide
and they never get it police under wh but they offered.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Him as killing Holly Bobo and commit suicide. So two
of them take to play. One commits suicide in the
other coast to trial and is now saying it's all
a big line. But let me ask you one more thing.
Isn't true, Dave Mack that Autrey gave the statement about
(41:06):
how Holly Bobo was shot once in the back of
the head. Then the skull is found and lo and behold,
it's exactly what he says happened, exactly as Autrey describes it.
Speaker 8 (41:21):
Odd that you would tell the truth and claim it's
a lie. You know, none of it makes sense, But
I don't know. When you've got lifelong criminals and drug
addicts and dealers, you can't believe anything they're saying. But
when they tell the truth and it matches up with
the evidence you've got, I kind of think you go
ahead and believe that.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, especially in line of the fact that they describe
what happened before the skull is found, So I guess
they're clairvoyant. Yet again, this is coming to the court
under a very little used writ of quorum and nabis,
which means that, according to the convicted killer, Zachary Itams,
(42:00):
he wants to correct the record of its factual inaccuracies. Okay,
you go ahead and get After that, we wait as
justice unfolds. And now we remember an American hero police officer,
Sia Burton, just twenty eight years old, shot and killed
at a traffic stop, survived by fiance set to be
(42:25):
wed in just nine days. Sierra and K nine partner
Brev American hero police officer Siarra Burton, Nancy Grace signing
off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young nursing student,
Holly Bobo walks into the woods and vanishes forever. At tonight,
her brutal killer to walk free. I'm Nancy Grace. This
(00:22):
is Crime Stories.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, oh my stars, you are hearing the heartbroken mother
(01:02):
of Holly Bobo begging, begging for law enforcement to go
immediately to her home. You hear her stating, I'm at school,
she's a school teacher. I'm trying to get to my home.
Neighbors heard her screaming, and somebody in camouflage got Holly
and that is how this case her disappearance kicked off.
(01:23):
Listen to more of that nine one one call off.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
The pain in the mother's voice is almost unbearable.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It's excruciating to hear it. You were hearing Holly Bobo's
mother raising the alarm her daughter has been taken by
a man in camo. Joining me an all star panel
to make sense of what we are learning. Straight out
to Shane Dieter joining us from Tennessee form our assignment
(02:08):
editor wat and Memphis Chane, thank you for being with us.
Just hearing Holly's mother is heartbreaking in the nine to
one one call. Her voice is sometimes a scream, and
then she's begging and she's crying, and the excruciating trip
(02:29):
from work trying to get home. Describe where was the
mother when she learns this is happening, Shane. She was
at work.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
She is a school teacher and she was at work.
I know she was so upset that she had to
have a friend or a coworker driver home. I just
couldn't imagine, you know, getting that call and then making
that call. It was heartbreaking as you heard. I could
(03:00):
not imagine the scared that that mother had. That was
her baby.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That is Holly Bobo's mother. But who is Holly?
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Holly Bobo a beautiful twenty year old nursing student at
the University of Tennessee Martin. She lives with her parents
and brother Clint at the family home in Darden, Tennessee.
April thirteen, Holly awakens at four thirty am to study
for an exam. Brother Clint wakes up to the sound
of the family dogs barking around seven forty five am.
Looks out to see Holly and a man dressed in
camouflage in the garage, Clint thinks Holly and her boyfriend
(03:34):
Drew Scott are having an argument.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
As I listened a little bit closer, I could tell
that that was Holly's voice, So I knew it was Holly,
So in my mind the male's voice I knew to
be Drew.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
You know who is her boyfriend? That's who of my
our friends at ABC twenty twenty again joining me at
All Star panel. You know, it's very disconcerting to doctor
angel Arnold joining us fronaw psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction,
and you can find her at ANGELA Arnold md dot com.
Because your day is going along as normal until it's not.
(04:08):
And you hear the mother just she can hardly talk.
She screams, then she begs and she cries, trying to
get the entire community out pronto to help find her daughter.
