SAVANNAH, Tenn. (AP) – A judge set a tentative trial date Tuesday for a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing a Tennessee nursing student who disappeared from her rural home more than six years ago.
Judge C. Creed McGinley said he plans to hold the trial of John Dylan Adams during the last week of May 2018. Adams is charged in the case of Holly Bobo, who was 20 when she was reported missing from her home in Parsons, Tennessee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Nashville.
Bobo’s disappearance on April 13, 2011, led to a massive search of the woods, fields and farms of west Tennessee, and her case received national attention. Her remains were found in September 2014 by two ginseng hunters in woods not far from Bobo’s home in Decatur County.
John Dylan Adams is the younger brother of Zachary Adams, who was convicted of Bobo’s kidnapping, rape and murder on Sept. 22 and was sentenced the next day to life in prison without parole plus 50 years. Zachary Adams avoided a possible death sentence when he reached a deal with prosecutors minutes before his sentencing hearing was to begin.
Assistant District Attorney Paul Hagerman talks with Karen and Dana Bobo, parents of Holly Bobo, at the conclusion of a hearing for John Dylan Adams, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017, in Savannah, Tenn. Judge C. Creed McGinley set dates for motions, hearings and Adams’ trial in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Holly Bobo, a Tennessee nursing student who disappeared from her rural home more than six years ago. (Kenneth Cummings/The Jackson Sun via AP)
Dana Bobo, let, father of Holly Bobo, testifies in the trial of Zachary Adams as a photo of Holly Bobo is displayed Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, in Savannah, Tenn. Holly Bobo, a 20-year-old nursing student, disappeared from her home in Parsons, Tenn. on April 13, 2011, and Adams is charged with her kidnapping, rape and murder. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, Pool) Zachary Adams’ jury selection and trial was moved from Decatur County to neighboring Hardin County because of the intense publicity the case received in Bobo’s home county. McGinley said he is making arrangements to hold John Dylan Adams’ jury selection in Chattanooga, located in Hamilton County in southeast Tennessee.