On 07-11-1996 at approx 07:13 hrs the victim, Robert Dennis Blair Adams, was found dead at a motel under construction on Crosswood Blvd. near the Strawplains Rd Exit of 1-40 in Knox County.  The victim was a white male, 32 years of age at time of his death.  The victim was a Canadian citizen who left Canada without advance notice to family or friends.

He flew to Washington D.C. from Seattle Washington on 07-10-1996.  He rented a vehicle and drove to Knoxville.  He stopped at the BP station on Strawpiains Pike and locked himself out of the rental car and was unable to find the keys.  He called a tow truck and made arrangements to have the car towed until the next day when the rental company could be contacted to get the key number to have a new key made. The tow-truck driver dropped him off at the Fairfield inn motel to stay the night. The victim rented a room but, it is believed that he never entered the room.

The next morning on 07-11-1996, he was found dead.  Robbery did not appear to be a motive because his money and other items of value were not missing. The victim knew no one in the area, and his reason to leave Canada or where he was headed was not known.

The case has been profiled on the show Unsolved Mysteries.