What Happened to Holly Bobo?: Fourteen Days

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Speaker 5 In January 2017, defense attorney Jennifer Thompson was preparing for the trial of her client, Zach Adams.

Speaker 5 She was poring over the hundreds of pages of material in the Holly Bobo case file and grappling with the confession of Zach's brother, Dylan.

Speaker 5 Dylan's confession had been a big breakthrough for prosecutors.

Speaker 5 Here was Zach's own brother saying that the four men who made up what law enforcement called the A-Train each played a role in Holly Bobo's kidnapping, rape, and murder.

Speaker 5 Zach and Dylan Adams and Jason Autry had been indicted in the case. Shane Austin died by suicide in 2015 and was never charged.
Each of the three men who were charged would be tried separately.

Speaker 5 Zach Adams had pleaded not guilty and was going to be the first to stand trial. If Zach was convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Speaker 5 While Jennifer Thompson was deep in her preparation for the highly publicized case, she got a call from Jason Autry's attorney. ABC News spoke to her about it in 2024.

Speaker 6 And he informs us that Jason has been talking to prosecutors and that he is going to be testifying against Zach at trial.

Speaker 5 After nearly six years of denying he had anything to do with Holly's kidnapping and murder, Jason Autry had completely changed his story. It was a shocking reversal.

Speaker 5 And now, Jennifer Thompson had to figure out how to handle Jason Autry's testimony.

Speaker 5 She had about eight months to do that, to go back through those hundreds and hundreds of pages in the case file and review them again, thinking about Jason Autry's new version of events.

Speaker 6 I needed more time to prepare in this case. I never felt that I was ready, especially after Jason Audrey had changed his whole story.

Speaker 5 On September 9th, 2017, Zach Adams' trial began.

Speaker 5 In this episode, I'm going to take you into the courtroom, where almost six years after Holly's abduction, the Holly Bobo case was about to enter its next chapter.

Speaker 5 I'm ABC News Senior National Correspondent Eva Pilgrim. From ABC Audio and 2020, this is what happened to Holly Bobo.

Speaker 5 Episode 5, 14 Days

Speaker 5 After Holly Bobo disappeared on April 13th, 2011, Decatur County became the center of a national story. But in September 2017, the jury did not file into the Decatur County Courthouse.

Speaker 8 Circuit Court, Hardin County, Philosophy is none, session pursuant to adjournment.

Speaker 8 The Honorable C. Creed McGinley presiding.

Speaker 5 Instead, they took their seats in the courthouse of Hardin County, about an hour south.

Speaker 5 The courthouse is a stately southern building. It's brick with four big white columns framing its entrance.

Speaker 5 Inside the courtroom, there's ornate wood paneling and rows of chandeliers that have such a warm glow they almost look like candlelight. The judge explained why everyone was gathered in Hardin County.

Speaker 10 It would be extremely difficult and I thought impossible to trial the jury from Decatur County.

Speaker 5 People in Decatur County had followed the ins and outs of the search and the investigation. Many had even participated in the search or shared leads with authorities.
And people knew the Bobo family.

Speaker 5 They knew Zach Adams. They just knew too much for the judge to believe they could be impartial.

Speaker 5 Once the jury was seated, the judge had a prosecutor read through the long indictment against Zach Adams with charges of kidnapping, rape, and first-degree murder.

Speaker 5 Zach sat next to his attorney, listening. He had gained weight since his arrest, and his once thin, almost gaunt face looked much fuller.

Speaker 5 His dark hair had streaks of gray in it and was parted neatly to the side. He was wearing a gray suit and a blue tie.
It didn't fit him very well because, well, it wasn't his suit.

Speaker 5 His defense attorney Jennifer Thompson found out he didn't have any formal clothes to wear to the trial, so she lent him her husband's suit.

Speaker 5 When the prosecutor was done reading the indictment, the judge turned to Zach and asked how he was pleading. Zach stood up and said one of the only things he would say during the entire trial:

Speaker 11 I'm guilty of all charges.

Speaker 9 All right.

Speaker 5 And from there, the judge ordered the trial, a trial that the community had waited years for, to begin.

Speaker 5 The prosecution gave their opening statement first. Paul Hagerman spoke in a very soft, quiet voice, almost a whisper, and kept his message simple.

Speaker 12 He took her.

Speaker 12 He raped her.

Speaker 13 He killed her.

Speaker 7 He discarded her.

