Going West: True Crime - Blair Adams // 94

Episode Date: November 11, 2020

In 1996, a 31-year-old man fled Canada in fear someone was trying to kill him. Days later, he was found dead in the United States surrounded by money of different currencies. So, what happened to this man? This is the murder of Blair Adams. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host Heath and I'm your other host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Thank you, thank you everybody for joining us today. We hope you had a lovely November weekend. Today we've got a case that starts in Canada and then ends in the United States and it's freaking crazy. I can't wait to talk about it. Also real quick, before we get started, we just want to let you guys know that we have merch up in our store.

So if you head over to goingwestpod.com, click on the Shop tab. You'll see a bunch of new and fun, exciting, going west merch, so check it out, and get shopping. We have a new beanie, if anyone's interested in that, we also have some sweatshirts, and also for all of you guys who are all caught up on going west and you're looking for more stuff to listen to, we do have bonus episodes, so I know we've talked about it before, I'm sure you guys have heard, but we have a Patreon. So if you head over to patreon.com slash going west podcast, you can find a ton of bonus episodes.

Yeah, and I'm working on a couple bonus episodes right now for you guys for the month of November. So stay tuned for that, make sure you subscribe. All right guys, this is episode 94 of Going West, so let's get into it. In 1996, a 31-year-old man fled Canada and feared someone was trying to kill him. Days later, he was found dead in the United States, surrounded by money of different currencies. So what happened to this man? This is the murder of Blair Adams, who went by Blair, was born on December 28, 1964 in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, to his mother Sandra Edwards. Surrey is a fairly large city hosting around 500,000 people, and it sits right on the United States border at Washington State, and it's just about 30 minutes

from the slightly larger city of Vancouver, BC. Growing up, Blair was always known to be a kind and ambitious guy, and after high school, he entered the family business, construction. His stepfather owned a construction company near Frankfurt, Germany, called SSC their homes. But for the most part, Blair worked on construction jobs at home in Surrey. He was doing pretty well for himself, but sometime during his 20s, he became addicted to drugs and alcohol. But luckily, he was able to get sober and he started attending AA meetings and turning

his life back around. And by the time he was 31 years old in 1996, he was 2 years sober and had worked his way up to being the foreman at a construction company, which is basically someone who's a supervisor that's in charge of a construction crew. So, like Daphne said, he mostly worked in Canada, but when he was 30 in November of 1995, he did travel to Germany to help his stepdad's construction company with a job on an assisted living facility. And while he was there, he attended a friend's party and met a woman there, and they hit it off right away and began dating long distance after he got back home to Canada. But going back to 1996, Blair started acting kind of odd. As summer

approached, he became very careless at work. On multiple occasions, he would leave construction sites unlocked, and this was weird because he was the foreman. He was known to be a very responsible guy as well. The odd behavior kind of came out of the blue, and his co-workers suggested that he go see a doctor, because he also had insomnia, but Blair didn't take their advice. And at this same time, he told his mom that he was concerned people were spreading rumors about him, but he didn't explain what those rumors were. He also told her and his friends that he was afraid someone was going to kill him.

Now, this all sounds pretty strange, but it seems that there was more going on with Blair than he shared with anybody he knew. He just kind of shared little tidbits that didn't make any sense, but it was clear to all those who knew him that something was wrong, they just couldn't figure out what exactly was going on with him. When asked later if Blair could have been having some kind of mental health problems, his mother stated that he had never been diagnosed with anything or acted even remotely like this in the past. So she thoroughly doesn't believe that he had any type of psychotic break, but rather he was genuinely scared of something unknown to those around him. It was also clear to his friends and family that his insomnia was likely the reason for him being so forgetful

when it came to work tasks and the frequent mood swings, but what was causing this insomnia? So yeah, so let's unpack this for just a second. So, he's having insomnia, he's afraid that someone's going to kill him. I'm pretty sure that those two things are most likely connected. Like, maybe the fact that he feels like somebody's after him, that's the reason why he's having this insomnia. He's not sleeping very well, so he's having mood swings. I mean, that could make anybody go through a really tough mental situation. Exactly. And we're going to get into this in a second about how he's even scared to be at his apartment. So it was very clear to everybody that he

was very, very scared of something. But whenever anyone asked him, like, to explain more who's trying to kill you, what are you talking about, He refused to go into detail Maybe it was for their own safety or he didn't know I have no idea why he didn't say anything Yeah, and a lot of time I mean we've definitely covered stories like this and we've heard a lot of stories like this where They don't give you all the details and it's like I just wish we would have known You know or I wish we knew what was going on in their minds so that we could figure out what's going on with this person. I know, it's really frustrating.

So especially in this case, shit's about to get so much more strange. His family and friends worried that maybe he had returned to using drugs and or alcohol because he stopped attending AA meetings. But no one ever saw him using again, and he never really smelled like alcohol or acted drunk or acted under the influence.

