Defying Explanation: The Baffling Murder and Strange Final Days of Blair Adams
In July 1996, Canadian Blair Adams was found murdered in a Tennessee parking lot. With no known ties to the area, Adams' murder has confounded investigators for nearly three decades
Background
“It was the most interesting and the strangest case in my entire 31-year career so far.”
These were the words of Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones when describing the bizarre murder of 31-year-old Surrey, British Columbia, resident Blair Adams.
On July 11, 1996, authorities in Knox County, Tennessee, responded to a report of a vagrant sleeping in the parking lot of a hotel that was under construction off I-40, just outside of Knoxville.
However, when police arrived, they made a grim discovery. The man who had been mistaken for a sleeping vagrant was, in reality, the battered corpse of Blair Adams. Adams had no known ties to Tennessee and no known reason for visiting. In addition, aside from a single strand of hair recovered on Blair’s body, there was no physical evidence at the scene.
Blair was described as being “half-nude” when he was found. His pants had been removed, likely by another person. He was also found in possession of thousands of dollars worth of U.S., Canadian, and German currency, as well as physical gold and platinum bars, and jewelry.
This seemed to rule out robbery as a motive for the killing, leaving investigators with more questions and little to go on.
Today, we investigate the perplexing mystery of the murder of Blair Adams.
Blair Adams
Prior to his sudden departure in the summer of 1996, Blair Adams was living a relatively normal life. Although he had been convicted in the past on assault and drug charges, by that summer, he appears to have turned his life around.
Adams had stopped drinking and was two years sober at the time of his death. However, it is reported that shortly before his trip to the U.S., Adams had stopped attending his regular Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
This was just one in a series of curious and seemingly irrational decisions made by Adams before his death.
Born on December 28, 1964, Robert Dennis Blair Adams lived in Surrey, British Columbia. He was employed as a foreman for his stepfather’s construction company. In 1995, the year before his murder, Blair and his construction company were working on a project in Frankfurt, Germany.
While in Germany, Adams became romantically involved with a German woman who described him as “a gentleman.” However, a former colleague who worked with Adams in Germany described him as abrasive and confrontational, and said that Adams sometimes got into fights.
By late 1995, Adams was back in British Columbia working construction.
Summer 1996
By the summer of 1996, friends, family, and colleagues had noticed a drastic shift in Blair’s behavior and demeanor. He had seemingly stopped caring about his job and began leaving his construction job sites unlocked.
Adams reportedly told coworkers he “didn’t think he could carry on here.” They suggested that he see a doctor. He then abruptly quit his job without notice and didn’t bother to pick up his last paycheck.
Adams allegedly told his German girlfriend that he was worried about former coworkers returning from Germany to hurt him, though he did not elaborate.
Around this same time, he was experiencing erratic mood swings and began telling his mother that people were spreading rumors about him. Blair’s mother, Sandra Edwards, recalled,
“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.” (Unsolved Mysteries)
At the same time, Adams told friends he was afraid somebody was going to kill him.
Cashing Out
On July 5, 1996, Adams withdrew nearly all of the money from his savings account. He also cleared out the contents of his safety deposit box, totaling more than $6,000 in cash, jewelry, and gold and platinum bars.
Two days later, Adams attempted to cross the border into the United States. However, as a young unmarried man with thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry, he fit the profile of a drug smuggler, and consequently, was denied entry.
According to most accounts, the following day, on July 8, Adams purchased a round-trip ticket to Frankfurt, Germany, to visit his girlfriend. However, she had not been expecting a visit. A short time later, Adams requested a refund for the ticket, claiming the person he was going to visit had gotten sick.
Soon after this, Adams once again attempted to enter the U.S., this time on foot. He tried to cross into Blaine, Washington, but was stopped by border officials. Adams was briefly detained, as he matched the description of a suspected car thief. But with no evidence to hold him, Adams was released.
Entering The U.S.
