Exploring the murder of Blair Adams

Blaire Adams was a seemingly average man. His past was troubled, but by the time the Canadian man was 31 years old, he had gotten his life back on track. Everything had been going smoothly for Blair Adams in the summer of 1996; he was two years sober, had a good job at a construction company, and was in a relationship with a German woman. Like many who had once been plagued with addiction, Blair had some brushes with the law in his younger years. Things started to take a strange turn for Blair during the summer. He had begun to exhibit odd behavioral changes; a once well-adjusted man had seemingly overnight become paranoid and anxious. Coworkers had grown concerned for his wellbeing, and so did his mom.

On Friday, July 5, 1996, Blair had withdrawn all of his money from his bank account, and in addition to that he cleared out his safety deposit box. The contents of the box were far from minor; gold, silver, and platinum had been amongst his possessions. Adams told his mother that he would be taking a last-minute trip to visit with his uncle in Courtenay, British Columbia.

Adams Had turned up next when he was prevented from taking a Ferry from Victoria to Seattle, Washington. US immigration officials had believed he was involved in some sort of drug transaction; he was single, had a history of being criminally associated with drugs, and he had an unfathomable amount of cash on him. And so Blair was denied entry. He then spent that Sunday visiting a friend in Vancouver, after which he went to see another friend in Westminster and then his mother in Surrey. One thing was certain amongst all who had seen him: he just wasn’t himself. He had spoken about having to leave the job that he so proud of. Everyone had reported that he was extremely anxious and on edge. He even told one of his friends that he needed to leave the country because someone was trying to kill him. It is said he confided in his mother about someone spreading rumors about him.

Monday, July 8 was a momentous day. Blair packed up his bags and left his mother’s home, and that was the last she would ever see of her living son. He told her that he would be going to America to attend the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Adams had gone to the airport to buy a ticket to Frankfurt, Germany, where his girlfriend was living.

The following morning, Blair had been found wandering around the Canadian-US border. He had then been arrested because he matched the description of a nearby car theft that had happened recently. Officers noted that Blair seemed confused, disoriented, and not all there. There had been no evidence connecting him to the car theft, so he had been released. So once more, Blair had tried to cross the border. This attempt had brought him success. He rented a car from the Vancouver international airport. When Blair got to the Seattle-Tacoma airport he bought a one-way ticket to Washington, DC. Once he arrived in DC, Adams rented a Toyota Camry.

Blair had been spotted next in Knoxville, Tennessee when he stopped to get gas at around 5:30 pm. Blair had asked the clerk to call a mechanic because he couldn’t get his car to start. The mechanic came out and noticed what the problem was right away. Adams had been trying to use the keys to the car he rented first, rather than the keys to the Toyota Camry. It is said that Blair refused to check his pockets for the right keys. The mechanic had given Blair a ride to a nearby hotel. Blair seemed to have forgotten his luggage, so the mechanic went back to the hotel to return it to him. The hotel clerk had remembered Blair because of his odd behavior. He arrived at around 7 pm and exited and entered the hotel lobby about 5 times within 40 minutes, according to security footage. Eventually, Blair decided to rent a room but refused to accept his change from the clerk. The desk clerk called his room repeatedly, but Blair never answered. It’s unclear where Adams went after he left the hotel lobby, but the chances of him having actually gone to his room are slim.

Blair Adams was discovered dead at around 7:30 am on July 11, 1996. Blair’s lifeless body was found in the parking lot of a hotel across the street from the hotel he had checked into. Naked from the waist down, with shirt torn apart and multiple injuries, police said the Blair had most probably been severely beaten prior to his death. Surrounding his dead body was banknotes in different currencies, and the bag containing his jewelry. There were also indications that Blair had been sexually assaulted. An autopsy showed that the cause of death was a ruptured stomach, which leads to septic shock. The ruptured stomach could’ve been caused by brutal blunt force trauma to his torso. Blair had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.

To this day Blair’s murder remains unsolved.