Criminology - The Mysterious Death of Blair Adams

Episode Date: January 31, 2021

31-year-old Blair Adam's death in July of 1996 is as mysterious as a case can get. It has baffled investigators and fueled speculation by online sleuths for years. Much of this has to do with Blair's erratic behavior during the time before his death. He had mentioned to a number of people that he was afraid of something or someone. His movements from his home in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada to Knoxville, Tennessee, where his body was found, are perplexing. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the case of the mysterious death of Blair Adams. He tried several times, unsuccessfully, to cross the border into the U.S. He purchased an expensive ticket to Germany that he never used. Instead, he took his money and valuables and flew to Washington D.C. From there, he made his way to Knoxville, TN where his body was found by a construction crew. So many years later, the same nagging questions remain. Why did Blair Adams take the actions he did that led him to Knoxville? And, was he murdered by someone that had followed him or was he killed by someone he met in Knoxville? Or, was he a victim of some type of accident that led to his death? You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology   An Emash Digital Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 144 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, what is going on with you? Not a whole lot. Just working, putting out more episodes. How about you?

Is that what you're doing? That's what we're doing right now. That's the fun part, right? the recording. The tough part is everything that goes up to the day that you actually record. Yeah, but it's a good feeling once it's done and it gets released and people say they like the episode. So that's what it's all about.

Yeah, I would agree with you. It's very satisfying to put something out and then, you know, have some of those great comments come back. It's a satisfying feeling. Yeah, we have some great listeners too. And they're very supportive. So that's really awesome. We had some great new Patreon support.

let's give some shoutouts to Danish Sheik, Terry Lawrence, Meg Frankie, Peta Dendreege, Liz Schaefer, and Kerry Kopp. So a lot of great new support. We really appreciate that. Yeah, thank you very much for that. We say it all the time, but we can't say it enough. That support really goes a long way. And if anyone out there would like to help support the show,

they can go to patreon.com slash criminology to sign up. All right, Morf. Are you ready to jump into this? case. Yeah, I'm excited. This is one I've been looking forward to. We're talking about the mysterious death of Blair Adams. The death of Blair Adams is a case that most people have probably never heard of before in the world of mainstream true crime, but it is extremely popular in the true crime online community. It's often described as both an unexplained death or an unsolved murder. I think the debate really lies in which of those you truly believe it is. But no matter which one

you believe it is, there's no doubt. Blair Adams died a very mysterious death. Robert Dennis Blair Adams, who went by Blair, was a 31-year-old man from Surrey, British Columbia, in Canada. He worked at his stepfather's construction company as a foreman. By pretty much all accounts, Blair was known as a nice guy. His mom. mother, Sandra Edwards, called Blair kind and ambitious. His girlfriend called him a gentleman. Most others knew him as an upbeat and optimistic person. Only a few co-workers, some Canadian and some in Germany, would describe Blair as unpleasant and occasionally getting into fights. Blair had struggled with addiction issues in his past, but he had been clean and sober for two years,

and he regularly attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Starting around the summer of 1996, Blair's behavior changed and the upbeat and positive guy became anxious and he started to have some frequent mood swings. He was getting less and less sleep as the summer went on. This behavior worried his mother and his friends who noticed that he wasn't acting like himself. Blair stopped attending alcoholic anonymous meetings and started slacking at work, even leaving the construction job. unlocked. Eventually, he abruptly quit his job and didn't even bother to pick up his last paycheck. He told his mother that there were people out there spreading rumors about him. But he never really elaborated on what the rumors were or who the people were that were responsible for them. He hinted to

his friends that someone was trying to kill him. It sounds to many like a son. A son who. A son. He hinted to his friends that someone was trying to kill him. It sounds to many like a sign of a possible mental illness, but Blair had never been diagnosed with any sort of mental health issue. So the behavior was completely new and out of character. The paper trail of Blair's unusual behavior started on July 5, 1996. He went to his bank and emptied out a safe deposit box and withdrew most of his money as well. The contents of the safe deposit box were cash, gold, jewelry, and platinum. Ultimately, he took around $6,000 in cash, and thousands more and valuables with him, which he put into a fanny pack. Blair's mother had been worried enough about her son to pry multiple times, but she never received any clear answers. Blair told

his mom that there was something bothering him, but he would never tell her what it was or who was involved. He did, however, recall whatever was bothering him, it, when he explained to her that he wasn't going to give her any information. This could be a clue because he didn't say them or him, for instance. Blair then tried to visit his uncle, making the four-hour trip to Courtney, British Columbia. But when Blair got there, his uncle wasn't home.

