Police have made an arrest in the cold case slaying of a 13-year-old West Virginia boy.
David Monroe Adams, 56, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jerimiah “Jerry” Matthew Watkins, whose body was found in a shallow hole near railroad tracks on Nov. 12, 1985, in Terra Alta, CBS affiliate WDTV reported, citing a statement Tuesday from the Preston County Sheriff’s Office. Adams was 18 and lived in Terra Alta at the time of the slaying.
The sheriff’s office began reviewing the case earlier this month and found some inconsistent statements Adams had reportedly made at the time of the slaying, the statement said
“As part of renewing the investigation, law enforcement conducted multiple interviews with Mr. Adams and he eventually confessed that an argument that started over a stolen bicycle” resulted in the teen’s death.
An autopsy revealed Watkins had suffered a brain bleed from an apparent blow to the head, and the cause of death was ruled as a stab wound, deputies said.
Adams is being held at North Central Regional Jail. Online jail records don’t indicate whether he has an attorney.
Watkins’ sister, Jamie Cole, was only a year old when her brother was found dead told WDTV that Watkins’ murder has loomed over her and her family.
“In the last five or six years or so, I’ve really grown to accept the fact that I wouldn’t know. That it just wouldn’t be solved,” she said.
She told the station that after the news of the arrest, she and her mother are still trying to cope.
“We’re both numb. There is a sense of relief,” she said. “Well, I don’t know if ‘relief’ is the right word for it.”
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