Speaker 7 He covered it up.

Speaker 14 He bragged about it.

Speaker 15 And he almost got away with it.

Speaker 5 Hagerman kept repeating those three sentences about what Zach was accused of. It became almost like a chant, a steady drumbeat, driving home just how horrific the case was.

Speaker 12 He took her.

Speaker 16 You raped her.

Speaker 13 You killed her.

Speaker 5 Hagerman emphasized the contrast between Holly, safe in the home she grew up in, and Zach, who Hagerman said lived in the world of meth, then morphine.

Speaker 15 And the dark, dark things that went along with it.

Speaker 15 That was his life.

Speaker 5 And then Hagerman outlined how the twists and turns of the investigation brought everyone to the courtroom, hearing a case against Zach Adams.

Speaker 5 He mentioned how investigators looked into convicted sex offender Terry Britt and cleared him when they did not find evidence tying him to Holly's kidnapping, rape, and murder.

Speaker 5 Hagerman explained that investigators then circled back to four names that had been early leads in the investigation: Zach Adams, Dylan Adams, Shane Austin, and Jason Autry.

Speaker 5 Hagerman teased the account of their star witness, Jason Autry.

Speaker 15 When Jason got there,

Speaker 5 there's Shane, Zach, and Dylan. And then tried to explain why there was no physical evidence that Zach Adams had murdered Holly.

Speaker 15 He had a year and a half, two year head start.

Speaker 15 You can understand

Speaker 11 why he was so confident that he'd never get called.

Speaker 7 No DNA.

Speaker 14 Didn't leave fingerprints behind.

Speaker 7 Crime scenes long, long, long, long gone.

Speaker 15 He scattered evidence, he destroyed evidence, but we're here now.

Speaker 5 After Hagerman's opening statement, he sat down. Zach's lawyer, Jennifer Thompson, Thompson, got up and walked across the courtroom to the jury box.

Speaker 5 If Hagerman leaned into the dramatic, emotional details of the case, Thompson tried to give the jury more context.

Speaker 17 So, members of the jury.

Speaker 5 She described how sprawling the investigation into Holly's death was and how much information there was to sort through.

Speaker 17 It's almost just like trying to drink from a fire hydrant all the information they got.

Speaker 5 Thompson talked about how many people were interviewed by investigators in the case and ticked through some of the people they focused on as potential suspects.

Speaker 5 She said this was the most expensive and exhaustive investigation in the history of the state of Tennessee, but that heading into 2013, investigators didn't have anybody they could point to as the culprit.

Speaker 17 They had nothing that a great big goose egg. They paid all this money and they had absolutely nothing to show for it.

Speaker 17 And the citizens of Decatur County, the family of Holly Bobo, and the public at large all wanted answers to how such a crime could happen, how the police could be involved right away, and still, after all the resources and all the information they had, they could have absolutely nobody charged by that point.

Speaker 5 Thompson also said prosecutors had a terrible problem.

Speaker 5 They did not have physical evidence tying Zach Adams to Holly Bobo.

Speaker 5 Investigators had searched Zach's house and the nearby house of his grandpa, Dick Adams.

Speaker 17 They went through Zach Adams' house and they took over 500 items out of that house. They took all the material off of all the mattresses.
They took giant chunks of carpeting out of that house.

Speaker 17 They took whole pieces of furniture, upholstered chairs, leather couches, all kinds of ottomans and pillows and blankets and shelving. They cut a hole in the floor that's as big as a car.

Speaker 17 They searched through Dick Adams' house. They seized four cars from the Addams family and went through all the cars.
After they finished going through that whole house,

Speaker 17 there's no DNA that matches Holly to the house. There are no fingerprints that match Holly to the house or to the cars.
There's no hair from Holly that matches Holly to Mr. Adams' house.

Speaker 5 She closed with a straightforward declaration.

Speaker 17 All the evidence will show that Zach Adams is not guilty.

Speaker 5 After opening statements, the prosecution called their first witnesses, Dana, Karen, and Clint Bobo.

Speaker 5 Karen Bobo's testimony encapsulated all the emotions that had built up for years around the case.

Speaker 5 Prosecutor Jennifer Nichols asked Karen about the details of the morning Holly disappeared, like what Holly was wearing and their last interactions.

Speaker 5 And then she had Karen unzip Holly's lunch bag, the one that had been found during the search.

