The murder of Holly Bobo
Parsons, Decatur County, Tennessee · 2011
Overview
Holly Bobo, a 20-year-old nursing student, was taken from her family's home in Parsons, Decatur County, Tennessee, on the morning of April 13, 2011. Her brother told police he saw a man in camouflage lead her into the woods; her blood was found in the carport, and her phone and lunch box turned up in the woods. The TBI called it the most expensive investigation in its history, but for three years the lead agent pursued a local sex offender who was never charged, and the case stalled. In March 2014 a grand jury indicted Zachary Adams, a methamphetamine user from the same county, for aggravated kidnapping and felony murder; his friend Jason Autry was charged in April, and later Adams's brother. On September 7, 2014, two men digging ginseng found her skull in woods off Interstate 40, about ten miles from the Adams family property; dental records confirmed it the next day. No DNA linked Adams to Holly. At his September 2017 trial, Autry testified that he kept watch under a river bridge while Adams shot her, and friends and jail inmates said Adams had spoken of harming her. The jury convicted Adams on all counts on September 22, 2017, and he was sentenced to life plus 50 years. His brother pleaded guilty and got 35 years; Autry got eight. In 2024 Autry recanted, saying he built the story from discovery files; a judge dismissed the petition, and in July 2026 a further request for a new trial was denied.
How it was solved
The Bobo case was closed by people talking, not by forensics. Investigators found no DNA connecting Zachary Adams to Holly. Prosecutors later said the names of all four men they believed were involved had surfaced early, but the TBI's lead agent was convinced a registered sex offender who lived nearby was responsible and, in a prosecutor's words, did not listen. That agent was put on desk duty in 2013. The break came in the spring of 2014. Adams's younger brother, John Dylan Adams, was in another county jail and, Fox News reported citing the Jackson Sun, said he had seen Zachary with Holly after the abduction; authorities said Zachary tried to pass a threatening message to him through another inmate. A grand jury indicted Zachary Adams in March 2014 on aggravated kidnapping and felony murder. On April 29, 2014, Jason Autry, a longtime friend of Adams, was charged with the same crimes; the TBI said sworn witness statements placed Holly alive with the two men after she was taken. A fourth man, Shayne Austin, was offered immunity for the location of her body; prosecutors said he was untruthful and rescinded the deal, and he was found dead in a Florida hotel room in February 2015, an apparent suicide. Her remains were found by ginseng hunters that September, not by any of the accused. What put Adams in prison was Autry. Prosecutor Paul Hagerman told the jury Autry came clean to investigators in late 2016; the defense said it surfaced in January 2017, three years after his arrest, when he faced the death penalty. Autry described seeing a body wrapped in a blanket in Adams's truck, riding with him to the Tennessee River beneath the I-40 bridge, and acting as lookout when Holly made a sound and Adams fired. Hagerman argued the account had been corroborated again and again: a friend said Adams asked whether God would forgive him for the killing; an inmate said Adams threatened to put his brother in a hole beside her. Judge C. Creed McGinley called Autry's testimony some of the most credible he had heard in a courtroom. Autry pleaded to lesser charges and served eight years. When he recanted in 2024, Judge J. Brent Bradberry ruled that his new statements offered neither an alibi for Adams nor evidence of anyone else's guilt.
Sources
- Witnesses saw suspects with Holly Bobo after kidnapping, TBI says (April 30, 2014)
“Zachary Adams, 29, was first to be indicted on the same charges in March. He called his mother, who then contacted 911.”
- Authorities confirm remains of missing nursing student Holly Bobo discovered (September 9, 2014)
“Her brother told police that he saw a man dressed in camouflage leading her away into the woods.”
- Remains of Missing Tenn. Woman Found (September 9, 2014)
“The case was seemingly at a standstill until this spring, when TBI agents arrested Zachary Adams.”
- One year anniversary since remains of Holly Bobo identified (September 8, 2015)
“In May, all three were charged with the kidnapping and murder of the 20-year-old.”
- State: Indentation on Holly Bobo's skull consistent with bullet hole (August 9, 2017)
“State prosecutors said in court Wednesday that an indentation on Holly Bobo's skull is consistent with that of a bullet hole.”
- Bobo trial to resume after damaging testimony (September 13, 2017)
“On Wednesday, a medical examiner showed a hole near the back of Holly's skull that was consistent with a gunshot wound.”
- Holly Bobo case: Star witness testimony in dispute as deliberations continue (September 22, 2017)
“Hagerman argued that Autry's story had been "corroborated, corroborated, and corroborated again" by testimony.”
- Zach Adams found guilty in murder of Holly Bobo (September 22, 2017)
“It took six men and six women 11 days to convict Zach Adams. Adams was found guilty on all counts.”
- Judge denies new trial for convicted murderer Zach Adams in Holly Bobo case (August 11, 2020)
“A judge has overruled a motion for a new trial for convicted murderer Zach Adams, charged in the murder of Holly Bobo.”
- Holly Bobo murder trial witness Jason Autry recants testimony, court documents say (February 28, 2024)
“Investigators found no DNA evidence connecting Adams to Bobo. Instead, they relied on testimony from friends and jail inmates, who said Adams spoke of harming Bobo after she died.”
- Holly Bobo murder case returns to court, 7 years after a Tennessee man's conviction (June 14, 2024)
“Adams’ brother, John Dylan Adams, also pleaded guilty to charges in the Bobo killing and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.”
- Tennessee judge denies attempt for a new trial in Holly Bobo killing (September 27, 2024)
“Mr. Autry's new statements do not leave this Court without serious or substantial doubt that Mr. Adams is actually innocent.”
- Convicted murderer in Holly Bobo case has appeal denied (July 17, 2026)
“Today’s ruling by Judge Bradberry does nothing to bring back our sweet Holly or erase the deep loss we feel.”
- Murder of Holly Bobo
“In January 2018, Zach's brother, Dylan, accepted an Alford plea and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.”