More arrests may be coming after remains of Holly Bobo found

More arrests could be forthcoming in the murder of Holly Bobo, a 20-year-old nursing student who disappeared in 2011 and whose remains were discovered by two hunters in rural Tennessee over the weekend, authorities said.

Decatur County District Atty. Matt Stowe said investigators “still think there’s someone out there that we need to get ahold of” in relation to the case. “We’re trying to dot i’s and cross t’s and make sure that nobody escapes the net,” Stowe said.

Decatur County Sheriff Keith Byrd didn’t elaborate on how many arrests there could be, or when they might occur.

“We’re going to hunt these people until we find them,” Byrd told reporters at a news conference. “They can run but they can’t hide.”

Byrd said the case had touched “every life in the county” and vowed to bring Bobo’s killers to justice. “My original goal was to find Holly,” he said. “My new goal is to see to it that the people that did this are punished.”

Crews are continuing to search for additional remains after officials confirmed late Monday that the skull and other bones belonging to Bobo had been found.

The remains were located in a thickly wooded area near the family home of Zachary Adams, who has been charged with her murder, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigations spokesman Josh DeVine.

The condition of the skull suggests the victim had been dead for some time, and investigators used dental records to identify Bobo.

Family attorney and spokesman Steve Farese read aloud a statement from the Bobo family as Dana Bobo, the victim’s father; Karen, her mother; and Clint, her brother, stood beside him.

“We have lost a precious daughter, sister … and friend,” the statement read. “However, those responsible have lost their souls. Holly’s soul is the one thing that their brutality could not diminish or extinguish.”

Farese said the family was coping “minute to minute, hour by hour” and was running “the gamut of emotions.”

The 3 1/2-year search for the nursing student has been the most exhaustive and expensive in the history of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, DeVine said.

Holly Bobo disappeared on the morning of April 13, 2011, from her home in Parsons, Tenn., about 10 miles from where her bones were found Sunday.

Bobo’s brother said he had seen her being led into the woods by a masked man dressed in camouflage in the early morning, DeVine said. He initially didn’t alert anyone because he thought the man he’d seen was her boyfriend.

Her disappearance prompted intense media coverage and an outpouring of community support, including, at one point, a $250,000 reward for her safe return.

A breakthrough in the case led prosecutors to charge Adams, 30, with first-degree murder and kidnapping in March.

Another man, 39-year-old Jason Autry, was charged with the same a month later. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Stowe said at the news conference that his office is preparing to seek the death penalty against both defendants, but will make a final decision in the next few weeks after consulting with Bobo’s family.

Two brothers, Jeffrey Kurt Pearcy, 42, and Mark Pearcy, 38, were arrested in June on charges of tampering with evidence and being accessories after the fact. Investigators say they may possess or know about video evidence that could help authorities.

Another individual, Shayne Austin, was initially granted immunity in the case in exchange for his help in finding the body, but prosecutors later revoked that agreement, saying he had lied to them, the Tennessean reported. He has not been arrested.

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