TN TN - Kathy Jones, 12, Nashville, 29 Nov 1969 #1

[December]

Former mental patient charged with killing of Nora Kalhylene "Kathy" Jones, 12, who died on her way to a skating rink where the suspect worked. Edward Warner Adcox, 51, was charged with murder after investigators talked to an 8-year-old boy with whom Adcox allegedly committed sodomy. The boy sad that he bragged of having sex with young children. The child said he also talked of killing a girl near the roller rink.

BBM, I've never heard this was Kathy's name. But, I could be wrong as everyone just called her "Kathy".

This is an article backing up what I have always heard about the little boy who told his parents who then told the police.

From here, it's pay. But, there is an OCR version you can read.

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/24526180/

Some other stories linked in this thread identify Adcox as the "bus driver" for the skating rink. Now, I do not know why a skating rink would need a bus driver, but I guess things were different in 1969. I have always heard him referred to as the bus driver for the skating rink, btw. But, not by name. I don't think my family felt he deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as Kathy.

ALSO, different stories linked here say he WAS a known child molester. Again, I have no idea why he was able to work around children. I assume his employers may not have been aware of that fact about him. But, the Metro Police surely did know. And they hit him up right away, along with cab drivers.

I take this to mean that the police figured a cab driver from her neighborhood or the skating rink bus driver might be people from whom Kathy would accept a ride. And that might be people that other folks who glimpsed something might not give a second look. I'm not saying that is what happened. But, I wonder if those thoughts went across the investigators' minds.

 

[December]

Angels_Not_Forgotten, I have posted on Topix as you suggested. So, maybe that will pan out. I will post anything interesting I find out that is allowed upon this forum.

 

[bessie]

What I'd like to know is why they were so sure Adcox wasn't the right suspect. And who was the guy they later considered the right suspect? Was it the cab driver?

Miller said Adcox admitted to a lot of things he had done over the years, but the Jones killing wasn’t one of them. In addition, Miller says he and other detectives began developing some information on another subject.

The evidence they uncovered, Miller believes, is solid. So solid, in fact, that it led to the killer. Miller cannot say what that evidence is. “At this point in time, we feel certain we know who killed her.... This man is living in Nashville and works every day.”

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/a-killing-a-search-a-suspect/Content?oid=1182733

 

[December]

What I'd like to know is why they were so sure Adcox wasn't the right suspect. And who was the guy they later considered the right suspect? Was it the cab driver?



http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/a-killing-a-search-a-suspect/Content?oid=1182733

I don't know why they didn't think he was the right suspect. I would surely like to know that.

I know my father thought Adcox was the right man because of the little boy. I think the little boy managed to call home. The boy, even though he was only 8, knew who Kathy was and knew he better get free of this man.

The name of the cab driver is at half the links. I don't know if he has been offically named in the media by the police, but his last name that some of my other relatives are using is in the title of this thread and his first name is Darrell.

However, there is (possibly) another Darrell who also drove a cab. He has a different last name. And I have actually met him. The other one, I do not think I have ever met. But, there is plenty of evidence he also drove a cab. They did drive cabs in different parts of town, it turns out and what people call "Nashville" covers quite a bit of real estate.

The one I met seemed o.k., but I was a kid. However, my father was with me and my father saw Kathy's body. And I do not remember my father leaving me even for a second. But, unsurprisingly, my father kept watch over me when I was a kid.

My relatives saw this person they're talking about much more than once or twice. So, their experiences would have been different. I would defer to their opinions, however, I really am not sure if there is one guy or two guys due to the last name discrepency (and these last names are not at all similar). I wish my father was alive to ask because he could clear this up in a second.

One of my younger cousins talks at the link about someone protecting a young girl in my family from Darrell. She is talking about Kathy's brother Kelly got into a fight with Darrell.

Kelly was not a violent person AT ALL. However, this same creep was bothering his daughter that he'd been told his whole life had killed his sister (which why is a grown man talking to a little girl who doesn't even want to talk to him?). He told her to go stand beside a policeman until he could get there. This story has been told to me by more than one person, so I believe them.

Kelly died not long after that. He was in his 30s and in good health. I wish I had been able to talk to Kelly about this. I knew him better than I know these girls. Kelly was a really nice person. I can barely imagine him fighting anyone. But, because of this fight, I do not think it is the same Darrell I met. So, this is confusing to me.

