‘I did it’: Nearly 40 years later, West Virginia man admits he shot his father in the head, kept secret until mom passed away

BROOKE COUNTY, W.Va. (WTRF) – Nearly four decades have passed since a father was found dead, but on Monday, in the Brooke County courthouse, a haunting past finally caught up with the killer.

Imagine waiting nearly 40 years for justice. That’s what unfolded at the Brooke County courthouse, where a man accused of killing his father back in 1987 pleaded guilty on Monday.

“Mr. Adams stated that during the morning hours of November 27, 1987, he walked to the area where his father Edward Frank Adams was sleeping. Mr. Adams advised while his father slept, he took a 22-magnum revolver his father had nearby and shot his father in the head.”
Allison Cowden | Brooke County Prosecutor

In 1987, the body of Edward Frank Adams was found inside their Brooke County home. At the time Adams Senior told EMS staff his dad had taken his own life.

But nearly 38 years later, on Nov. 10, 2024, Adams Sr. made another 911 call; this time, he admitted he had shot his father in the head, wiped the gun and staged it as a suicide.

Senior told investigators the reason he held it in for so long, was to protect his mother from the truth.

I held this off until my mom passed away now, she passed away and she don’t have to go through this.”
James Edwards Adams Sr.

The case was delayed after questions surfaced about whether Adams was competent to stand trial. A forensic psychiatrist declared him competent, but during that evaluation he briefly recanted his confession saying he denied the crime just to get the psychiatrist “away from him.”

Monday, Adams Sr. pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. A case Brooke County Prosecutor Allison Cowden won’t soon forget.

I’m a fairly new prosecutor and this is my first murder conviction so this is a case I will remember because of that.”
Allison Cowden | Brooke County Prosecutor

James Edwards Adams Senior was sentenced to life in prison today without the chance of parole.