WARREN, Ark – Tony McCoy, 45 of Warren, was found guilty in Bradley County Circuit Court of first degree murder and kidnapping in the June 2021 killing of Terry Adams.
According to Prosecuting Attorney Frank Spain, McCoy and the victim, Terry Adams, were both arrested for a drug offense in June of 2021. After the two were released from jail, witnesses stated that McCoy began to accuse Adams of setting him up, believing that Adams was likely to testify against him in court.
Several months later, on October 17, McCoy “acquired a pistol from Keith Thompson,” according to the prosecution. Witnesses stated that later that evening McCoy forced Adams into the trunk of a car. Those same witnesses did not see Adams alive again.
As Saline River Chronicle originally reported, Adams’s body was discovered the next morning, October 18, 2021 along the side of the road on Highway 63 S near a curve south of the Warren Country Club.
Top photo courtesy of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office.
The prosecution states that the very next day McCoy returned the gun to Keith Thompson. He also set the car used in the kidnapping on fire.
Investigators discovered during the autopsy that Adams was shot multiple times, in the head, arm, and twice in the back. A bullet and bullet fragments were able to be recovered from Adams’s body.
After ballistics testing was done, the medical examiner concluded that the shots did originate from the very same pistol that McCoy borrowed from Keith Thompson.
The jury found McCoy guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by certain persons.
Presiding Judge Crews Puryear sentences McCoy to 30 years for the murder of Adams, 30 years for the kidnapping conviction, and 30 years for the felony in possession of a firearm conviction. McCoy was assigned to the Arkansas Department of Corrections to serve a total of 90 years in prison.
This incident was not McCoy’s first run-in with authorities. He has multiple prior felony convictions including Terroristic Threatening in the First Degree, 2 prior convictions for Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and Battery in the First Degree.
