A few days ago, I was browsing YouTube when I ran across a video by The Hillbilly Files-Legends and Locations entitled "1946 Kentucky Murder Rampage-Finding Anderson Adkins"
The title alone piqued my interest, so I watched the video. The video described what would be known as "the most violent domestic murder case in Kentucky's history."
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| The Courier Journal, Louisville, KY February 12, 1945 |
Anderson Adkins was born November 13, 1911 in Pike County, Kentucky. He was the son of Haze Hayse Adkins and Martha Justice Adkins.
Little is known about Adkins' childhood and upbringing. According to court documents, he married Elmo Bentley in 1933. And together they had a child, Jimmy Donald Adkins. They resided in the Marrowbone community in Pike County near their relatives.
In 1942, Adkins and his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he worked in a ship building plant. They returned to Pike County, Kentucky in either the winter of 1943 or early spring of 1944.
At some point the couple began to have marital problems. And in April 1944, Elmo files for divorce. and for custody of Jimmy. While the divorce suit was pending she goes to Fairfield, Ohio to work in a defense plant. She left Jimmy with her parents, Alexander Fayette Bentley and Belle Coleman Bentley.
Sometime later the divorce was granted to Mrs. Adkins and she was given custody of Jimmy. However Anderson was given permission to see his child at least once a week. Anderson would go to the Bentley home, pick up Jimmy, spend the day with him before returning him on Sunday.
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| Anderson Adkins - photo on his grave headstone |
On February 10, 1945, Anderson goes to pick up Jimmy, but for unknown reasons (at least unknown to me) the Bentley's refuse to let Jimmy go with Anderson.
The next afternoon he went to a filling station owned by Orbin and Verna Bentley Long. Verna was a sister to Anderson's ex-wife Elmo. There, he purchases some gasoline. Before leaving he tried to persuade Verna to write a letter to her sister Elmo to encourage her to give custody of Jimmy to him. Verna refused stating "I will write her no letter and if I can do anything to prevent it, you won't be seeing Jimmy or Elmo either again." From this point on, Anderson claims that he remembers nothing until he was arrested a few hours later.
Evidence was presented by the Commonwealth proving that Adkins did in fact purchase the gas from Verna. And as she was standing beside his car conversing with him, he drew a pistol and shot her. She ran toward the rear of the car. Adkins exits the car and continued to fire his gun. In the meantime an automobile had driven up and stopped just behind Adkins' car. The car, occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Bryce Childers and their small daughter. One of the bullets fired by Anderson passed through the windshield of the Childers' car and struck the little girl.
Mr. & Mrs. Earl Johnson were passing the gas station in their truck as the shooting was occurring. They saw Adkins shoot Verna. Verna fell to the pavement. Adkins walked up to her body and struck her with his gun. He then reloaded the gun, got in his car, and drove to the home of Bill Goff about 1/2 mile away.
Adkins walks to the door of the Goff home with his pistol in hand. Mrs. Goff opened the door. Adkins asked for her husband and was told that Mr. Goff had gone up the road. However Mr. Goff was in the house listening to the radio. Adkins responded to Mrs. Goff "I hope I meet him; I will get him and I will get old Fayette", meaning Fayette Bentley, the father of his ex-wife.
Adkins confessed to Mrs. Goff that he had killed Verna Long. There was proof that he also had attempted to shoot Goff a few weeks before, and there was evidence to convince the jury that he was angry at Goff because he believed Goff had some part in Adkins' separation from his wife.
Adkins leaves the Goff residence and drives back in the direction of the gas station where the body of Verna was still lying in the road. As he approached the home of Mr. & Mrs. Tom Johnson, which was located almost straight across the road from the gas station, he applied his brakes. Due to the high rate of speed that he was driving, the car swerved, went over an embankment and stopped in a ditch.
The Johnsons and their son-in-law, Ed Burgess, had heard the shooting and had gone out to see what had happened. When Adkins ran into the ditch, they started back toward their house. Mr. Johnson went around the house. Adkins followed with pistol in hand and overtook Mrs. Johnson just as she reached the front steps.
Mrs. Johnson said "Anderson, I have never harmed you, what are you coming up here for?" Adkins replied, "Oh yes you have, I have come to get you," and immediately started firing. Another witness testified that Anderson responded to Mrs. Johnson, "damn you I am going to get even with you."
Three bullets struck Mrs. Johnson - one in the breast, one in the back, and one near her right eye. She died instantly.
This same day, Attorney A.E. Auxier and his wife were driving from Pikeville to Elkhorn City. They reached the Long gas station just after the shooting of Mrs. Johnson. He saw the body of a woman lying in the road. He drove his car onto the berm of the road and stopped.
Mr. Auxier observed a car in the ditch a short distance down the road and saw Adkins across the road from the ditched car loading his pistol. Adkins then approached the Auxier car and said "I have to have this car." The Auxiers got out of the car. Adkins told them to stand back. He then got into the car, said "I will do the driving" and drove off.
Adkins was next seen on Harless Creek where he drives to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Burton Bentley, brother of Adkins' ex-wife Elmo. Burton was not at home but his wife Thelma and their baby were. Adkins rushed into the house with gun in hand, and, when told that Burton was not at home, said "I will let him do a little suffering, he is not here."
Adkins then opened fire on Mrs. Bentley, shooting her in the breast. She ran into the next room where her baby was in a crib. Adkins shot her a second time, striking her in the arm. She sinks to the floor. Adkins shot her again, this time in the head. He then kicked her three times and then left. Mrs. Bentley recovered but was totally blind from the shot to the head.
