Hey guys, Ashley here with Crime Salad. So this week we are doing a throwback episode. We're on spring break, so we're doing a re-releasing of one of our earlier cases, the disappearance and murder of Holly Bobo out of Darden, Tennessee. We first covered this one about five years ago. It's hard to believe, and it's still one of those cases that just sticks with you. If you haven't heard it before, you're in for a wild ride, and if you have, stick around at the end because there's a lot of updates that we put together at the very end of this episode. I'll catch you on the other side with some updates. All right, here it is. Hey guys, Ashley here with Crime Salad, and with me always is my partner in crime, Ricky. This week we have a very interesting case that takes us back a few years to that small town where everyone knows everyone in that neighborhood where your neighbors are always on the lookout for anything that seems just a bit out of the ordinary. Well, on one particular day that seemed just like any other, strange things started to happen, and Holly Bobo was face to face with pure evil. With an eyewitness who watched Holly Bobo get abducted from her home in April of 2011, it seemed like her case could be solved right away, and Holly would be brought home. Instead, for years, nothing came to light. Until suddenly, three years later, the police had six main suspects, three of which had taped confessions, but things might not be as clear and solved as they seem. Allegations of manipulation, tampering of evidence, and misconduct by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have made people wonder if justice has really been served for Holly Bobo. Born on October 12th, 1990, Holly Lynn Bobo was an all-American girl. The youngest child of Dana and Karen Bobo, she had spent her whole life in Darden, Tennessee, which is a small town about halfway between Nashville and Memphis. And Holly was a great kid, never getting into trouble. She did well in school, sang at her church choir, and loved everyone around her. Holly was close with her older brother, Clint, and had a steady boyfriend named Drew, and lots of friends. After she graduated high school, she enrolled at the University of Tennessee to study nursing, and rather than living at the dorms, she lived at home with her family. And though she was a bit shy, everyone knew Holly as a sweet, happy, and warm person. The morning of April 13th, 2011, had started out just like any other day for the Bobo family. Holly, being a diligent student, had woken up a bit earlier than usual to study before an exam she had for nursing school at 8am. In between studying, she chatted a bit with her father Dana before he left for work. And by 7am, her mother Karen was out the door as well. Karen said goodbye to her daughter, leaving Holly studying at the kitchen table and texting a classmate named Hannah Reese about their exam. At 7.30 in the morning, Holly received a call from her boyfriend, Drew Scott. Drew had been hunting on Holly's grandmother's property when a relative of hers saw him. The relative didn't recognize him right away and thought he was a stranger on their land. Well, Drew explained what he was doing there and that he didn't have permission from the Bobo family. They chatted a bit more and said goodbye. Drew had no idea that this was the last time he would hear from his girlfriend. Then about 10 minutes later, a neighbor heard a terrified scream coming from the Bobo house. Though because he was running late for work, he didn't stop to investigate, but instead told his mother what he heard. His mother decided to call Karen just to check in. Karen was a teacher at the local school and was in class by the time her neighbor called. So a message was left with the school secretary. Meanwhile, around the same time, Clint, Holly's older brother, who was asleep at the home, was woken up by dogs barking loudly outside. Clint got out of bed to investigate and saw that her sister's car was still in the driveway. And this was odd to him because usually by this time Holly was long gone and he knew that she had a test at 8am and there was no way she should still be at home. Holly's mother, Karen, haven't gotten the concerned message from the school secretary, called the house and Clint answered the phone. He told his mom that Holly's car was still there. Karen knew something was seriously wrong. Trusting her instincts, she called 911, but the call connected to the wrong county because she was working in a different county, which then added a delay to getting help. At home, Clint was a bit less worried. Looking out the kitchen window, he sees Holly walking towards the woods behind their house with a man in camouflage clothing. Clint figures the man is Holly's boyfriend Drew Scott. Clint had talked to Drew just last night about going turkey hunting in the morning, so it made sense that he was wearing camo. Though he couldn't tell what was being said, Clint testified that Holly sounded very upset and heated. The man she was with was doing much of the talking. The only words Clint could make out from here were Holly saying no, why? Clint decided to call his sister's cell phone, but she didn't answer. He then called Drew, thinking that's who she was with, but he didn't answer either. A few minutes later, and it's about 8 o'clock in the morning, Karen called back to the house and Clint told her that he saw Holly out walking with Drew. Karen knew that it wasn't her daughter's boyfriend that was out there. So, now incredibly concerned, she told Clint to grab one of the family's pistols and shoot the man