The route from Surrey to Courtney includes tolls and a ferry. So it seems like Blair was traveling to his uncle's house with a purpose. But it was an unexpected visit. And since his uncle wasn't home, we don't know why Blair wanted to see his uncle or go to his uncle's home that day. And after that, Blair's movements only got more perplexing. On July 7th, Blair tried to cross the Canadian-American border, his first of multiple attempts. On this first attempt, he tried to take a ferry from Victoria, British Columbia, to Seattle, Washington.

This is odd in itself because he could have just driven from his home in Surrey. straight across the border. For whatever reason, he chose to take a ferry instead. He was alone and driving his Chevy Chevette. When he was stopped at the border, customs officials suspected that he was involved in drug smuggling because he was a single man traveling alone, and he had a large amount of cash and valuables with him. Blair lied to customs officials about having a clean criminal history, which didn't help him look any less suspicious to these authorities. Border officials checked and found charges in Blair's past for drugs as well as assault. He was denied entry to the United States and had to turn back. If Blair was trying to escape from someone

because he feared they had been following him, that person at that point, once he was turned back from entering the United States, they would have had to change their route as well. Anyone tailing him couldn't have been too suspicious or they too would have risked being stopped at the border like Blair had been. If someone was not physically tailing Blair, then someone he trusted and updated about his itinerary would have had to betray that trust and inform the person after him because no one has ever come forward to say that Blair told them that he was going on this trip at all. And Morph, I think this is where, you know, the mystery part starts, right? No one was expecting Blair. As far as we know, no one knew where he was headed to be able to check up on him

without physically following him. On July 8th, Blair bought a round trip ticket to Frankfurt, Germany for almost $1,700 hours. It's an international flight, but that's still quite a lot of money for a plane ticket, especially in 1996. The flight was scheduled to leave the next day, Tuesday, July 9th. It seemed like an impromptu booking, but Blair did have ties to Frankfurt, having worked her in the past with his stepfather's construction company. He even dated a woman there and was still friendly with her. But this woman referred to in news articles as, quote, his German girlfriend, said she had no knowledge of any plans Blair had to visit Germany. Blair also visited a friend the day before his plane was scheduled to leave and asked this friend to help him over the border, saying all they had to do was drive.

He thought someone was trying to kill him and he needed to get over the border. The friend didn't want to be involved. Since Blair had already been denied entry once before, Blair never made it to Germany. And in fact, he never even tried. Instead of getting on the scheduled flight to Frankfurt, he canceled the trip and tried to get a refund. He claimed that the person he was planning to visit had fallen ill. By July 9th, something had obviously already happened to Blair. Authorities found him at the Pacific Highway border crossing in Vancouver.

He was stopped and arrested while trying to cross the border on foot because he matched the description of an auto theft suspect. A blue car had been stolen in Vancouver. and subsequently recovered near that border crossing. Authorities question him about the car theft, but Blair said he didn't know anything about it, and he maintained his innocence. Without any evidence that Blair had been the actual person who stole the car in Vancouver and ditched it near the border crossing,

police had to let him go. But these authorities noted that Blair seemed out of it, and he had multiple small scratches on his hands and legs. nothing was noted about his face, like scratches or abrasions from a fight at the time. And it's still completely unknown. What caused the injuries to his hands and legs? Interestingly, a friend would later tell authorities investigating Blair's death that they saw him the day before his arrest, July 8th, driving a blue car instead of the

chevette that he owned and that Blair tried to drive it across the border. The next day, July 10th, Blair ran at a Nissan Altma from the Vancouver International Airport and used the credit he had received from his canceled Germany flight to get a flight to Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport. It's unknown why he didn't drive his own car or where he had left it. What is known is that Blair drove to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington, and for some reason he spent $770 on a one-way ticket instead of purchasing a round-trane. trip ticket for $400.

