Ex-Navy Cadet Retracts Confession in Death of Rival

FORT WORTH —  A former Naval Academy midshipman accused of murdering her 16-year-old romantic rival told a jury Wednesday that she falsely confessed to the crime to protect her boyfriend.

“I wanted to take the blame because I loved him,” Diane Zamora testified.

Zamora, 20, is accused along with her former fiance, former Air Force Academy cadet David Graham, of murdering Adrianne Jones in 1995 because Jones had had sex with Graham. Graham will stand trial later.

According to confessions by both defendants, Zamora hit Jones over the head with a dumbbell and Graham shot her.

However, Zamora took the stand Tuesday and disavowed her confession, denied taking part in the slaying and put the blame entirely on Graham. She testified that after her arrest, police read Graham’s confession and she simply memorized it and repeated it as her own to protect him.

On cross-examination Wednesday, prosecutors asked why her confession had more details than Graham’s, including her ordering him to “Just do it! Just do it!” She suggested that she merely embellished on his tale.