All she knows at this juncture is that a male
wearing camo led her daughter, took her daughter after an
(04:29):
argument in their car port into the woods that goes
along the Tennessee River. That's all she knows when she's
calling nine one one. There she is at work, she's
a school teacher, and she gets this call, and her
life will never be the same, Doctor Angie.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
Imagine Nancy. She has literally no control over what is
happening to her daughter. All she can do is try
to get there as fast as she can and try
to get as many people there as fast as they
can get there. But she knows that she has no
control over the situation. I can't even imagine a more
(05:07):
horrible feeling for a mother.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Now, we just heard from our friends at ABC twenty twenty,
Clant Bobo speaking. He was stating, as I listened a
little closer, I could tell it was Holly's voice. So
I knew if it's Holly, then she must be talking
to her boyfriend Drew. Okay, how did he come to
(05:32):
the idea? Shane Deeter joining us from Tennessee, that Holly
was talking to the boyfriend.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Nancy The night before the brother and Drew, the boyfriend,
were talking. They were also friends, and Drew talked about
going Honey. So when Holly's brother heard die and saw
her going out towards the wood with this man in camouflage,
he thought it was her boyfriend or was a boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
This one critical mistake may have cost Holly her life
when the brother, by all accounts, well intentioned, looks out.
He sees his sister with a guy. They're talking and
he thinks it's the boyfriend. Listen.
Speaker 7 (06:25):
Clint calls his mother, Karen, at work, telling his mother
it looks like Holly and Drew are having an argument
air walking towards the woods. Karen says that is not Drew.
Grab a gun and shoot whoever is with Holly. Drew
is turkey hunting on Bobo family property. Clint asks, you
want me to shoot Drew. Karen Bobo immediately calls nine
to one one around eight am.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I said, that's not Dree. You get a gun and
shoot him. And Clint said, you want me to shoot Drew?
And I think that's when I hung up and call
nine one one from our friends at ABC. So what
she didn't know, out to Dave Matt Crime Stories Investigative reporter,
what he didn't know is when he's told Mom, some guy,
(07:06):
I guess the boyfriend is leading her down the trail
to the river into the woods. Her response is she knew.
She did not have time to explain. Dave mac She says,
get a gun and shoot him, and the brother Clint
is just groggy. What he's just waking up. He's like,
(07:29):
you want me to shoot Drew. But what the mother
knew and the brother didn't know was at that very moment,
the boyfriend wasn't even there. He was miles away turkey
hunting with his own father. But the brother didn't know that.
He's like, what explain it, Dave.
Speaker 8 (07:50):
That's exactly what happened, Nancy. All right, Clint was just
waking up and he here's the dog's barking. You mentioned
that Parry knows that Drew is hunting because he's turkey
hunting on Bobo family property. It's actually Karen's grandmother. That's
the property they're hunting on. So he's thirty miles away,
and so she knows it's not brou It can't be Drew.
(08:12):
And Clint has no clue. He's just blurry eyed and
he's like, here's his sister. He hears her voice, but
he hears a tinge in her voice that he feels
like they're arguing. And I think he said he heard
the word no, but the way that he briefly saw
it just in his mind, he couldn't think who I mean,
think about it. It's early in the morning. Who else
(08:32):
would you be talking to. You wouldn't be talking to
somebody who didn't know out by your car, getting ready
to go to school. That's why Clint was kind of
out of it and just assumed it was Drew right then.
And Karen obviously knew it couldn't be. She knew it
could That's why she grab a gun and shoot him.
That was hervice. She could go shoot him. She knew intuitively,
a mother's intuition, knew her daughter was in trouble, and
(08:53):
that man meant no good.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
With your mercy.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Somebody has my daughter.
Speaker 9 (09:00):
Now, cars some money and pull kemel what got Holly?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
Please get everybody looking me out.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
They're on their way, sweetie.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
I got everybody on their way right now already.
Speaker 10 (09:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Clint Bobo can see sister Holly with the man in
Camos on a trail that leads to a logging road,
and Clinton notices the man is bigger than her boyfriend, Drew.
Holly's mother, Karen, tells Clint to grab a pistol and
go outside toward the garage, calling.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Nine one one.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
As he walks in the garage, Clint finds bloodstains. Police
arrive at the Bobo residence in ten.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Minutes, straight back out to Shane Deeter, former assignment editor
w at M Memphis. Shane, what is it that Clint
the brother saw? First of all, a neighbor hears screams.
