HARDIN County, Tenn (Sept 19, 2017) – The defense called five witnesses during Tuesday’s 8th day of testimony in the trial of Zach Adams.

Defense attorney Jennifer Thompson told the court she has three more witnesses to call before the defense rests its case.  The prosecution took 6 days to present their Case in Chief.  Zachary Rye Adams is on trial for the abduction and murder of Holly Bobo.

The first witness questioned by the defense Tuesday was Terry Dicus, former agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).  Dicus was a lead agent for the first two years of the case.

Dicus said the first time he recalled Zack Adams name coming up was the first week of the investigation.  Shayne Austin’s name also came up early on and Dicus said he and agents visited and searched Austin’s residence including with cadaver dogs. They didn’t collect any evidence that would connect to Holly Bobo.

The same thing was done for Zach Adams residence around the same time, said Dicus. Their alibis were checked, the cell phone activity, and homes searched.  Dicus said at the time there was no reason to keep looking at Adams. After a search, alibi’s, and checking records Dicus said, “the determination I made is that he could not have been involved in the kidnapping”.

Dicus said Adams name kept coming up for stupid reasons. Dicus said there was no indication Clint Bobo knew Zach Adams.  Adams didn’t fit the description of the person Clint Bobo saw walk away with his sister. Shayne Austin didn’t have a car, Dicus said of why he didn’t consider Austin and he had the wrong color hair.  After looking at the evidence, checking his alibi, and other things “the determination I made was that there was no way he could’ve been responsible”.

Dicus said he requested a cell tower dump so they could get all the cell phone activity in the area including Holly Bobo’s phone.   Dicus was the agent in charge of the investigation at the time. “All I cared about was who had time to be with Holly Bobo’s phone at 9:40 that morning.”

Dicus said the person he thought looked very good for the kidnapping was convicted sex offender Terry Britt.  Britt has a long history of abductions, sexual assaults, and rape.  Terry Britt lived in the area at the time Holly went missing, “his history tells me that he is capable of kidnapping her, (Holly Bobo), and he fits the profile, said Dicus.”

Dicus testified the TBI Behavioral Science Unit was telling them to look for a person acting alone. Sexual predators work alone. That’s why the focus was on finding one person and not a group.

Defense attorney Jennifer Thompson asked why Dicus was looking at Terry Britt as the person of interest.  “Sit down, this is going to take a while,” said Dicus.

“I checked his alibi and found out it was garbage,” Dicus says about Terry Britt.  I didn’t believe this was a random type thing, he said.  This had been planned, someone watching, they knew what to look for, Dicus said.

Dicus says that Terry Britt’s alibi was “garbage”, they had information of multiple women coming forward saying that Britt, “Chester the Molester” as he was called, was stalking them, Dicus says most of the stalking victims were blond haired & blue eyed.

Dicus said Britt was lying about his whereabouts, his wife was lying to cover for him, his computer had abduction and rape pornography downloaded, he was familiar with the area through his job as a newspaper delivery person and that job put him out on the street in the early morning hours.  He also said cadaver dogs from Quantico hit on several items at Britt’s home including a shovel.

The state questioned Dicus mainly on much of the developments that occurred after he was gone from the case.  Things Dicus had to say he had no knowledge of since he had resigned.  Several of the questions the ADA Paul Hagerman asked were regarding decisions made and asking if hindsight had changed his mind.  Dicus said. “I am not going to look back and say officers should’ve done this or that”.

Terry Dicus was pulled off the Holly Bobo case in 2013, he resigned the same year.

John D (Dick) Adams testified Tuesday for the defense.  He is the grandfather of Zach and Dylan Adams.  The grandfather said Dylan came to live with him after he moved out of his mother’s house at the age of 18.  He said Dylan’s low IQ and behavioral problems kept him from holding a steady job or being able to live on his own.

Mr. Adams was asked about various vehicles the two bothers either owned or had access to and which ones were operational.  He was asked if anyone in the house had ever owned a .32 caliber handgun and said no. Adams also gave the two men and Shayne Austin an alibi by saying that he had seen them. Mr. Adams said he left the house about 7:00 that day and he saw Zach heading south on 641 that morning.  He also saw Shayne Austin in the truck with Zach.  Adams testified when he left home Dylan was still in bed.

The defense attorney asked Mr. Adams, If you had known facts that show Zach was involved in the kidnapping would you have told?

Dick Adams said, I believe I would.

Testimony continues today and the defense is expected to conclude their case sometime today.

KEITH SHERLEY

TWITTER: @keithsherley

EMAIL: [email protected]

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