The City of Arlington announced Wednesday that the killer in the brutal murder of 22-year-old Terri McAdams — unsolved for nearly 40 years — was finally identified using “the emerging and cutting edge field of investigative genetic genealogy.”
“Over the years, it would be easy to lose faith and accept that this case might never be solved,” said Chief of Police Al Jones. “But Terri’s family never gave up hope and our detectives never wavered. Now, we get to provide answers that this department has wanted to provide for nearly four decades. I cannot say enough good things about our partnerships with our federal agencies. I’m extremely grateful to the FBI Dallas Field Office for working with us on this case. We would not be here today without their support.”
Violent crime in the metroplex is, however, unfortunately, nothing new.
According to data from the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, there have been over 5,600 violent crimes committed in Dallas this year as of August 13. There have been 126 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters to date as well.
Dallas has struggled to control crime as the department has been chronically understaffed for years. DPD fields only about 3,000 officers, despite a prior City analysis that recommended 4,000 officers for a city the size of Dallas. In addition, the department is working with a budget of $654 million this year, far less than other high-crime jurisdictions such as New York City and Chicago.
Crime in Downtown Dallas has also been outpacing that seen by downtown Fort Worth, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Fox 4 KDFW reports on how police solved the cold case murder of McAdams. Here’s the start of the story:
ARLINGTON, Texas – A nearly 40-year-old cold case in Arlington has finally been solved.
22-year-old Terri McAdams was found beaten to death and raped inside her Arlington apartment on Valentine’s Day 1985.
After all of these years of investigating, police revealed on Wednesday that they now know who is responsible for the UT Arlington student’s murder. However, the killer won’t spend any time behind bars.
Hope has been renewed after a family’s 39-year-long agony is resolved.
“After so many long years, we had come to accept that we would probably never know who murdered our sister,” said Karen Hopper, McAdam’s younger sister. “My hope was renewed four years ago.”
In 1985, McAdams’s body was discovered by a maintenance worker inside her fiancé’s Arlington apartment. Police say the killer, Bernard Sharp, entered through a sliding door in a bedroom.