So he was just really paranoid. But in July, things got even stranger. On Friday, July 5, 1996, Blair withdrew all of the money from his account, which was about $6,000. He also removed everything from his safe deposit box, which included a few thousand dollars worth of gold, various jewelry, and platinum. Then, two days later on Sunday, July 7th, Blair got into his Chevy Chevette and attempted to board the ferry in Victoria, BC to go to Seattle, Washington.

But they wouldn't let him on because after noticing all the cash that he had on him, they actually worried that he was some kind of drug trafficker, so immigration flagged him. Since he was now pretty much under investigation for a possible crime, they questioned him about all the money but he denied doing anything drug-related. But when they looked at his record, they saw drug convictions from when he had previously used drugs, so they didn't believe a word he said and didn't allow him to enter the states.

And I don't even know if he had, if he ever sold drugs, but maybe it was more like he got charged with possession or things like that from his previous days, and then that totally bit him in the ass because here he is, he's just like, I just took out all my money. I'm not actually a drug trafficker, but they look as record and that's just what they think.

Right. He's gonna be safe. Right, he's like, I'm just trying to get the fuck out of here and they're like, you got like $6,000 a cash on ya. It does look very suspicious. I mean, people don't typically carry around that much money. It definitely looks weird. Right, I mean, people don't typically carry around that much money. It definitely looks weird.

Right. I guess that's why they call it a permanent record. Some of those things can actually come back to bite you. So the following day, which was Monday, July 8, Blair spontaneously quit his job, explaining that he, quote, didn't know if he could carry on here. And then he didn't pick up his final paycheck. After quitting, he purchased

a plane ticket to Frankfurt, Germany for the very next day, which cost him $1,600. And then he headed to his ex-girlfriends house in Vancouver, Canada. She noticed that he was very anxious, and Blair asked her if she could somehow help him cross the border illegally since his name was flagged for a complete misunderstanding. And Blair said that someone was trying to kill him and he was afraid to state his apartment alone. But his ex-girlfriend had no idea how she could help him cross the border and she didn't feel comfortable trying to smuggle him into the United States. So Blair then left. And remember, they're really close to the United States right on the border. So it would be an easy, you know,

crossover, but nobody wants to get caught doing that, you know, or risky for the ex-girlfriend. Then he went to his mom's house in Surrey, which again is the same city that he also lived in. Then he went to his mom's house in Surrey, which again is the same city that he also lived in. Then he went to his mom's house in Suri, which again is the same city that he lived in, and he cried to her about the fact that he needed to quit his job. So, you know, he didn't explain why, and apparently just over a week earlier, before his strange behavior began, he had been talking to his mom about how much he loved his job. And now suddenly he's really upset telling her that he had to quit. During their conversation,

he seemed very anxious to his mom as well and seemed to be afraid to go home. So he stayed at his mom's house that night. Before the day's end, he also canceled his just purchased flight to Germany for the next day. So Blair tried to get into the United States and couldn't, and in a seemingly desperate attempt to leave the country, he bought a ticket to Germany.

But then he tried to get his ex-girlfriend to smuggle him into the United States instead, but she didn't, but then he canceled his flight to Germany. So he seems very frantic and scared, and just wants to get the hell out of town immediately, but he won't tell anyone in his life why why someone would we try to kill him or who it was if he even knew and now he just has no hope for leaving because he can't get into the US and he just cancel his flight for some reason. I'm curious to know if it's possible that he had a talk with his mom and his mom kind of calm down and down and said, Hey, listen, you're okay, you're fine. And then he kind of calmed himself down and then canceled his flight thinking, Okay, maybe I'm overthinking the situation.

Do I really need to leave the country? That's definitely possible. But tomorrow's events might say otherwise. So the next day, Tuesday, July 9th, Blair decided to try crossing the United States border on foot, but the border patrol caught him and questioned him. But they didn't question him because they knew he had been caught on suspicion before. They actually questioned him because he looked just like a guy who had recently stolen a blue car in that area

and Blair had scratches on his hands and legs, so they just thought he might be that guy. But after talking to him and Blair outright denying this accusation, they knew that they didn't have enough evidence that he committed the crime to hold him, so they let him go. So once again, Blair wasn't able to enter the United States and he went back home. But later that day, he drove to the airport in Vancouver, BC, and hopes of finally being able to flee the area. And weirdly enough, the blue car that they were looking for had been stolen from Vancouver,

and had just been found near the border where Blair was trying to enter. And this is why there were so suspicious of him. And even weirder, one of his friends believed that he saw Blair driving a blue car the day before this. So did he steal someone's car? And if so, why? And it's also strange that he was covered in scratches, but we don't know what from or why, but I just thought that was really odd that they thought he looked just like the guy who stole the car and now it's like maybe he was that guy, but why? It seems like a really strange coincidence, especially the fact that he does have a car.

