At first investigators suspected that Amy Yates’ killer was an adult, perhaps a man with a history of sex crimes. But those leads didn’t pan out. Then names of neighborhood troublemakers began to emerge.  At the top of everyone’s list?  12-year-old Johnathon Adams. It was no surprise to Amy’s father Tom.

Tom Yates: There were times when he would come and steal my tools.  And I would confront him.  And he would just give you a look like, how dare you get onto me.

Stafford: You know he stole from you?

Tom Yates: Yeah.

Amy’s friend Chris Gossett says Johnathon stole from him as well.

Chris Gossett: Well he was a sweet, sweet boy but he used to steal our bikes and throw ‘em in the lake. 

Chief Deputy Brad Robinson says the allegations of stealing weren’t nearly as disturbing as stories describing much darker behavior.

Brad Robinson: There was one situation about killing a snake and having the blood on the knife.  And when he was questioned about it they said that he licked the blood off of the knife.

The day after Amy was found, investigators asked Johnathon and two other boys he hung out with to come in for questioning. Johnathon’s parents Joe and Angie didn’t bother to call a lawyer. They believed it was all routine until Johnathon’s friends were soon sent home.

Angie Adams: Within an hour both of them had already left.

Joe Adams: Left.

Angie Adams: And Johnathon just stayed and stayed and stayed.

The Adams were told to sit in the lobby as their son was questioned behind a locked door. They had no idea their wait would last almost three hours or that Johnathon’s account of what happened to Amy would change the course of the investigation...and rock the lives of three families.

Rob Stafford, Dateline correspondent: What questions did the officers ask you?

Johnathon Adams: Like, “Have you seen her that day? Do you know what happened? Or did you kill Amy Yates?” Stuff like that.

Stafford: And Johnathon what do you say?’

Johnathon: “I didn’t see her that day. I did not kill her and I don’t know what happened.”

That denial didn’t ring true for investigators. Tom Yates had said Johnathon reported seeing Amy before she disappeared.  But it was more than that. Chief Deputy Robinson says they were struck by the way Johnathon answered the following question.

Chief Deputy Robinson: “What do you think needs to happen to a person who’s responsible for Amy’s death?”  And he said, “Well, you know it was probably just an accident.”

Detectives say characterizing murder as an accident can be a killer’s way of easing his conscience, so police pushed Johnathon further.

Johnathon Adams: They kept telling me I’m a liar and need to tell the truth and all that.

As the questioning continued, Johnathon says he repeatedly asked for his mom and dad but was told no. As one hour turned into two, the 12-year-old’s story began to change. He admitted he’d been playing a game with Amy in the woods on the day she was killed.

Robinson: He said that they were running down the trail and she stopped suddenly and he ran into the back of her, and it caused her to be knocked down the ditch.

Stafford: They were playing a game.

Robinson: Right.

Stafford: And Amy got hurt.

Robinson: That’s right. And, according to him, she laid there.

Stafford: And then what did he do?

Robinson: He got scared and he ran.

And investigators say Johnathon’s answers revealed a crucial detail that had not been released to the public.

Stafford: Did he tell you information that only the killer could know?

Robinson: I think only the killer would know that she would have been in a ditch.

Remember Amy’s body had been found at the edge of a ditch at the bottom of a hill. Investigators say they’d sealed off that area, keeping neighbors far from the crime scene. Two and a half hours into the interrogation, police called Johnathon’s parents into the room.

Angie Adams, mother: He’s scared to death.  I mean, he’s crying and I’m crying with him.

The Adams refused to believe their boy strangled Amy.

Stafford: Does any part of you say, “Maybe he did do this”?

Joe Adams: No.

Angie Adams: No.

Joe Adams: No. Not one second

Johnathon’s interrogation was not videotaped, but his parents could see the statements he’d written and signed. Admissions like this one: “We were chasing each other by the trees...I couldn’t stop in time and ran into her from behind. She slid and rolled down the hill.”

Stafford: He’s implicating himself.  He’s saying that he was with her that night.

Angie Adams: By the time he wrote that, he was basically just telling them what they wanted to hear so that he could just go on home.

The police were about to charge 12-year-old Johnathon with murder. Joe Adams stared at his son and demanded the truth.

Joe Adams, father: I looked at him. I said, “Did you do it?” And he said, “No sir, I didn’t,” and I could tell he wasn’t lying to me.

Stafford: Police say say essentially, Joe, you scared your son into taking his statement back.

Joe Adams: No I didn’t scare him.  They scared him.

But Johnathon had already given three different statements. All of them linked him with Amy at the time of her death. For investigators, it was too late to claim innocence.

Stafford: Are you convinced you have the right person?

Robinson: Yes I am.

Deputies arrested and jailed Johnathon that night.

Stafford: Did you cry?

Johnathon: Yes I did.

Stafford: Did other people see you cry?

Johnathon: Yes they did and I didn’t care if they seen me or not.

Across town, in a haze of grief, Amy’s father, who hoped to be celebrating her birthday, was now planning a funeral.

The Yates put the locket they had bought for Amy’s birthday in her casket along with a birthday card. Flowers were everywhere.

Shari Yates: We always saw our daughter smiling, and her beautiful eyes. And, we couldn’t even see her eyes because of what she went through,

The pain was almost unbearable, made worse by the fact that Amy’s killer was allegedly her friend and playmate Johnathon Adams.

Tom Yates: I just wanted to put my hands around him and take his life like he took my daughter’s life.

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A killing in Carrollton Images: Carrollton crime scene Images: Amy Yates Tom Yates on a father's grief Evidence: Johnathon Adams admissions Why do people confess to crimes they did not commit? Images: Chris Gossett's police interview Crime scene diagrams Why confessions should be electronically recorded Carrollton Murder Section Front   Add Carrollton Murder headlines to your news reader: