Body is that of suspect in ’80 killing
Man was wanted for shooting Saxonburg chief
Authorities in Massachusetts have confirmed that the body dug up from the backyard of a New England home Thursday is that of fugitive Donald Eugene Webb, charged in the 1980 slaying of Saxonburg Police Chief Greg Adams.
Also, authorities have verified that Donald Eugene Webb — who was 49 at the time of the chief’s line-of-duty, broad-daylight slaying — died in 1999.
He was buried in the backyard at 28 Maplecrest Drive in North Dartmouth, a property owned by his former wife, Lillian Webb, and her son, Stanley Webb. How the body got there,no one is saying publicly.
Federal and state authorities from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts converged on the site Thursday. Lillian Webb had divulged where her husband’s body was buried, according to an attorney for the slain chief’s surviving family. Ms. Webb had been granted immunity from prosecution. Also, Chief Adams’ family had agreed to withdraw a pending wrongful death lawsuit in exchange for information as to Donald Webb’s whereabouts.
After the remains were exhumed, an autopsy was conducted Friday morning by the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts state police, David Procopio, and current Saxonburg police Chief Joe Beachem each confirmed what Ms. Webb had told authorities: that her husband’s remains were buried in the backyard. Dental records were used to make the confirmation, Chief Beachem saidhe was told.
The investigation involved the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police, Saxonburg Borough Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and the Bristol County District Attorney’s office in Massachusetts.
The time frame for Webb’s death was disclosed in a news release from the FBI issued Friday. The news release noted Webb had “passed away.” No cause or manner of death was provided. The FBI said no additional details will be released, as the investigation into the case continues.
Webb had the distinction of being on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for a quartercentury. He was the only fugitive in America who was wanted for the murder of a police chief.
The chief was gunned down during what is believed to have been a routine traffic stop on Dec. 4, 1980. Authorities suspected that Webb, a career criminal with ties to organized crime in Providence, R.I., was in Saxonburg to case his next heist. He had a penchant for jewelry store robberies. In fact, at the time, he was a wanted felon and police believe that when Chief Adams stopped him off a main drag in the tiny Butler County borough, he resisted because he didn’t want to go back to jail.
He shot the police chief twice, it was alleged. But the chief got off a shot, apparently wounding Webb’s leg. Evidence was found at the scene connecting Webb to the killing: a driver’s license with the name of Lillian Webb’s first husband. And an abandoned car in Providence had blood inside matching Webb’s.
On December 31, 1980, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Webb. He had been charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He also was charged in Pennsylvania with first-degree murder for the slaying of Chief Adams.
In a written news release, Captain Steven J. Ignatz, the commanding officer of the Butler barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police, said: “Investigators never gave up hope that Webb would be located so that justice could be served for the family of Chief Adams almost 37 years later. Numerous investigators — including those retired for many years — have worked tirelessly and collaboratively over that span of time to make sure that Chief Adams’ family and the people of Saxonburg would see the day that Webb was located.”
Mary Ann Adams Jones, widow of the slain chief, said Friday afternoon she was feeling no sense of closure or relief at the news, only anger that Webb is not alive to face the justice system and that his former wife, Lillian Webb, apparently had sheltered him in life and had hidden him in death. As for the confirmation of the ID of the remains, Mrs. Jones said: “It’swhat we figured.”
Authorities have been mum about the details of their investigation. Mrs. Jones’ attorney, Thomas W. King III of Butler, said the case turned when FBI Special Agent Tommy MacDonald was assigned to it, which was about two years ago. Somehow — no one will say under what authority — the FBI conducted more than one search of Ms. Webb’s home, where they found a hidden room off a closet. Inside the room was a walking cane that authorities believe Webb used because of the leg injury he received from the gunshot fired by Chief Adamsbefore he was killed.
That discovery prompted the chief’s surviving family to hire Mr. King and to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Lillian Webb, Donald Webb and Stanley Webb. They were seeking more than $1 million, but Mr. King said what they really wanted was the truth. “It was a strategy to get information,” he said of the lawsuit. Mrs. Jones concurred. “We wanted to pressure her,” she said, noting that the FBI had tried over time to persuade Ms. Webb to talk out of a sense of empathy but that that hadn’t worked. “We decided to sue,” she said.
She believes that the publicity about the lawsuit and the rejuvenated investigation pushed Ms. Webb to “crack.” Mr. King said the removal of the threat of prosecution or civil suit made her feel “comfortable” enough to cooperate withauthorities.
Whether Stanley Webb can or will be criminally charged is unclear. The Massachusetts State Police spokesman said he is unaware of any criminal charges being filed as yet. Mr. King said there is a possibility Stanley Webb could be sued by the family of Chief Adams. “We had no deal with Stanley.”
The FBI made a point of noting in its news release Friday that Ms. Webb’s property was searched by virtue of a warrant that was part of a separate investigation. What that case was is unknown. A spokesman for the FBI Boston’s office, Kristen Setera, declined to provide any elaboration about any aspect of the case. However, the news release she issued specified that no one would receive the $100,000 reward that had been offered to anyone who could provide information about Webb’s whereabouts, dead or alive, because “Mr. Webb’s location was determined through investigative efforts.”
SaxonburgChief Beachem said he was “elated” to get the confirmation Friday, though he had been convinced the remains were Webb’s. “Until you get that 100 percent confirmation, there’s always the worry that it could be deception,” he said. He said he wished Webb had been alive toface trial.
Stanley Webb did not return a call for comment. Ms. Webb could not be reached for comment.