Trial set for man charged in wife’s slaying

A Blanchard man once charged with the murders of his pregnant wife and her unborn child will face trial on manslaughter charges after a judge ruled Wednesday that he contributed to her death by helping her engage in prostitution.

Justin Adams, 26, is charged with two counts of first-degree manslaughter in the Dec. 10, 2011, deaths of Jaymie Adams, 25, and her unborn child. Prosecutors reduced the charges against Adams after charging another man with the killings.

Jaymie Adams’ body was found Jan. 7, 2012, at a bike track near Lake Stanley Draper.

The mother of four was stabbed 29 times, including 18 times in the back, and her jaw was broken in three places during the assault that ended her life, authorities said.

Prosecutors allege that Justin Adams helped his wife participate in prostitution and in doing so, “engaged in criminal conduct” that resulted in her death.

“The evidence is clear that Justin Adams aided and abetted Jaymie Adams,” Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Jimmy Harmon argued in court Wednesday. “He profited from it. He was a principal. He knew it was dangerous.”

Prosecutors attempted

to establish at Justin Adams’ preliminary hearing that he marketed his wife’s prostitution activities over a threemonth period leading up to her Dec. 9 disappearance.

A computer expert testified that Justin Adams posted sexually explicit online ads for his wife, including a Craigslist ad in which he offers to drive the couple’s van around while his wife performs sex acts in the back seat.

Jaymie Adams responded to three requests from clients the night she went missing, according to tes-

ONLINE

Scan the QR code to watch a video related to the case. timony from police officers and detectives who spoke with Justin Adams in the hours and days following his wife’s disappearance.

Defense attorney Irven Box said Adams did not cause his wife’s death, adding that prosecutors provided no evidence to support manslaughter charges.

Special Judge D. Fred Doak rejected the claims. He called Adams an “active participant” in his wife’s prostitution activities and said he “put her in harm’s way.”

Box said he will ask the trial judge to dismiss the charges.

Adams, who reported his wife missing, initially lied to investigators about her occupation because “he was concerned that if he told us the truth we wouldn’t be as interested in finding her,” Oklahoma City police Det. Cris Cunningham testified.

Adams, the homicide detective said, also failed to disclose a phone conversation with Joseph Cyr, the Skiatook man charged in April with two counts of first-degree murder after his DNA sample matched an unidentified sample taken from the victim’s body.

Adams told investigators he didn’t know Cyr, who phone records indicate was the last person to have contact with Jaymie Adams, and said he coldcalled him from a list of his wife’s phone numbers the morning she disappeared.

“He told us he didn’t think it was important because the guy didn’t know anything,” Cunningham testified.