Introduction/Background: Trisa Gail Thornley was born on July 27, 1969 to James and Patricia Thornley in Belleview, FL. James William Thornley was born on May 15, 1933 in Mississippi (I did find a bit of discrepancy regarding his DOB, as one source said he was born in 1931), and after graduating from high school he joined the US Army and served in the Korean War. Patricia Ann Hopper was born on August 26, 1942 in Ocala, and according to her senior year biography from the 1960 Saint Petersburg High School yearbook, she was co-captain of the cheerleading squad, a member of the Future Homemakers Club, and was on the Ocala High School Homecoming Committee. Mrs. Thornley was also in the school choir and performed in ‘The Mikado’ (which is a famous two-act comic operetta) and The Rockettes. The two were married in the spring of 1961 and had two daughters together, Trisa and her older sister, Tricia Ann (b. September 1963). The couple divorced on December 20, 1971 but eventually remarried on March 26, 1978.

January 23, 1978: in the Thornley family, the rules were: whichever sister got home first got to pick the television show they would watch that afternoon. Tricia said they ‘always had a race to the TV, my sister had three short city blocks, and I had nine.’ On the afternoon of January 23rd, 1978 Ocala experienced a pleasant, dry, and mild winter day: temperatures reached the upper 70’s, the skies were mostly clear, and there was no precipitation in the region. Per Traci, ‘I tried to beat her home, and I did, and that is not the norm.’  Despite being happy she got home first and as a result got to watch her show, the older Thornley sister was immediately worried about the younger one, as it was unusual for her not to come right home after school. On the day Trisa disappeared the girls were being watched by their Uncle Lawson Hopper and his wife because their parents had flown to Montana to look for work and a place to live: Mr. Thorney was a welder by trade, and the family had been planning on relocating to Colorado (where he had thought he had secured another job) when he received a call about a better offer from a facility in Montana. After detectives were finally able to track down the Thornley’s they got on a plane and came right home.

The sisters shared a bedroom at the time Trisa disappeared and were extremely close; per Traci: ‘she was so sweet. Just, so sweet. A gentle little soul.’ Even her little poodle GiGi seemed heartbroken and could sense that something was wrong, because: ‘wherever she was, GiGi was there.’ According to Trisa’s mother, ‘what can I tell you that would help? She has a habit of always pushing her hair out of her eyes. She likes plain cheeseburgers and French fries. She bites her nails. She loves vanilla ice cream. And if you take her shopping she always wends up in the book section. She loves books. Oh yes, she has a habit of cracking her knuckles too. I just wish there was something else. We’ve got to keep people talking about this.’ … Mrs. Thornley also said her daughter was ‘very attached to home’ and she was certain she would not get into a car with a stranger.

Traci said when her mother arrived home, she ‘went to pieces,’ and her dad was ‘trying to be strong’ for his wife but it was impossible: no one even wanted to be in the house without being able to hear Trisa’s bubble laugh and effervescent personality. The silence was deafening. A friend walking home with her told investigators she was going to take a shortcut that day, and when the girls parted ways at roughly 2:30/2:45 that afternoon she ‘turned to her right instead of walking straight another 380 feet to her house;’ in addition to her classmate, six-year-old Herbie Leist and a female crossing guard also saw her walking home that afternoon. When investigators canvased the street, they could find no signs of a struggle or indication that Trisa had been taken against her will, which forced officers to consider a troubling possibility: that the young girl had known her abductor and had gotten into his car willingly.

The Search: what followed was a desperate, all-consuming search that involved over one-hundred volunteers and the full force of Ocala law enforcement: posters were hung on every storefront, wooded areas were scoured, bloodhounds were brought in… yet investigators came up empty-handed. It was as if the earth had opened up and swallowed her whole. Officers went house-to-house looking for her, but came up with nothing, and per the Ocala Police Chief Lee McGehee, ‘we’re taking this very seriously. There’s no reason to think she ran away, but there’s no reason to suspect any foul play at this time either.’ According to Ocala Detective Captain WR Fugitt: ‘we’re just looking and hoping. We got quite a few people out. and we’ll keep looking until something turns up.’ Ann Thornley said she was certain her daughter would not get into a car with a stranger. Thornley was described as being roughly three feet tall and weighing forty pounds; she had brown eyes, shoulder-length brown hair, and had been last seen wearing a shite short sleeved blouse with ‘Town and Cloud’ scene on it, blue jeans, blue tennis shoes, a brown coat, and she had been carrying a brown purse.

Obscene Calls: what made this case all the more chilling was what had preceded it: months of creepy, anonymous phone calls had been made to the Thornley residence that began shortly after they moved to Ocala from Belleview the previous summer. While the exact content of the calls was hidden kept from the public, police did disclose that they were deeply unsettling and were disturbing enough to frighten the entire family: the male caller had a deep voice, and he always asked for Mrs. Thornley (all while breathing heavy). Until their daughter disappeared, the couple brushed the calls off as a prank and didn’t think too much about them; shortly after Trisa was taken, police put a trap on the Thornley telephone.

A Break?: police thought they finally got a break in the case when they received a phone call from a frightened young eighth grade girl that said she had been followed by a man driving a vehicle that she described as ‘blue older model car with some rust spots on it’ (she said she didn’t think to get the tag number) on the same afternoon that Trisa was abducted. According to Sergeant Sid Stephenson, he had pulled up next to her and tried to persuade her to get in the car, and asked if he could take her home; when she said no, he circled around the block a few times and leered at her. She later told detectives that she had been ‘too afraid’ to look directly at the driver but she ‘remembered his voice:’ Sergeant Stephenson said she ‘talked about a deep voice… ‘distinctly deep,’ and that’s when police started to wonder if it was the same man that had called the Thornley residence.

Investigators immediately began looking into any and all blue cars with rust spots that came across their path, and it quickly paid off when they got a tip that led them to a hospital in Ocala, where the owner of the vehicle had a criminal record that included sexual assault charges against a minor. According to Investigator John Gormley with the Ocala Police Department, he had been ‘arrested on allegations that he had molested the daughter of his brother-in-law,’ and when he was picked up detectives immediately noted his ‘unusually deep voice.’ The man was quick to deny that he had anything to do with Trisa’s disappearance and denied his previous allegations as well, saying it had been ‘a trumped-up charge’ made by his former brother-in-law and now ex-wife, who he had been living with at the time the allegations were made.

The suspect claimed that he had been supporting the brother-in-law and his daughter, but when he split up with his wife that ended, and when he stopped that was when the allegations were made. An investigation ultimately confirmed that the sexual misconduct allegations had been made up in an attempt to extort money from him and the charges were dropped. Any lingering suspicions that investigators held onto that the man was responsible for Trisa’s disappearance were squashed when he was able to provide an alibi for where he was when she disappeared (he had spent the day at the hospital with his mother, which was verified by facility personnel).

Shortly after this suspect was cleared two teenagers came forward and reported that they had also been harassed by a man driving a similar rusty blue car the same day that Trisa went missing about ten blocks from Eighth Street Elementary School. They said he had tried to stop and talk to them after classes commenced for the day, and luckily they were able to get the vehicles tag numbers, and as a result detectives were able to get a name: a twenty-two-year-old white male whose background check revealed a prior arrest for indecent exposure involving a minor. A conversation with the man’s boss raised even more red flags, who shared that his time sheet proved that he hadn’t been at work the day Thornley was last seen; also, when he was brought in for questioning detectives immediately noted his unusually deep voice.

During their interview the man said the only thing he remembered doing the day Trisa was last seen was go to the dump, and he even offered to take investigators to the area that he visited. When they arrived they found tire tracks on the dirt access road that contradicted his story, and according to the Sergeant, ‘when we went to the part of the dump that he told us he had gone to, the tire tracks were at a different point.’ The investigators knew if they were able to find the exact spot he went to earlier then perhaps there would be a decent chance they found more information about Trisa. In the end, he denied any involvement with her disappearance and even took a polygraph test (willingly), which he passed. With no evidence officially linking him to the crime, investigators were forced to move on, but it wasn’t long before another suspect came across their path.