Adkins then drove to the home of Clarence & Mella Bentley Blackburn. Mella was a sister to Adkins' ex-wife Elmo. Adkins opened their door and walked into the dining room where the Blackburns were sitting at the dinner table. Mrs. Blackburn testified that Adkins came in with his hand in his right pocket. and said "I have come after you and your mother both. What have you to say?" He walked around and put his pistol to Mella's back. Clarence knocked the gun down. Adkins then shot Clarence once in the chest. He raised the gun at him again. Clarence responded "Anderson, don't do that, you have shot me through." Adkins shot Clarence again in the chest.
Mella jumped between them and a struggle between the three of them began. Finally, Clarence got the gun. He ran toward the door with it. He then threw the gun into the creek and then collapsed and died. Clarence died within thirty minutes of being shot.
Adkins left the Blackburn home. Before he reached the main highway, he overtook a truck which had stalled and blocked the road. The truck belonged to Shannon Sawyers, who testified that Adkins was driving pretty fast. Sawyers testified that he went to see what the trouble was that they couldn't let Adkins by. At this time Adkins was standing near the back of the truck that was broke down. Adkins said "for mercy's sake, unblock me, I'm in a hurry, I want to get by." Adkins then said "they will follow me." Adkins then helped them push the truck out of the way.
Adkins then drove back down the main highway past the Long gas station and onto the Lavisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. A truck occupied by Scott Blackburn and his wife overtook Adkins. Adkins asked Blackburn to take him to Hayes Justice's store which was located at the foot of the mountain about 400 yards up the road. Hayes Justice was Adkins' cousin.
While in the truck, Adkins told the Blackburns that he had just killed four people - Orbin Long's wife, a Johnson woman, a Blackburn, and a Bentley.
Adkins got out of the truck and went into the store where he had a short conversation with his cousin Hayes Justice. He left the store and started up the mountain toward the Virginia state line.
Two highway patrolmen, Tony Robinette and T.S. Saulisbury arrived a few minutes later and gave chase to Adkins. They overtook him about three miles from the store. He started to run but Robinette fired several shots from his pistol and Adkins then surrendered to the officers.
Adkins told the officers that he had killed four or five people and begged the officers to shoot him and leave him in the mountains. As they were coming off the hill the officers asked Anderson if he realized what he had done and he said yes, that he had killed four or five people and that would be a lesson to them to keep their bills out of his business.
With Adkins in custody, on February 12, 1945 Circuit Judge R. Monroe Fields ordered the Pike County Circuit Grand Jury to reconvene the next day to consider charges against him.
On Thursday, February 15, 1945 indicted Adkins on three counts of murder and two indictments of malicious shooting. He was also indicted on a charge of armed robbery in the theft of the car. He was held in the Pike County jail without bond pending his arraignment that was scheduled for the following week.
On Friday, February 16, 1945, Adkins plead innocent of the charges and Circuit Judge R. Monroe Fields set the trial for February 28, 1945. Adkins requested a change of venue for the trial on the grounds that he could not get a fair trial. The Judge refused to grant that change of venue.
On March 1, 1945 Judge Fields moved the trial date to March 22. Adkins' attorney stated he needed more time to prepare for the trial.
A newly summoned panel of 200 jurors were to be ready for the trial. The jury ended up consisting of all males.
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| from the Courier-Journal Louisville, KY February 15, 1945 |
Adkins professed his love for his ex-wife and broke down and wept as he told of unsuccessful efforts to get her to come back to him. and of his attempts to gain custody of his son Jimmy. Adkins said he blamed the Bentley family, his wife's relatives, for her refusal to return to him.
Adkins related that on the night preceding the shootings, he had gone to the home of his mother-in-law with whom Jimmy had been living but had been denied permission to visit his son. He stated that the next day he drove to see Mrs. Long (his ex-wife's sister) to ask her to write a letter to his wife. She refused, after which, Adkins said, "My mind snapped and everything went blank."
The trial, which was for the murder of Adkins' sister-in-law Verna Long, ended with Adkins being found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Neither the defendant, nor his ex-wife showed any emotion as the verdict was read. Their son Jimmy showed little concern as well as he read a comic book during the proceedings.
This was just the beginning of Adkins' legal troubles. He still had other trials to go. He would go on trial again in May for the murder of Mrs. Johnson.
The jury was selected on May 22, 1945 and the trial was scheduled to actually begin the following day.
During this trial Adkins told the jury that shortly before the shootings that he had suffered a head injury at work at the shipyard in Baltimore. But during cross examination, Adkins admitted that he had lost no work due to injury.
For the murder of Mrs. Johnson, the jury deliberated less than two hours before convicting Adkins of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death. Just as in the first trial, neither Adkins or his ex-wife showed any emotion as the verdict and sentencing was read.
Judge Fields overruled a defense motion to set aside the verdict and grant a new trial, and set the execution date for August 17, 1945 at Eddyville penitentiary. The defense stated that the case would be appealed.
In November 1945, the Court of Appeals affirmed Adkins' death penalty. Adkins refused to appeal the case again and the execution date was set for March 15, 1946. Governor Simeon Willis informed the counsel for the defendant that he would take no action.
In the early morning hours of March 15, 1946 Anderson Adkins was lead to the electric chair according to Warden Gug Tuggle.
Due to his execution, Adkins never stood trial for the remainder of the cases.
Adkins' ex-wife Elmo remarried , this time to Elwood Tomlinson. She passed away in 1994 and is buried in Marietta, Georgia.
As for Jimmy, well he went on to live a long life. He married Ruby Ann Luster Adkins. He served in the Air Force and then his entire career was spent at Lockheed as an electronic technician. He passed away in 2018 and is buried in Marietta, Georgia.
Additional Information: Much of this information came from the video "1946 Kentucky Murder Rampage-Finding Anderson Adkins." AND from part of the court proceedings, found in the blog "Diggin' Up Bones"
