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John
Wade ADAMS
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Robbery
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
March 23, 1997
Date of birth: January 26, 1963
Victim profile: Donna
Duncan Vick, 52
Method of murder: Stabbing
with knife
Location: Dallas County, Texas, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on August 12, 1998
Name
TDCJ
Number
Date
of Birth
Adams, John
999278
01/26/63
Date
Received
Age (when Received)
Education Level
08/12/98
35
9 years
Date
of Offense
Age (at the Offense)
County
3/23/97
34
Dallas
Race
Gender
Hair
Color
White
Male
Red
Height
Weight
Eye
Color
5-9
192
Blue
Native
County
Native
State
Prior
Occupation
Tuscaloosa
Alabama
Unknown
Prior
Prison Record
TDCJ-ID #515044 on a 5 year
sentence for burglary of a habitation; released on parole;
returned as a parole violator on 6/20/1995; released on
mandatory supervision on 12/27/1996.
Summary of incident
On March 23, 1997, in De Soto,
Adams and his co-defendant murdered a 52-year-old white female.
Adams and Wright were at the victim's home when they held her
down and fatally stabbed her in the neck and chest with a
kitchen knife taken from her own kitchen. They took her TV, VCR,
weed eater, and her car. The car was later found abandoned in
Landcaster.
Co-defendants
Gregory Edward Wright
Race
and Gender of Victim
White female
The Crime:
On March 22, 1997, John Wade Adams placed an
emergency 911 call to the DallasPolice
Department stating that he had witnessed a murder the night
before.
Adams subsequently led the authorities to an abandoned white
Chrysler NewYorker registered to Donna
Duncan Vick. This led to the discovery of
Ms. Vick, found murdered in the master bedroom of her home with
a pillow coveringher face and lying in a
pool of blood.
The lack of evidence todemonstrate a
struggle elsewhere in the room indicated that the attack
occurred on Ms.Vick's bed with her
assailant straddling her on the bed during the murder. Ms.
Vick sustained multiple stab wounds, bruises, and cuts to herface, neck, chin, hands, and throat area.
Ms. Vick, a fifty-two-year-old widow known for ministering to
and aiding thehomeless, had invited
Gregory Wright, a homeless person and panhandler, to reside inher house in exchange for doing yard work. Wright had
been stayingthere as a guest for about
one week prior to the night of the killing.
Onthe day before the killing, Wright and
Ms. Vick drove in her car to a house in northOak Cliff belonging to Llewelyn Mosley where Wright
purchased and used crackcocaine before
leaving with Ms. Vick. Later that evening Wright and Ms. Vick
returnedto Mosley's house, where they
met up with Adams. The three left togetherin Ms. Vick's car. Id.
The evidence reflects that they all went to the VFW lodgearound midnight where they stayed until 2:00 a.m. The
three men returned to Ms.Vick's home,
where Ms. Vick cooked some food for Adams and Wright. Ms. Vick
then went to bed. Id. At some point thereafter, Wright held up a
paper toweltoward Adams with the words
"Do you want to do it?" written on it. Id
Thetwo men,armed
with Adams' pocketknifeanda butcher knife from Ms. Vick's
kitchen, went backto her bedroom where
they proceeded to stab Ms. Vick repeatedly to her death. Id.Wright and Adams then gathered up iems in the house
belonging to Ms. Vick,including her
microwave, portable CD player, TV, VCR, computer equipment, andnewly purchased weedeater and placed them in her car
where they transported them tothe crack
house to trade for drugs.
Adams was convicted of capital murder in a separate trial six
months followingWrigh's conviction.
