Robert Dennis Blair Adams was a thirty-one-year-old Canadian from Surrey, British Colombia, who was found dead in a parking lot in Knoxville, Tennessee, on 11th July 1996. He had been killed with a blow to the stomach but had clearly put up a fight before his death. His forehead had been split open, hair ripped from his head and there were defensive wounds on his hands. Even stranger was that around his body was $4000 in various currencies. 

Leading up to the murder, friends and family stated that Blair (as he was known to his friends) had been acting strangely. He had frequently told people that someone was trying to kill him. 

Before his death, he had travelled thousands of miles. So what led to the murder of this friendly construction worker, who was said to be good at his job and generally happy.

Leading up to murder

Something was obviously very much the matter. He hadn't been sleeping well. Something was wrong. I asked him numerous times what was wrong. And he said, I don't think I should tell you about 'it.' And to this day I don't know what 'it' is. - Sandra Edward's (Blair's Mother) 

On 5th July, Blair went into the bank and removed his savings and thousands of pounds of gold, jewellery and platinum. Then two days later, he tried to cross the Canadian - American border. He was denied entrance; he was a young man with a significant quantity of money he fitted the profile of a drug smuggler. 

On 8th July, Blair went to work, where he quit the company with no explanation. In the afternoon, he drove and bought a $1600 round trip ticket from Vancouver to Frankfurt for the following day. Blair had a girlfriend in Frankfurt who he had met the previous year whilst working with his father's construction company in Germany. Strangely one of his co-workers in Germany described him as abrasive, which was entirely against what others reported. He would also state to friends, on his return, that he dreaded his German co-workers returning to Canada as they wanted to harm him.

That evening after purchasing the ticket, he went to a friend's house, where he stated someone was trying to kill him and needed to cross the border.

The following day, rather than boarding the plane, he returned his ticket and rented a car. He once again tried to cross the border, succeeding this time. He drove to Seattle, where he left the car and bought a one-way ticket to Washington. Investigators would later question this as the one-way ticket cost almost twice as much as a return. 

On 10th July, once Blair arrived in Washington, he rented a White Toyota and drove to Knoxville. Knoxville was a place that he had never been before and where he knew no one. Investigators have never answered the question of why he went there.

Once he arrived in Knoxville, he was seen at a gas station at 1730. He approached the cashier and stated there was something wrong with his car as it wouldn't start. The cashier told him he had the wrong key; as the rental company was shut, he was stuck in Knoxville. 

Blair hitched a ride to the nearest hotel, where he was observed on CCTV acting nervously. He is seen walking in and out of the lobby five times before getting the key to his room. As soon as he was given the key, he left the hotel at 1937, never entering the room. 

Twelve hours later, he was found dead.

Body of evidence

Blair was found naked from the waist down. It looked like his trousers had been pulled off and turned inside out. His socks were also inside out and near the body, along with his shoes. His shirt had been ripped open and he had bruises and cuts over his body where he had fought with the attacker. Around him lay $4000 in cash and a bag containing his gold, jewellery and platinum, eliminating the theory that this was a robbery. 

The body also showed signs of sexual assault, forensics collected no DNA and it is unclear when the sexual assault had occurred. The autopsy showed that the murder happened at 330. 

The only witness who came forward was a construction worker who remembered hearing a scream at the time of death but would say he was convinced the voice was female.

Despite Blair previously being a drug and drink user, there were none in his blood at the time of death. He had been sober for two years and was proud of it.

Two facts were strange. The first was the missing car key from the rental car found next to his body. The second was a single strange hair in Blair's hand that belonged to an unidentified person.

Identifying a murderer

The authorities had no leads to who or why Blair was murdered. They initially thought it was a robbery gone wrong, but with all the cash and gold found around the body, this made no sense. 

They then questioned whether the murder had been a drug deal which had gone wrong, but again there was no evidence to support this. Some would suggest that a prostitute or pimp murdered Blair, but he had never used one before, so why now. This theory, like the others, was ruled out. 

Several people reported seeing Adams with an unidentified man in a restaurant before his murder. Whether the couple was in a relationship or not has never been solved. Susan Edward, Adam's mother, later stated that Blair had been involved with a man previously, so it was possible. 

To date, the case remains unsolved; there are few clues as to who or why someone murdered Blair Adams. It is possible something happened in Germany, which followed him home. 

The police would state that the claims someone was going to kill him were a delusion, even though he had no mental health issues and was murdered. His family remain. Hopefully, they will find answers, but as time goes on, this seems less likely. What happened to Blair Adams remains a mystery.

Tell me in the comments what you think?