He's got that Chevy Chevette, so. Right, so why steal a car? Exactly. I have no idea. Unless he's trying to hide his identity from somebody and maybe the person who's after him knows what his car looks like, you know, I don a car. Exactly. I have no idea. Unless he's trying to hide his identity from somebody and maybe the person who's after him knows what his car looks like, you know, I don't know. It's just bizarre.

Although Blair is at the Vancouver airport, he wasn't planning to get on a plane at said airport. Instead, he left his Chevy Chavette behind and rented a Nissan Ultima for reasons unknown to us. We can only assume that maybe he was trying to be inconspicuous to border patrol, who possibly knew his plate numbers, I'm not sure. So once again, Blair attempted to head to Seattle, Washington. And this time, he made it in his rental car. He was able to successfully cross the Canadian border and headed straight for the Seattle Tacoma International Airport where he

turned the rental car in and bought a one-way ticket to Washington DC. The plane ticket was a whopping $800 so the airport employee offered to book him a round trip flight for half the price as the one way that he wanted to buy but Blair said no and boarded his flight. So clearly he is on his way to one destination and he he can't come back. Right but this is so strange to me because like why did he drive to Seattle after having been denied at the border twice mind you just to get on a plane and fly to DC. Like why not just board a flight in Vancouver to Washington DC and avoid the whole crossing the border drama. Also, that

just seems like a totally irrelevant stop to go to Seattle, because it's obviously not about the money, because I know sometimes people will drive to another airport if it's close enough to save a big chunk on a flight, and Vancouver BC to Seattle is only a two and a half hour drive. So this would be an easy trip for a cheaper flight, but that's not the case here since he declined a flight that was half the price. So why the hell go to Seattle just to go to Washington? There's a couple things I'm thinking in my mind right now. One is that it's possible that there wasn't a flight from Vancouver to Washington, DC, but it's an international airport We have to we still have to consider that maybe that wasn't one of the stops

I mean, I don't know we have to consider that right? That's true. Maybe there wasn't one immediately. That's a good point That's a good point right right. Maybe there wasn't one that day that he wanted to go true true My other idea or my other thought is that it's possible that he just wanted to get out of that area that he was in so he could have a little time to breathe and think. And then once he gets to Seattle, he's like, okay, now I'm finally out of that area where there's immediate danger possibly. Now I can get on a plane, no worries,

I'm flying to DC. You know what Peggy backing off of that concept is that maybe if he felt like someone was following him if he went to the Vancouver airport and got a flight there, then someone would be able to tell where he was going. Especially if they knew his car, they could just be waiting at the airport, spot his car, and then it's over for him. You know what I mean? Or if they followed him to the airport and they went inside the airport with him and saw him get on a plane. But if he gets in a rental car that's unrecognizable and then drives across the border, he has a more

likely chance of getting away from the person who is potentially following him, and then he's in Seattle and can take a plane from there undetected. Right, and that's exactly my thought, is he wanted to get out of the area first and then deal with getting the flight to DC. That's a very good theory, and maybe this doesn't matter at all, like why he did this, maybe it's irrelevant, but it just seemed weird enough to question. Blair's flight was a red eye, so he didn't arrive to the airport in Washington, DC until 6.45 am on Wednesday, July 10, 1996.

And when he landed, he rented yet another rental car, this time a Toyota Camry. During his drive, Blair was involved in a very minor car accident while he was driving on US Highway 250 through the very rural small town of Troy, Virginia, which was about two hours into his drive, and he somehow backed his car into another car. Considering he was on a highway, we're not sure how he could have backed into someone, but he did. And the man he hit later reported that Blair was very nice and apologetic about the whole thing, but he did appear as though he was in a hurry. And I put this into Google Maps, because I wanted to see what this road looked like,

and I still don't understand how this accident occurred, but nevertheless, I also did a driving trip from like in Google Maps, not in real life, from Washington, D.C. to Tennessee, where we'll discuss is where he's headed, Ish. And it recommended that you take the 64 highway for this particular stretch through Virginia, which again is where the accident occurred. The 250, which is again what Blair took, is parallel to it. But it wouldn't have taken him the whole way there at all, because shortly after Troy, it takes you up to West Virginia, whereas if you were on the 64 highway, it would have

taken him all the way west to Tennessee. So I might be looking into this too much. I just don't know why he would be on the 250, which is this area it looks to be more secluded, like two lane highway with lots of trees in rural land, which we posted a photo of on social media. Obviously, Google Maps was nine years from being created, so he likely just use a regular road map, but I just wanted to mention this, because I was curious why he was on this highway and does it lead directly to his destination. I just needed a visual. So you're saying that the 64 is a two lane rural highway? No, the 250, which is why he took. The 64, to me, appears to be more of a main highway.