Speaker 20 Is that her lunch? Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 5 Next, the prosecutor had Karen identify Holly's purse, her keys,

Speaker 5 her wallet. Karen sounded like she was holding back tears.
And eventually, she turned to the judge and said,

Speaker 4 Let's take a look at this. I want everyone to remain with me while the jury decides that please.
please.

Speaker 5 Everyone in the courtroom stood up to see what was going on. The judge stood up, too, to maintain order.
Karen had fallen to the floor.

Speaker 5 She was sobbing and had trouble catching her breath.

Speaker 5 Got a nurse.

Speaker 4 Get some lights. Lights, Clerk.

Speaker 9 I feel like you're not.

Speaker 21 Come here, Karen.

Speaker 4 Come here, baby.

Speaker 10 Everyone else, remain with me, Fleming.

Speaker 4 I feel like I can't breathe.

Speaker 5 The judge said Karen suffered a panic attack that required medical attention.

Speaker 5 The defense was worried that Karen's distress would make it impossible for the jury to listen to her testimony objectively and asked for a new jury to be called.

Speaker 5 The judge did not agree.

Speaker 5 Once Karen had recovered, he asked the jury to come back in and ordered the trial to continue.

Speaker 5 After Karen Bobo's testimony, Clint Bobo was called to testify.

Speaker 5 He gave the account that had been so central to the investigation, describing what he had heard and seen as Holly was kidnapped and what the man who took her looked like and sounded like.

Speaker 5 5'10, 200 pounds, dark hair, gravelly voice.

Speaker 5 In the next couple of days, the prosecution called a range of other witnesses. A forensic pathologist testified that Holly was shot.

Speaker 5 in the back of the head, likely at close range and likely by a.32 caliber bullet.

Speaker 5 The defense challenged this by asking the pathologist about some unknown variables in his analysis, like how far away the person who shot Holly was from her and whether the bullet fractured before hitting her.

Speaker 5 In response, the pathologist said it was true that because of those factors, he could not know for certain the size of the bullet that killed Holly.

Speaker 5 Zach's ex-girlfriend also took the stand. She had previously verified Zach's alibi, telling authorities that she was at his house the morning of Holly's kidnapping and he was sleeping.

Speaker 5 But she testified that she wasn't sure what he did that morning. She also testified that when she saw him the next day, he had scratches on his neck that she hadn't seen before.

Speaker 5 She said she did not ask Zach about them.

Speaker 5 When defense attorney Jennifer Thompson cross-examined her, she asked whether her statements in the case had changed over time.

Speaker 5 Zach's ex-girlfriend said yes and later admitted that she had previously told investigators she believed the scratches on Zach were from being chased by a police officer through the woods in an unrelated incident.

Speaker 5 Overall, a total of nine witnesses, including Zach's ex-girlfriend, testified that over the years, Zach, often while on drugs or in jail, made incriminating statements.

Speaker 5 By the prosecutor's count, at least 10 were shared in court. They include statements like, I couldn't have picked a prettier.

Speaker 5 It sure was fun. If he doesn't keep his mouth shut, I'm going to plant him next to that.

Speaker 5 And I'll kill you like I did Holly Bobo.

Speaker 5 One person testified that Zach asked if God would ever forgive him.

Speaker 5 The first few days of the trial were all building towards the testimony of Jason Autry.

Speaker 5 He was about to take the stand and share what he claimed was an eyewitness account of Holly's murder.

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Speaker 5 Jason Autre entered the Hardin County Courthouse wearing a white prison jumpsuit. He was now 44 and had gray hair, a gray beard, and reading glasses with him.

Speaker 5 He was charged with the murder, kidnapping, and rape of Holly Bobo.

Speaker 5 Jason's time on the stand would go on for nearly six hours.

Speaker 5 The weather had been warm during the whole trial, but on that particular day, it was hot. The high reached the mid-80s.
The courtroom did not have air conditioning.

Speaker 5 And as it got hotter and hotter, people were sweating and fanning themselves trying to cool off.

Speaker 5 Most of Jason's testimony detailed everything he says he witnessed on April 13th, 2011. Prosecutor Jennifer Nichols put Jason on the stand.

Speaker 5 Zach's defense attorney, Jennifer Thompson, cross-examined him.

Speaker 5 Jason said the morning of April 13th, he wanted to buy morphine, so he called Shane Austin and Zach Adams. After 8 a.m., Zach called him back and said he needed Jason's help.

Speaker 5 He told Jason to meet him at Shane Austin's house.