Ted Bundy: at the time that Trisa was abducted and killed Paacific Northwest serial killer Ted Bundy was ‘in the wind’ and was a fugitive of the law: he has escaped from Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs, Colorado on December 30, 1977 after he intentionally dropped a large amount of weight and was able to squeeze through a small hole in the top of his cell (he then crawled through the ceiling and dropping into the jailer’s apartment below then disappeared into the night). I’ve never written about an unconfirmed victim in Florida before, mostly because Ted’s movements during this time in 1978 while he was a free man were heavily documented and we largely know where he was and what he was doing while there.

While going through the evidence related to Bundy’s recapture, investigators noted that he had in his possession a credit card that had been stolen from Ocala, proving he had been in the area at roughly the same time Trisa disappeared. He also stood accused of killing twelve-year-old Kimberly Leach, who was kidnapped seventeen days after Trisa under similar circumstances: she was abducted in between classes from Lake City Junior High School in Lakewood, which is about an hour and twenty-minute drive to Ocala. In the early stages of the investigation, some Ocala detectives strongly suspected Bundy was responsible for Trisa’s disappearance because ‘he was the type of person’ that would do such a thing, but in the end he denied any involvement and it weas eventually determined he was in Tallahassee on the afternoon of her abduction: according to Sergeant Sid Stephenson, ‘several of his female neighbors had testified that he was at this block party in that area on that day’ and he ‘wasn’t in Ocala at the time.’ Bundy was only one of hundreds of leads that detectives were able to cross off their list into relation to the abduction of Trissa Thornley, and according to Investigator Bob Stevens: ‘we have hundreds of leads, everybody wants to help, and we have to check every single one of them.’

An Actual Break in the Case: after Trisa disappeared the Thornley’s installed a second phone line in their residence in an attempt to keep the original one open, just in case she tried to reach out to them. Nearly two months after their daughter vanished, that new line rang: on the other end was a man asking Patricia Thornley if she’d ‘do anything’ to get her daughter back, and attempted to get her to ‘submit to sexual intercourse for the return of the girl.’ It was a sexually charged call, and she immediately recognized the man’s voice as the one that had been tormenting her for the past few weeks, and despite knowing she was supposed to keep him on the line as long as possible, she immediately hung up. Luckily, the phone technician that had been working with police was able to narrow down that the call could have come from one of three possible residences: Sergeant Stephenson was tasked with investigating the addresses, and upon arriving at the first one was surprised by who answered the door.

Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr.: the young man that answered was wearing a prison guards’ uniform, and in the investigators mind he immediately checked him off his suspect list, as he was obviously ‘one of them’ and ‘someone who wore that uniform could not be involved in something like this.’ Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr. had been employed at the Marion Correctional Institution since early 1977, which was ironically the same facility that had provided the bloodhounds during the search for Trisa, and according to his employer, he was a ‘good officer who was never in any sort of trouble.’  

The twenty-year-old corrections officer invited the Sergeant into his home and immediately began denying any involvement with Thornley’s disappearance and claimed he ‘didn’t know anything about it,’ but he did volunteer that he ‘knew the Thornley’s.’ Stephenson was stunned and immediately thought back to his theory that whoever it was that abducted Trisa had been someone that she knew. His estranged wife Michelle (shortly before Trisa’s murder she filed for divorce) had been ‘close friends’ with Mrs. Thornley, and it was in that moment he knew Adam’s had been involved in the child’s disappearance. Aubrey Dennis Adams Junior was born on January 4, 1958 to Aubrey Dennis (Senior) and Marjorie (nee Langford) Adams, and he married Michelle Maxine Heinrich on October 8,1976 in Gilchrist, Florida; the couple were officially divorced on April 10, 1978.