That's like the main highway that will take you through Virginia all the way to Tennessee. I don't know if it's the 64 the whole time, but through Virginia it's the 64. So he took the 250. Yeah, which is parallel to, but it's a much smaller highway. So I'm like, why isn't he on the main highway? Just him weird to me. I don't know if that means something. Well, the only way, I mean in my mind what I'm thinking is the only way he would be able to back into somebody is if there was possibly traffic and he maybe put his car in park and then when traffic led up and he was able to go again, he accidentally put it in reverse. I mean, I mean, it's weird because this is like a Wednesday morning on like a smaller highway. Yeah, yeah. It just doesn't seem like there'd be traffic on it.

I don't know. If you live in that area, please let us know because I am just solely going off Google Maps here. I don't know shit about this area. I wish we could talk to the guy that he backed into so we could get more information on how that even occurred. I know and I looked everywhere on Google and I could not find out how this accident happened, but again, maybe it doesn't matter. I think for me, and for us, we just want to question everything, but somehow he got into a tiny accident, and the guy said he was super nice, but just seemed like he was in a hurry. Well, yeah, and you want to put all the pieces

of the puzzle together. And so this is just one, maybe it's just a minor little tiny piece, but still a piece at that. Exactly. 10 hours after starting his drive, Blair arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee at about 5 that. Exactly. 10 hours after starting his drive, Blarer arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee at about 5 pm. And we know this because he went to a gas station. And by the way, Washington, D.C.

to Knoxville, Tennessee is a 7.5 hour drive. So if you add the minor accident and stops for gas and bathroom breaks and food, he went straight there. So at 5 p.m., Blair arrived at a gas station and went inside to tell the clerk that his car key wasn't working and he was unable to unlock his car. He asked her to call a car repair service to help and within a few minutes someone arrived. When the repair man, whose name was Gerald, got to Blair's car. He immediately noticed that the car key he was attempting to unlock his Toyota Camry rental car with were keys that belonged to a Nissan Altima. And remember, when Blair rented a car

in Vancouver, BC to drive to Seattle, he rented a Nissan Altima. But once he got to Washington DC, he rented the Toyota Camry. Which I don't even know how he had the keys to the Nissan still, considering you to assume the rental place in Seattle, or I think it was at the airport, would have required him to give them back before leaving and boarding a plane. But somehow, he still had that other rental car's key that he was no longer driving. Yeah, that doesn't make any sense to me,

because once you bring a car back to the rental place, you have to give them back the keys. Right, and I don't know what the keys look like. This was the 90s, so I really don't think it was one of those electronic ones. I think it was just the key, but usually there will be either an emblem or the name of the type of the make of the car on the key. That's a very typical thing.

So Gerald told Blair that, you know, because he looks at it right away, he was like, dude, you have the wrong key, you know, and he told him to check his pockets and look for the key for the Toyota, the car he was driving. But Blair did not check himself for the real key and explained to Gerald that the key he was holding was the correct key. To Gerald, it was very obvious that this couldn't be true considering the key in Blair's hand belonged to a completely different brand of vehicle. But for some reason, Blair wasn't understanding that. Gerald later stated, quote,

I asked him to look in his pockets. I said, if you drove this thing up here, you got to have another key in your pockets. And he wouldn't look. So I thought he was nuts. He was bound and determined that he had the key he needed for that car. So since Blair wouldn't check for another key, and the one he had was not working for that car. So since Blair wouldn't check for another key and the one he had was not working for that car, Gerald had the Toyota Toad and gave Blair a ride to a local hotel, the Fairfield Inn. At 6pm on Wednesday, July 10, so about 11 hours after he landed in Washington, D.C., Blair arrived at the Fairfield Inn off Strawberry Plains Pike and Knoxville, Tennessee, but he didn't approach the front desk. Instead, he spent the next 45 minutes standing in the hotel lobby as if he were waiting

for someone. But he didn't just stand around, he also walked in and out of the hotel's lobby five different times. He'd go out for a minute as if he was waiting for someone to arrive and then he would walk back in. At nearly 7 pm, Blair finally walked up to the front desk and asked for a room for the evening. The room was just over $50 for the night and Blair paid with a $100 bill.