So again, I think this is mysterious. You know, if Blair had been worried about trying to shake someone on his tail, you would think that a round trip ticket would have been a good choice, even if he only needed a one-way ticket and it was half the price. That might throw a person off his trail. He left the rented Ultima at the C-TAC airport. Blair made it to Washington, D.C., where he rented a Toyota Camry and headed south. About two hours away from the airport in Troy, Virginia, Blair was involved in a minor car accident.

He backed his car into another car and spoke to the driver. This was the first sighting of Blair since arriving at the airport. That driver told authorities that Blair was friendly, but that he also seemed like he was in some sort of a hurry. It's unknown where exactly Blair was until that evening when he turned up in Tennessee. Troy, Virginia is about a six-hour drive from Knoxville, Tennessee. Investigators picked up his trail showing that around 5.30 p.m., he was at a gas station in Knoxville. Blair was having some sort of car trouble. Gerald Sapp, an interstate repair driver, showed up to help after the clerk at the gas station called him.

The clerk reported that Blair's rental car key wouldn't work and his car wouldn't start. While trying to assist Blair, Sapp noticed that he was attempting to use the ultimate key from his rental in Seattle and the Toyota Camry had just rented in Washington, D.C. But Blair insisted that the ultimate key he had was the correct key for the Camry and was the key that he had been using. He insisted it had to be right because it had just worked. It's unclear how long Blair was out of his car before he tried to use the ultimate key. and some early news reports state that Blair didn't have the Camry key. But in more recent interviews, Sapp said that Blair wouldn't even check his pockets for another key. When Sapp suggested that he might have just mixed up the keys, Blair flat out refused.

Sapp admittedly thought Blair wasn't all there mentally. And he arranged a tow for his car. The rental company was already closed. So Sapp dropped Blair off at the Fairfield Inn, which was nearby. He actually ended up having to turn around to take Blair his bag because he left it in Sapp's car. Blair was dropped off at the Fairfield Inn at around 7 p.m. And about a half an hour later, he rented a room for the night with a $100 bill. He put the key in his pocket and left the lobby without his change.

He didn't respond to calls to his room. Surveillance footage would later show that Blair went in and out of the lobby of the Fairfield Inn five times over 40 minutes before finally running the room and that he never ended up going into his hotel room. A hotel employee told investigators that he seemed like he was waiting for someone to find him, even though there was no one there. Footage from the hotel shows Blair peering somewhat anxious or agitated with his duffel bag still over his shoulder. So a couple of things here, right? It's unknown why he waited so long to rent the room. Could he have been waiting for someone he was supposed to meet? In 1996,

cell phones, you know, weren't as ubiquitous as they are today. He didn't have one. And he didn't have a pager. The next 12 hours of Blair's life after he walked out of the hotel lobby at 737 p.m. are still a mystery, almost 25 years later. At around 7.30 a.m. the next day on July 11th. Construction workers found what they thought was a homeless man sleeping on their job site at a hotel that was under construction. But as they got closer, they realized that the man was blue and appeared to be injured. But the man wasn't injured. He was dead. And the man would quickly be identified as Blair Adams. Blair's body was lying on a Knoxville, Tennessee construction site, in a city where as far as anyone knows, he didn't know anyone, over 2,500 miles away from his home

in Canada. This site was on the opposite side of the busy I-40 highway from his hotel room and his car was not found at the site. Blair had been beaten. His clothes were in complete disarray. His socks were inside out and on the ground beside him. His pants were off, also inside out and lying on the ground. His shirt had been ripped open. Multiple sources state that to authorities, It appeared as if his clothes had been taken off by someone else. One of his shoes was underneath his head as if he was using it as a pillow. There was a gash on his forehead, consistent with some type of crowbar-like weapon. Patches of his hair had been ripped out.