An Unfortunate Discovery: oddly enough, it was during that initial meeting that Stephenson’s pager had gone off (I’m surprised they even existed in early 1978) and he had to ask to use Adams phone to make a call to the station; it was then that he learned that the badly decomposed remains of Trisa Thornley had been recovered in some nearby woods about three miles away from the Ocala Municipal Airport; his presence was required at the scene. The seasoned law enforcement officer was crushed, but was certain to hide any emotion from Adams and used it as an excuse to leave, as he told him he ‘had some other information he had to check out.’ Before Stephenson left, he asked Adams to go to the police station and wait for him so they could continue their conversation later, and so that he could undergo a polygraph examination in order to be ‘cleared.’

On March 16*, 1978, fifty-two days after her disappearance, the remains of eight-year-old Trisa Thornley were discovered by a trio of men out hunting for gophers. At the time of the discovery, she was completely naked and had been placed between two black garbage bags; her lower jaw was missing and was never recovered. A rope had been wrapped around her neck seven times and her arms and legs had been bound with white tape and sash cord from a window curtain. Police Spokesman Morrell Dean said that a dentist was brought in and was able to make a positive ID of the young girl using a comparison of dental records. In the area surrounding the body investigators discovered clothing scattered about that appeared to be Trisa’s along with elementary school textbook that had her name written on the front cover. An autopsy report confirmed that the cause of Thornley’s death was strangulation, although another forensic expert did not rule out the possibility of manual suffocation. *One report said it was March 15th, but the date most frequently given is the 16th.

Investigators catalogue anything on the scene that could be perceived as evidence, and perhaps the items recovered the most puzzling one was a white laundry basket that they weren’t even sure was associated with the crime that was located roughly ninety feet away from her remains. Trisa’s brown corduroy jacket, schoolbooks, blue jeans, and sneakers were also found close by. According to Stephenson, ‘it makes you wonder how anyone could ever do that to a kid.’ When the Thornley’s were notified of the discovery of Trisa’s remains, Tricia said ‘I knew from the evidence photos that it was her, it was just a shock, a real punch to the gut.’

When Stephenson went back to the station, he knew Adam’s was there waiting for him; when confronted he was quickly able to confirm that he had made the obscene phone calls, but he continued to deny any involvement in Trisa’s disappearance. The seasoned investigator was able to convince him to take a polygraph examination and the detective that administered it gave him four different exams; he was deceptive in every single one of them. The investigator felt that Adam’s was unnerved and he was determined to use that along with the failed polygraphs to get a full confession out of him, and to get him to tell the truth he had to press him for any signs of a guilty conscience: ‘I said, ‘listen, you believe in God, don’t you? God can forgive anything. But you’ve got to be able to tell the truth to be forgiven. So, if you want to be forgiven for anything you’ve done, you’ve got to tell the truth.’’

During Adams initial interview with detectives he admitted he was afraid of what Trisa’s father might do to him if he ever managed to get his hands on him, but the officers reassured him that he ‘would be protected.’ When questioned about his faith and feelings about God his response was, ‘chilling.’ According to investigators, he said, ‘what would happen to a person that would do something like this?’ It was at that point that the LEO told him the news: that they had found the remains of Trisa Thornley, and he showed him a picture taken of the discovery: ‘he just kind of looked down, and he wouldn’t say anything.’ Stephenson prodded him: ‘I said, come on Aubrey, tell me the truth, and he says, ‘can I have a paper and a pen?’

Adams then slowly began to write out the details of what he did to Trisa on the afternoon of January 23, 1978. His confession revealed that he and his wife had recently separated, and he had returned to their house that afternoon to pick up his mail, and as was driving away he noticed Trisa walking home from school; per Investigator John Gormley, he said, ‘hey Trisa, want a ride home She knew him. She willingly got in the car.’ Adams claimed that when the child realized he wasn’t taking her home she started to cry and began to scream and he panicked, so he put his hand over her mouth and she ‘quit breathing.’ He later said he recalled she screamed and he placed his hand over her mouth ‘to silence her, but not to kill her,’ and clarified that her death had been an accident.