Speaker 5 Jason said he assumed Zach needed help cooking meth.

Speaker 11 I pulled into the driveway.

Speaker 11 I got out. Dylan was standing in the doorway with his shirt off.

Speaker 11 Shane was walking around

Speaker 11 saying, y'all need to hurry up and get the goddamn hell out of here. And hosted on his side was a firearm.

Speaker 5 Jason said he bought a morphine pill, got high,

Speaker 5 and then Zach told him.

Speaker 11 And he said, I need you to help me bury this body.

Speaker 5 Jason said Zach told him it was Holly Bobo's body.

Speaker 11 The body was laying

Speaker 11 in a multicolored farm style blanket that looked like

Speaker 7 multiple colors.

Speaker 11 Wrapped in the blanket,

Speaker 21 laying

Speaker 11 up against the back.

Speaker 17 From the moment you figured out that he wanted help with Holly versus help with the batch of meth,

Speaker 5 were you willing?

Speaker 21 Yes, I was.

Speaker 5 Jason testified that Zach drove the two of them to a spot under a bridge on the Tennessee River, not far from a boat marina, and backed his truck up to a pile of rocks.

Speaker 5 Jason said he and Zach then took Holly's body out of the car and put her on the rock pile.

Speaker 7 I see a foot move, a movement, and a sound of distress

Speaker 7 come from the blanket.

Speaker 21 At that time, I walked

Speaker 11 to the passenger side door

Speaker 11 of the pickup, and Mr. Adams was digging in a fanny pack.

Speaker 11 I told him, I said, this

Speaker 11 is still alive.

Speaker 5 Jason spoke slowly, but he moved a lot on the stand. He made big hand gestures and even tried to act out the scenes he was describing.
The courtroom was captivated.

Speaker 11 I walked to the front of the truck

Speaker 11 and I told Jack, I said,

Speaker 11 She's heard my name called and heard me talking and all.

Speaker 11 At that time,

Speaker 21 he wheels around,

Speaker 11 walks back to the driver's side pickup,

Speaker 21 out of the floorboard of pickup,

Speaker 11 he pulls a pistol, the same pistol that was hosted on Mr. Austin's side.

Speaker 21 And I said, whoa.

Speaker 5 Jason said he went to serve as lookout so Zach. could shoot her.

Speaker 11 And I told him there was nothing coming close as clear or something to

Speaker 11 that effect.

Speaker 11 And at that time,

Speaker 4 boom.

Speaker 11 The gun sounded. The gun went off.

Speaker 7 And it sounded like boom, boom, boom

Speaker 11 underneath that bridge. It was just one shot, but it echoed underneath that bridge all the way down that damn river bottom.

Speaker 11 And when that gun went off, birds went up

Speaker 11 all up under that bridge.

Speaker 5 Jason testified it was silent at first. But then they heard a boat coming down the river, panicked, and put Holly back in the car.

Speaker 5 Jason said Zach dropped him off at his car, and then the two didn't meet again until the afternoon.

Speaker 5 He said Zach later told him that he, his brother, and Shane Austin had kidnapped and raped Holly, and that Zach had disposed of her body.

Speaker 5 Jason Autry's hours on the stand were full of colorful, shocking details. When Jennifer Thompson cross-examined Jason,

Speaker 5 she questioned his credibility. She asked him about his past statements denying he had anything to do with Holly's kidnapping and murder.

Speaker 18 You said, no, sir, right hand before God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I did not bother that girl in no form or no fashion, didn't you?

Speaker 11 And that's a fact.

Speaker 18 And you were asked, do you know who did? You said, no, sir.

Speaker 21 That's a lie.

Speaker 18 But didn't you say that?

Speaker 22 That's correct.

Speaker 5 Thompson pointed out that at the time Autry says the murder happened, he was on phone calls with his girlfriend and also his mother.

Speaker 32 In the middle of all this, you were able to take a telephone call from your mother, Shirley King, that morning at 9.42, weren't you?

Speaker 11 If your records reflect that, that's true.

Speaker 5 Thompson also asked Jason if he was benefiting from testifying, possibly getting a reduction in his sentence for a federal gun charge.

Speaker 32 Are you familiar with the fact that if you testify

Speaker 32 in a beneficial way to the state,

Speaker 32 if they could make a request that your federal sentence be reduced?

Speaker 11 I don't know. You'd have to ask my attorney that.

