Holly Bobo Murder Trial Delay Sparks Reaction Among Locals
The West Tennessee community where Holly Bobo disappeared in 2011 was still reeling from her murder more than six years later. Thanks to an additional delay in the murder trial for the young woman, friends, family and local residents still don’t have closure.
Bobo’s mother broke down Thursday after a judge announced a delay in her daughter’s murder trial, according to In Touch Magazine. The judge was forced to postpone the trial until September after new evidence emerged in the case.
Read: New Evidence In Holly Bobo Murder Trial Forces Delay
Community members said they wished the trial would end so the family could finally begin healing.
“My prayers go out to the family,” Mal Matthews, a Jackson, Tennessee native, told WBBJ-TV Sunday. “That’s just a long time to wait. They know who actually committed the crime so let’s just prosecute for the family’s sake.”
Bobo, a 20-year-old nursing student, went missing in 2011. Her body wasn’t found until three years later when investigators located a human skull they eventually confirmed belonged to Bobo. Zach Adams, Dylan Adams and Jason Autry were charged with especially aggravated kidnapping, first-degree murder and rape. All three pleaded not guilty.
Adams’ trial was scheduled to begin last week, but the location of new evidence forced the delay. The defense team said they needed additional time to analyze the area where a gun was discovered over Memorial Day weekend by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
“I want to try this case professionally and correctly,” Judge C. Creed McGinley said Thursday.
Jury selection for the trial was moved to September 9, while the trial would begin officially September 11.
“It’s just sad in a sense for the family,” local native Andrea Moore told WBBJ-TV. “It’s always devastating for the family. You never get over it.”
Bobo was last seen by her brother Apr. 13, 2011 walking into the woods near their family’s home with a man dressed in head to toe camouflage. Her brother said he initially thought the man was her boyfriend and didn’t realize until later that she was in trouble. Her remains were later found near Adams’ home.
Five witnesses in the trial were granted some form of immunity at either the state or federal level. Autry was given federal immunity and agreed to a deal with prosecutors so that his sentence might be reduced in exchange for testimony against Adams, according to court documents reviewed Thursday by WHBQ-TV.
Read: Five Witnesses Granted Immunity In Holly Bobo Murder Trial
Adams’ attorney said there was no DNA evidence linking his client to Bobo’s death, according to WTVF. Adams’ mother, Cindy Adams, expressed doubts over the fact that forensic evidence in the case remained sealed.
“They would have found DNA in that house,” she told WMC-TV in May. “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. There’s no chemical cleanup in that house. There’s nothing that ever indicated Holly has been in that house.”
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