Whisper
#byefelicia
http://www.projo.com/news/content/ADAM_EMERY_04-18-10_N6HQV42_v112.3a58ed2.htmlLaura Emery received the invitation by telephone. It was shortly after the Rhode Island medical examiner issued a death certificate for her brother, Adam. His in-laws were planning a memorial Mass at the same church in West Warwick where Adam and Elena Emery had been married. A luncheon at the West Valley Inn, where the couple’s wedding reception had been held, would follow.
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But there is no proof that Adam C. Emery is dead.
On Sept. 14, 2004, Superior Court Judge Daniel Procaccini declared him deceased. He “has been absent from his usual place of residence and his whereabouts have been unknown for at least 10 years,†the court order reads.
Three months later, the State of Rhode Island issued a death certificate.
But the judge who presided over Adam C. Emery’s murder trial is not convinced.
There’s still a warrant out for Emery’s arrest and the FBI is about to place him back on its Wanted List.
Adam Emery — together with his wife, Elena — disappeared on Nov. 10, 1993, the same day a jury pronounced him guilty of murder. The victim of the homicide was 20-year-old Jason K. Bass. The two men were strangers; neither had ever been in trouble with the law. Their paths crossed on Aug. 31, 1990, at Rocky Point Park in Warwick. Adam and Elena Emery were sitting in their black Thunderbird, eating chowder and clam cakes when a car sideswiped them, breaking the left taillight. Emery gave chase, pursuing a red 1975 Ford LTD driven by Bass, who’d gone to the amusement park to pick up the brother of his girlfriend.
A chase ensued for 1.7 miles. It ended with Emery stabbing Bass through the heart with a double-edged military knife that he’d bought for his wife, for her protection.
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After he was charged, Emery spent eight months behind bars before being released on $270,000 bail — property his parents, in-laws and wife’s sister and brother-in-law had put up. After his conviction, he remained free on the same bail.
About four hours after the guilty verdict, Adam and Elena’s green Toyota Camry was found abandoned on the Claiborne Pell Bridge, about 200 feet over Narragansett Bay. Inside the car, the police found the clothes the couple had worn to court that day, a pair of Elena Emery’s high heels, a wallet, a purse and 10 credit cards in the couple’s name, each broken in half. They also found the Emerys’ checkbook with all the checks torn in half.
Ten months later, fishermen dredged up a skull. Dental records proved it was Elena Emery’s. None of Adam Emery’s remains have ever been found. So the mystery has endured for almost 17 years: Is Adam Emery really dead or is he alive somewhere, a fugitive from justice?
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Jack McMahon, who prosecuted the murder case, says that Emery had vowed to a guard at the Adult Correctional Institutions — when released on bail before his trial — that he’d never return to prison. He says he’s always believed that the couple jumped to their deaths because Adam Emery was “a complete narcissist who was in complete shock after he was convicted of second-degree murder.†He’d rejected a pretrial deal that would have let him serve 20 years if he pleaded guilty to manslaughter because “he believed he was innocent.â€
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Adam Emery was convicted on his 31st birthday. After he was found guilty, he and his wife left the Kent County Courthouse and drove to Kelly’s Sporting Goods in Cranston. They bought 80 pounds of weights, black hooded sweatsuits and two pairs of white socks. A cash receipt says it was 3:53 p.m.
Fifteen minutes later, the couple drove up to a nearby Burger King. Elena Emery ordered food to go. They then drove to Newport where they bought a bottle of wine.
At 6:53 p.m., the Emerys’ Camry was found on the Pell Bridge facing west, in the direction of Jamestown.
Three days later, the couple’s families received letters in the mail from Adam and Elena. There was no mention of “suicide.†They asked only for forgiveness. “They said they didn’t understand what had happened; that they felt if they had told the truth [at the trial] everything would be okay. They said that hopefully they’d be going to a better place…,†Laura Emery remembers.
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America’s Most Wanted†aired a show about the case. Hopkins traveled to Florida tracking the money trail. One day, not too long after the couple disappeared, McMahon got a phone call from the detective. “Kevin was all excited. He told me there were detectives who had staked out a house. He said he was confident that within an hour’s time he’d have Adam Emery in custody.â€
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Over the years, area fishermen have hauled up human bones in their nets that have been sent for testing to see if any of them belonged to Adam Emery. One day a Newport lobsterman found two human leg bones about 400 feet northeast of the Pell Bridge. They were bare except for some blue and gold striped material that appeared to match the stripes on the white socks the Emerys had bought at Kelly’s. But the legs weren’t Adam Emery’s.
