New evidence in slain police chief case leads to civil action
The family of the Saxonburg police chief slain in 1980 is suing the family of the man who allegedly shot him due to new evidence in the case.
Chief Greg Adams, who was 31, was killed while conducting a traffic stop on Butler Street in the borough on Dec. 4, 1980.
Donald Eugene Webb, 52, of Massachusetts, was accused of the shooting, but was never caught.
Attorney Tom King, who is representing Adams’ widow Mary Ann (Adams) Jones and her sons, Benjamin and Gregory Adams Jr., filed a writ this morning seeking an excess of $1 million from Webb’s wife, Lillian Webb, and her son Stanley Webb.
The civil action alleges wrongful death-murder, civil conspiracy- accessory after the fact and civil conspiracy-hindering apprehension of a murderer.
King said the filing was done based on new evidence the FBI released to the Adams family.
According to King, the FBI in the last month found a hidden room on the other side of a closet in Lillian Webb’s house in Dartmouth, Mass.
He said the FBI, which is expected to officially release information later this month, also found a cane in the room. During the 1980 confrontation, Adams shot Webb in the leg.
King said Webb could have been using a cane due to the leg injury.
Adams died en route to Butler Memorial Hospital. Webb’s car was located in Rhode Island a few weeks later. Webb was last confirmed seen in 1981.
Jones said the civil action is meant to get answers from Lillian and Stanley Webb, who appear to know what happened to Donald Webb.