During the incident, Adams had attempted to sexually molest Thornley, who was ultimately strangled to death during the sexual abuse attempt itself. After taking the girl’s life, he removed her clothing and disposed of her remains in a remote forest roughly five miles away from the family home. Although his confession minimized what he had done it was still enough to charge him with first-degree murder. The Thornley’s were stunned when they learned who had been responsible for Trisa’s death, and according to Traci, ‘my sister knew him, trusted him. He was like a big brother. Your blood begins to boil when you think about that.’ Adam’s had actually helped in the search for Trisa, and Tricia suddenly realized any concern he had expressed about her disappearance was only in his own selfish interests and was only done so he could keep tabs on the investigation: ‘he was there to help look. He was actually at our house asking questions like, what had they found out? What kinds of leads do they have?’’

After Adams was arrested, police in Ocala continued to build their case against him. Oddly enough, he had been driving a red sedan when he abducted Trisa, not an old blue rust bucket, and in it investigators found a sash cord that matched the one that strangled Thornley. They also learned the laundry basket found near the scene had belonged to the suspects wife, and the black bags the child had been found in were also conclusively linked to him as well, and a box of them had been found in his apartment. 

Dorothy Scofield: after investigators were able to conclusively tie Aubrey Adams to the death of Trisa Thornley they began to investigate him for previous disappearances and murders in the general area. Twenty-three months prior to Trisa’s disappearance Dorothy Scofield vanished from a shopping center in Ocala: the twelve-year-old and her mother left their Citra, FL residence on the morning of July 22, 1976 and headed to the JM Fields Plaza to renew her driver’s license at the Florida Highway Patrol office. While Mrs. Scofield was taking care of business, Deedee (as she was known as by family and friends) went into the JM Fields Department Store to exchange a pair of sandals, but she failed to meet her mother back at the family car at the designated time; she was never seen or heard from again. Adams denied any involvement in relation to the disappearance of Dorothy Scofield, and as of June 2026 her case remains unsolved.

The Trial: on March 17, 1978, twenty-year-old Aubrey Adams Jr. was officially charged with the murder of Trisa Thornley; despite the mountain of evidence against him, Adams pleaded not guilty and on August 30, 1978, his trial was officially scheduled to begin on October 9, 1978. The Thornley case shocked the Ocala area in Marion County, and the publicity forced the trial to be moved to Citrus County Court. At one point Adam’s defense attorney (Joel Reginald ‘Reggie’ Black Sr.) read the testimony of police officers who had interviewed his client immediately after his arrest: they said he tried to molest the young girl but he ‘couldn’t do it and didn’t do it.’ … ‘After she got into his car, Dennis did or said something which was sex-oriented and she screamed and yelled and cried. So, he put his hand over her mouth and suffocated her. She was a small child, and Dennis is a big man. How easy it would have been, with or without any intent to kill, for his hand to snuff out her breath.’

It only took the jury ninety minutes on October 20, 1978 to come up with a guilty verdict, which was a moment Tricia said ‘felt like justice’ but did little to ease the family’s pain, and in the end, it was their faith that opened up a pathway to healing from their grief; according to Tricia, ‘you just lean to God for strength in everything and just sticking together. And we didn’t leave each other alone.’ On October 27, 1978, the jury recommended the death penalty for Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr., and on January 16, 1979 he was formally sentenced to death via the electric chair by Circuit Judge William F. Edwards; it was the only death sentence that he handed down during his twelve years on the bench.

In 1979 Marjorie Adams wrote a letter to (then) Governor Bob Graham in 1979 appealing for clemency for her son, which read, (in part): ‘You as a parent must know what dreams you have for your child. Mine are shattered. I once thought as a lot of others think that the death penalty was the right thing. I only hope and pray that no one has to have their thinking changed as I have. I love my son no matter what happens and would gladly die that he may live.’  

