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The trial of Zachary Adams continues this morning in Tennessee. Adams is one of six people arrested in connection with the disappearance and death of 20-year-old Holly Bobo, and the first to stand trial.
Holly disappeared at 7:30 a.m. on April 13, 2011. Her brother saw her entering the woods near her home with a man dressed in camouflage. Her brother assumed at the time that she was with her boyfriend. However, he alerted the authorities when he found blood outside the house.
After what has been called the most extensive search in Tennessee history, Bobo was never found.
Nearly two and a half years later, on September 7, 2014, hunters looking for ginseng found a skull later identified as Bobo’s some twenty miles from her home. No bones below her neck have ever been found, sources say.
Adams’ brother John Dylan Adams, Jason Autry, Shayne Austin, Jeff Pearcy, and Mark Pearcy were also arrested and accused of various levels of involvement.
John Dylan Adams claimed he saw Bobo with his brother Zachary and friend Autry after she was reported missing. He also reportedly claimed to know that the men “had raped Bobo and videotaped it.”
Wednesday’s testimony covered DNA evidence and the discovery of Bobo’s skull. Ernest “Larry” Stone was the one who found it, and testified that when he was hunting for ginseng he discovered the skull in an overturned bucket on the ground. Forensic pathologist Marco Ross testified regarding what appeared to be a bullet hole in the skull. Ross said that such a wound would have killed Bobo, although on cross-examination he acknowledged that it’s possible the gun shot could have been fired after her death.
Other remains included ribs, a mandible, and sternum. A DNA test of a rib showed a match for Bobo’s family, in that its DNA profile was similar to Holly’s brother Clint, and appeared to be the child of Karen and Dana Bobo, Holly’s parents.
Stay with LawNewz.com and the LawNewz Network for continuing coverage of the trial.
Aaron Keller contributed to this report.