Instead of accepting his nearly $50 in change, Blair walked out of the hotel's lobby and never returned. And the hotel clerk expected him to just come back later and use his room, so she called him multiple times that night to see when she could bring him his change and he never answered. It was later determined that no one had been in his room at all. The worker later reported that he seemed very nervous and agitated during their conversation. And by the way, we also posted a photo of the outside of the building on social media for a visual and a couple photos of Blair in the lobby. So we're on Facebook and then

Instagram is at Going West Podcast, Twitter, at Going West Pod. We always post photos from the cases. With this kind of hotel, this is the kind of hotel where you have to go through the lobby to get to your room. So him exiting the hotel meant that he was not going to his room. The only way he would be able to go to his room was if he went through the lobby. So that's why she was kind of like, why are you leaving? Yeah, are you not coming back? Or I mean, I guess it's possible he was going out to his car to get his stuff, but... Right, it was just kind of weird to her because before she could even give him his change, he was like out the door. So she was kind of like, wait, what the hell, you know, but yeah, maybe he was going to get his bags, but then he never

came back. So she's like, huh? The following morning at 7.30am, 0.8 miles away, or 1.3 kilometers, from the Fairfield Inn at a construction site for an upcoming comfort suites in, two construction workers showing up to work discovered Blair Adams' body, partially nude, in the parking lot. Originally, they felt that he was drunk and passed out, but when they got a closer look, they realized he was dead, so they immediately called the police. Scattered around his body was $4,000 worth of bills in US, German, and Canadian currencies. His pants, shoes, and socks were all off of his body and next to him on the asphalt, except for one of his shoes acted like a pillow under his head.

Close to his body was also a black duffel bag that was full of various travel receipts and roadmaps, as well as an unzipped black fanny pack. In the fanny pack was all the gold, platinum, and jewelry that he had taken out of his safe deposit box. Weirdly enough, as well, the key to his Toyota Camry rental was also lying near his body. The one that that Blair had supposedly lost, making him believe that his Nissan key was the correct key for the Toyota. So he did have the right key obviously.

This is so incredibly strange, but I just, I can't help but wonder. I mean, he's a foreman at a construction company. He's found at a place that is going to obviously is probably contracted through a construction company where they're going to build this hotel. Yeah, which is very strange. So, to me, that's my connection. My connection is construction, construction site. Right, and we'll get into that in a little bit here.

After an autopsy was conducted, it was determined that Blair Adams had died from septic shock after receiving a brutal blow to his abdomen. Blair's hands were bloodied, indicating that he had either fought his attacker or gotten into a fight which caused him to be fatally hit in the stomach. He also had a cut on his forehead, which looked to have been made from a weapon, possibly a club or a crowbar, and a cut on his forearm and several cuts on his hands. There was a long piece of hair gripped in Blair's hand at the time of his death, which was collected for evidence, but it wasn't a match for Blair's hair and they never have been

able to match it to anybody else's head. The autopsy was able to determine that there were no signs of alcohol or drugs in his body, meaning his strange behavior that day was not due to being intoxicated in any way. Also, Blair had eaten some time before he died and after leaving the fairfield in because let us, meat and shrimp were found inside of his stomach. Lettuce and meat are very common, but considering this area has lots of ends and motels, diners and truck stops, they hoped finding a restaurant that served shrimp would lead them to some answers, but unfortunately it did not.

So there's a few restaurants in this immediate area that serve shrimp. The popular belief is that he went to Cracker Barrel, which is and was directly next to the Fairfield Inn. And Cracker Barrel is a casual American chain restaurant that serves classic Southern Comfort food. And one patron there that night at Cracker Barrel reported to police that he believed he saw a man who looked like Blair, along with another man eating at Cracker Barrel on that night,

which was again Wednesday, July 10th. But police waved this sighting off. They did this because the man couldn't be sure it was him and he wasn't really able to give any further details, so they didn't feel it was very... strong lead. Also, Blair was a white man with brown hair, so he didn't have any wildly distinctive features. He didn't necessarily stand out. And this is why police determined this man's story wasn't too likely.

Since Blair was paying cash, they weren't able to track his card statements to help determine where he ate. But after canvassing all the local restaurants, no one else reported seeing him that evening. So first of all, it's pretty ironic, like Heath said, that he was found at a construction site considering he was a construction worker. And the reason why it would be great to know where he ate was because it would kind of help us track his movements that night and tell us where he was and whether or not he was with someone, but most will just assume that Cracker Barrel

was the restaurant that he was at, even though that doesn't really help us, because it still doesn't give us any kind of information. But we know that he wasn't driving that evening since he had his rental car toad, so he would have walked. And Cracker Barrel, like I said, was right next door to the hotel that he was supposed to stay at. So that's an easy place to go get some food.

