Hamilton County jurors will keep deliberating Friday in a 16-year-old murder case.
Adolphus Hollingsworth is on trial of murder in the Aug. 18, 1997, slaying of his 28-year-old wife, Victoria Carr Hollingsworth. The trial lasted only two days with prosecutors resting their case a day and a half after opening arguments and the defense team calling no witnesses.
Jurors got the case first thing Thursday and worked all day but hadn’t been able to come to a decision shortly after 6 p.m. They were sent home for the night.
Prosecutors say Adolphus Hollingsworth, charged last year with his wife’s murder, stabbed Victoria Hollingsworth in the neck as she took him to work in her Ford Mustang, then buried her body under some tires on Billy Goat Hill in East Chattanooga. Prosecutors say he drove the Mustang back to her parents’ home afterward.
Victoria Hollingsworth’s body wasn’t found until May 1999 despite searches following her disappearance.
The TNT television show “Cold Justice” paid for DNA testing in the revival of the case. Defense attorneys attacked the show’s involvement in the case, performing testing they said should have been done by investigators early on.
Adolphus Hollingsworth did not take the stand.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.