Billy Adams testifying at his double murder trial. Jurors acquitted him for killing Trevon Albury and Daniel Thompson. Mere days later, he allegedly shot and killed his pregnant girlfriend Alana Sims. (Screenshot: WTVT)
Police say a man fatally shot his pregnant girlfriend just days after a Florida jury acquitted him of murdering two men. Billy Bennett Adams III, 25, killed Alana Sims, 22, on Jan. 30, apparently because he did not want to be in her life and he was not ready to have a child, police said in a press conference covered by WFLA.
Adams was acquitted of first-degree murder and burglary charges on Jan. 27 in the deaths of Trevon Albury and Daniel Thompson, who Adams told the jury were executing a robbery at Joseph Meeks’ recording studio in 2020.
“Mr. Albury points a gun to the back of Mr. Meeks’ head,” Adams said, according to KTSU. “Mr. Meeks is at the computer, his back is turned. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”
He shot Albury, he reportedly said. Then Thompson tried to take his gun from him, and he shot him too, he said.
“I turned around, and I saw he had a gun in his hand and he said they were going to rob,” Meeks said.
Meeks and Adams gave conflicting accounts of how the three arrived at the recording studio. Meeks said the defendant and the slain men arrived together, while Adams said they arrived separately and that Albury and Thompson were only acquaintances.
Jurors found Adams not guilty. He had his entire life ahead of him. So did Sims, until she was found shot to death outside her car in the 10700 block of Pictorial Park Drive in New Tampa on the evening of Jan. 30. She was five months pregnant. Her 18-month-old son was found alive in the vehicle. Police believe Sims was out there for some time before she was discovered.
Investigators’ impression is that Sims thought she was going to a party celebrating Adams’ acquittal, police reportedly said. It seemed that she was lured there, though authorities are still working to determine how. One thing is clear, however. They say Adams pulled the trigger.
Sims had been driving a 2021 Fort Ecosport, according to court documents. Police said they spoke to the vehicle owner.
“During the interview it was discovered that the victim had planned to attend a party for her boyfriend on the evening of the murder,” documents stated.
Sims was supposed to pick up the vehicle owner that night at 9 p.m., but she never arrived.
“Through discussions with members of the victim’s family it was determined that her boyfriend that the victim had planned to meet on 1/30/2023 was a male by the nickname ‘Ace,’ also known as Billy Adams III,” the documents stated.
Adams said he knew her but denied he knew she was dead. He allegedly said he did not believe he was the unborn child’s father. He had not seen, talked to, or texted Sims in several months, he said in documents. Adams allegedly asserted he was home the entire evening of Jan. 30 and did not leave home until the following day.
But police said they determined he was driving his father’s car that night.
“When Billy Adams, III was confronted about the RFID readings and video from his subdivision, Adams recanted his earlier statements about being home all evening. During this second statement, Adams, III stated he was with friends earlier in the evening on 1/30/2023 and that the three had went to the Villas in Tampa. Adams, III stated he had left his residence around 6:50 p.m. and returned home around 8:30 p.m. on January 30, 2023.”
He denied going to the subdivision where Sims died, authorities said. He allegedly gave a video showing him out with friends. It was purportedly taken the night of Jan. 30, but investigators determined he actually altered it. The video was actually made on Feb. 1, they said. Adams III denied going to the Easton Park subdivision, where the victim died on January 30.
When police obtained the probable cause and a motive, they confronted him with the conflicts and discrepancies in his story. Adams allegedly changed his version of events, this time admitting he did meet Sims at the Easton Park subdivision, where she was found dead. This time, he admitted to killing her, although his version of events painted her as the aggressor, according to documents.
“Initially the defendant stated that the victim pulled a gun on him and while the defendant wrestled with the victim he shot her,” authorities said. “When the defendant could not demonstrate the events the defendant changed his statement to the fact that the victim pulled a gun on him and he was able to get the gun away from the victim and then shot her in the head as self-defense.”
Adams allegedly said he knew Sims was pregnant and that he might be the father.
A GoFundMe to support Sims’ family raised $15,540 of a $4,000 goal as of Thursday.
Note: We added more information from court documents.