A neighbor hears a woman we now know to be
Holly Bobo screaming. The neighbor calls the mom at school
(09:52):
where she's working. The mom tells Clint to look out,
get up, son, go look outside, and he's say, well,
you know, she's walking into the woods with a guy
and camera. But Shay, you describe for me what Clint saw.
You know, when he saw them kneeling and the car port, he.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Just thought it was his sister having an argument with
her boyfriend. So again, like we said, he saw the
guy in cameouflaws. He didn't realize that.
Speaker 11 (10:24):
Drew was thirty miles away, and so he's, you know,
he did what most people would do, you know, until
his mom told him to get a gun.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Then he went out and found the blood.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So Dave Mac explained to me, when he looks out,
they're not walking yet, No, they're kneeling, kneeling, Yeah, yeah,
and that's describe that, that's.
Speaker 8 (10:50):
What really set Clint off, Nancy, because he sees hollye
kneeling and he sees the other person also kneeling. It's
not something you see on any time a given day.
And the guy's just waking up and so he sees
what he thinks is Holly and her boyfriend. But they're kneeling.
They're not in a way that he would expect them
(11:11):
to be. And that's a very important point here because
he didn't take immediate corrective action because he thought that
Drew was breaking up with Holly. He sees Holly kneeling,
he hears her say no. You start putting it all together,
and you realize he didn't want to insert himself into
that situation. He didn't see it as dangerous. Somebody on
(11:32):
their knees. If they're both kneeling, that's not a dangerous situation, Nancy.
And that's the way he described.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Todd Shipley joining me from Reno. Former detective sergeant with
the Nevada Police Department, twenty five years in la. You know, interesting,
well back at every crime right and you can say
would have, could have, should have if they should have
(11:58):
known that wasn't Drew the boy friend. He could have
called nine one one, he would have done the right thing.
But the reality is he couldn't see the guy's face. Ever,
he never saw the purpse face. He saw him from behind.
He describes him as wearing camo, a baseball hat, and
(12:20):
that he had dark hair coming out from under his
cap that you know, kind of went under his collar
to show how long the hair was. He said he
was five ten to six feet. Hey, that could be anybody,
and that he weighed one hundred and eighty to up
around two hundred pounds. But he never saw his face.
(12:40):
So all the speculation it's the brother Clint's fought, it's not.
Clint is not the one that kidnapped Holly Bobo. It's
not his fault. He did not see the purpse face.
And isn't it true, Shipley that in every case people say,
if only fill in the blank, if only I had
(13:00):
worn a state belt, if only I hadn't gone to
the liquor store, if only I hadn't gone jogging. I mean,
that could be a million scenarios. Would I could have
should have? But it doesn't fit here because he didn't
see the face. He could not have known who the
purp is.
Speaker 9 (13:17):
No of course, I mean, and we all regret things
that have happened, especially in those stress situations where you know,
the person realizes later that if they had intervened, the
whole situation could have changed. And so that poor young
man is regretting, you know, so many things in his
life and has for years. But had he walked out there,
it would have been a very different situation. But we
(13:39):
don't know whether that person's arm, what was happening. He
could have gotten killed himself too at that point in time.
We just don't know, because it's all what is after
the fact, and that's the unfortunate thing.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
Extensive searches of the area around the Bobo home are
conducted on foot and with dogs. An hour and a half,
her cell phone traveled throughout Decatur County. The phone tracks
north to a wooded area forty stops moving between eight
thirty am and nine am, and begins moving again as
it pings back south toward the Bobo residence, but not
(14:09):
on the same route today.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Matt Crimestory, investigative reporter. We heard earlier that when the
brother Clint goes into the garage, he sees blood stains
on the garage floor and there were at least two bloodstains,
as I recall, one about the size of a fist
(14:30):
and one a much smaller blood drop. Drop. That's significant
that it was a drop, not a smear, not a transfer,
but a drop. Describe the blood the brother Clint finds
in the Bobo family garage.