Speaker 32 So you're testifying here today, you're telling the jury today that you have absolutely no knowledge that what you do here might affect the federal sentence that you have to serve of 100 months.

Speaker 11 I have immunity with the federal government. Other than that, there's no deal.

Speaker 11 Plain and simple.

Speaker 32 Right, but there's a potential deal.

Speaker 32 It remains out there.

Speaker 11 You're saying that, not me.

Speaker 5 She also emphasized that if Zach was guilty,

Speaker 5 Jason was not some innocent bystander.

Speaker 32 When you thought that she had heard your name, you knew Zach Adams, according to your story, was getting ready to shoot her. You never said, stop, don't do it, did you? That's correct.

Speaker 32 You said, wait a minute, let me make sure nobody's coming. That's correct.
So you did something to help him kill her, according to your story, didn't you?

Speaker 11 I did, and I have lots of remorse over that.

Speaker 5 Jason's time on the stand went into the evening hours, and when the cross-examination was over, the judge dismissed everyone for the day.

Speaker 5 The prosecution's star witness had spoken, but there were still many days of testimony left. Key pieces of the investigation came up, and key names testified.

Speaker 5 To try to answer a big question in the case, prosecutors showed the jury the alleged murder weapon, a.32 caliber revolver that witnesses claimed was owned by Zach Adams' friend, Shane Austin.

Speaker 5 It was recovered in a drainage ditch just months before the trial. The prosecution and defense each called a cell phone expert to explain what the troves of phone data did and did not show.

Speaker 5 Both experts agreed that Adams and the other suspects' phones did not hit cell towers near the Bobo home at the time Holly was taken.

Speaker 5 The prosecution expert said it was possible Holly and Zach Adams' phones were in the same general locations later that morning, but the defense expert disagreed.

Speaker 5 The prosecution also called to the stand convicted sex offender Terry Britt, who was in prison for kidnapping and attempted rape.

Speaker 5 Prosecutor Jennifer Nichols tried once and for all to show he was not the man behind Holly's kidnapping and murder.

Speaker 5 Remember, Terry Britt said he had an alibi and the investigation into him did not find evidence linking him to Holly.

Speaker 33 Jerry, did you

Speaker 33 kidnap, rape, murder Holly Bobo? No, I didn't. I didn't know a girl.

Speaker 33 Never seen her in my life that I know of.

Speaker 5 Terry Britt was asked about the thorough investigation into his life, including the wiretapping of his home, and how former TBI agent Terry Dykus wanted to pursue him as a suspect.

Speaker 5 His testimony got quite heated.

Speaker 33 But Dykus was so fixated on me, I guess he, I don't know.

Speaker 5 Do you know whether Dykus is still a TBI agent?

Speaker 33 No, he's lost his job.

Speaker 33 I wish he'd get on food stamp.

Speaker 34 I object, Your Honor, to him saying he lost his job. That's not.

Speaker 33 He almost destroyed my life.

Speaker 5 Terry Britt left the stand, not a free man, but never charged in the Holly Bobo case.

Speaker 5 There are always lots of law enforcement witnesses during a criminal trial, but there was something unusual about this trial.

Speaker 5 Six current and former law enforcement witnesses were called by the defense,

Speaker 5 not the prosecution. One of those six witnesses, Terry Dykus, the former TBI agent Britt criticized on the stand, testified just after Britt.

Speaker 5 Jennifer Thompson asked Dykus

Speaker 5 why he was so focused on Terry Britt during his time on the investigation.

Speaker 12 Have a sleep.

Speaker 31 Meanwhile,

Speaker 31 Terry Britt is a registered sex offender, a violent sex offender.

Speaker 27 He

Speaker 31 lives

Speaker 31 northern Decatur County.

Speaker 31 He has black hair. He weighs 200 pounds and he's six foot tall.
He is the exact size of what our witness said the abductor looked like.

Speaker 5 Dykes said no one in the so-called A-Train matched Clint Bobo's description of Holly's abductor.

Speaker 5 On cross-examination, Prosecutor Paul Hagerman asked Dykes about that conclusion and whether Shane Austin could have fit the description.

Speaker 15 Clint Bobo testified the same body shape and everything as Shane Austin.

Speaker 14 That's surprising.

Speaker 31 Well, Clint's a very honest young man.

Speaker 31 If he says that, I believe him.

Speaker 31 But you're forgetting part of it.