He also had defensive wounds on his hands, but some of these scratch-type injuries may have been the injuries already noted by authorities. on July 9th. One of the cuts on Blair's hand was quite deep, and the wounds on his hands were blackened from asphalt. There was about $4,000 U.S. dollars worth of currency scattered on the ground around them. It was a mix of German, Canadian, and American currency. Also next to him was this fanny pack full of gold and jewelry. It was lying on the ground unzipped, and it appeared no one had taken anything from it. There was also a duffel bag full of maps, receipts, and other unknown items near in the empty lot. Strewen about the scene were his hotel key card, other sets of keys, Blair's license,

credit card and passport. One of the keys on the ground, a few feet from his body, belonged to a Toyota Camry. It was the key to the car. He was trying to start at the gas station. It would seem that he did have the correct key. As Sapp had suggested, he just refused to check his pockets for whatever. reason. And I think more if you see a lot of online chatter about this detail, right,

did Blair not want to reach into his pocket because he had something very valuable in there? And he didn't want to pull it out in front of Gerald Sapp. We mentioned that Blair's clothes were taken off by someone else. There was evidence of sexual assault, but no DNA, suggesting to some that a cavity search was done. His shirt was also ripped open. In other words, perhaps someone had undressed Blair not to sexually assault him, but instead to search for something very small. Some online sleuths have suggested that perhaps someone was searching Blair for a hidden flash drive, but since it was 1996, it couldn't have been a flash drive. It could have been something else like a note or perhaps

a key, perhaps to a safety deposit box. If it was a key to a safety deposit box, whether someone wanted the contents of the box or wanted to prevent Blair from opening it, is an entirely different path to go down speculation-wise. Maybe someone thought he was wearing a wire, and that's why they ripped his shirt open. There's lots of speculation surrounding what happened to Blair in that parking lot, but no solid answers. A security guard nearby heard what he believed to be a woman's screen around 3.30 a.m. but didn't investigate it further. It's unknown whether this was Blair himself or if it was even related to Blair's death. The only piece of physical evidence that was left at the scene was a long strand of hair that was found in one of Blair's hands. Authorities were eventually

able to extract DNA from the hair, but they've never been able to find a match to it in any database. It's never been revealed whether this hair is from a man or a woman. Investigators have also tested rebar from the scene of his death to see if anything there could have been responsible for the wound on his head. But they found nothing. Blair's autopsy revealed that he died due to septic shock from a ruptured stomach. The cause of the stomach rupture is believed to have been from blunt force trauma. This could have been sustained at the same time as the gash on his head and the deeper scratches on his hands. But it could have happened earlier in a separate incident. Blair's stomach content showed his last meal was shrimp, meat, and lettuce. The toxicology screening

would prove that Blair was sober at the time of his death, and his erratic behavior probably wasn't drug-induced. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Later, Blair's case would be featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. And during that episode, a close-up. of his autopsy report was shown with what looks like the words anal hemorrhage on the body chart. We mentioned the possibility that a cavity search was done on Blair causing the injury and there was no DNA found to indicate a sexual assault. Despite that, the noted injuries in the state of undress he was found in led many investigators on the case to believe this was a sex act gone wrong.

or some type of sexually motivated attack. They believed that this is why whoever he was with that night left the valuables with his body. It wasn't a robbery. The high-pitched scream in the middle of the night, along with a long strand of hair still in Blair's hand, have caused many to believe that a woman was involved in whatever ended Blair's life in some capacity. She could have simply been a victim herself if Blair had acted inappropriately with her. or someone she was with. At least one investigator believes that a sex act began to occur in a car and went wrong somehow, ending with Blair being thrown from and struck by that car.

This could explain the injuries and the black marks from asphalt on his hands, and his stomach could have been ruptured by the car's bumper. The personal items strown around the scene, as though they were thrown from a moving car, also support this theory of Blair's death. Authorities interviewed many sex workers and their associates during the investigation. because of the details of the crime scene, as well as the nearby truck stop known for sex-related activity. But no suspects were developed from that investigation. A car accident doesn't explain the patches of hair that had been ripped out or the hair that was found in his hand. Also, most cars would probably leave injuries lower on the body of an adult man

as well as the trauma to the abdomen. Most theories of what happened that night are incomplete. and they failed to account for every detail. So, I mean, I think that's where you get into the area of saying, I don't believe anybody has completely figured out exactly what happened to Blair Adams. It would also have to be most likely more of a somewhat slow collision. I mean, when you're talking about nearby I-40, that interstate has speeds of 60, 70 miles an hour, that would cause a lot more injuries and they would be consistent with a car crash,

not just look like someone had been beaten up. There's also no mention of any broken ribs in his autopsy report. Another officer on the case has stated that he believes that Blair was kicked quite forcefully, which is what ruptured his stomach leading to his death. This idea makes it, easy to think that Blair's death was never meant to be intentional at all. If it was planned, it was meant to be a message, but possibly he got injured badly. And when his stomach ruptured, he didn't seek medical attention. If it was unplanned, the person who assaulted him may not have realized that they were responsible for a man's death. Adding to the already muddy waters, Blair's mother recalled a time in which Blair had a relationship with a man, which she called a romantic relationship.

