The Unsolved Halloween Murder of James Adamski

The murder of James Adamski occurred during the early morning hours of Halloween in 1982. It has been 38 years and his murder still remains unsolved.

In 1982, James Adamski was 18 years old and he lived in Cheektowaga, New York with his mother, father, and younger brother.

On October 30, 1982, James dressed up as Alice Cooper for a Halloween party at the 5&23 Bar about 4 miles from his home. At the time, the legal drinking age was 18 in New York, which allowed James to attend this party. Before he left for the party, James’s younger brother, Andy, remembers James giving him a kiss on his forehead and saying, “Have a good time trick-or-treating, kid.” That was the last time Andy saw his brother.

Many friends of James recall seeing him at the bar. They said that he was heavily intoxicated and at some point he got into an altercation with some other party goers, but it was settled before things got physical. James decided to leave the bar and was last seen walking towards his home around 3:30 a.m. on October 31, 1982.

The next morning, James’s parents discovered that he was not in his room and became worried. His mother knew something was wrong because this was an uncharacteristic behavior of James. He never stayed out all night without letting his parents know first, so they knew something had to be wrong.

James parents reported him missing and extensive searches were made for James for weeks, but there was no luck.

Then on December 26, 1982, two rabbit hunters found James’s body in a shallow grave in a wooded area about 4 miles from where he was last seen. James was still wearing his Halloween costume. It was reported that James was likely beaten to death with some type of blunt instrument and he suffered numerous wounds from blows to his forehead. The medical examiner suspects that the murder weapon was possibly a baseball bat, a 2×4 plank of wood, or a tire iron.

People who knew James and people who attended the Halloween party at the bar were questioned about James’s murder, but it led to no suspects. James didn’t have any known enemies; police also determined that the bar altercation was not related to his murder, so the individuals involved in that were ruled out.

Police believe that James was possibly picked up as he headed home, still very intoxicated, by either a stranger or someone he knew. It is possible that he either willingly got into the vehicle or he was forced to. After getting in, it is believed that James possibly got into an altercation with the driver or multiple passengers, or they already had intentions to harm James. James was then beaten to death and his killer(s) drove his body to where it was found and buried it in a shallow grave.

James’s brother Andy stated that the murder caused a lot of pain in his family. He says his mother was never the same afterwards, always terrified that the person who killed James would kill Andy too. Both of James parents passed away in the 2000s without ever knowing who killed their son. Police believe that James’s murder will only be solved if someone who knows something about the murder comes forward. However, I believe with the amount of advanced technology in the world, there’s a chance that we could get more information about James’s murder and eventually find out the truth.

Happy Halloween, stay safe!

Resources-

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/unsolved-37-years-later-investigators-still-search-for-clues-in-lancaster-murder/71-ba70ad6f-195d-4bf6-b3bd-e47f3cd94590