Speaker 13 Go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 31 Because the body type also goes with the hair. And Shane Austin had

Speaker 31 reddish, blondish hair. And Clint said he had black hair, shoulder length black hair.

Speaker 5 Hagerman reminded the jury that Dykes had been removed from the case because of what his supervisor called his lack of objectivity and his tunnel vision on one suspect, Terry Britt, who was eventually cleared by TBI of having anything to do with Holly's kidnapping and murder.

Speaker 5 Dykes admitted on the stand that he did not know what evidence investigators gathered against Zach Adams and the others after he was removed from the case.

Speaker 14 Your testimony has been almost a trip into the past, into the first two or three years of this investigation. But you can't tell us anything about the three and four years after that.
You're right.

Speaker 31 I don't know what y'all have done since then.

Speaker 5 Aside from Jason Autrey's testimony, there were no big surprises, no smoking guns. But the prosecution argued they had presented all the evidence they needed to show Zach Adams was Holly's killer.

Speaker 5 And neither the defendant, Zach Adams, nor his younger brother, Dylan Adams, ended up taking the stand.

Speaker 5 The trial lasted 14 days and included dozens of witnesses and hundreds of exhibits. When both sides rested their cases, the jury went off to deliberate.

Speaker 5 It took them 11 hours over two days to reach a verdict.

Speaker 9 If you like what the jury does, that's fine. Keep it to yourself.
This isn't a time to cheer like we do for a football team or something.

Speaker 9 If you don't like what the jury said, keep that to yourself.

Speaker 5 For each count, the judge read the jury's verdict.

Speaker 9 You checked guilty of first-degree premeditated murder of Pauline Mobo.

Speaker 10 Is Is that correct, sir?

Speaker 5 And then, one by one, confirmed it with each juror.

Speaker 9 Number one, is that your verdict? Yes.

Speaker 9 Number two, yes.

Speaker 5 There was no big reveal like in TV shows or movies, no booming announcement like guilty of all charges. Instead, The verdict arrived one bit at a time over the course of around five minutes.

Speaker 5 And by the end of those five minutes, everyone in the courtroom knew that Zach Adams had been found guilty of all charges.

Speaker 5 Zach stayed still and stoic as the verdict was slowly announced. Jennifer Thompson had told him that was his best bet.

Speaker 30 Because I reminded him this jury's going to decide tomorrow whether he lives or dies. And that it was really important that he be quiet and respectful.

Speaker 30 I could tell he was trembling and he went white, but I think he took it like a champ sitting there and gave the reaction I had hoped for him.

Speaker 5 She gave a press conference after the verdict.

Speaker 19 That we just cannot help but be just heartbrokenly disappointed in the verdict in this case.

Speaker 19 We knew going in it was going to be a very hard case to win because you have this beautiful young woman who had been taken from her home.

Speaker 19 And

Speaker 19 those facts balanced against my client who had had a tough,

Speaker 19 kind of a tough background. He had been involved in drugs.
He'd been a drug addict. I'm concerned that the jury might go for death.

Speaker 5 Mark Gwynn, the head of TBI at the time, also commented.

Speaker 12 I just think it's a good day for justice in the state of Tennessee.

Speaker 14 I hate that it took six and a half years to bring it,

Speaker 12 but at the end of the day, it's about justice being served. So thank you.

Speaker 5 The Bobo family told us in 2017, they believe Zach Adams is responsible for their daughter's murder and that Jason Autry's testimony rang true to them.

Speaker 5 Before the sentencing hearing, the prosecution and defense came to an agreement.

Speaker 5 Instead of putting the death penalty on the table for the jury to decide, Zach would get life in prison without the possibility of parole plus another 50 years.

Speaker 5 The Bobo family had agreed to this ahead of time. And in court, the judge asked Zach if he had consented to the agreement freely and voluntarily.
And he said yes.

Speaker 5 So the judge signed off on it too. and then brought the jury in to explain that they would not need to spend the day weighing whether Zach Adams should get the death penalty.

Speaker 5 But he didn't dismiss them yet. Part of the sentencing agreement was that Karen Bobo would still deliver her prepared victim impact statement, even though the sentence had already been decided.

Speaker 5 So she took the stand and looked at the jury as she spoke.

Speaker 20 I've had to watch my parents

Speaker 20 in their what's supposed to be called golden years.

Speaker 20 Be so sad every day.

Speaker 25 Not a morning

Speaker 5 since this has happened.

