Local diving group talks about finding possible murder weapon in Holly Bobo case

DECATUR COUNTY, Tenn. — The 11-day trial for Zach Adams came to end with his sentencing over the weekend, but the investigation into the case of Holly Bobo’s death lasted over six years.

Since Holly’s disappearance in 2011, an army of family, friends, neighbors and law enforcement agencies have been involved in solving her case.

Among those volunteers, the West Tennessee Dive Rescue and Recovery team made a big find in the case.

“It wouldn’t make no difference if it was a small case that nobody knew about or if it was a big case that had the media attention that this had. It just feels good to do what you’re trained to do, and it feels like you’ve accomplished something, ” Capt. J.D. Dunkle of West Tennessee Dive Rescue and Recovery said.

Victor Dinsmore said when he and his wife thought they had the weapon that may have killed Holly Bobo, his wife threw it in a nearby creek.

“We were looking for a metal object. It was possibly in the creek or down the bank,” Dunkle said. “It was put in somewhere in this area. They didn’t exactly know where.”

So the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation contacted Capt. Dunkle and his team.

“We started at the bridge with metal detectors,” Dunkle said. “We had rubber boots on, gloves. Started at the bridge, and started working sort of in a parallel. One would cover this, and then one would cover, and then one would cover back here to make sure we got the whole area covered.”

A creek off Joe Holladay Road in Decatur County is only 10 miles from the home of Zach Adams, and where Dunkle said his team discovered the alleged murder weapon.

“Somewhere down this way, back in here somewhere, is where they actually found it, or where they actually hit a piece of metal that detected,” Dunkle said. “And they checked it, and it was the actual firearm.”

Dunkle said after three and a half hours of searching, the volunteer team was glad they could assist the TBI in their investigation.

“It just feels good to be able to help, because that’s what everybody should do is try to help everybody else and we’d all be a lot better off,” Dunkle said.

Dunkle said they recovered the .32-caliber weapon out of 15 inches of water. He said after they recovered it from the creek, the TBI placed it in a container, sealed it and took it back to their headquarters in Nashville.

It is important to note that the gun found was never determined to be the murder weapon that killed Holly Bobo.