The Unsolved Murder of Blair Adams
31-year-old Canadian, Blair Adams, was found dead on July 11th 1996, in the car park of a hotel that was under construction in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was naked from the waist down and surrounded by $4,000 cash in a mix of Canadian, American and German currency. Next to him was his fanny pack, full of gold and jewellery, completely untouched.
Blair Adams was a foreman for a construction company in Surrey, British Columbia. Those who knew him said he was cheery and enjoyed his work. In the Summer of 1996, just before his murder, Blair began to act differently and people said he was having bad mood swings. He had not been diagnosed with any mental illnesses, but with the sudden change in his mood, there was a chance that he did have something more going on. He had had issues with alcohol in the past, but had been sober for two years and regularly attended AA meetings, so there was no obvious reason for his change in character.
On July 5th 1996, Blair withdrew his savings and emptied his safe deposit box which contained more than $6,000 in cash as well as jewellery and gold.
On Sunday (7th July), Blair tried to enter the US. He was turned away at the Canadian-American border because he was an unmarried man carrying large amounts of cash, fitting the profile of a potential drug smuggler. He also had some previous convictions. This led to border control becoming suspicious.
Then, on Monday, 8th July, Blair went to his place of work and quit, asking for his paycheck. That afternoon he bought a plane ticket to Germany to see an ex-girlfriend. Later that day he went to his friend’s house, desperately wanting to get into the US because he believed someone was trying to kill him.
It was on Tuesday 9th, that Blair finally made it across the border into the US. He ended up in Seattle, and from there bought a one-way ticket to Washington D.C. Once he got to D.C. early on Wednesday morning, he rented a car and drove to Knoxville, Tennessee.
At 5:30 p.m., after arriving in Tennessee, Blair stopped at a gas station. He spoke to the attendee, claiming that the keys to his rental car didn’t work. An Interstate Repair Service Driver came to help and realised Blair was using the wrong key. He tried to get Blair to check to see if he had the correct one, but he refused. The car was towed to a nearby garage, and Blair was driven to the Fairfield Inn. The driver thought Blair had been acting strangely at the time.
At approximately 7 p.m., Blair paid for a room at the Fairfield Inn. CCTV showed him entering and exiting the lobby of the hotel 5 times in approximately 40 minutes. It appears that he never entered his room. The hotel staff said that Blair seemed agitated and paranoid and was acting as if someone was after him.
On July 11th, Blair Adams was found dead in the car park of the hotel. His body was found at 7 a.m. by construction workers.
Blair had cuts and scratches on his body, some from fighting off his attacker. It was determined that some of the injuries were caused by an object like a crowbar. He was also naked from the waist down, and it appeared he had been sexually assaulted, but there was no DNA evidence found relating to this. The cause of death was a severe blow to the stomach, rupturing his abdomen and causing septic shock. Around his body was $4,000 in American, German and Canadian currency, and his fanny pack full of gold and jewellery.
No murder weapon was found, and the only foreign DNA was a single strand of long hair in Blair’s hand, but this failed to lead to anything. There were no drugs or alcohol in Blair’s system, but he had eaten somewhere before he died. A witness stated they heard what they thought was a woman scream at approximately 3:30 a.m. There were also reports of Blair seen with other men at restaurants and a truck stop that night, but what really happened in the 12 hours from when Blair left the hotel to when his body was found remains unknown.
There are no solid theories in this case. No one knew why Blair was in Tennessee or why he thought someone was after him. It seems clear that the motive wasn’t robbery, as none of Blair’s belongings were taken. Some think his death was the result of a sex act gone wrong, but with no evidence, this can’t be proven.
David Davenport, an investigator involved in the case, believes that the only hope of solving the murder of Blair Adams is if someone comes forward and confesses. As it’s been so long and with the case so cold, will Blair Adams and his family ever get justice?
Sources:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/blair-adams/