Speaker 8 (14:49):
The blood drop is you just mentioned, Nancy. That's actually
the real big indicator that there was probably an injury
that was bleeding profusely enough that it would fall off
of her body. And by the way, the blood did
test as for Holly Bobo. Now Clint has to assume
it's his sister's blood when he sees it, which most
of us would. The bigger of the two could have
(15:13):
been put. It could have happened anyway. You know. You
can fall down on something, you can sit on something.
You know, we know that she was kneeling in the garage.
And it's the blood drop that actually is the biggest
part of this because it shows it's a fresh cut
that is bleeding enough that it's not just a smear.
You didn't just cut your finger and smear it on
the on the floor. It's actually dropping from your body
(15:36):
freely onto the floor, and it actually can indicate. They'll
look at that blood to see if it's going towards
her car or away from her car. Was she attacked
on her way to the car, was she surprised on
her You know, there's any number of ways that they'll
use that blood droplet to find out exactly how she
was attacked, when it happened, and who probably did it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What does it mean when you take this blood spatter
conjunction with the story that Clint the brother is telling.
It's a very very disturbing story. The search is on
on foot with dogs. The phone. Her phone tracks north
to a wooded area near I forty. It stops moving.
Remember all this is happening in the early morning hour.
(16:18):
She gets up study at four point thirty a m.
She's heading to school, Mom's at work, Dad's at work.
The phone stops moving. By nine am, it begins moving again,
pinging back south toward the Bobo home, but on a
different route than a discovery.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Several items belonging to Holly are found scattered throughout the
area on country roads. Her lunch homework, a receipt with
her name on it, a card from school, her cell phone,
and a SIM card which have been removed from the
phone Meany.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Would argue that the discovery of her belonging, school papers, homework,
her lunch is random. No joining me is a veteran
trial lawyer criminal defense attorney Ben Powers, and you can
find him at legalpowers dot com. Ben, Please, if possible,
take off your defense hat just one moment. The fact
(17:15):
that her items were scattered along various country roads is significant.
It sounds like they were thrown out a window of
a vehicle. So now we have to figure out she
was walking, being forced to walk by a guy and
camo of atrail that leads down to the Tennessee River.
But yet her items she would have had, like in
(17:37):
a backpack or in her arm, are scattered along various
country roads. What if anything can I deduce from that,
Ben Powers?
Speaker 10 (17:48):
So the first inference that I have is something's already
happened to Hally by that point, something very serious has
probably already happened to or something grave has already happened
to her, Because now they're trying to distance themselves from
her and her belongings, and they're just throwing them out
the window as they draw because they think that's the
best way to get rid of this backpack of contents
(18:10):
that they now have that they're trying to get themselves
away from, and in turn, what they've done is basically
create a trail of breadcrumbs in the direction that they
went to help Pon in the investigation in that direction.
But my first impression is that it's a sign that
something bad had happened prior to that moment, and now
they're trying to distance themselves from that by getting rid
(18:32):
of any evidence that can tie them to Holly Bobo.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Investigators put together a timeline of what happened to Holly Bobo.
Waking up early to study for her test. Holly gets
a call boyfriend Drew at seven thirty Drew his turkey
hunting on Bobo family property with his dad about thirty
minutes away. Holly sends a text at seven forty two am.
Holly did not send or answer another text or call
after seven forty two am. At seven forty three am,
(18:57):
Holly walks to the carport to get in her car
and go to school.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
The so called A train word gets around that the
A train may have had something to do with Holly
Bobo's disappearance. What is the A train? I'll tell you
it's Zach Adams, Shane Austin, Jason Autrey, and Zach Adams's brother,
(19:24):
John Dillon Adams, Adams Adams, Austin Autrey. Why is it
that people cannot shut their pie holes? How is it?
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Here?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
We go to doctor Kendall Crowns joining us. Now his
expertise is dead bodies. But how do the dead bodies
get there? And how do we solve cases? Doctor Kendall
Crowns is with us the chief medical Examiner Terran County.
That's Fort Worth, never a lack of business. He is
the star of a podcast about to hear the airwaves
(19:58):
Mayhem and the more. He is the esteemed lecturer at
the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, Dodger Kendl Crowns.
For every dead body that is a victim of homicide
that you see on your table, I guarantee you fifty
percent of those cases are solved by loose lips that
sink ships. When you look at one of the victims
(20:24):
that you autopsy, that you cut apart to determine cause
of death, can you imagine that somewhere out there a
killer is bragging. Yeah.
