A Georgia man will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering his girlfriend and her teenage son, then leaving her 8-year-old son alone in the house with the bodies.
William Jerome Adams, 29, was found guilty of two counts of murder and aggravated assault in the March 2021 shooting deaths of Mary Lindsay, 39, and 15-year-old Atif Muhammad, Jr. in Flowery Branch, according to a press release from the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office on Friday.
The investigation began on March 26, 2021, when Lindsay’s oldest daughter inquired about her mother after she had not been heard from in several days.
She crawled through a window and discovered her 8-year-old brother asleep in their mother’s bedroom. She found the victims dead in Lindsay’s locked bedroom.
Adams had shot Lindsay and Atif in her bedroom two days before. Prosecutors said the boy had been alone in the home for two days, unaware of the murders.
Cops discovered three 9 mm shell casings inside the room and were able to match them with ammunition nearby. Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Adams, and within a day, they learned that federal authorities in Laredo, Texas, had apprehended him at the border.
Prosecutors say he attempted to enter Mexico under a false name and without a passport. Adams also took $2,000 from his girlfriend’s bank account.
According to prosecutors, Atif’s twin sister testified that she discovered a 9 mm Luger handgun about 10 days before the shooting and photographed it on her phone.
Her mother informed her that it was Adams’ gun. Adams “had a controlling nature and was abusive toward Lindsay,” according to prosecutors. In addition, they saw a photo of an injury to her arm caused by the defendant.
Following the verdict, a judge sentenced Adams to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
“The verdict and sentence are fitting for a defendant who violently took the life of a mother and son and stole from them,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “We mourn with the victims’ family and hope that the outcome of the trial gives them some closure and justice.”
