Adam Spencer Katz:1989, The Meadowlands, New Jersey

   

   Adam Spencer Katz was born on July 26th, 1970. His parents were Linda and Jay Katz. 

  Adam Katz was a Deadhead in 1989. He was a fan of the band The Grateful Dead. 

  The Dead had been touring and playing shows for a couple of decades by 1989. The general public probably had no idea who they were. But they regularly grossed more ticket sales for their concerts per year than any other act. They had a loyal group of fans. They also had a growing following of younger fans. There was a whole micro economy around following the tour and selling crafts, home made tee shirts, sandwiches, drinks, burritos, hair wraps, jewelry and whatnot. Every parking lot for each show or run of shows had a little area called Shakedown where most of the vendors gathered to sell their wares. 

 I first heard of them in 1989 when Touch of Grey came out. I went to my first show in 1992 in Indiana at Deer Creek. 

 There were Deadheads who toured year round and never worked a regular job. There were others who went to school or worked and just went to shows when they could swing it.  I went to a couple or three shows a year. It was hard to buy tickets and gas on minimum wage then. 

  That Fall Tour of 1989 is kind of legendary. In September the Dead played a few shows in Hampton, Virginia under their old original name “The Warlocks”. They did sneaky things like that sometimes. They sold tickets for those two shows as “Formerly the Warlocks” and people in the know bought tickets. You can buy an album of those shows now. That Fall they brought back “Darkstar” and “Help/Slip/Franklin” which is a medley of “Help on the Way”, “Slipknot” and “Franklin’s Tower”. (One of my personal favorites.)

  October 14th, 1989,  Adam Katz, a college freshman, was at a Grateful Dead show at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The stadium was also known as Brendan Byrne Arena at the time. 

  Adam Katz was found on the Northbound lane of Route 120 at about 9:30 p.m. He had a severe head injury to the top of his head and was transported to the hospital where he passed away the next day. 

  Adam Katz’ murder is still unsolved. What happened? 

  Some Dead shows in some towns were an absolute dream. Security realized that this crowd was a peaceful and loving group of mostly young people. I went to a lot of shows in the early 1990’s and the only people I ever saw making trouble were the police or security guards. The heads were just there to see a show and have a good time. You could have hired a security force of sweet little old ladies at every Dead Show and things would have gone swimmingly. 

  At Deer Creek in Noblesville, Indiana the police and security were mostly very calm. There was at least one K-9 officer and dog who really should have stayed home. The dog was pretty nervous. 

  Louisville shows had cops marching around like storm troopers. They were horrible. I saw a kid in handcuffs running like a rabbit through the crowd. All of us saw him go and immediately pretended to look at the sky or our fingernails when the huffing and puffing cop came along. I also saw a nice Deadhead grab that handcuffed kid and pull him into a VW van and close the door.  The cops didn’t see that. I always wondered how they got the handcuffs off later. 

  Inside the show, groups like Greenpeace, Food Not Bombs, World Wildlife Fund, and other organizations that supported peace, respect for the environment, animals, and human life had booths set up to spread their messages. The vibe was chill. 

  Outside people would pick up the cans and bottles and trash in an effort to leave a good impression. Towns would sometimes ban the Grateful Dead from coming back. No true Deadhead wanted to leave a bad impression behind. 

  There were always drugs at shows. Just like most concerts that you go to. You will smell and see people smoking pot. You may encounter people on acid (LSD). Sometimes you would see balloons of nitrous oxide. But, that’s all I ever saw. I never met anyone selling any drugs. I only ever saw people enjoying their own supply. 

  Alcohol is always at Dead Shows too. It’s usually sold in the stadium or people bring their own and enjoy that in the parking lot. 

  But, of all the concerts of all types of music I have been to, Dead shows were always peaceful. No fights. No gun violence. People took care of each other. At a show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia a young man who was having a very rough trip on acid sat down next to me and laid his head on my lap.  I petted his head the whole first set. He stayed calm and relaxed instead of freaking out. He felt better later and got up to go find his friends. My boyfriend at the time understood the situation and was not jealous or anything.  He could tell it was just a first aid type situation. 

  Security at the Spectrum in Philadelphia was not something that stood out as bad or good in my memory. 

  But, some venues, as I mentioned, had a reputation for security that was violent. The Meadowlands was one of those places. The security wore yellow jackets there. The Yellow Jackets were known for violence. They were known to seem to enjoy beating up on Deadheads. The company providing security then was Burns International Security.  In October of 1989, they were particularly brutal. 