The weird thing to me is that Blair appeared to be waiting for someone. Either that or he kept looking over his shoulder in the lobby because he was afraid someone was following him, which is exactly what he felt back in Canada. The distance between the fairfield in and where his body was found is a 20-plus minute walk and it was nighttime. So it's pretty strange to think he would have walked over there by himself if he was afraid, and also why would he have walked over there by himself if he was afraid, and also, why would he even be over there, and why were his pants and shoes in socks off, and why

didn't his killer take any of the money or valuables that Blair had on him, and instead lay the bills around his body like why would anyone do that? That doesn't make any sense, like they were scattered around his body. What? Yeah, I mean, in situations like this this it feels to me like a contract killing because Typically when there's a contract killing like this they won't they they're not gonna take the money They're not gonna steal the jewelry because they're smart. They know that that is a potential Piece of evidence that could get them caught if they take something from the body

It's very possible that this was some sort of contract killing, but I mean obviously we can't be sure, but it just kind of feels like that to me. Especially if somebody is tracking where he's at or following him, you could definitely say that. Which I think makes sense if he maybe had like a previous drug debt or something like that, or for some of the reason somebody wanted him dead. And I'm going to get into this in a little bit too, but why punch him in the stomach then? Because that's not a surefire way to kill someone. Yeah, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

If it was a term that he died from being punched in the stomach, maybe they were just trying to send a message to him and then he died or I mean I just don't know. Police speculate that Blair was in a fight and that he most likely was not hit by a car or anything like that even though a lot of people speculate that that's what happened. And although there were some car tracks near his body, this could have easily been from another time considering he was in a parking lot, or it could have been from the killer fleeing the scene. Considering the blow is to his stomach, they're pretty confident that this wasn't done by a car because a car wouldn't

have hit his stomach, but more likely his genital region. They feel confident that the blow to Blair's stomach was caused by someone's fist or foot. At around 3.30 a.m., the same morning, about four hours before Blair was found dead, a security guard working at a local business believed to have heard a woman's scream. But he didn't know where it came from and didn't hear anything else strange that night, so we can't know for sure if this was connected. Some speculate that Blair had picked up a sex worker and things went south with her or her pimp, but considering Blair didn't have a car that night, he was paranoid as hell, and had a girlfriend, I personally don't believe that this theory makes much sense.

Neither do I. But for some reason on the internet a lot of people bring it up and I'm just like, if he's scared for his life and he's running from people, why is he just gonna go pick up a girl on the street? Yeah, that sounds like kind of like the last thing you would be worried about. Yeah, that's like the last thing that's on his mind. But I don't know.

Anyway, regarding the bills that were found, it's likely that Blair took out money from different currencies knowing that he was leaving Canada, but regarding where on Earth Blair was headed and why we don't know. Well, I think it's possible that he took out these different currencies because he probably didn't even know where he was going. He was, you know, basically on the run because someone was after him and he's thinking, better safe than sorry, I've got German currency, so I can go to Germany if I need to. I can go to Canada if I need to.

I can go to the US if I need to. You know what I mean? He has multiple avenues of escaping. Which is great. But to me, it is so weird that the money was lying around him because I'm assuming he kept it in his wallet or in the Fanny Packer somewhere. So it's just weird that the all the money

was lying around him. I just can't get over that. So also a lot of people think that he could have been sexually assaulted. First, I think the reason a lot of people speculate about a possible sexual assault or hook up with a sex worker is because his mother thinks that he might have been bisexual. So some wonder if he was going to meet a man in the South and something happened along the way, and then there's the question of his pants being off. But there's no evidence of sexual assault. I read something about a possible terror near his anus, but it wasn't clear when this terror occurred or what it was from, or it wasn't like very obvious that this could have been related to a sexual assault.

Right. They would have been able to determine that probably right off the bat. Right. And also his pants and socks were peeled off to be partially inside out, like as if somebody took them off for him. But the sexual assault or sexual activity angles from that evening are definitely not confirmed. And regarding his travels, it's probably not likely that his end destination was Knoxville. But it's pretty strange if you look at his travels. You may already know this, but humor me.

BC Canada is located along the west coast of North America. It's directly above Washington State, which is above Oregon, which is above California, for those in other countries who might not know US geography well. Washington, D.C. is located on the east coast of the U.S. and then Tennessee is two states west and down one under Kentucky. So why in the hell did he go from Vancouver, Canada to Seattle, Washington, all the way across the country to Washington, D. Washington DC just to make his way west again.

Why not fly to Tennessee? Unless he thought someone was following him, which we believe, it just seems so strange like it's so much travel seemingly for no reason. And if his destination was indeed Knoxville, Tennessee, which he has no connection to whatsoever, why not just fly from Vancouver to Knoxville? But I really don't think Knoxville was his stop, but that he stopped for gas and then locked himself out of the car

and was forced to stay in the area. So as we mentioned earlier, I definitely think it's possible that he went to Seattle and got on a plane there to kind of deter someone. But why fly the DC? If you're gonna be in the South, why not fly somewhere in the South? Yeah, I think Flying to DC and then backtracking back West to Tennessee actually kind of does make sense to me because if somebody's following you

You probably wouldn't expect that you know what I mean if you think he's really just trying to get him off his tail Maybe I mean in my mind that's what I'm thinking, because it's like, you fly to DC, there's absolutely no reason for you to go back west other than to throw someone off. Unless, unless it was just easier for him to land in DC, and then maybe he was gonna meet someone in Tennessee, and that's the only two theories I can really think of. If you guys have any other theories, I mean, obviously let us know. It's so hard to have a theory because at this point, you know, there was $4,000 around his body.