Speaker 12 (20:35):
Often when I'm doing the autopsies. I think about what
the individual who may have done this is doing right
at that present time. Often they're already in custody, but
sometimes they're not, and you kind of always have to wonder,
did you walk past them on your way into work
that day, did you run into them at the grocery store,
or something of that nature. You never know, but you
(20:56):
are right, Nancy. People really love to boast about the
things they do and the evil that they commit on
other individuals.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace, nothing is stronger than a
mother's love. Nothing stronger on this earth than a mother's love.
It is said, much like Natalie Holloway's mother Beth confronted
Natalie's killer trying to get the truth. Of course, gor
(21:33):
and Van der Sloot totally blew her off such an
a whole technical legal term. Here, Holly's mother hears the rumblings,
hears their rumors that a train had something to do
with Holly's disappearance. At this time, she has no idea
where her daughter is, and she confronts.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Them Karen Tadd, Zach Adams, and Jason Audrey when they
were in grade school and knows the type of men
they are all deny any involvement.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I asked them, did they know anything about our daughter's abduction?
Of course they all denied it. That from our friends
at ABC twenty twenty. Well, to use a technical legal
term on you, doctor Angela Arnold, she's got balls the
size of coconuts.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Well, she sure does. And Nancy, you need to have
balls the size of coconuts to take care of your
own children when things like this happen, because you can't
leave it in anyone else's hands. I don't blame her
in the least for going after these kids and confronting
them and asking them what they did.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Why are you calling them kids? Well, I believe on
a train I called them kids. I believe you did
when she taught them they were kids. These are grown men.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
And you know what, Nancy, maybe that had something to
do with the fact that she was able to confront them.
Also because maybe she thought of them as kids because
they were kids when she.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Knew them and taught them.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
I understand that they're grown men and they should all
go away for grown men consequences for what they did
to this beautiful girl.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, you know what you said something really interesting right there. Well,
a lot really interesting. But the fact that she knew them.
She taught two of them fourth grade. And yes, the
word is they took Holly Bobo out of her own
car port on her way to nursing school, a girl
(23:24):
they knew. If this is true. So at that juncture,
straight out to Shane Dieer, what did the A train
have to say back? I bet they got a big
laugh off Holly's mother coming to ask them where's Holly.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
They claimed that they had nothing to do with it.
And you know, they were out brigging about it, and
the mother was listening to these stories and you talking
about someone that's involved. It was her daughter. And then
she taught these kids. She knows them, and this is
(24:00):
Bobo is a mama bear. She went after them, I mean,
and that's you know, I hear a bunch of stories.
Is that's how cases are solved, is a parent gets
involved in has to go after the people. And that's
so dangerous. That shows you how brave the mother is.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Shane Dieter, You are so right, Shane Deeter joining us
from this jurisdiction off Tennessee, who is on the case
of the very very beginning. So the mom goes after
them the so called A train and they laugh her off.
But the word is bubbling around this tiny, tiny town
(24:42):
in Tennessee. The word is bubbling that the A train
is somehow responsible.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
And then a break, a random arrest of Dylan Adams
on a weapons charge cracks the ice. Adams tells police
in April thirteenth, he went to Za's house to get
his truck and saw Bobo sitting in a green share
in the living room, wearing a pink T shirt, with
Jason Autry standing nearby. Adams also tells police his brother
was wearing chemouflage shorts, black cut off sleeve T shirt,
(25:12):
and a pair of green crocs. Adams says brothers Zach
Adams told him he raped Holly Bobo and videotaped it.
This confession led to Zach Adams, Jason Autry, and Shane Austen.
His confession led to Jason Autry agreeing to testify against
Zach Adams.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
And now you're saying that Sane Austen is sitting room.
You're sitting man, Jason Alfrey sitting there, Kim Joy, is
there anybody else us?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
All was Holly BOI.
Speaker 12 (25:43):
Nap will.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Oh my stars, that's for our friends at ABC twenty twenty.
Let me understand has been Powers, so nobody knows what's
happened to Holly. The mom confronts the h about their
potential involvement. Do they know where she is? She's desperate?
