Geoffrey Adams, the husband of missing Yorke Peninsula mother Colleen Adams, charged with her murder after 45 years
FORTY-FIVE years after young mother Colleen Adams went missing from her Yorke Peninsula home, her husband has been charged with murder after taking Major Crime detectives to the spot where she is believed to be buried.
- ROLLING STORY: Search for wife’s remains as husband charged
- SPECIAL REPORT: The 1973 disappearance of Colleen Adams
- The new hunt for missing mum Colleen Adams’ remains
FOR almost 45 years, the remains of young mother Colleen Adams may have been buried beneath a cold, concrete slab.
During that time, her husband Geoffrey Adams repeatedly maintained she had left him one morning in November 1973 – despite police gathering an abundance of information that suggested otherwise. Just after 2pm on Wednesday, Mr Adams, 70, relented and finally told Major Crime detectives where to search for his wife.
After three days of relentless police activity on Yorke Peninsula, Adams was being questioned at his Wallaroo home when he agreed to show detectives where he believed his wife’s remains were.
He was being interviewed for the third time in as many days about the disappearance of Mrs Adams – but it was the first occasion that he was co-operating.
Major Crime Investigation Branch officer-in-charge Detective Superintendent Des Bray said the breakthrough followed days of intensive work by detectives at Maitland, Wallaroo and other locations on Yorke Peninsula.
“He has co-operated with investigators and given a version of events,’’ he said.
This morning, Det-Supt Bray told Channel 9 he was confident Mrs Adams’ remains would be found today.
“The search was due to escalate yesterday (Wednesday) when we got the breakthrough from the suspect and he agreed to cooperate and identify the area,” he told the Today Show.
“With what we were told yesterday and the information we had before, we are very confident Colleen will be recovered today from here and in the very near future she’ll be able to be returned to her family to be buried with dignity.”
After being arrested at his Wallaroo home, Adams agreed to accompany detectives to his former home on Bagnal Ave at Maitland.
Arriving just after 3pm, he spoke to detectives for a short time, explained to them what had allegedly happened, before specifically pointing at a small area covered by a concrete slab in front of a backyard shed.
At that point, detectives then marked a large rectangle with yellow spray paint on the concrete slab beneath which Mrs Adams remains are expected to be found.
Adams was formally charged with the murder of his wife just before 5pm and is expected to appear in Kadina Magistrates Court today.
Det-Supt Bray said the arrest had created more opportunities for detectives to pursue as a brief of evidence was compiled.
“There are a good number of investigational avenues that have now been opened for us,’’ he said.
“Since Sunday we have had several Crime Stoppers calls and locals at Maitland have been approaching us with information.’’
While it was unknown why Adams decided to co-operate, he had been told on Monday the excavation at his former home would be extensive.
“It may have been the inevitable conclusion that he reached that the investigators were committed to searching every inch of his property,’’ Det-Supt Bray said.
“The use of the ground penetrating radar was only the preliminary stage of the search.’’
Colleen’s sister Heather Johncock said she was “happy but shocked’’ at the development when advised by detectives at 4pm on Wednesday.
“I was relieved but at the same time you go into shock,’’ she said.
“It was overwhelming.’’
Ms Johncock said she was apprehensive about the likelihood of her sister’s remains being recovered on Thursday but was glad there finally would be closure.
“Once it is over it will be good,’’ Ms Johncock said.
“It has been very hard. Learning this has been very hard and (today) will be very hard but once it is over and we can put Colleen to rest properly it will be good.’’
Detectives and forensic officers will this morning remove the concrete slab and start excavations to recover Mrs Adams’ remains. The dramatic development in the case came on the third day of searching at the Bagnal Ave property.
Detectives converged at the property on Monday to start the search after a full review of the case – revealed in the Sunday Mail last weekend.
While excavations started at the house on Monday, detectives simultaneously descended on Adams’ Wallaroo home and he was interviewed over the suspected murder of his wife.
On Tuesday, Adams confirmed publicly he was considered a suspect in the case by police.
“All husbands are suspects,’’ he told Channel Nine.
Adams still owns the modest Bagnal Ave home but it is rented to a couple who have no connection with Mrs Adams’ murder.
Since Monday, detectives have excavated several areas after examinations using ground penetrating radar equipment but had found nothing.
Until Wednesday, Adams has only ever told police one story — that his wife walked out the front door of their Yorke Peninsula home moments after telling him their marriage was over.
He said she was carrying two suitcases containing her belongings, she got into a vehicle driven by another woman and it drove away just after 7am on November 22, 1973.
Mrs Adams, 24, has not been seen since.
While Adams has repeated the same account to detectives each time he has been interviewed, it is at odds with the information they have gathered.
While it appears the couple were having marital problems — with neighbours reporting loud arguments for some time — there are indicators that suggest Mrs Adams was not planning to leave her Maitland home.
Foremost was the fact she doted on her two young girls, aged 18 months and 3, with relatives telling police she would never leave them — even if she had left her husband.
She had also been preparing for Christmas, buying a “special’’ present for her husband and other gifts for her sister.
While Mrs Adams vanished on November 22, her husband did not report her missing to police.
On December 17 — 27 days after she vanished — her mother Vera Millbank lodged a missing persons’ report with police.
The file remained an open missing person’s report until 1979, when the case was declared a major crime because there was no trace of Mrs Adams and she had made no contact with her family.
ANATOMY OF A MYSTERY
NOVEMBER 22, 1973: Colleen Adams goes missing from her Bagnal Ave, Maitland home.
DECEMBER 17, 1973: Colleen’s mother Vera Millbank lodges a missing persons report with police.
1979: The case is declared a major crime because of fears she has in fact been murdered.
2001: Information is received that Colleen’s body may have been disposed of in a private rubbish dump on the nearby Port Clinton Rd. An extensive search finds no trace of her.
2015: Major Crime detectives launch Operation Persist, dedicated to re-investigating cold case murders.
2018: The Colleen Adams’ murder is shortlisted for scrutiny as part of
Operation Persist.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2018: The Sunday Mail reveals the Colleen Adams case has been the subject of a full review and new lines of investigation are under way.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2018: Detectives converge on her former home at Maitland and start searching for remains. Mr Adams is simultaneously interviewed at his
Wallaroo home.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2018: Excavations continue at Maitland and Mr Adams is again interviewed at Wallaroo.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2018: Mr Adams agrees to co-operate with detectives and shows
them where to dig for the remains of Mrs Adams.
