DANICK ADAMS - 18 yo - (8/2008) - Jacksonville, AR

Unsolved Jacksonville Murder
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By Jason Pederson

JACKSONVILLE -
The city of Jacksonville has four unsolved murders.

The following is a look at one of them...through the eyes of a victim's mother.

Even though nearly five years have passed...the view through those eyes remains blurred by tears.

About a year ago Amy Stivers asked a private investigator to take a look at her daughter's murder.

Although he wants to remain unknown, he is ready to share some of his findings.

It was about two a.m. on August 15th, 2008.

18 year-old Danick Adams was leaving a 24 hour fitness club in Jacksonville when she and a friend were approached by a masked gunman who demanded their money, keys and cell phones.

They gave him what he wanted.

The man then removed his mask and shot Danick five times before driving away in her car.

This version of events was given to the police by Danick's friend, identified in the report as Princess Wilson.

Danick's mother has questioned the account given by Princess from the first time she heard it.

"Princess was crying and screaming and she said 'Amy...this is what happened.' She said 'We were coming out of the fitness center. We went there to tan...or Danick went to tan.' And right then I knew...she doesn't tan. So I just thought that was odd anyway."

Amy Stivers says a private investigator looking at the case has learned about other problems with the only eye-witness to her daughter's death.

He says Princess failed a lie-detector test. He says her 9-1-1 call immediately after the murder sounds rehearsed. And he says after the murder Princess had her arm tattooed with a .38 revolver and the words "Loyal to None."

The private investigator points out that Danick's stolen car was stopped a few blocks from the crime scene an hour later.

Not much of a getaway attempt.

The driver did get away on foot.

He left behind a prostitute in the car, who was questioned and released.


Captain Kenny Boyd admits that sticking around the scene and thinking about sex after killing someone doesn't make sense.

"Usually those who shoot people are not thinking in their right mind anyway," says Boyd.

Boyd says not only does the Adams' murder investigation remain active, but new information has come in recently.

And there is still a reward for information.

The private investigator says police know who did it but just can't prove it. Boyd says no comment to that assertion.

"We are diligently working on this case," says Boyd. "It's not...I was in CID at the time that it occurred. I'm no longer there. But it still, you know, bothers me that it is not solved yet."

Adams says as a child her daughter Danick was a church going, respectful straight a student.

But after moving to Jacksonville as a teen she fell into the wrong crowd, began smoking marijuana and was an unmarried mother at 17.

"I know she wasn't an angel," says Stivers. "And I know that she might not have been the perfect child. But I didn't deserve any kind of certificates for mother of the year either."

Now a member of parents of murdered children, Stivers attends the court dates of other grieving parents where killers have been caught...hoping that one Jacksonville police will arrest the person who murdered her daughter.

"I just think they need a little bit of help," says Stivers.

Several months after Danick's murder Jacksonville detectives did ask for help.

A state trooper reviewed the case file and offered some suggestions. Other investigators in Arkansas and Louisiana have also reviewed the case. And in 2010 police put up a billboard encouraging the public to help.

Some tips did come in...but not enough to make an arrest.

If you know something about the case, call 501-982-3191.

Air date: May 22nd, 2013

http://www.katv.com/story/22402193/unsolved-jacksonville-murder