You know why? Because Zach Adams has been bragging. Don't
(26:09):
you love a bragger for a client that can't keep
his piehole shut, saying things like to his girlfriend, you
gonna end up tied up in a hole just like Holly,
Or I'll do the same thing to you I did
Holly bragging. The bravado he must have had saying all that,
(26:31):
and it gets around. You can't say things like that
as a small town and nobody find out. Well, mom
found out in confronted him and don't you know, Ben Powers.
The first minute they could arrest the brother, Dylan John
Dylan Adams, brother of Zack the Bragger, they started putting
(26:53):
the screws to him, right yeah.
Speaker 10 (26:55):
I mean once they started really drilling him about the
details and getting him to admit very incriminating things like
you know she's in their home, she's wearing a pink
T shirt. These are the guys that are with me.
This is who did what and this is the condition
of things, and this is what happened. I mean, from
that point, it's just a matter of trying to corroborate
what he's saying. If you're the state, if you're on
(27:16):
the defense side, you're pointing out all the ways his
story doesn't match the physical evidence that they've collected, and
doesn't match other electronic data like self ping data and
other messages that might be recovered from cell phones and
things like that. But that's where it goes next, is
you try to either build a statement or discredit the statement.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Right Todd Shipley joining US former detective Sergeant Reno Nevada
author surviving a cyber attack. Hey Todd. Also the level
of detail in John Dillon's description. He gets to the
house and there he sees Holly Bobo in a pink
shot a pink top sitting there. His brother is wearing
(27:56):
camo shorts, a black cutoff T shirt and green crocs,
and the brother brags that they Holly and videoed it.
That's a lot of detail for somebody to make up.
Speaker 9 (28:10):
Well, it depends on what they're trying to defend themselves with.
Are they trying to put the blame on somebody else
and give very detailed information about what they supposedly did
and when it could have been himself that did it.
I'm not sure that we know all those facts. And
as mentioned earlier by your guest, was the details don't
match up with the evidence, and that becomes problematic and
(28:31):
where the prosecution or the law enforcement is going to
go with the evidence. Do they disprove what he said
or do they try to build their case around that statement,
And that becomes a very difficult thing to live.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Crime Stores with Nancy Grace, what happened to Holly Bobo
and will her killer now walk through? Is that possible?
In what world can that happen? Because not only do
we have the brother of Zachary Adams when he gets
arrested on an unrelated gun charge, spill it all about
(29:13):
Holly being and murdered, now we have another member of
the so called a train singing like a nightingale. Listen,
I'm standing.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Over the top of them.
Speaker 9 (29:28):
On my knees.
Speaker 8 (29:31):
She being rocky, see foot.
Speaker 11 (29:40):
Sound of distress.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Called from I told him, mysage, you're still alive. From
our friends at ABC twenty twenty, that's Jason Autry describing
what happened to Holly Bobo? I mean, did you hear that,
Doctor Kendall Crowns, He just he drives a multicolored blanket
that is in the back of one of the other
(30:05):
perpse truck and he's looking at it, and the foot
moves and he hears an audible sigh and they realize
Holly Bobo is still alive.
Speaker 12 (30:18):
Yes, that can happen occasionally in murders where the individual
is found to still be alive after the initial assault
that they thought they killed him with. Often we see
this in strangulations. And what happens then is they will
use whatever means they have available to make sure they
end that person's life so that person can't wake up
and testify against him at a later date. They may
(30:39):
beat their head into with a rock. If they have
knives available, they may stab them even multiple times. I've
even seen them try to cut heads off, and then
they'll also in this case shoot them in the head
with a gun.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
And Doctor Angela Arnold, did you hear the callous nature?
Did Witch re referred to Holly? He sees the foot move,
he sees her foot and if he hears her sigh,
and he says, this still alive.
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Oh well, Nancy, they never, they never didn't have a
callous feeling towards her. They kidnapped her, they murdered her.
They never had any warm and fuzzy feelings towards her.