that Holly was walking with and for him to call 911. Clint was still convinced it was Drew and didn't want to kill his sister's boyfriend, but he trusted his mom and so Clint grabbed a loaded pistol and left the house to finally see what was going on. Outside, he saw blood pulling next to Holly's car. Confused, but still not thinking the worst, Clint thought that maybe Drew came by with a turkey that he had shot to show Holly before she left for school. But there was a lot of blood and no turkey. Clint was struggling to rationalize and understand the situation, but other than a few weird things that morning, he had little reason to believe anything bad was happening. By 8 10 a.m., the police arrived at the Bobo's house. It had been only about a half hour since the neighbor had heard what we know as Holly's scream of fear, but Holly was nowhere to be found. The deputy that arrived on the scene told Clint, Karen, and Dana, all who had rushed home from work, that Holly was abducted while trying to leave for school. Clint Bobo was the only person to see the man who took his sister. He recalled that he saw a white man between about 5 10 and 6 feet tall and roughly 180 to 200 pounds. But other than his approximate size and the fact that he was wearing camo, they had little less to go off of. Over the next few days, investigators scoured the woods and areas surrounding the Bobo house. Nearly 400 volunteers came to help police find clues to what happened to Holly. They paid particular attention to an area nearby where Holly's lunchbox had been found. They figured that Holly had been taken with all of her school stuff as she was getting into her car to leave her campus. They hoped to find Holly's purse, backpack, or other items from these bags, but nothing turned up. With nothing found, police began to consider possible suspects. In addition to Clint's description, they believed that the man was someone Holly knew somewhat well and someone that was familiar with her schedule, which is how he knew what time she would be leaving that morning for school and that both of her parents would be gone for work already. But given how close knit Holly's small town was, this didn't narrow down their search by much. Over the next week, the search continued and vigils were held. The reward for any information that would lead to a safe return for Holly was raised from $25,000 to $75,000. The police questioned everyone they could think of, including Holly's family, friends, and boyfriend, but each was cleared as a suspect. With no other leads, the police then turned their attention to Terry Britt, a convicted serial rapist who lived only miles away from the Bobos. Many of Terry's victims were young, blonde women, so Holly would have fit this profile. He also fit Clint's description of the man that was seen heading towards the woods with Holly. Terry and his wife told police when questioned that they were both at home installing a new bathtub during the abduction. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, or commonly known as TBI, was suspicious of this alibi though. Terry's wife had lied to cover up her husband's crimes in the past, and though they had a hand written receipt for the bathtub, the shop they purchased it from had no record of selling it. Additionally, there was a single handprint left on Holly's car that investigators assumed belonged to Holly's abductor. Though they couldn't prove it as a defined match for Terry Britt, they couldn't roll him out either. After extensive searching of his home, interviews, and even wiretapping his phones, there was still nothing to concretely tie him to Holly's disappearance. The TBI had no choice but to clear him as a suspect. Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run, and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your products out there, integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time, from startups to scale-ups, online, in-person, and on-the-go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Do you guys hear that? Oh, that's our podcast Ruin, brought to you by me, your host, in trepit horror movie-free Callie Keeper, and me, your resident scaredy cat, Alison Libby. Join us each week as Hallie forces me to listen to the twisted plot of yet another bone-chilling horror movie. From classics like The Exorcist and The Thing, to the latest releases, to the most disgusting films on streaming, we ruin them all every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. So come join us, and until then, we beg you, please, keep it spooky. There are vampires out there. They're beside you in the darkness, but what people don't understand is that they're not monsters. They're just going to work, living their un-lives. But we are a dying breed. Those who came before me, they are fearful and are not content to sit back and just disappear, and they'll do anything to fix that. From the creators of Park del Haunt comes Wittbein, a podcast about monsters, dreams, and changes, those you want and those you never saw coming. Season 2 arrives September 24th, distributed by Realm. With so little to go on and no new evidence turning up, months and then years pass. By April of 2013, two years after Hallie was last seen, police were still searching for any sign of Hallie. On April 18th, they found a small pink purse and believed it was the same one Hallie was carrying on the day that she disappeared. Karen Bobo was hopeful, but after examining the purse, she told police that it wasn't Hallie's. They were back to square one, and yet another year went by. Suddenly, on February 28th, 