Multiple Appeal Attempts: on February 11, 1982, and October 4, 1982, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed Adams’s direct appeals against his death sentence, and on August 20, 1984, Florida Governor Bob Graham signed his death warrant, scheduling him to be executed on September 19, 1984. An appeal to the Florida Supreme Court was denied on September 11, 1984, however the execution was eventually delayed due to ‘legal reasons.’ On June 17, 1985, the eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals once again turned down Adams’ appeal and on February 5, 1986, his second death warrant was signed, scheduling his execution date as March 4, 1986. Coincidentally, Ted was being housed at the same Raiford prison and was also scheduled to be executed on the same date… but as we all know, his execution was postponed until January 24, 1989.

During his 1986 appeal Adams lawyer tried to claim he had amnesia at the time he killed Trisa, and he didn’t remember what happened on the afternoon of January 23, 1978; he also said he doesn’t understand what was happening to him and why his life was ending the way it was. In transcripts of an interview between investigators and Marjorie Adams, Aubrey’s mother claimed that her son was ‘an only child who suffered from being reared almost solely in the company of older men,’ and as a result he ‘felt physically inferior to his elders.’ She also shared that when he was eleven years old, he underwent hormone treatments to ‘increase the size of his sex organs,’ and within a year her sons voice deepened and he grew a beard. On January 13, 1986, the US Supreme Court rejected Adam’s appeal.

On February 28, 1986, the US Supreme Court refused to stay Adams’ death and dismissed his appeal, and just thirteen hours before the sentence was due to be carried out, his execution was again postponed after the Supreme Court granted a stay pending another appeal. On March 7, 1986, US District Judge John H. Moore II denied his appeal and on March 30th the Supreme Court vacated the stay order, making way for yet another execution date to be set. On November 14, 1986, the Eleventh Circuit Court allowed Adams’ appeal and remitted his case back to the lower courts for re-sentencing. On March 7, 1988, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to reconsider reinstating his death sentence and on February 28, 1989, the US Supreme Court restored it.

On April 18, 1989, Florida Governor Bob Martinez signed a new death warrant for Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr., scheduling him to be executed on May 4, 1989. In a final bid to avoid his impending doom, he filed a series of last-minute appeals in the state and federal courts, however Citrus County Circuit Judge William F. Edwards dismissed these requests on April 28, 1989. Once again, Adams appealed to the Florida Supreme Court on April 30, 1989, which was dismissed on May 3, 1989; a follow-up federal appeal was denied by US District Judge John H. Moore II later that same day. Later that night, the eleventh Circuit Court rejected yet another appeal, and in the end, by a majority vote of 7–2, the US Supreme Court decided to move forward with the execution. Eleven years after his death sentence was handed down to him, thirty-one-year-old Aubrey Adams was put to death in the same Florida State Prison that killed Ted Bundy earlier that January.

Execution: early in the morning on May 4, 1989, thirty-one-year-old Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr. was put to death by the three-legged electric chair nicknamed Ol’Sparky at the Florida State Prison after his fourth stay of execution ran out. The process began at 7:04 AM and he was pronounced dead at 7:09 AM, five minutes after the electric chair was switched on. For his last meal, Adams ordered one pound of popcorn shrimp, one pound of medium-size shrimp, one pound of jumbo shrimp (battered and fried), one loaf of garlic bread, French fries, pecan pie, pecan ice cream, and iced tea. He then showered, put on burial clothes and at 7 AM was escorted by guards to the death chamber, where he was strapped into the chair and a hooded executioner threw a switch sending 2,000 volts of electricity through his body.

After they received word that the death sentence had been carried out, Mrs. Thornley burst into tears and hugged Traci tight. Other relatives clapped and cheered, both when they received the news and when the white hearse with Adams remains drove by. As it went by Patricia said only, ‘justice,’ and Traci clapped their hands and said, ‘it’s over. It’s finally over. He deserved to die.’ … ‘He finally got what he deserved. Why did they drag this out like this? It’s just a relief. I’m so glad it’s over.’ The scene that morning at the Florida State Prison in Raiford was completely different than the one that took place when Bundy was executed a few months prior: only a handful of people (aside from Trisa’s loved ones) were present to celebrate as Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr. was put to death.

