The meth addict accused of killing Holly Bobo in 2011 has been found guilty of her murder.
Zachary Adams, 33, was convicted of first degree murder, rape and kidnapping at a Tennessee courthouse on Friday.
Lawyers previously told the court the man was in a ‘dark world’ of methamphetamine when he abducted, raped and murdered Bobo in April 2011.
He was arrested after her body was discovered in the woods near his home in 2014, three years after she disappeared.
Shifting the blame: Attorneys for murder suspect Zachary Adams (pictured left in court on Tuesday) argued that Holly Bobo’s real killer was convicted sex offender Terry Britt, also known as ‘Chester the Molester (pictured right in court on Monday)
Nursing student Holly Bobo was 20 when she disappeared from her family’s home in Decatur County, Tennessee, in April 2011
His brother, Dylan Adams, is also charged and is awaiting his first trial. Jason Autry, another man who was allegedly involved in her killing, previously won immunity in exchange for his testimony against Zachary Adams.
On Friday, the jury returned unanimous verdicts on all eight counts Adams faced. They will return to court on Saturday to begin sentencing deliberations.
Adams pleaded not guilty throughout the trial. His attorneys argued there was no physical evidence Bobo had been inside his home and said the prosecution’s case was weak because it depended on Autry’s testimony which hinged on him receiving immunity.
During the two-week trial, Bobo’s mother Karen collapsed as she identified items which belonged to her daughter.
There was also a sensational claim from the former lead investigator from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation who said Adams was not Bobo’s killer.
He said he had ruled out Adams and his brother after examining cell phone data.
‘I was wasting my time investigating these idiots,’ Dicus said, referring to the trio of men.
Instead, Dicus focused on Terry Britt, whose lengthy criminal record stretching back to the 1970s included multiple convictions for sex crimes. Britt, known locally by the moniker ‘Chester the Molester,’ lived not far from Holly Bobo’s home in Decatur County, and according to Dicus, his alibi was ‘garbage.’
When interviewed about his whereabouts on the day Bobo went missing, Britt claimed that he and his wife were doing work on their house, Dicus testified Tuesday.
Star defense witness: Terry Dicus, the former lead investigator in the Holy Bobo case for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, told the court Tuesday he had ruled out Adams as a suspect and focused on Britt
John Dick Adams, grandfather of Zachary Adams, testifies during day eight of the Holly Bobo murder trial, Tuesday, September 19, in Savannah, Tennessee
Karen and Dana Bobo, parents of Holly Bobo, walk out of the Hardin County Circuit Courtroom after recess was called for the end of day eight of their daughter’s murder trial Tuesday
Britt said that at one point, he and his wife went to a store to purchase a new bathtub, but Dicus said workers at that store could not recall seeing anyone matching Britt’s description on the day in question.
Investigators wired Britt’s phone and searched his home with the help of cadaver dogs, which detected the scene of human decomposition near shovels, a hammer and an ax found on his property, but Dicus conceded that he did not think all the dogs were accurate.
Dicus, who was pulled from the case in 2013, also said he collected blonde hair from Britt’s home, and noted that his criminal history included targeting eight women who resembled the blonde nursing student.
The strand of hairs, however, did not return a DNA match to Bobo, and Britt was never charged in the woman’s killing.
On Monday, Britt, who is currently serving time for an unrelated kidnapping and attempted rape, was called to the stand as a witnesses for the prosecution, saying he had thought investigators would name him a suspect in the Bobo case based on his past offenses, reported WZTV.
The jury heard on Monday from Adams’ former cellmate Shawn Cooper, who said Zachary told him he was involved in the ‘Holly Bobo murder case’ in 2014
Britt said he had an alibi and backed up his claim by providing a receipt from the All Goods store, where he said he was shopping with his wife the day Bobo disappeared.
The jury also heard on Monday from Shawn Cooper, who was being held at the Chester County Jail in March 2014 in an unrelated case when Zachary Adams was brought there after being charged in Bobo’s killing.
Cooper was awaiting transfer to Obion County Jail when he says Adams told him he was involved in the ‘Holly Bobo murder case.’
Cooper said Adams told him his brother was being held in Obion County Jail, and asked him to relay to John that he should stay quiet or he would ‘put him in a hole beside her.’
Cooper said those statements upset him.
Acquaintances and friends of Zachary Adams – as well as fellow jail inmates – have testified that Adams made comments about harming Bobo.
The defense could rest its case today and closing arguments could begin on Thursday.