So that's all the money that he had to deal with. So he didn't care about taking a cheaper flight for some reason, which I think many of us look for a bargain wherever we can find one. He didn't seem to care for that. And it was very, very unclear where he was headed. Yeah, yeah, it was very unclear, and I wish, I wish so badly that we had any sort of knowledge to know why he was going where he ended up going.

And the other part of it to me is that regarding the hair in his hand, I hope, because it's been long enough, I hope that they preserved that evidence so that they can once again test that because you never know. Just because somebody wasn't that creative in 1998, meaning that when they collected this hair sample, there was nothing really to test it against, but they definitely could have kept it for evidence knowing that. I mean, at that point, they were making moves in the DNA field. So, it's not like this was 1960. Right, right, exactly.'s that's essentially my point is the fact that

They could they could potentially test it today and may who knows maybe you could get a hit and I know you know You know one of the greatest things and modern technology in my opinion is genealogy testing I think it's absolutely amazing that Killers can be found through Through family trees and and ancestors and things like that. So why not, you know, this is a considerably big case. It's very strange. Why not, you know, test that hair sample. I don't exactly know the science behind it and how they do it.

But if it's possible, I think they should. Well, I'm assuming that if they still have it and it's all good, it has not been contaminated that they have done a search in the recent years, I'm assuming that because in all the quotes that I read from the sheriff, like they really want to know just not even to solve it for his family, which of course that, but to the police that were working on this, they were like, this is so fucking strange, like we want to know, we want to end this just so that we know what the hell happened. Yeah, exactly.

And how many cases do you have like this where there is physical evidence in the victim's hand? I mean, it's in his hand. It's a huge piece of, this is groundbreaking. So I really hope that that does lead us somewhere. But anyways, we'll see, hopefully. Blair's mother Sandra believes that Blair was likely on his way to the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, which began just nine days later on July 19th.

This is definitely possible considering Atlanta is just three hours south of Knoxville, Tennessee, but there's no proof that this is true at all. And interestingly enough, his stepfather doesn't think that Blair's murder case is ever going to get solved, so he thinks the best thing to do is to just stop looking for answers. He was quoted saying, we're not going to open that can of worms again. And this is kind of strange to me because you work for your stepdad's construction company, you found dead at a construction site,

and then your stepdad says, we don't want to open that can of worms again, just drop it. I know, I had the same suspicions, which I hate to say. I always hate pointing anything at family because he may have just said this because the it's a lot for the family to deal with and they genuinely think it's such a tough case that they don't even want to make it a part of their day-to-day life because it's hard. Right. I hope that's why. Yeah, yeah. And I totally get that. I totally understand, but we've got to talk, we've got to talk about all the possibilities and this does seem a little odd. It does. And so going back to the Olympics thing, if he was going to the Olympics again, I just

I don't understand why he's going on this crazy road trip instead of just flying to Atlanta. I mean, even if he wanted to, if he was in Seattle, he could have just flown to the South. Like Washington DC still just seems so weird to me. And it's not like he was trying to do this road trip where he's trying to see the sights in America because he drove straight the whole way and we know that based on the time he left DC and arrived in Knoxville. Like he's just going straight. And since he's so scared, come on, is he really going to go look at freaking landmarks and stuff like that? Yeah, exactly. Also, the idea of going to the sporting event alone at the same time you're seemingly fleeing home because you're afraid of being killed by someone is just too weird to me.

But she says this very matter-affackably, his mom does, as though she knew that's why he was there. But she didn't reveal this information to the police for years, which is odd, because nowadays, she's like, oh yeah, he was going to the Olympics. And the police are like, what do you mean? Why didn't you bring this up originally? Yeah, but that's the thing though. Is it even true? That's the thing though is I could believe this if he had never mentioned that he thought

someone was following him. I could believe this if his travel patterns weren't so erratic. I could believe this if multiple people didn't, you know, come forward and say that he seemed anxious and he was moody and, you know, scared. And I want to, I really want to believe that those things are true because I mean, what are the odds that he's going to flee all the way to the Eastern United States and into the South because he's afraid someone's trying to kill him and then he happened to be killed by somebody else. But again going back to the whole punching thing, I do think it's strange that he wasn't shot or stabbed if this was the same person he was afraid of because as I said, punching

someone in the stomach is such an unreliable route for murder because he could have survived that if he had gotten help in time or if the blow wasn't quite as hard in that spot. In other words, if the killer wanted him dead, they got lucky that the blow killed him. But I also don't know how this could have just been a coincidence that he was scared someone was trying to kill him in Canada and then someone happened to kill him.

