Man shot mum and her son then tried to flee to Mexico leaving boy, 8, with bodies

A man has been found guilty of killinghis girlfriend and her teen son before leaving her eight-year-old son to fend for himself to two days after he tried to go on the run to Mexico.

William Jerome Adams, 29, murdered Mary Lindsay, 39, and her son Atif Muhammad, Jr., 15, in March 2021 at their home in Flowery Branch, Georgia. On March 26, Mary's 19-year-old daughter went to check on her after failing to get a response from her for several days. Crawling through a window to get into the home, she found the bodies of her mother and brother inside a locked room.

On further inspection of the property, she found her eight-year-old brother asleep in their mum's bedroom after he'd been left to fend for himself for two days, completely oblivious that his family had been wiped out. Police were called and forensics found shell casings that helped to conclude the mother and son were killed two days prior on March 24.

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A manhunt was launched and Adams was arrested in Laredo, Texas after trying to cross the border to Mexico without a passport and under a false identity. It was also learned that the killer had swiped $2,000 (£1,500) from his slain partner's bank account.

Atif's twin sister, who lived apart from her mother along with the 19-year-old daughter, told investigators that a handgun belonging to Adams had been found in their mother's room around 10 days before the killings. The siblings took a photo of the firearm, prosecutors said.

Atif's twin testified that when they questioned Mary about the weapon, she confirmed it belonged to Adams. The jury also heard that Adams had a controlling nature and had been abusive to Mary. 

Another photograph - which Mary had emailed to herself - showed an injury on her arm that she said had been caused by her partner. In a press release shared on Friday, the Gwinnett county District Attorney's Office said Adams would never be released from jail after being slapped with two life sentences for the heinous crimes.

He was charged with two counts of felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Adams was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole, the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office said in a press release on Friday, August 1.

District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said: "The verdict and sentence are fitting for a defendant who violently took the life of a mother and son and stole from them. We mourn with the victims’ family and hope that the outcome of the trial gives them some closure and justice.”