Cold Case Files: Few clues left behind in abandoned, bloody Charleston cab in 1991
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — It will be 30 years in November since a Charleston cab driver disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.
His bloody taxi cab was found abandoned over a hill, but there have never been any answers on what exactly happened to Bobby Adams.
The investigation started on Twilight Drive on Nov. 30, 1991, when a neighbor found Adams' C&H taxi cab. Adams, 31, was from Huntington but spent most of his time in Charleston.
Adams had simply vanished, leaving few clues behind.
"Not knowing where he is, that's the part that hurts," his father, Bobby Clark, told Eyewitness News in December 1991. At the time of the interview, Adams had been missing for three weeks. Clark also drove a cab for C&H.
"I hate to think that he's dead, but under the circumstances, I can't think of anything else. He wouldn't stay away this long," Clark said.
Adams was last seen driving his taxi on Washington Street East about 4 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30, 1991. By 5 p.m. that evening, a neighbor had discovered the cab near his home in a wooded area of Twilight Drive. A parking light was broken and a large pool of blood covered the rear floor and seat.
His colleagues at C&H were at a loss to explain what happened.
"I think it's a shame that a man can't go out and make a living without getting shot or cut up," a dispatcher told WCHS at the time.
In the early stages of the investigation, police didn't know if the blood came from Adams or someone else. Investigators weren't sure if he was a victim or a suspect in a violent crime.
"Right, at that time, you had no clue because you have the cab, you have the blood, and no one around it," Charleston Police Chief of Detectives Lt. Tony Hazelett said.
In an interview with WCHS in 1991, Lt. Pat Epperhart said Adams was a victim or someone else was a victim.
"At this point, we are treating it as if he is a victim and is a missing person. He is going to be listed as a missing person in NCIC, which is a nationwide computer system," Epperhart said.
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Adams was just a little more than 5 feet tall and weighed only 110 pounds. Police had little to go on in the investigation.
Police did release that Adams was seen that morning with a white man, with medium length blond hair, who was between 35 and 40 years old.
"We don't know at this point whether that was a fare or a friend or whatever. It could have been anything, we don't know," Epperhart said.
Whoever that person was, he never came forward.
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Police put out a nationwide search for Adams. They used dogs and dragged the Elk River from boats the next day, searching for clues that never came.
In a previous news report, it was revealed that a woman had called C&H Taxi several times with tips, but she refused to identify herself.
Cab drivers across the capital city were shaken.
"Everyone is real tense and nervous about it. You can feel the tension in the air from all the drivers," cab driver Linda Curry said.
Curry told a WCHS reporter that she drove Adams to work that Friday and he seemed happy and fine. "He was a real nice guy, very nice and very friendly," she said.
Police did learn some about Adams. He was married and had children who lived in Huntington. In the trunk of his cab, police found Christmas presents for them.
"He was preparing to go through Christmas, so we don't know what happened," Hazelett said.
Charleston police did many interviews and learned that Adams had been making trips out of state driving the cab.
"We were taking several interviews that he was making trips for the purchase of drugs or driving people to New Jersey and New York to purchase drugs and bring them back to Charleston, but nothing solid came out about that. Nothing solid led us to the suspect," Hazelett said. "Based on the investigation, we believe he was being paid to take those trips to the New Jersey, New York area."
A break in the case came when the blood found in the cab came back matching Adams' blood type, but police have never said it was his or determined how it got there.
"The amount of blood that was found inside the taxi cab, they felt and I felt that no one could survive that," Hazelett said."There was no gun found, no casings found. No knife or nothing like that."
Police have been flooded with stories and rumors about Adams, even receiving tips in the last five years.
"There's people that are witnesses in this case or gave statements in this case that are still living in Charleston," Hazelett said.
Callers have claimed he is still alive and others swear he has been murdered, but police are confident that someone knows the truth and could lead them to a solid conclusion.
"I strongly feel that there are people still living here in Charleston that have information or even their own theory what happened to Bobby Adams and we wish they would call in," Hazelett said.
If you have any information about what happened to Bobby Adams, you can call Charleston detectives at 304-348-6480.
If you have a lead or a cold case you would like to see profiled, email coldcases@wchstv.com
