Noatak man sentenced to 80 years for Second-Degree murder in beating death of wife

Kotzebue, AK– Last week, Jim Adams, of Noatak, was sentenced to serve 80 years in prison for the murder of his wife.

Adams, 45, was convicted in September 2023 of Murder in the Second Degree for beating his wife Rhoda Adams to death with a crowbar in June 2020. Adams was also sentenced to serve an additional 10 years for Assault in the First Degree for beating Charlie Bailey III with the crowbar during the same incident.

The evidence presented at trial showed that on the morning of June 27, 2020, Adams woke up and found his wife was not in their house. Adams eventually found Rhoda at the residence of his cousin Charlie Bailey. Adams, armed with a crowbar, kicked in the door to the arctic entry as well as the door to the main house. Evidence showed that Adams swung the crowbar at Rhoda, but Bailey stepped in front of her and blocked the blow with his left arm. The initial blow broke Bailey’s arm. Adams continued to beat Bailey, including striking him multiple times to both sides of Bailey’s head and face. Bailey fell unconscious on the living room floor from the assault.

Adams then turned his attention to 31-year-old Rhoda. Evidence demonstrated that Adams struck Rhoda with the crowbar more than 100 times. At some point during the beating, Adams removed Rhoda’s clothes. Adams took Rhoda’s clothes with him and hid the clothes at his home.

Adams later used the fact that Rhoda was undressed to claim the killing was done in a heat of passion, after he found Rhoda in bed naked with Bailey. Other evidence disputed this claim, however. Rhoda’s bloody clothes were found by Alaska State Troopers at Adams’ residence, along with clothing worn by Adams at the time of the murder that had blood on it. The clothes Adams was seen wearing on the night of the murder were tested by the Alaska State Crime Detection Laboratory. At trial, Forensic Scientist Danielle Ledford testified she found blood linked to both victims on the sleeves of the sweatshirt Adams was wearing. At trial, the jury rejected the defense of heat of passion and found that Adams acted recklessly in killing Rhoda.

In his sentencing comments, Superior Court Judge Paul Roetman found Adams to be a worst offender based both upon his actions in the current case as well as his criminal history. Judge Roetman further found that his primary concern in sentencing Adams was to isolate him from the community. He found Adams could not be rehabilitated and emphasized the importance of the sentencing goal of community condemnation in sentencing Adams to 80 years to serve.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Sam Vandergaw of the Office of Special Prosecutions’ Rural Prosecution Unit and Assistant District Attorney Ashly Crockett of the Nome District Attorney’s Office, with assistance from Paralegal Lu Iyatunguk of the Nome District Attorney’s Office. The case was investigated by Kotzebue Alaska State Troopers Anne Sears and Ron Monigold and the Alaska State Crime Detection Laboratory provided forensic analysis.