2014, with no public announcements made and no new evidence presented, the TBI searched the home of Zachary Adams, a man who lived about 15 minutes away from Hallie. A few days later, he was indicted, along with his brother John Dylan Adams, for kidnapping and felony first degree murder. It's not entirely clear how the police narrowed their search down to the Adams brothers. Hallie's mother had taught them both in school, and they were known to be bad kids, heavily into drugs. They were initially questioned years earlier, but their alibis had checked out. But in 2014, they began to question the boys again. In this time, Dylan Adams confessed that himself, his brother Zach, and two other boys named Shane Austin and Jason Autry were involved in Hallie's disappearance. By April 29th, now three years since Hallie was taken, Jason Autry, one of the men named by Dylan to police, was indicted. Shane Austin was granted immunity if he testified against his friends, but after the police felt he wasn't cooperating, they took away his immunity deal. A month later, two more men were charged with tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact. Brothers Jeffrey and Mark Pearcey were believed to have a video of Hallie alive, tied up and crying. A woman named Sandra King, who had let Jeffrey Pearcey stay with her, said that he had shown her the video. Though the police couldn't find the video themselves, they believed Sandra. After years of waiting, investigators now had six men under arrest for involvement in Hallie's disappearance. Finally, it seemed that the Bobo family was going to get justice for their daughter and get the answers about what happened to her, but there was still no body. That is until September 7th, 2014. Three and a half years after Hallie Bobo was seen being led into the woods, Ernest Larry Scott was in the woods along the Benton and DeCannor County lines, looking for ginseng routes to harvest with his cousin. Larry had good luck that day finding plants and was about to finish up his search when something came over him, telling him to turn around and look around the area beside where he was finding the ginseng plants. That was when he found a human skull. So panicked by what he was seeing, it took Larry three tries before he was able to call his cousin to help him make sense of what he was seeing. Larry and his cousin immediately called the police. Investigators found more remains, including ribs and teeth, along with school supplies and an inhaler. The next day, it was confirmed these were the remains of Hallie Bobo. Upon examination of Hallie's remains, coroners were able to piece together a cause of death, a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, which exited through her cheekbone. The wound was consistent with a .32 caliber bullet. With Hallie's body finally found only 15 miles from Zachary Adams home, investigators were ready to move forward with a murder trial and charge these six men. Zach Adams and Jason Autry were to be charged with the murder and kidnapping. Dylan Adams was to be charged with rape and disposing of evidence. Jeffrey and Mark Peercy were to be charged with accessory to murder and concealing evidence. And though Shane Austin had been granted immunity, it had been revoked to his lack of cooperation and he was now facing charges too. Shane would not go on to face a trial. In February of that year, he was found dead by suicide at a Florida hotel. As the trial began, it became clear that the prosecution's case was based primarily on witness testimonies and that there were little forensic evidence to connect any of the five remaining defendants to the crime. The prosecutor Paul Hagerman painted a picture that Zach and his friends were depraved, violent drug addicts. He had Jason Autry testify against his friend. Jason once on the stand described what he believed happened to Hallie. According to Jason in the prosecution, Zachary Adams had taken Hallie from her home that horrible morning in April of 2011. He had wrapped her in a blanket taken from the trunk of her car and took her to Shane Austin's home. There, Shane, Zach and Dylan raped her. Jason was there to help them get rid of her body. Their plan was to gut her and throw her into the Tennessee River, but as they were moving her, Hallie gasped, alarming Zach who thought she was dead. He then shot her in cold blood, killing her instantly. Zach's defense claimed that this was all hearsay and that the investigators were just looking for someone to pin Hallie's death on and Zach fit the bill. There was no DNA evidence that tied him to Hallie. Zach didn't match Clint's description of the man leading Hallie into the woods and as far as anyone knew, they had no relationship at all. Over the course of the 11-day trial, the defense noted that Zach's cell phone records didn't match up the Hallie's and that the TBI had somehow made an error when investigating Terry Britt, who they suggested to be Hallie's real killer. Furthermore, police had found a gun that they believed was owned by Shane Austin and Jason Autry, but there was no DNA evidence to connect it to them. And the ballistics tests could not prove that it was the same gun used to kill Hallie. Despite this inconclusive or circumstantial evidence, the jury had heard from over 50 witness testimonies who were primarily there to testify against Zach Adams. After the two and a half week trial, Zach was found guilty of murdering Hallie Bobo on September 22, 2017. The jury had the choice to decide between the death penalty and life in prison, but the Bobo family intervened and asked that the death