The Strange Journey and Death of Blair Adams

On a gray July morning in 1996, strangers found a dead man beaten and half-naked in a parking lot in Knoxville, Tennessee. Scattered around his body was German, Canadian, and U.S. currency totaling nearly $4,000. The contents of the man’s wallet identified him as 31-year-old Blair Adams of Surrey, British Columbia.

Blair had begun to exhibit strange behavior earlier that summer, including mood swings and intense paranoia, and was convinced that an unnamed individual wanted him dead. When questioned by concerned family members, Blair would only reply "I don't think I should tell you about it". Prior to his bizarre actions, Blair was known as a cheery individual who enjoyed his job as a foreman at a construction company.

On July 5th, 1996, Blair withdrew his savings of over $6,000 and emptied his safety deposit box before attempting to enter the United States. He was refused entry at the Canadian-American border due to fitting the profile of a drug smuggler (being a single man with a large amount of cash) and returned home. The next day he quit his job and purchased a round trip ticket to Frankfurt, Germany.

His flight would leave the following day, but just hours after buying the ticket, Blair was again desperate to get into the United States. He showed up at a friend’s house in a panic, terrified that someone was trying to kill him. But his friend was unable to take him over the border.

Then on Tuesday, instead of leaving for Germany, Blair turned in his tickets, rented a car, and headed back to the border.

This time he was granted entry into the US and drove to Seattle, Washington where he purchased a one-way ticket to Washington D.C. After arriving in D.C. he traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee.

Blair was first seen at a gas station in Knoxville around 5:30 that afternoon. He complained to the gas station attendant that his car wouldn’t start. The attendant told him he had the wrong keys. However, the rental car company was already closed for the day. Blair was stranded in Knoxville until the morning. Luckily, he was able to hitch a ride to a nearby hotel.

According to an employee at the hotel, Blair was acting incredibly nervous and paranoid, as if he were expecting someone to find him.

The hotel’s security camera showed that in the space of an hour, Blair went in and out of the lobby five times before finally paying for the room.

After checking in, Blair pocketed the key to his room. But instead of going to his room, he marched out the front door and never came back. It was 7:37 PM, the last time Blair Adams was known to be alive.

Twelve hours later, Blair’s body was found in a parking lot about a half mile from his hotel.

Blair was naked from the waist down and appeared to have been stripped; his shoes had been removed, his socks were turned inside out, and his shirt had been ripped open. His money was scattered around his body, and $2,000 worth of gold and jewelry had not been touched. An autopsy revealed that Blair had sustained cuts and abrasions, possibly from fending off an attacker, and had been killed by a violent blow that ruptured his stomach.

Perhaps Blair's paranoia was imagined and his murder just a random act of violence--but if that were the case, why leave his cash and valuables behind rather than steal them? Or was Blair really being hunted down by a mysterious individual who ultimately killed him?

Source