They had been roommates, but to her it became clear that they had become romantically involved. According to his mom, his relationships after that one were with women. It's unclear when the associated rectal injuries were caused, and it's still unknown whether they occurred at the same time as the fatal blow to his stomach. For whatever reason, authorities are very interested in the Sex Act theory. So with this information, it could be a male or female sex worker. Some have speculated that Blair could have picked up a male sex worker. Or if there was a female sex worker and he assaulted her, her associates could have stripped him and sexually assaulted him out of revenge. But if that's the case, why leave his valuables?

Even if you don't go through the fanny pack at the scene, if you're afraid to be spotted, why not grab the entire thing? It wasn't too heavy or bulky. I think the one thing that is safe to say, Morph, is that everything about this case pretty much is just odd. The scene of the crime, the way Blair was left, the circumstances around his death, and his behavior before he died. All of it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Gerald Sapp, who tried to help Blair with the Camry, eventually left his job due to to the investigation into Blair's death. While he says the police never accused him, he felt that he was suspected.

He gave hair samples and was interviewed by police. Now, a lot of people online, again, think, okay, this is suspicious that this guy would leave his job over this, but unless you're the person involved, you really have no idea how something like this would affect you. And apparently his DNA doesn't match the bit of DNA that was gathered from the crime scene. So I really don't know why there are a lot of people that are suspicious of this guy. To me, I'm not seeing it. I think the one question that nags so many people is why would someone murder and undress someone but leave thousands of dollars, gold bars, and jewelry laying around in plain sight? Even the construction worker who found

Blair briefly kept a $100 bill and a $10 bill for himself before authorities took them back. Would someone really want revenge and humiliation that badly but not care at all about money? Some of question why Blair had so many different kinds of currencies. Money from his home country in the country he was traveling in makes sense. Did Blair get the German money because he was planning to go to Frankfurt? Or was Blair perhaps planning to meet up with someone who would need German currency? Another possibility is that this was just left over money from when Blair worked construction in Germany the year before. And what about Blair's valuables, the contents of his safe deposit box?

Was he carrying them planning to use them on his life on the run? Or was he intending to hand the valuables over to someone else? As far as Blair's clothes, being off and inside out, authorities think that someone pulled his shoes, pants, and socks off. Now, you could make the argument that all of us at some point have kind of lazily taken off our pants and socks and they've ended up inside out. Blair had sepsis, which can cause fever. So it's very possible. He felt too warm and at some point frantically removed his clothing. There was also no mention of Blair's underwear being found. But of course, there are some people that just don't wear any.

The cause of death itself is a weird one, especially if you're going to call Blair's death of murder. Septic shock isn't immediately fatal, and not every beating will result in sepsis. It's basically like progressive organ failure, so it takes a while. But if not treated, it can be fatal. If someone wanted to kill Blair, there would be many more effective ways than killing them with sepsis. It's interesting to note that once sepsis progresses, it can cause altered mental status or

confusion. The authorities who arrested Blair on suspicion of car theft in Vancouver, Gerald sapped the interstate repair driver in Knoxville and the driver he backed into in Troy, Virginia, all mentioned that Blair was acting sort of out of it. Even his family and friends back home didn't think he was acting like himself before he took off. One popular theory is that it's possible that Blair got into a fight somewhere in British Columbia and suffered the stomach injury there. Remember, we talked about it. He had scratches on his hands on July 9th. Could he have already been injured before he made it to Knoxville? This could help explain why he got into a car accident and why he was so confused about his car key. If he had been merely assaulted and walked away,

the person responsible might not have even known that their actions killed someone. And I think that would help explain why they didn't take the valuables. Blair still had them on him and he dropped them when he later collapsed in Knoxville. But sepsis can kill within 12 hours. So that makes it somewhat unlikely that Blair was suffering from it for that long period of time. That theory also does not explain the hair in his hand or the loud scream that was hurt. The most perplexing thing in this case is why was Blair trying desperately to get out of Canada? What brought him to Knoxville in the first place?