  One Deadhead says he saw a kid being chased before a show there who was caught/tackled by a guard. As the kid was falling he fell head first into the bumper of a station wagon. It knocked him out cold. The fans around became very concerned and came nearer. It is a shame that cell phones weren’t around then. The guard got on his walkie talkie and a grey van pulled up. The unconscious victim was loaded into the van and taken away. Not an ambulance. Just a nondescript grey van. Was that young victim Adam Katz? 

   There’s a Facebook page dedicated to Adam’s case. One young lady recounted being pushed down the stairs by a Yellow jacket for dancing in the aisle. Some stranger caught her just before she hit her head. 

  Sometimes you could feel the disdain from security guards or police. I was never at a Meadowlands show. But guards and police would look at you like you were the scum of the earth. I worked at a shoe store full time and always made my rent and car payment. If we had met at the mall they might have smiled. But, I was wearing a tie dye at a concert venue and suddenly I was evil incarnate in their eyes. I just smiled and gave a peace sign and kept my distance.

  Adam Spencer Katz was born on July 26th, 1970. His parents were Linda and Jay Katz. He was from South Orange and was a student at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut. He had several siblings and many friends. 

  He went to the show with several college friends. His plan was for them to go to his parents house after the show that night. Did he get into the show that night? It seems he did. But it seems he stepped away from his friends after the first set. 

  After Adam’s murder, seven guards with Burns International Security were arrested because of other alleged assaults. Adam was not the only fan who had been assaulted at the shows in New Jersey. Several young men accused guards after being assaulted and injured. Some had been hospitalized after they were assaulted by the yellow jackets of Burns International Security. 

  The seven guards who were arrested were Kevin Bradley, 21, of Pompton Lakes, Jeffrey Peters, 29, of Garfield, Michael Barna, 22, of Bloomfield, Mario Zecca, 20, also of Bloomfield, Shin Chung Sun, 20, of Jersey City, Steven Martino, 30 of Hackensack, and Reggie Mickins, 18, of East Orange. 

   I found high school photos of a few of those guards. I found marriage Announcements and other notices about their lives after October 1989. Here’s a couple of them:

   One guard in a 1989 article defended their behavior saying that New York Giants fans could be very rough and they had to be rough as well. But, hippies in tie dye T shirts singing along with “Ripple” and “Darkstar” and dancing to Chuck Berry covers are a far cry from drunk football fans. 

   Did any of those guards have anything to do with the death of Adam Katz? Was Adam the same victim who hit his head on the bumper? Was he hit over the head by one of the infamous flashlights carried by the Yellowjackets? Was he thrown off the overpass to make it look like he had fallen or jumped? 

  Adam Katz was found to have no drugs in his system at his autopsy. 

   His family printed up flyers and set up a hotline number. They managed to get the flyers out to lots of Deadheads who distributed them at shows all over the place in the coming years. 

   They offered a 35,000 dollar reward which later grew to 40,000 dollars.  You might imagine that someone would come forward. If several individuals were involved or knew what happened perhaps one will come forward one day soon. 

  I remember hearing about Adam’s case sometime in the early 1990’s. I remember seeing his picture somewhere. Maybe I saw one of the flyers that his family had produced. There was also a little homemade newspaper or zine called Dupree’s Diamond that you would encounter at shows. Maybe I heard about Adam from that. I don’t remember but I remember Adam’s kind eyes in the photo. 

   After Adam’s death his mother said she hoped she would live to see Justice in Adam’s case. So far no Justice has come. Linda Katz sadly passed away in February of 2026. 

  As the 1990’s moved along the chill crowd began to include more and more people who were just there to party. You saw a lot of frat boys who were rowdy and violent. At Deer Creek on July 2nd 1995, some guys tore down a security fence and gate crashed the show. On August 9th, that year, Jerry Garcia passed away. It was the end of an era. 

  Dead and Company shows were good but never quite captured the joy and magic of a show with Jerry, in my opinion. 

  If you are interested in hearing more about Adam’s case, there is a podcast on all the big platforms called “Dead and Gone” by Tenderfoot and Double Elvis which looks deeply into the case. 

  Adam Katz loved music and wanted to pursue it as a career. He was so young. He is buried at B’Nai Abraham Memorial Park in Union, New Jersey. 

  Rest in Peace, Adam. 

  If you have a tip about Adam’s case please call the New Jersey State Police at 609-882-2000.

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