penalty be taken off of the table. He was then given life in prison without parole and two consecutive 25-year sentences for kidnapping and rape. Was Zach found guilty and imprisoned and Shane dead that still left four suspects? The charges against Jeff and Mary Piercy were dropped, presumably because they had still yet to find the video of Hallie that linked them to the crime. Jason Autry, because he testified against Zach Adams, was given a lesser sentence for his alleged involvement in Hallie's death. The final person involved in Hallie's abduction and murder was John Dylan Adams, Zachary's brother. As Zachary's trial began, it came to light that it was Dylan who had originally confessed to the police, which had given them the ability to get a search warrant to look into Zach's home. Dylan told the TBI that he had gone to his brother's house and saw Hallie in a green chair wearing a pink t-shirt, with Jason Autry standing nearby. Dylan said Zach was wearing camo shorts and a black t-shirt in green crocs. Zach, according to Dylan, bragged that he had raped Hallie and videotaped it. After confessing, Dylan tried to recant his testimony, but it was too late to take back. While Jason testified during Zach's trial, much of what he said contradicted Dylan's account and the evidence that was found, but it didn't matter. Dylan was to face his own trial after his brother's, but given the outcome, he entered in an Alfred plea. An Alfred plea is a type of guilty plea that says a defendant, in this case Dylan, does not admit that they are guilty, but recognizes that if they were to go to trial, that they could receive a guilty verdict. This allowed Dylan to receive a lesser sentence of 35 years, rather than a possible death sentence or life without parole. Though it seemed like justice had been served for Hallie Bobo, Zach, Dylan, and Jason continue to claim that they are innocent and deny any involvement whatsoever in what happened to her. Despite each man having confessed at some point, their family claims that the TBI and local police force manipulated and coerced them into making their statements. Cindy Adams, Zach and Dylan's mother, had been very outspoken. Though she knew her sons were addicted to serious drugs, she never knew them to be violent people capable of murder. Dylan has a learning disability in low IQ, and Cindy believes that the police bullied him into making a false statement. In their interrogation, police are the ones that do most of the talking, and with Dylan only providing short vague details, his family shared that investigators wouldn't let Dylan leave, eat, or drink anything until he confessed something. But it was Dylan's allegedly coerced confession that led to Zach being arrested and tried. If there was mishandling, this could drastically change his sentencing. The world of Sonic the Hedgehog has been thrust into a not so dark, not so stormy, hard-boiled detective story that probably nobody saw coming. Follow Sonic and the Intrepid Chaotix Detective Agency as they take on their biggest case yet. This high-flying, action-packed adventure will take them across the world, fighting for every clue they can find. It's one heck of a tale, which is good, because this story might be the only thing that can save their lives. All will be revealed in Sonic the Hedgehog presents The Chaotix Case Files. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Reality TV is messy, pop culture is louder than ever, and the internet completely unhinged. Welcome to Roxanne and Chantel, the podcast where cousins Roxanne and Chantel break down reality TV, celebrity drama, and the stories everyone's texting about. We recap the shows, spill the headlines, and sit down with the stars themselves. No filter, no boring takes, just a tea. New episodes every week. If it's trending, we're talking about it. This is Roxanne and Chantel. Let's get into it. Oh please, not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood. Could we get something a little bit lighter, some lighter music here? Are you a fan of true crime TV shows? And what about Unsolved Mysteries, the show that jump-started all of our love of true crime? I'm Ellen Marsh. And I'm Joey Taranto. And we host I Think Not, a true crime comedy podcast covering some of the wildest stories from your favorite true crime campy TV shows, all the way to Unsolved Mysteries. Baby, you will laugh, you will cry, you'll think about true crime in a whole new way, and you'll also ask yourself, who gave these people mics? New episodes of I Think Not are released every Wednesday with bonus episodes out every Thursday on Patreon. And every Monday, you can listen to our true crime rundown, where we go over the top true crime headlines of the week. So come and join us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Cindy Adams isn't the only one who has taken issue with the handling of Holly Bobo's case. Jason Autry's attorney accused the prosecution of shady moves, including unethically holding suspects without probable cause, adding and dropping charges strategically to prevent the defense from having time to prepare or even seeing the evidence against their clients. Similar things also happened to Mark Pearcey, which allowed the state to avoid any preliminary hearings of evidence. Zach's attorney shared that evidence was brought up that was never presented to her or entirely fabricated by the prosecution, including the notion that there was blood DNA evidence found at Zach's home. A district attorney also accused the Tennessee Bureau of investigation of leaking information and possibly covering up