In Tennessee, that just seems like no way those odds exist. I mean, of course, anything's possible, but come on. Yeah, the whole, uh, punch thing is just so freaking weird to me because you would think of somebody again if somebody's trying to send him a message they'd punch him in the stomach, but to murder somebody by punching them in the stomach. First of all, you would probably have to be held for that. So is it likely that there's a few other people involved possibly? And that makes sense. But what I'm thinking is that if he was going to stay at the hotel, first of all, I don't know why he ran outside without getting his change as if he was in such a hurry.

But if he did for whatever reason leave, let's say he went to Cracker Barrel and he got some dinner, how did he end up nearly a mile away in a parking lot? Because if he's afraid for his life, he's not going to be walking the streets. He's going to be hiding away. Right, and then also the fact that it is a mile away. I mean, what were you even doing in that area? Did you just, like, what are you, what are you walking over to that area for?

Right, or did he, and if he didn't walk, how'd he get over there? It's like, that's what I'm thinking. It doesn't make any sense. That's what I'm thinking, as he didn't walk over there. I think he got pulled into a car, and somebody, whoever this was,

that was contracted to kill him, took him to the site, and then killed him there. I think he got pulled into a car and somebody whoever this was that was contracted to kill him took him to the site and then killed him there. That's my opinion. I know a lot of people are gonna have their own opinion. This is just my personal opinion because I don't know how the hell he gets a mile from that cracker bail barrel by walking over there. And for what reason? Well, let's talk a little bit about who it could have possibly been. Some speculate that Blair was afraid of certain co-workers, and that's why he cried to his mom about quitting his job, did so very suddenly, and then didn't pick up his paycheck. And according to his German girlfriend and one other friend, Blair had expressed to them that he was very afraid of violence from old co-workers who had recently returned

from Germany. His German girlfriend described him as a gentleman, but he was known to get into some arguments with his co-workers from Germany, so this could definitely be a good lead. But why they want him dead and who they are exactly isn't known. But at the same time, just before Blair made his way to the US, he had purchased that ticket to Germany, so why would he go there? His girlfriend told police that she had no idea he had even done this, and they didn't have a plan to see each other. But when he cancelled his plane ticket the same day he booked it, his excuse for wanting

a refund was that the person he was going to see had gotten sick. This was likely just a ruse to get his money back, but why Germany and why not tell his girlfriend? Was he just trying to get as far away as possible even though the man or man he was potentially afraid of had been in Germany with him previously? There was a composite sketch created with the help of two women who believe they saw Blair speaking to a man outside Cracker Barrel that Wednesday evening. And as always, we put the photo on our social medias. The reason this case is so strange is because there's so many unanswered questions. Police have deemed it to be a real mystery because they have never received a single credible

tip in this bizarre case at all. With someone really trying to kill Blair Adams in Canada and then follow him to the US, or did Blair stumble into a random and unfortunate situation on his journey to safety and ironically meet death in an unlikely place. If you know anything about the murder of Blair Adams, please call the Knox County Sheriff's Office cold case unit at 865-215-2675 or email coldcaseatnoxsharef.org. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and next week we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into.

This is such a weird case and it was so strange to dive into and to research and I just really hope that Blair's family can get justice someday because Blair was just a normal guy who was 30, he had his whole life ahead of him or he was 31, he had his whole life ahead of him and he did not deserve what happened to him. Yeah definitely. So it's a very very strange case but we're so glad that you guys stuck around for the story. Yeah let let us know what you think, again, on our social media, just comment or whatever, and let us know what you think happened if you have any thoughts at all, because day on that was crazy. And this will be a really good case to discuss over on our Facebook discussion group.

So it's a going West True Crime discussion group. I think it's just going West discussion group. Oh, it might be. Anyways, go check that out. And yeah, let's talk about this case, because I would love to have a conversation with you guys about it. Yes, and thank you so much to everyone

who has joined our Patreon in the last week. Again, that's where you can get bonus episodes. So we love giving shout out to everyone who joins because we love building this community, and it means a lot and really helps out the show. So thank you so much to Dana, Emily, Sunny, Megan, Ashley, Amanda and James. Big thanks going out to Kat, Sydney, Tao, Vanessa, Marty, Laura and Rachel. And thank you so much to Amanda, Juliana, Sammy and Elizabeth.

You guys are amazing. We love the hell out of you, and we really appreciate your support. Yeah, let's have a conversation over on our Patreon page about this as well. I want to talk to you guys about this as well and see what you guys think. So for everybody out there in the world, cheerio, and don't be a stranger. you