Speaker 20 Have we not woken up with Holly being the first thing on our mind when we wake up and the last thing on our mind when we go to sleep?

Speaker 20 Last night, I saw my husband smile

Speaker 20 for the first time in six and a half years.

Speaker 20 Is there something that you want to say to Zachary?

Speaker 20 First of all, I would like for you to know

Speaker 20 that this decision that was made this morning had absolutely nothing to do with that animal.

Speaker 25 It had to do

Speaker 20 with the future of our family.

Speaker 20 If

Speaker 20 there can ever be any more joy in our family, to maybe

Speaker 20 give us an opportunity

Speaker 20 to find at least a little joy.

Speaker 5 Karen turned away from the jury. and towards where Zach Adams was sitting.

Speaker 5 She had taught Zach in the fourth grade, and she sounded a bit like a teacher as she addressed him.

Speaker 20 But I would like for Mr. Adams to look at me when I speak to him.

Speaker 25 I know

Speaker 20 that my daughter fought

Speaker 20 and fought hard for her life.

Speaker 20 Can you back up just a little bit so I can, he can look at me?

Speaker 20 And I know

Speaker 20 that she begged for her life

Speaker 20 because my daughter loved

Speaker 20 and enjoyed life.

Speaker 5 But you

Speaker 20 chose to take that from her

Speaker 20 and you have shown absolutely, look at me please, you have shown absolutely no remorse for anything that you have done.

Speaker 5 When Karen Bobo left the stand, the judge thanked the jury and dismissed them. Zach Adams' case was over.

Speaker 5 But two more people were still waiting for their day in court.

Speaker 5 In the months to come, Zach's younger brother Dylan Adams entered an Alford plea to facilitating murder and especially aggravated kidnapping, which means he acknowledged there was evidence against him, but maintained his innocence.

Speaker 5 He received a 35-year prison sentence. And years later, Jason Autry pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit murder and facilitation of especially aggravated kidnapping.

Speaker 5 And with credit for time served,

Speaker 5 he was set free.

Speaker 5 The case was finally over.

Speaker 5 But in 2024, more than a decade after Holly was kidnapped and murdered, seven years after Zach Adams' guilty verdict, it was put back in the spotlight.

Speaker 5 Just months after being released from prison in the Holly Bobo case, Jason Autry was arrested on federal firearms charges.

Speaker 5 He pleaded guilty, and while in jail, waiting for his sentencing, He changed his story about the day Holly was kidnapped and murdered again.

Speaker 7 That's the worst that I've ever felt in my life coming back.

Speaker 13 Knowing that you just lied for the innocent man in prison.

Speaker 5 And Zach Adams, who had chosen not to testify during his trial, was ready to talk.

Speaker 5 Did you kill Holly Bobo?

Speaker 7 Absolutely not.

Speaker 5 That's on the next and final episode of What Happened to Holly Bobo.

Speaker 5 What Happened to Holly Bobo is a production of ABC Audio in 2020.

Speaker 5 Hosted by me, Eva Pilgrim, the series was produced by Camille Peterson, Julia Nutter, Kiara Powell, Nora Hanna, and Meg Fiero with help from Audrey Mostek and Amira Williams.

Speaker 5 Our supervising producer is Susie Liu. Music and Mixing by Evan Viola.

Speaker 5 Special thanks to Liz Alessi, Janice Johnston, Michelle Margules, Sean Dooley, Christina Corbin, Kieran McGirl, Andrew Paparella, and Emma Pisha. Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming.

Speaker 5 Laura Mayer is our executive producer.

Speaker 36 It's one of Britain's most notorious crimes, the killing of a wealthy family at Whitehouse Farm. But I got a tip that the story of this famous case might be all wrong.

Speaker 12 I know there's going to be a twist, willn't they? A massive twist. At every level of the criminal justice system, there's been a cover-up in this case.

Speaker 36 I'm Heidi Blake. Blood Relatives is a new series from In the Dark and The New Yorker.
Find it now in the In the Dark podcast feed.

Speaker 4 911, what is the address to your emergency?

Speaker 35 This 911 call began an investigation that would turn the town of Ashland, Ohio, into a crime scene.

Speaker 12 We've got something big going on here.

Speaker 16 The first thing that hit my mind is a monster.

Speaker 35 A new series from ABC Audio in 2020: The Hand in the Window.

Speaker 23 Out now, wherever you listen to podcasts.