ETA:
The situation with Kelly and his daughter is pretty recent. So, she had a cell phone. She wasn't really very far from him, she was just scared. He told her if the policeman asked what she wanted to tell him she was waiting for her father. I don't know what the fight involved or where it was. I think it was more a couple of punches to make a point.. which is not always the #1 best way, but well... there was more to than I've said. A very upsetting verbal exchange I'm not 100% sure about. Which is why I wish I could ask Kelly.

It is possible there wasn't a fight really and my female cousins were freaked out by the whole thing. But, something very unusual happened that night.

 

[December]

Here is a debate people are having about a wikipedia article about Marcia Trimble. However, this one small section mentions Kathy.

Quote:
there was another unsolved murder of a little girl who rode the bus that used to go to the old "All Weather Rollerdrome" on Thompson Lane (the building where H. H. Gregg is now); despite her definitively having been raped and brutally murdered, with an old sock shoved down her throat and her body left across the road from the Roller Drome in what was then a vacant field, very little about this is ever said

from here:
Talk:Murder of Marcia Trimble - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(it's mostly about Marcia Trimble and not even about her, but arguing about an article someone wrote about her)

HOWEVER, this is interesting to me because it seems to be written by someone FROM Nashville. And this person claims Kathy rode the bus (and the roller rink had a bus, weirdly enough) to go to the All Weather Rollerdrome (which I never knew that was the name). And Adcox drove the very bus they are talking about. The same Adcox who very nearly was prosecuted for Kathy's murder.

The sock was just one of her socks. I don't think it was particularly old. But, that part may be confused with the random piece of old fabric used to bind her hands.

There is a little more about Kathy at the link, but that is really the important part.

They debate some about the neighborhoods Kathy and Marcia are from and it is the absolute truth Marcia is from a richer neighborhood even if everyone there didn't live in a mansion. The person who tries to play it off probably doesn't even know anything about Kathy.

The amount of coverage is insanely different. Whatever the reason, that is no exaggeration. I am surprised, in retrospect that my entire family didn't go insane with the media carrying on like no girl in the world had ever been kidnapped. But, we knew this wasn't Marcia's fault. It was the media in Nashville. As it was only six years later, very likely a lot of the same people were working.

However, one thing is Marcia was missing for a month and Kathy was found within a few days. So, people probably had some more interest in Marcia's case because they thought if they could find her, then she could go home. That is totally understandable. Also, Marcia was 9 and Kathy was 12. Maybe that was part of it, too.

 

[December]

A photo of Thompson Lane in 1984. You can't see either the Roller Drome or the Krispy Kreme, but they would be on the corners across from where the car is position as it's about to go through the tunnel. I'm not sure where Kathy's street is in relationship to this, I don't THINK she had to go through the tunnel, but I could be wrong.

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/HMb4E9S5UNQ/default.jpg

 

[December]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAAIBAJ&pg=7259,3446234&dq=kathy-jones&hl=en

Newspaper article about a little girl from Chattanooga who was kidnapped and taken to Atlanta (but was safely recovered by the FBI). Mentions Kathy at the end as her kidnapping and murder was very recent at this time. Article is from 12/16/1969.

 

[4SAM]

Its says in the article that no DNA was taken and no autopsy. Can she be exhumed?

 

[December]

Its says in the article that no DNA was taken and no autopsy. Can she be exhumed?

I've thought about that and I don't know.

 

[December]

Does anyone know about the exhumation? If there would be any chance of finding any forsenic clues upon her at this late date? Are graves the same temperature as caves? Caves in Tennessee are under 60 degrees naturally (I don't remember the exact temperature either 54 or 56 degrees F).

My father saw Kathy before she was fixed up. He didn't see her behind the Krispy Kreme. He had to drive a good way after she was discovered. But, I don't know if anyone else in my family did or if she had an open or closed casket. It was winter, so maybe they could fix her up enough.

I think her brother's daughter would be her next of kin of this point. I don't want to approach her with this if there is no way it would do any good. This would be highly upsetting and heartbreaking to her even though she was born a long time after Kathy died.

 

[nerosleuth]

December,

I’m so sorry about what happened to your cousin. I do hope that you and your family will be able to find justice for your cousin Kathy.

 

[nerosleuth]

The police were apparently shaking down cab drivers after this happened.

Then later, there was talk of a blue truck.

I do not know why a skating rink would need a bus driver, but I guess things were different in 1969. I have always heard him referred to as the bus driver for the skating rink, btw. But, not by name. I don't think my family felt he deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as Kathy.

About the blue truck, what kind of a truck were they talking about?

Were any kind of construction going on in the area at the time where your cousin disappeared and was later found murdered?

I'm curious about the roller skating rink having a bus driver. This is interesting.

