Body found off I-85 similar to missing Lilburn woman
05/24/2007
By Arielle Kass
Staff Writer
arielle.kass@gwinnettdailypost.com
LAWRENCEVILLE - Members of the Lilburn Police Department knew Leslie Adams before she became a missing persons case more than a year ago.
As such, they keep in close contact with her relatives, Sgt. Tyler Thomas said. And members of the department keep an eye out for any findings that may help them bring closure to her family.
When the Franklin County Sheriff's Office found bones that belonged to a middle-aged woman on Mother's Day, members of the Lilburn Police Department called the county on the South Carolina border to see if the remains could be Adams'.
"I think we owe it to the family to check anything out we can," Thomas said. "We always keep our eyes out there."
It could be eight months before DNA tests confirm whether the woman found in a swampy area two miles west of Interstate 85 is the 40-year-old hairdresser who disappeared in October 2005. But Thomas and John Heinen, a special agent in charge of the case for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said there are a number of similarities between the descriptions.
Heinen said investigators found a breast implant at the scene off Ga. Highway 320 in Carnesville. Adams had breast implants, but the one found did not appear to have a serial number as some later implants do. The GBI will check with the manufacturer of the implant and the doctor who performed the surgery to see if it could be the same type, Heinen said.
Also found at the scene was a pair of size eight black Reebok classic hi-top tennis shoes, a medium dark-colored sweater, a pair of size 10 capris and white athletic socks with gray toes.
Thomas said the clothes are consistent with what Adams, who was reported missing Oct. 25, might have been wearing considering the fall weather.
A forensic anthropologist with the GBI said the remains have been at the site fewer than three years. He identified the woman as between 30 and 50 years old.
Heinen said the cause of death for the woman who was found has not yet been determined. Her skull has not been recovered, he said.
Steve Thomas, the Franklin County sheriff, said he vaguely remembered hearing about the Adams case. While the county sees a couple of murders a year, there's never been anything like this, he said.
Tyler Thomas said Gwinnett County's investigation into Adams' disappearance continues. In 2005, investigators found a Winchester .45 shell casing and blood spatter at the foot of her bed at her Jodeco Road apartment.
Adams, who was a single mother of two teenagers, had a temporary protective order against her estranged boyfriend, Billy Joe Cook. Cook was jailed on two counts of aggravated stalking in March of last year. He was not considered a suspect in her disappearance.
http://www.missingabducted.com/2007/05/leslie_adams_bo.html