The parking lot that Blair was found in front of a hotel that was still being built. So Blair, a construction foreman, was technically found dead at a construction site. It's unknown whether there's any link to his construction background, but authorities don't appear to believe they are linked. While police don't think there was a construction connection to Blair's death, In the U.S., there are still some questions about a possible German connection. Is there a bigger link with the Frankfurt ticket and the time Blair spent doing construction work there late the previous year?

He had been scheduled to work construction in Frankfurt for two years, but his trip ended after only four months and he returned abruptly to Canada. It's unknown why he came back home so quickly. maybe there was someone or something in Germany that he needed to get away from. His girlfriend there in Germany and one other Canadian friend revealed that Blair feared his co-workers who had just returned from Frankfurt were going to do something violent. But it wasn't known if this violence was going to be directed towards Blair or not. Also, you know, if he's running away from someone in Germany,

why would he buy a ticket to go back to Frankfurt? As authorities tried to connect the dots in Blair's case, they uncovered a few sightings of Blair, or someone who looked a lot like him, that police discounted for unknown reasons. Three men believe they saw Blair at a truck stop, and two women believe they saw him with a man at a cracker barrel restaurant. It's still unclear why authorities ruled out these sightings,

especially the one supposedly placing Blair at the Strawberry Plains Pike Cracker Barrel in Tennessee. That cracker barrel was on the same side of the highway I-40 that the gas station in Inmeron, and to this day they served fried shrimp with coal saws aside, which is consistent with Blair's last meal. Authorities have never stated that they know where Blair did eat in Knoxville that night, only that they don't believe it was Blair that was seen at that cracker barrel. The two women disagreed on what the man seen with Blair looked like. Oddly enough, a composite sketch of a man believed to have been seen with Blair has been released.

even though authorities don't believe that citing was Blair. When you search for this case online, the sketch is one of the first images that pops up. It's unclear why they would release a sketch of a man, seen with a man, that they don't actually think was Blair. But to me, it's very unclear. So, you know, police are coming out and discounting this sighting as being Blair,

but yet they're going to release a sketch anyway of the, other man in the hopes of what, trying to find this man, talk to him, and then see if he was with Blair. I mean, it is kind of strange when you think about it. I think all it does is muddy the waters in this case where it's already the water's pretty money. So it seems like a disservice to the case, in my opinion. Well, I don't have a problem with them wanting to talk to this man. I guess what I find odd is that they've discounted. deciding so much. Why just, why not just say they're not sure if it's him, but they want to talk to this man to see what he knows, to find out if it could have been Blair, but to come out and just,

you know, discount it the way they have. I agree with you more. If it, it does seem like it does kind of a disservice to the case. At the TNR truck stop in Dandridge, Tennessee, about 40 minutes east of Knoxville, three employees claimed to have seen Blair. there the night he died between 9.30 and 10.30 p.m. The employee said that Blair was thumbing through tattoo magazines and that there was a second man with him and the two were talking about Canadian money. This siding as well as the siding at Cracker Barrel were on the outskirts of Knoxville, but on the same side of Highway I-40 as the fair filled in. And again, I think you have to say the same thing about this siting at the truck stop. It's, to me, kind of a mystery, why these

separate sightings have been discounted. Many years after Blair's death, his mother made claims that Blair was heading to the Atlanta Olympics at the time of his death, and that had always been his plan. Why she never mentioned that in any of the years preceding, as anyone's guess? When pressed on why they didn't give these details earlier, Blair's parents didn't want to to talk about it. But it's odd that they would change her story so many years later. Authorities were never aware of this apparent plan of Blairs to go to the Olympics. The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta began eight days after Blair's death and occurred over 200 miles away from where he was ultimately found. And of course, more if, you know, most people

remember the Atlanta Olympics because, of the infamous bombing that killed two people and injured several others. In that bombing, Eric Rudolph was found to be responsible, and there is no evidence that Blair was connected to the bombing in any way. In 1997, Blair's death was first featured in a segment on an episode of the TV show Unsolved Mysteries. There are multiple episodes in syndication that now feature Blair's segment. It's been 25 years, but no answers have come.