Who owned the bus? Was it owned by the roller skating rink, or by another group such as a church or youth group? Another possibility is that maybe the suspect owned a bus.

 

[December]

December,

I’m so sorry about what happened to your cousin. I do hope that you and your family will be able to find justice for your cousin Kathy.

Thank you. I appreciate your kind words. I hope we can.

I am thinking of calling the police and asking them what is going on right now. I am wondering what is going on with these suspects and if they're even still alive.

Adcox definitely had an arrest record, but I can't find it. If he was still alive, I believe he'd be about 87years old right now. The other one is younger than Adcox. I'm not sure about a lot of things involving him.

I have been wanting to ask you, since you do such a good job on the cases you research, how do you find so much information? I want to do research for Kathy and I can't figure out how to get all of the newspaper articles. Do you go to the library?

 

[December]

About the blue truck, what kind of a truck were they talking about?

Were any kind of construction going on in the area at the time where your cousin disappeared and was later found murdered?

I'm curious about the roller skating rink having a bus driver. This is interesting.

Who owned the bus? Was it owned by the roller skating rink, or by another group such as a church or youth group? Another possibility is that maybe the suspect owned a bus.

It is my understanding the roller drome owned the bus and Adcox drove it. But, I do not know this for certain. I guess it makes a certain amount of sense... there were several neighborhoods right around there with kids whose parents might let them go to skate if there was a bus to take them and bring them home. It might be worth the expense of the bus and employing a driver.

But, given the sort of person Adcox was, he might have bought the bus himself and contracted to drive it for the roller drome. I am actually trying to find out about the bus.

And there are buses and there are buses.. I don't know if by "bus" they mean a large van or an old school bus or what. I can't imagine there is anything bigger than that unless there were some kind of skating leagues that needed the bus to travel to competitions. I have found a little evidence that point to that possibility.

It was probably a really fun place to go.

There may have been some construction because there was a mall being built that, I will look this up to be sure, either opened shortly after or opened shortly before. If you were driving down that road and went through the tunnel, I believe you would come to it (it has been a LOOOONG time since I've driven this). Even though it was definitely out of walking range for Kathy, the mall would have stimulated growth around it and things might have been under construction.

But, I believe Adcox just took the little boy to his house. This is the story I'm remembering. I do not know how he got the little boy there, but I believe the little boy manage to sneak and use the phone in the house to call home. If Adcox was the murderer (IF), then maybe he would have taken Kathy to his home as well.

As far as the blue truck, I do not know where I heard about that. But, I did. And I can almost see it in my mind because I used to know what kind of truck. It didn't belong to anyone I knew, but I just heard them talking and more or less had an idea of the type of truck it was. I don't know who would've owned it... maybe someone in the neighborhood or, like you mentioned, someone working on something in the neighborhood.

 

[nerosleuth]

Does anyone know about the exhumation? If there would be any chance of finding any forensic clues upon her at this late date? Are graves the same temperature as caves? Caves in Tennessee are under 60 degrees naturally (I don't remember the exact temperature either 54 or 56 degrees F).

I do know that you have to get a court order from a judge before a body can be removed from a grave to be exhumed. The medical examiner and the police would have to be willing to reopen the murder case to do it.

If the ME and the police aren't willing to have an exhumation, I don't know if you can hire a private ME to do an private exhumation for the family. You might have to seek an attorney's advice about this subject.

I honestly don't know if the exhumation will give you any DNA or forensic clues, or if it'll show any kind of trauma injuries on the body that may explain how your cousin died.

As for the graves, I think the ground temperature would be different than the temperature inside a cave, especially at winter time. I believe during the winter, the ground temperature in a grave is same as the air temperature on the outside.

 

[nerosleuth]

Adcox definitely had an arrest record, but I can't find it. If he was still alive, I believe he'd be about 87years old right now. The other one is younger than Adcox. I'm not sure about a lot of things involving him.

I have been wanting to ask you, since you do such a good job on the cases you research, how do you find so much information? I want to do research for Kathy and I can't figure out how to get all of the newspaper articles. Do you go to the library?

Yes, I go to the public library to do my research. My advice is go to a public library that has the Nashville newspapers on microfilm from 1969.

You might get lucky where the public library has a newer version of newspaper microfilm reader that lets you scan the newspaper article in a .pdf file and sent it to your e-mail on your home pc.

I would check the Nashville public library website to see if they have any newspaper indexes online to search for news stories from the Nashville newspapers. If they don't have it online, then a public library in Nashville may have it in a news index book for each year.

