NASHVILLE, Tenn. - All of the evidence in the Holly Bobo murder case is finally on the table. Defense attorneys now have full access to the criminal file completing a big step toward setting a trial date.
There is said to be an entire room at Tennessee Bureau of Investigation headquarters dedicated to evidence collected in the Bobo case over the past four years. The evidence is the heart of the capital cases now pending against three murder suspects.
For months now the attorneys for Zack Adams, his brother Dylan and Jason Autry have been waiting to see the evidence prosecutors say link their clients to the murder of Holly Bobo. In fact, Autry's former attorney Fletcher Long made quite a stink last year citing one missed delivery after another.
"We are well outside of any deadline they have been given to give us discovery and we still do not have it," said Long in 2014. .
Not anymore.
Sources tell Newschannel 5 all the discovery, not just a portion, has been made available to defense attorneys.
"You need to see what evidence the state will use before you formulate a defense," said Newschannel 5 Legal Analyst Nick Leonardo.
The discovery is expected to include forensic testing results confirming the discovery of Holly Bobo's skull.
Defense attorneys had questioned if the skull was really hers. Leonardo said the discovery will likely put that theory to rest.
"I would think they are almost certain on dental records that these remains are Bobo's, but they submit for a DNA analysis," said Leonardo.
Those results along with everything else from this massive investigation comprise thousands of pages of evidence.
So much that one defense team is actually hiring a private investigator to help them sift through it all.
A status hearing is set for August and it's expected defense attorneys will ask for at least four months to review the discovery with an eye toward a possible December trial.
But things can always change.
Leonardo said we should expect another delay to a trial because defense attorneys will likely request a change of venue citing pretrial publicity.
Holly Bobo disappeared from her home in Darden, Tennessee on April 13, 2011. Her brother saw her that morning heading in the woods outside their home with a man. Her remains were found over three years later, in September 2014, in a wooded area in northern Decatur County.
