SILENT WITNESS

Police looking for suspect in fatal 2001 Phoenix shooting

Feb 27, 2024, 9:20 AM | Updated: 9:26 am

Ammo and Phoenix victim...

Brian Coney Adams was killed Oct. 9, 2001 in Phoenix. (Silent Witness and Piqsels photos)

(Silent Witness and Piqsels photos)

This article originally appeared April 4, 2016.

Brian Coney Adams is dead and his brother wants to know why and who did it.

“His brother has contacted me several times over the years to ask about the the case,” Phoenix Police cold case homicide Detective William Schira said.

Adams’ body was found in the living room of his home Oct. 9, 2001. The home is near 15th and Peoria avenues.

Adams’ girlfriend was unable to reach him by phone for several days. Another friend had actually stopped by Adams’ house a couple of times and knocked on the door but no one answered. Then the two went to Adams’ house together.

“The girlfriend actually had a key,” Schira said. “So that’s when they were able to open the door and found [Adams].”

He’d been shot, possibly several days earlier.

Adams had lived at the home for several years. He was a Navy veteran and, at the time of his death, he was a self-employed steam cleaner.

When the cold case unit got the case, they decided to take advantage of the recent advances in forensic testing.

“We tried to put in some items of evidence from the scene for DNA evidence and fingerprints, but a majority of that stuff came back to [Adams],” Schira said.

Schira said there’s an acquaintance of Adams who may be able to shed some light on what happened. His name is Victor Cameron. He has never been interviewed by investigators because he moved away.

This case, much to the frustration of investigators and Adams’ brother, is stalled.

Read more about this case here.

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Police looking for suspect in fatal 2001 Phoenix shooting