evidence. It's speculated that the state's prosecution was so eager to wrap up Holly Bobo's case for political reasons and because the intense media attention of their small county, Discovery Channel and ABC's 2020 both reported on Holly's case. The media attention also caused rumors and misinformation to circulate. Furthermore, police received many tips on their hotline, most of which were false, including a few from psychics. All of this information made it more difficult to find the truth and added to the pressure of finding Holly. Almost seven years after her disappearance, Holly Bobo's remains were finally put to rest in a private ceremony in Decatur County, helping give her family some closure. Much was done to commemorate Holly, to remember her for her life and the joy she brought to those around her. A portion of Highway 641, which runs through her home county, was named in Holly's honor. Holly's cousin Whitney Duncan, a country singer famous for placing fifth on National Star, wrote a song for Holly called Better Place. And most recently, Governor Billy Lee enacted the Holly Bobo Act, which raised the age for alerts for missing persons from 18 to 21, which had to spend a lot during the time of Holly's disappearance would have allowed police to issue statewide alerts to help find her. Zach and Dylan Adams remain in prison. Jason, because he was given a lesser sentence, was released from prison in September of 2020, but only a few months later, he was arrested and back in jail for possession of drugs and a firearm, a felony given his record, as well as evading rest. Despite Zach, Dylan and Jason's continued claims of innocence, there has been no further investigation on whether or not their cases were mishandled. For now, the case is closed, but we can't help but wonder, are the men who took away Holly Bobo's life really locked away? Or is the person responsible still out there? This completes this week's episode, and we'll see you next week. Crime salad is a weird salad production. Are you kidding me? That was perfect. Alright guys, welcome back. So, like I said, there have been some pretty major updates in this case since we first covered it. First, Jason Autry, if you remember, he was released from prison in September of 2020 after getting a reduced sentence for testifying against Zach Adams. Well, just a few months after getting out, he was arrested again, this time for possession of drug and firearm. As a convicted felon, this is a serious charge. He ended up pleading guilty, and in June of 2024, he was sentenced to over 23 years in federal prison. He tried to appeal, but in August of 2025, the appeal court upheld the sentence. So, Jason is back behind bars for a very long time. Now, here's the big one. Zachary Adams has been fighting for a new trial. In the main reason, Jason Autry, the prosecutor's star witness, recanted part of his testimony. He's now saying that he was pressured into what he said on the stand. Now, when it came time for Autry to actually testify during Zach's post-conviction hearings, he pleaded the fifth and refused to talk. So, make that what you will. Throughout 2025, there were a series of evidentiary hearings on this. In November of 2025, Zachary Adams actually took the stand himself, which he never did during the original trial, and he maintained his complete innocence. His defense has argued that his original attorney was ineffective and that there was potentially exculpatory evidence, including ATM surveillance footage from the day Holly was taken that was never properly presented at trial. The final hearing wrapped up at the end of December 2025, and right now, we're waiting on the judge to make his ruling on whether Zach gets a new trial. That decision could come any day now. So, the question we asked at the end of the episode, whether the right people are behind bars or not, honestly, it's more relevant now than ever. We are definitely going to keep an eye on this one, and when the ruling drops, we will let you guys know. Thank you all so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed this throwback, and we will catch you next week. For eight years, we've been asking the same question over and over again. How did this happen? My name's Mandy, and I'm Melissa, and we're the hosts of Moms and Mysteries, the True Crime podcast with over 55 million downloads. We're two Florida moms who are obsessed with mysteries. Each week, we do deep dives into fascinating true crime stories. We cover everything from infamous cases like Casey Anthony to the bizarre and complex crimes right here in our home state, like the shocking murder of FSU professor Dan Markell. We bring you the facts, but with warmth and width, you'd only get from two friends who have been hooked on mysteries since childhood. Join us for new episodes of Moms and Mysteries every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen to Moms and Mysteries on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Ever open up your podcast app, scroll forever, and still not know what to listen to. And there are millions of podcasts, and most of them, they just don't grab you. That's why I created something you should know. Every episode is built around surprising, useful, and fascinating ideas. We're consistently ranked in Apple's top 200 with thousands of five-star reviews. But more importantly, people come back because they learn something interesting every time. If you're tired of searching and you just want something good to listen to, try one episode of Something You Should Know right here on the platform you're listening on right now.