The bones retrieved from Narragansett Bay were stored as evidence. New advances in forensic testing have allowed FBI scientists to conduct mitochondrial DNA testing on them. To do the tests, Hopkins had to get blood samples from Adam’s mother, and then from his sister to compare with DNA extracted from the bones. The 9/11 attacks caused a huge backlog at the FBI crime lab, Hopkins says, so it has taken years to get some results. Last November, Hopkins, who’s now retired from the state police, was still getting calls from an FBI agent to tell him there were “no matches.â€
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In 2004, 10 years after Adam and Elena Emery vanished, Laura Emery called Hopkins for help. The families were having financial problems. It had been 13 years since they’d put up their houses so that Adam could be freed on bail; the liens were preventing them from selling the real estate or getting any credit from banks. “They were both good kids,†he says of the murder defendant and his victim. “They actually were all good people,†he says of their families.
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“There is nothing…that creates any reasonable doubt that Adam C. Emery is alive,†Judge Procaccini wrote in declaring him dead.
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The DiRocco family didn’t wait for any court order before giving their daughter and son-in-law a proper burial. After Elena’s skull was recovered, her parents purchased a gravesite for Elena and Adam in St. Ann Cemetery in Cranston. The gravestone says they both died on Nov. 10, 1993 –– the day Adam was found guilty of murder and he and Elena vanished –– and that they’re now “Together Sharing God’s Eternal Love.â€
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It’s been almost 20 years since Barbara Bass went to Ann & Hope to buy a suit to bury her son in. But time has done nothing to ease her pain. She still cries whenever she talks about Jason, her boy who had a passion for cooking, who hoped someday to open his own diner. “He was a good boy. He was a happy kid,†his mother says. She remembers the day he took off his brand-new sneakers and gave them to a homeless man. She rattles off the things that gave him joy: freshwater fishing, family outings to Roger Williams Park, Halloween. “He would always paint his face white and it glowed in the dark,†then do the makeup for his younger brother, Matthew, who has special needs.
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The Basses feel betrayed. They say no one from the state police or the attorney general’s office has contacted them since the day Adam Emery was found guilty. No one bothered to tell them about the court hearing that led to a death certificate for Adam Emery. They found out about it four years later when someone dropped a copy of a magazine in their mailbox with an update about the case.
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FBI Special Agent Gail Marcinkiewicz, spokeswoman for the bureau’s Boston office, says Adam Emery’s disappearance “is still an ongoing investigation.†An agent remains assigned to the case “to handle any leads that come in. As far as the FBI is concerned, he is not dead. We will keep looking for him … until such time as we find out he’s actually dead,†she says.
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“If we had full confirmation of death, that would be the end of it,†she says. “But I don’t want to be making comments about a case that could raise its head …There’s been no final chapter. …The mystery has prolonged itself. Maybe it will be the mystery that never resolves. … It’s so bizarre. I don’t know whether it will ever be over. How could I be sure?â€
TIMELINE Emery Case Chronology
Aug. 31, 1990: Adam Emery and his wife, Elena, mistakenly believe that 20-year-old Jason Bass hit their Thunderbird while it was parked at Rocky Point Amusement Park in Warwick. Emery gives chase. He cuts off Bass on Tidewater Drive. Bass, in a panic, throws his car into reverse. As he clings to the car door, Emery stabs Bass twice, once through the heart.
Sept. 14, 1990: District Court Judge Francis J. Darigan orders Emery held without bail although family and friends testify during a bail hearing that Emery is a peaceful person.
May 3, 1991: Emery is freed on $270,000 surety bail after family members agree to post three pieces of property to secure his release
Nov. 1, 1993: Emery’s murder trial begins. John Gorman, a passenger in the Bass car, testifies that Emery ran to the car after he cut them off, shouting, “I’m going to…kill you.â€
Nov. 10, 1993: Adam Emery is convicted of second-degree murder. His wife, Elena, who is in the courtroom, murmurs, “There’s…hell to be paid.†Superior Court Judge Judith C. Savage agrees to let Emery remain free on bail. About four hours later, the couple’s Toyota Camry is found at the high point on the Claiborne Pell Bridge.
Nov. 23, 1993: The Rhode Island State Police hire a lip reader to review a news videotape and determine what the Emerys said to each other upon hearing the guilty verdict. The lip reader tells the police it appears that Elena Emery said: “We will do what we originally said; you promised me. We should have done this before.â€
Aug. 30, 1994: A fisherman finds a human skull in his net while fishing north of the Pell Bridge.
Sept. 9, 1994: The medical examiner says that dental records prove that the skull is Elena Emery’s.
Sept. 14, 2004: Superior Court Judge Daniel Procaccini enters an order declaring Adam C. Emery dead.
Dec. 13, 2004: The State of Rhode Island issues a death certificate for Emery because he was “declared legally dead by the Superior Courtâ€
Jan. 10, 2005: Superior Court Judge Vincent A. Ragosta discharges Adam Emery’s bail and releases the liens on the property his parents and in-laws posted for his release.
Adam Emery