So that just describes how all of them are. Okay, Nancy,
there are a bunch of psychopaths. There are a bunch
of psychopaths. They wanted to rape her. And you know, Nancy,
(31:29):
what the sad thing is. You know when we talk
about she was gay, Nancy, not just one of them,
She was gay. This poor woman suffered unmercifully at the
hands of these horrific psychopaths.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Talk about singing like a bird. Listen, an Autrey, good.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Tim William John one up.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Shall underneath that bridge. It was just one shot, but
it echoed underneath the bridge all the way down that
damn river body.
Speaker 11 (32:06):
And when that gun went, birds whatever, all up under
that breed and it was just dead silence or just
a shot.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
From my friends at ABC twenty twenty, Bienpowers, criminal defense attorney,
Why isn't all your clients have guns that just go off?
Nobody ever says he shot her under the bridge and
then it echoed twice. It sounded like three gunshots from
the echo under that concrete bridge, and then the birds
flew up in the air and then everything was dead, silent.
(32:39):
How what all your clients, the gun just goes off.
Nobody pulls it to that.
Speaker 10 (32:43):
I have all my clients that the guns just goes off.
I think the state trust to put a gun in
my client's hands. Instead they used it intentionally. But that
as that doesn't always match the forensic evidence that we
have in the case. But that's certainly what the state
likes to do. Is it's cleaner to say this person Shawn.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Intentionally those pasty guns that just go off with such
incredible precision that they actually kill the victim when they
just go off, And that's what they're saying here. Autry,
he's singing, but he ain't singing on tune because he's
saying the gun went off and boom, boom boom from
(33:26):
the three the shot and the two echoes underneath the
bridge and the birds fly off. Now we have a problem.
We've got John Dillon Adams confessing. We have Autry testifying
(33:49):
in the hopes that someday, somehow he'll get a plea
a cheap plea, but yet it's still a no body
k how hard is it to prove and nobody tastes
being powers.
Speaker 10 (34:04):
Well, I think it's really hard for the state because
they're going to rely on probably not the most outstanding
witness or witnesses, and you know, they're probably not the
first choice for the state on who they put on
a stand because I'm sure they have a lot of
character flaws, possible drug abuse histories, things like that. I
believe one or all of them were pretty familiar.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Character flaws.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Yeah, did you just say possible flaws? You mean a
wrap sheet as long as I seventy five? Is that
a possible flaw in your mind?
Speaker 10 (34:34):
That's one example of a possible flaw. But yeah, that's
a rap sheet. Just bad character. I mean, even the
ones that are testifying are involved. You know, they're not
a good Samaritan. They're just trying to help themselves. And
so that brings into some concern are they really testifying
to do the right thing or are they testifying to
save them to the forensics.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
And with that one, I don't have to worry about
it because it's just Heaven drops another bombshell in the States.
Lat listen.
Speaker 7 (35:06):
Six months after the arrest of Dylan Adams and subsequent
arrest of others, Larry Stone is hunting ginseeing in a
wooded area about twenty miles from Darden. Stone says he
saw a large bucket in the woods and beneath the
bucket he found a human skull. Investigators recover the skull
and other remains in the area and positively identify Holly Bobo.
Her skull has a bullet hole in the back and
(35:27):
fracturing her cheekbone as it exited straight out.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
To doctor Kendall Crown's chief medical examiner, Terran County Star
on Mayhem in the Morgue, Doctor Kendall crowns decipher what
we just learned that was found by two gen saying hunters,
they see a bucket, they look under the bucket. Of
course they looked under the bucket. They couldn't help themselves,
and they find Holly Bobo's skull.
Speaker 12 (35:50):
So what they described is the skull had no flesh
on it and had an entrance wound in the back
right side of the head and an eggsit wound on
the left side of the facial bones of the cheek.
So it showed that she was kind of executed by
a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Doctor crowns, how do you explain the fact that only
a few of her bones were found. That doesn't necessarily
mean she was dismembered, does it? It does not.
Speaker 12 (36:17):
Sometimes when an individual dies in a wooded area, animals
come out and they scavenge. The vultures, crows, if there's razor,
hogs in the area, tye oats, anything can come in
and take parts of the body away, and they'll spread
them over a wide, vast area of the wooded spot,
(36:41):
and you will find bones everywhere, and in fact, they
can drag them off for miles and you may never
find all that person again.