After Adams was executed, a group of ten anti-death penalty protesters that were standing in a different area of the prison grounds (away from the Thornley’s) began singing hymns; prior to the event, they had been holding candles and praying. According to Father Ernest Brunelle of Gainesville, ‘this is a violent society. It’s an evil thing to think we can solve violent crime through violence. We’re not the ones to judge. God has the final verdict.’ However, regarding the event, Judge William Edwards (who handed down his sentence) disagreed: ‘when I sentenced him about ten years ago, I feel today the same as I did then. Both morally and legally, he deserved to die for the atrocious act he performed against God’s second most previous gift: a sweet and precious little daughter.’

According to Trisa’s mother, ‘we finally got justice today. I just wish my husband was here. This killed him. this killed him.’ … ‘I used to hear him screaming in the middle of the night, saying her couldn’t save her.’ Mrs. Thornley said the event ‘closed a chapter in her life,’ and she is ‘so glad it’s over, but it was a decade too late in coming.’ According to Traci: ‘we can finally go on with our lives. It makes up for the pain that he’s been able to live so long.’ Regarding her father not being there for the execution, she said ‘you would have seen one happy man. But he has the best seat in the house.’

In the chair, Mr. Adams was asked if he had a final statement, and his reply was, ‘my pastor will be making my last statement for me (he said this in a strong, clear voice).’ Reverend WJ Barfield left the prison without talking to witnesses or reporters, but when was contacted later at the Church of God in Newberry he said that Mr. Adams had left behind a handwritten final statement that said (in part): ‘I hope and pray that all the new and reopened wounds will be healed quickly after my passing. My death is the Lord’s will, and I am now with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in heaven.’ He also wrote that he ‘forgives all those who have had anything against me,’ and said that he felt the death penalty was ‘against Jesus’ teachings.’

Paula Tully, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said officials believe Adams was the first Department of Corrections employee to be executed: ‘it’s demoralizing because he is a corrections officer. It’s demoralizing for our good correctional officers.’ He was the third killer to be executed that year in the United States and the second one in Florida; he was the 21st person electrocuted in the state since they reinstated the death penalty in 1979.

According to (former) State Attorney General Gordon Oldham Jr., Adams was ‘an unlikely murder suspect,’ and ‘as I recall, he sat there (throughout the trial) pretty quiet, serene.’ Former Florida State Attorney Ray Gill (who worked for Oldham in 1978) recalled similar memory of Aubrey Adams: ‘he wasn’t the usual criminal: he just appeared to be a person who did a heinous thing. The most significant thing to me was the competency hearing for him in 1986. It was the first time I heard him speak.’ After hearing Adams talk to psychiatrists (who said he was competent to be executed), Gill said he was convinced of his guilt: ‘There was absolutely no question in my mind that he had done it. Because he knew every detail. It was a double tragedy in the sense that Adams came from a good family.’

Conclusion: Mr. and Mrs. Thornley (along with Traci) relocated to the eastern part of Tennessee in 1981. Sadly, James William Thornley died at the age of fifty-seven on October 29, 1988 in Vernon, Alabama due to ‘heart problems.’ Patricia Ann Thornley died at the age of seventy-seven on December 19, 2019 in Tellico Plains, TN; per her obituary, she was ‘an Army brat’ and had lived all over the world during her adolescence, and at the tender age of seven while stationed in Fort Sill, OK she gave her life to the Lord. In the ten years prior to her passing she resided on her daughters property and enjoyed watching classic movies, her pets, playing cards with her best friend, visiting with her sister, and participating in different family activities.

Traci Thornley-Freeman currently resides in Tellico Plains, TN with her husband, children, and grandchildren. She is a retired History and English teacher (she worked in the same building for the same school district for thirty-one years!) and in her free time enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Works Cited:
Associated Press. ‘Former Florida Prison Guard, 31, Is Electrocuted as Killer of Girl, 8.’ (May 5, 1989). Taken May 26, 2026 from nytimes.com
‘Convicted Child Killer Executed.’ (May 4, 1989). Taken May 25, 2026 from UPI.com
McNiff, Tom. ‘The Devil You Know.’ (April 19, 2009). Taken May 26, 2026 from Ocala.com