|
|
| |
| |
Criminal Records - Most Wanted |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Profile |
|
| |
Name: Adam Mark Zachs
|
|
| |
Race: White |
|
| |
Age Now: 45 |
|
| |
Height: 5'4" |
|
| |
Weight: 130 lbs |
|
| |
Hair (Color, Description, Facial Hair): Brown |
|
| |
Eyes (Color and Correction): Blue |
|
| |
Other Physical Characteristics: Looks very clean-cut, intelligent |
|
| |
Wanted for :
1st Degree Murder, West Hartford, CT;
Mar 22, 1987
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Location(s) |
|
| |
Last Seen : Mexico City, Mexico
Adam Zachs was last known to be in Mexico City with his girlfriend Carmen. Cops say they lived there for about a year and a half. |
|
| |
Possible Location : Mexico City, Mexico
California
It has been rumored Zachs might possibly go to Brazil -- but searches haven't turned up any new leads. |
|
| |
Last Known : Unkown |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Traits |
|
| |
Speaks some Spanish |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Case Story |
|
| |
Rich Kid On The Run |
|
| |
To the family of a murder victim, justice is everything. Although they know it won't bring back their loved one, seeing a known killer brought to justice is a small bit of comfort that goes a long way in the healing process. For a few fleeting hours, Peter Carone's family felt that comfort when the killer who gunned him down outside a West Hartford, Connecticut bar in 1987 was convicted of first-degree murder. But Peter's killer slipped through the cracks of the courtroom -- and has been living the life of a fugitive ever since.
Peter's killer was a man named Adam Zachs -- the son of a wealthy business man in West Hartford. On October 26, 1988, Zachs was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison for Peter's murder. Peter's family breathed a sigh of relief when they heard of the conviction -- it had been a long process, taking a year and a half for the case to even go to trial. But the Carone family couldn't rejoice for long. A mere hour after his conviction, Zachs' lawyer appealed the conviction, and the judge set a $250,000 bond. Zachs, a rich kid through his wealthy family, easily posted the bond -- but cops say he wasn't about to stick around for his next day in court. He absconded, and the Carone family was left waiting once again for justice. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
The Murder |
|
| |
On March 22, 1987, Peter Carone went to West Hartford's Prospect Cafe to watch the NCAA basketball Final Four with his fiance, Kathleen O'Brien. There were two seats available at the bar but they were not together. Peter asked the stranger sitting between the two seats to move down so they could sit side-by-side. The stranger was Adam Zachs -- and he courteously obliged.
Peter was so grateful he actually bought Zachs a beer. Tammy Prevost, the bartender working that night, said the two men were getting along fine until Peter told a joke Zachs apparently found offensive. The punchline was spit shining the bar and Tammy says Zachs got upset and told her, "This guy just spit on the bar. I'm totally disgusted."
Zachs paid his tab and left the bar -- but he wasn't gone for long. He returned just a few minutes later and confronted Peter. Both men stepped outside. But according to Kathleen, the two men didn't appear to have stepped out for a brawl.
"They didn't look like they were having an argument at all. I believe Adam was sitting on the fence and Peter was facing him, standing." Kathleen said. "They just looked like they were having a normal conversation."
But when Peter walked back to the bar, he suddenly collapsed. Kathleen thought Peter was having a seizure, a condition he had developed over the last few years. But when she got close him she realized he was bleeding. Peter had been shot once in the back, and died just a few hours later.
Within an hour of the shooting, Adam Zachs was already trying to cover his tracks. He called the bar and spoke to the bartender, asking her not to tell anybody he used his credit card, and not to tell anyone his name. A few hours later, Zachs was arrested and charged with murder. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Revamping The Search For Zachs |
|
| |
The search for Zachs was hot in the early 90s. Police had discovered Zachs was living in New Mexico with a woman named Carmen -- an employee for his father's lucrative company. According to Carmen, Zachs had $20,000 with him in cash. Carmen says they lived there together for a year and a half -- until one day, Zachs handed her enough money for a plane ticket and told her to find a flight home. Then, he was gone. Carmen says that's the last she heard of Zachs.
Zachs was profiled on AMW four times -- but as years went by, the leads seemed to dry up. But even though nearly two decades have passed since Zachs absconded, cops aren't giving up on finding him. In fact -- West Hartford police and the FBI are now putting new effort into finding Adam Zachs. Authorities are sifting through each and every lead they've received since Zachs vanished in 1988, hoping to find the missing link leading to Zachs. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell also increased the reward leading to Zachs' arrest to $50,000 -- and the FBI matched it with another $50,000. They hope the money incentive will prompt more people to come forward with information regarding Zachs' whereabouts.
Peter's Family Fights Back
After years of grieving and hoping in vain for a break in the investigation, Peter Carone's mother, Addie, was distraught, frustrated, and tired of the justice system failing her. The reason her son's killer walked free was because of a law permitting convicts -- even those convicted of murder -- to post bond during the appeals process. But wealthy men like Zachs usually have no problem meeting high bail prices. That's why he slipped through the cracks, and why so many other convicts are able to run from the law.
Unable to bear the thought of another murder victim's family feeling the pain that comes with injustice, Addie decided to take matters into her own hands. She lobbied hard to change Connecticut law -- and in 1998, she finally succeeded. The law now requires convicted murderers to remain in jail during the appeals process.
Addie met both her goals -- to first change the law, then to see it in action. In 2002, Michael Skakel, a cousin of the Kennedy family, was convicted of a gruesome murder that occurred 27 years prior. A jury found Skakel guilty of murdering 15-year-old Martha Moxley with a golf club in 1975. As soon as he was convicted, his lawyers started the appeal process. Skakel was wealthy, and probably could have fled had bail been set. But thanks to Addie -- Skakel remains in jail while the appeals process plays out.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|