Speaker 5 (36:48):
The caate hook years to solve and longer to get
to court, But once there, Prosecutor Paul Hagerman laid out
Zach Adams told Jason Audrey that he, Jane Austen, and
John Dylan Adams had kidnapped and Colly Autrey saw a
blanket in the bed of adams truck. There was a
body in the blanket. Hagerman says, Autry has been offered
immunity to testify, and that's going to tell the jury,
He asked, sag Adams, how did this blank get in
(37:11):
your truck? The plan was to gut her body so
it would sink in the water, but Holly moved and
made a noise. That's when Zach Adams got a gun
and shot Holly in the back of the head.
Speaker 10 (37:22):
He hurt her, he killed, she held her up, she
fragged about it, and he almost got.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Away from our friends that law news. So let me understand,
Shane Deeert. These guys convicted. How is it that's some
way the lee member on the A train could walk free?
(38:06):
How can this be?
Speaker 4 (38:07):
My understanding is Nancy that Audrey has begin did his
testimony and has admitted that he did it to get
a deal. And that's you know where we're staying. When
you lose your star witness, h then.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
You got hold on just a moment, Shane Diner, let
me understand something. So we've got Jason Autrey testifying a
trial with a story so rich in detail it's hard
not to believe, even talking about his own involvement. But then,
let's don't forget about being powers that John Dylon Adams
(38:46):
also took a guilty play to thirty five years behind bars.
So what they're gonna plead guilty to thirty five years
and eight years, respectively, because they didn't do it well.
Speaker 10 (39:00):
I think they're going to take a plea in that
situation because the state's got a witness that they're concerned
about testifying and being able to put it all together
in a compelling way. And what they're looking at is
the possibility of life without parole, or the next best
thing would be life with parole, which is fifty one years.
And so under those circumstances, there's a lot of motive
(39:22):
to take a plea that doesn't always have to do
with guilt or innocence, but rather self preservation.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Now, isn't it also true to Dave Mac that when
I said it was critical where her discarded items are found,
that many of them were found just seventy five feet
from one of the purpose driveways. Another coincidence, Dave Mac.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
The fascinating part about where those items are founding, as
as you pointed out, is these men were familiar so
much with the area that they were driving the first
drive away from the house and then back towards it
on different roads, but back in this day direction, seventy
five feet from Shane Austen's front door. That's where they
found a receipt with Holly Bobo's name on it. Now,
(40:07):
you mentioned a minute ago about the guilty pleas and
things like that, of the four members of the A train,
only Zach Adams actually went to trial. You know, we've
got Audrey rolling over on everybody and creating such an
incredible story on the stand. Is so articulate. The judge
that he was the best witness he had ever seen.
(40:27):
John Dillon Adams, you know, he just he was the
reason that even got an arrest to start with, when
there was no body found. And Shane Austen actually committed
suicide in February of twenty fifteen. So he commits suicide
and they never get it police under wh but they offered.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Him as killing Holly Bobo and commit suicide. So two
of them take to play. One commits suicide in the
other coast to trial and is now saying it's all
a big line. But let me ask you one more thing.
Isn't true, Dave Mack that Autrey gave the statement about
(41:06):
how Holly Bobo was shot once in the back of
the head. Then the skull is found and lo and behold,
it's exactly what he says happened, exactly as Autrey describes it.
Speaker 8 (41:21):
Odd that you would tell the truth and claim it's
a lie. You know, none of it makes sense, But
I don't know. When you've got lifelong criminals and drug
addicts and dealers, you can't believe anything they're saying. But
when they tell the truth and it matches up with
the evidence you've got, I kind of think you go
ahead and believe that.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, especially in line of the fact that they describe
what happened before the skull is found, So I guess
they're clairvoyant. Yet again, this is coming to the court
under a very little used writ of quorum and nabis,
which means that, according to the convicted killer, Zachary Itams,
(42:00):
he wants to correct the record of its factual inaccuracies. Okay,
you go ahead and get After that, we wait as
justice unfolds. And now we remember an American hero police officer,
Sia Burton, just twenty eight years old, shot and killed
at a traffic stop, survived by fiance set to be
(42:25):
wed in just nine days. Sierra and K nine partner
Brev American hero police officer Siarra Burton, Nancy Grace signing
off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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