Juanita Adams:1978, Hall County, Georgia

   


  Juanita Adams was born in 1959.  She was a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Juanita lived on the Reservation at Pineridge, South Dakota. She also went by her traditional name of Omani Wi. 

  Due to an injury, Juanita Adams had a prosthetic eye.


  She became a mother as a teen. In 1978, her daughter was three. Juanita might have been thinking about the future. She was likely looking around at the world that her daughter would grow up into. Juanita decided to try to make the world a better place. 


  In the late 1970’s she had been inspired by the American Indian Movement to become an activist for Native American rights. She wanted to be a part of the A.I.M.’s Longest Walk in the Summer of 1978. 


  This group, the American Indian Movement, was trying to bring awareness to the long legacy of awful treatment of Native Americans. They had planned and publicized a walk across the United States. 


  Since white people first came to these shores the Native American population had been decimated by disease and by violence. They were pushed onto smaller and smaller parcels of land. Often these places had few resources and the communities struggled to survive. 


  She ventured out to try to join AIM members as they made their way across the country. 


  In Nashville, Tennessee she apparently called home and said that she had met a trucker who promised to bring her home. 




  Juanita was instead found on the side of the road in Hall County, Georgia south of Gainesville. Her remains were found in a skeletal state by a survey crew in May of 1980. 


  Juanita Adams was identified through DNA testing in 2011. Her prosthetic eye also was a factor in identifying her remains.


   Based on the spot that she was found, the year she disappeared and the fact that a trucker was mentioned, I think she may be a victim of Jerry Leon Johns. 


   He was a serial killer trucker who was active from sometime in the 1970’s until March of 1985. He was captured when a victim lived and was able to speak to police from her hospital bed. Immediately police in Tennessee were looking at him for other murders. He has since been connected through DNA to the murder of Tina Marie McKenney Farmer. 


   Tina Marie McKenney Farmer met Jerry Leon Johns in the Fall of 1984 and traveled with him from Indianapolis to Tennessee. He instead murdered her in late 1984 and her body was found on January 1st 1985. In the past few years DNA proved that Jerry Leon Johns was her killer. 


  Tina Marie McKenney Farmer was left on the side of I-75 near Jellico, Tennessee. Another victim from Lafayette, Indiana, Traci Sue Walker was found there as well. She was just a teenager when she disappeared from Indiana in 1978. Traci Sue Walker went unidentified for many years and was known as Elk Valley Jane Doe. That spot is not a convenient place to pull over. It is also very scenic. 


  Jerry Leon Johns had a reputation for killing women with red hair. But, it may be just a reputation. We don’t have data on all of his victims. There are many girls and women in many states who he is suspected of killing but testing has not taken place. I don’t think he only killed people with red hair. I think he killed female victims whenever and wherever he chose. 


  The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has Jerry Leon Johns DNA profile. Johns died in prison in 2015. 

  

   I have written about him extensively and the other murders that I believe he committed. I have posted videos about him and those other cold cases. I’ve also posted videos where I show each victim on a map and will post an updated map video soon. 


  I sent a tip to authorities in Hall County. I also sent a letter to Tribal leaders in South Dakota. If there is anything that can be tested I think they should look at Jerry Leon Johns. 


  Juanita Adams had a three year old child when she disappeared. She had the heart for activism and wanted to speak out for the rights of her people. She was trying to do something important. Her life was stolen by a predator. She should still be here. 

   

 If you have a tip about Juanita Adams’ murder please contact the Hall County Sheriff’s Office at https://www.hallcounty.org/168/Sheriffs-Office



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