the case. And it's basically beyond cold. I think more of what intrigues so many people about this case is that there are still so many questions that remain unanswered. Did Blair have some kind of mental break? And he was running from some type of threat that he perceived but didn't really exist and he just happened to randomly run into someone that killed him or was there someone really after Blair that finally caught up with him in Tennessee. And then the third possibility is that he was simply the victim of an accident. Although I think with that possibility, it's somewhat hard to answer some of the questions about his action. leading up to him getting to Knoxville, Tennessee.

Blair did not have a history of mental illness. And many people feel that at his age, 31 years old, he was too old to experience his first severe psychotic or paranoid episode. But that's simply not true. Various forms of mental illness can start, you know, seemingly at any age. a lot of the early symptoms can be missed, especially if they're mass or attributed to other things like substance abuse or alcoholism. Whether Blair Adams was in his right mind or not, he most likely didn't rupture his own stomach. And I think that holds true for the determination

of whether he was killed intentionally or he was in a fight that resulted in his injuries. The other possibility is that someone really was after Blair and went through a lot of effort to track him down to Tennessee and kill him. But if that's the case, what's the motive? If he was killed by someone that was after him, we know that the person didn't care about money or valuables since so much of it was found with Blair near his body. One thing is certain. You could go down a lot of rabbit holes with this case. And I think more if that's the reason why so many people remember. remain fascinated with this case, the death of Blair Adams.

We mentioned it, right? So many unanswered questions, so many different avenues to go down. If it was this, why? If it wasn't this, was it this? I mean, it's, it's kind of mind boggling in its entirety. But then, you know, I often think about a case like this. in terms of, you know, sometimes the most obvious answer is maybe oftentimes the right one. I think the issue with this case is, I don't believe there is one obvious or most likely answer.

Yeah, I think that presents a lot of problems for investigators because they have to look in all these different directions across multiple states and multiple countries actually. So I think they really had their work cut out for them trying to figure out what happened here. Yeah, I mean, you start with the erratic behavior, which seems pretty obvious. The fact that he sets up a number of destinations, passes on some ends up ultimately in Knoxville, Tennessee. Why? Right. I mean, you have to answer that question. You have to answer that question. was at his ultimate destination or was he headed somewhere else, maybe Atlanta, as his mother has said. The bottom line is we just don't know. And I don't think anyone knows.

I don't know what you think, but this case reminds me a lot of the Cindy James case. She's someone who reported all kinds of dangerous people stalking her and the police themselves started to think she was making it up. up and then she turned up dead in a very mysterious and suspicious way, which still leaves a lot of questions and answered in her case. And it's got a lot of parallels with this one, I think. I think it does in the fact of how mysterious both of these cases are, the elements that are involved leading up to the death of each person and the elements of the deaths themselves. And the fact that people aren't 100% sure whether these are deaths or murders. And I think that's what makes cases like this somewhat unique.

Most of the time when you're talking about an unsolved case, it's an unsolved murder. Now, it might be a disappearance. The body's never been found, but the assumption is usually made that this person was the victim of foul play. In this case, we don't know for sure one way or the other. I think that there's one thing the investigators still have going for them. It's that hair that was found in Blair's hand because if they can link that hair to someone through genetic genealogy or whatever they can do with it and match. it to someone, they can at least have a starting point to say, why was this hair in his hand and sort of fill in the blanks from there? Yeah, to me, that's the biggest piece of evidence in this

case. And the one that could ultimately lead to, if not solving the case, at least that tip, right? That lead that puts investigators on the right path. Thanks goes out to Sunny Landon for writing and research assistants in this episode. As always, if you, You love the show, but haven't done so yet. Take a minute. Go out. Give us a five-star rating. Keep telling your true crime-loving friends about the criminology podcast.

That word of mouth goes a long way. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for criminology podcast or by joining our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast, discussion and fans. So that is it for our episode. on Blair Adams, but we'll be back with everyone next Saturday night with a brand new episode of criminology. So for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.