What Happened to Holly Bobo? John Adams Sentenced to 35 Years

Nearly seven years after her death, Holly Bobo’s family is still learning more about what lead to her death. Yesterday, another man — John Dylan Adams — was charged in the 2011 slaying of the nursing student and sentenced to 35 years behind bars. His older brother, Zachary Adams, was previously found guilty of eight charges relating to the crime.

John’s guilty plea came as part of a plea arrangement — known as an Alford plea, in which a defendant pleas guilty because they can’t deny there’s enough evidence to convict them, but does not admit to the criminal act and maintains their innocence. As part of the deal, he was sentenced to 15 years for facilitation of first-degree murder and 35 years for especially aggravating kidnapping, with both sentences to be served concurrently. In addition, there is a third man who was charged with Holly’s murder — Jason Autry — who has also pleaded not guilty and has been cooperating with authorities in hopes to receive a lenient sentence; prosecutors said they delayed resolution of his case as they finalized John Dylan Adams’.

Unfortunately, this new information brings no comfort to Holly’s family. Mom Karen felt that there was “some justice” in the plea, “but there is no closure, and she’s still the last thing on my mind when I go to bed every night and the first thing when I wake up every morning.” We can only imagine how difficult this process has been for Karen. After Holly went missing in 2011, her body wasn’t found until 2014, and then it took another three years to make any arrests. Meanwhile, Karen had to know that her beautiful daughter was kidnapped, raped, and then murdered.

There’s a good chance that John will be in danger in prison alongside his brother. Zachary allegedly told John to keep quiet or he would “put him in a hole beside [Holly],” and Jason also claimed that Zachary asked him to kill his little brother to stop him from sharing more information about the case.

## More from In Touch