You might also check with a college library to see if they have the Nashville newspapers on microfilm as well.

As for court records, finding records online are different in every state and jurisdiction.

In Ohio, some counties only have court records anywhere from the last 5 to 20 years that are online. In Kentucky, the only court cases you can see online are current court cases. Once a court case in Kentucky is resolved, you won't see them online anymore.

 

[December]

I do know that you have to get a court order from a judge before a body can be removed from a grave to be exhumed. The medical examiner and the police would have to be willing to reopen the murder case to do it.

If the ME and the police aren't willing to have an exhumation, I don't know if you can hire a private ME to do an private exhumation for the family. You might have to seek an attorney's advice about this subject.

I honestly don't know if the exhumation will give you any DNA or forensic clues, or if it'll show any kind of trauma injuries on the body that may explain how your cousin died.

As for the graves, I think the ground temperature would be different than the temperature inside a cave, especially at winter time. I believe during the winter, the ground temperature in a grave is same as the air temperature on the outside.

The actual cause of death is suffocation. That was determined at the time. She had other injuries... and some of those sound serious. I do not know whether or not it would have been possible for her to live if she hadn't been suffocated (as in I really do not know how bad they were, but they sound quite severe to me). Since she wasn't going to get any medical attention, I believe she had a serious neck wound that would have killed her in addition to some other bad injuries.
They must have documented it somehow. They have photographs which tell a lot. The Nashville Scene article has many details that can be discerned from those.

I don't think Kathy's case was ever closed by the police. They have interviewed members of my family over the years. When new detectives get the case, they go and contact whomever they have in our family. Linda was really sick the last time they talked to her... she died not long afterward. But, that was in the 90s. This has become more difficult as so many people have died off. Kathy's case is still worked by the police to this decade. I don't know exactly how often though.

Then there are the polygraphs... These might also contain details that the police observed. I don't know, but it seems they would have asked some very specific things as well as general questions. I believe they started doing the polygraphs early enough that police who were at the crime scene may have been able to put in questions to be asked.

I honestly do not know that there is any forensic information they could get at this time. I do not know what the condition of her remains would be. And I don't know if there are any specific questions that would be answered.

The thing that puzzles me is there is a newspaper article in this thread that says the police hope that DNA evidence will help solve the crime. I don't know what DNA evidence this would be or where they have it. Maybe they preserved some of her clothing that they found at the scene? I really have no idea what they may have or where they may get it if they do not already have it.

 

[December]

Yes, I go to the public library to do my research. My advice is go to a public library that has the Nashville newspapers on microfilm from 1969.

You might get lucky where the public library has a newer version of newspaper microfilm reader that lets you scan the newspaper article in a .pdf file and sent it to your e-mail on your home pc.

I would check the Nashville public library website to see if they have any newspaper indexes online to search for news stories from the Nashville newspapers. If they don't have it online, then a public library in Nashville may have it in a news index book for each year.

You might also check with a college library to see if they have the Nashville newspapers on microfilm as well.

As for court records, finding records online are different in every state and jurisdiction.

In Ohio, some counties only have court records anywhere from the last 5 to 20 years that are online. In Kentucky, the only court cases you can see online are current court cases. Once a court case in Kentucky is resolved, you won't see them online anymore.

Thank you for this information. I believe I may know a library not too far away that will have at least one Nashville newspaper. I am also considering subscribing to a newspaper archive service as I have found brief mentions about Kathy in other people's articles. Even though these are small snippets, there are a few clues in them as they were written closer in time.

The Nashville Scene article is very good as the reporter actually sat with the police and looked at Kathy's file. So, I am grateful for that article. However, I want to find the articles written at the time.

Thank you for the information about looking up criminals. The only people I'd ever looked up are people who are 1. current or 2. famous. This Adcox character is neither one.

 

[December]

100 Oaks Mall opened in 1968. It is at 719 Thompson Lane. The Roller Drome was at 523 Thompson Lane. (Some older information for 100 Oaks Mall gives its address as Powell Avenue, there's more than one entrance and always has been. But, the Thompson Lane entrance is a major entrance.)

So, there very likely was some construction in the area in late 1969 due to businesses moving in to take advantage of the traffic generated by the mall. Some say the mall did not originally have a food court, for example.

 

[December]

The rollerdrome had a bus that would come by and pick us up on Saturday mornings and then bring us back home.

I found the above comment at a page where people are talking about Nashville in the appropriate time period. This is all the person said about the bus. I thought that because it was so generic, it might be all right. So, there is a partial explanation of what the bus was for according to one person.