Undeterred, Adams returned to Canada and drove to Vancouver International Airport, where he left his blue Chevette and rented a Nissan Altima. On his third attempt, he successfully entered the U.S.
Once inside the U.S., Adams traveled to the Seattle airport, where he strangely purchased a one-way ticket to Washington, D.C., even though a round-trip ticket would have cost about half the price.
Adams arrived in D.C. on July 10, where he rented a Toyota Camry and began his unexplained trip to Knoxville, Tennessee.
Final Hours
Adams reached Tennessee in the late afternoon of July 10, where he exhibited more strange behavior. He stopped at a gas station, where he told the attendant that his car wouldn’t start.
The employee then informed Adams that he was trying to start the car with his Nissan key and not his Toyota key. He asked Adams to check his pockets, telling him, “If you drove this thing up here, you gotta have another key in your pockets.” But Adams refused to look.
The attendant recalled, "He didn’t appear to be messed up, he didn’t appear to be on drugs, but his mind wasn’t functioning correctly for some reason."
Adams was then dropped off at the nearby Fairfield Inn hotel while his rental car was towed to a local shop. Once at the hotel, Adams’ erratic behavior continued as he loitered around the hotel lobby.
He left and returned several times before finally paying for a room with a hundred-dollar bill and then leaving abruptly without his change.
The desk clerk described Adams as paranoid and acting nervous and agitated. Adams then left with his room key shortly after 7:30 pm on the evening of July 10th. It was later discovered that Adams never entered his hotel room.
Unsolved Murder
Early the next morning, police responded to a call of a possible vagrant sleeping in a parking lot. When they arrived, they soon learned that they were dealing with something much more serious.
The body of Blair Adams was found surrounded by thousands of dollars in cash, jewelry, and gold and platinum bars. He was also carrying a fanny pack stuffed with gold and platinum coins, jewelry, and bars.
The appearance of his body also left many questions. His pants had been pulled down, his socks had been turned inside out, and his shoes had been removed, with one being found under his head as if he had used it for a pillow. Authorities also discovered a duffel bag with various maps and travel receipts.
According to Adams’ autopsy, he had sustained numerous cuts and scratches, likely from trying to defend himself. The official cause of death was ruled sepsis resulting from a violent blow that had ruptured his stomach. He also had a wound to his forehead.
Theories and Clues
With very little in the way of witnesses or evidence, investigators were left trying to piece together what happened. A security guard in the area reported hearing a loud scream around 3:30 a.m. on July 11, but said it sounded like a woman’s scream.
There was a single long strand of hair found on Adams’ body, but it did not yield any leads. Investigators also suggested that there may have been sexual assault involved, but did not elaborate. There were no traces of drugs or alcohol found in his toxicology report.
The area where Adams’ body was found had a reputation for prostitution, and police theorized that he may have been set up; however, they did not have anything concrete to base that on, considering robbery did not appear to be a motive in the killing.
As of today, the murder of Blair Adams remains a cold case.
Sources:
Dorman, Travis. “Half-nude with fanny pack of gold, Canadian's killing a Knox County mystery decades later.” Knox News, 11 September 2017, https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/11/unsolved-canadian-blair-adams-raced-knox-county-slain-half-nude-his-gold-untouched/610262001/
Patmore, Neil. "Inside The Bizarre Murder Of Blair Adams — And Why It Remains Unsolved Decades Later." AllThatsInteresting.com, March 7, 2023, https://allthatsinteresting.com/blair-adams. Accessed April 21, 2025.
“The death of a young man found in a Tennessee parking lot remains a mystery.” Unsolved Mysteries, https://unsolved.com/gallery/blair-adams/
Rasmussen, Aaron. “‘There’s No Explanation For It’: Man Found Murdered In Tennessee Surrounded By Gold Coins & Cash.” Investigation Discovery, https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/theres-no-explanation-for-it-man-found-murdered-in-tennessee-surrounded-by-gold-coins-cash