Jason Autry testifies Zach Adams raped, shot Holly Bobo
WARNING: This article and the accompanying videos contain disturbing details as told by Jason Autry on the witness stand Thursday in day four of the Holly Bobo murder trial.
HARDIN COUNTY, Tenn. — The fourth day of the Holly Bobo murder trial brought shocking testimony from Jason Autry, one of the men charged in her death.
“I’m hoping for leniency,” Autry said while on stand.
Autry is one of the men originally accused of crimes against Holly Bobo. Autry was granted federal immunity and is telling what he says happened.
Autry says the morning of April 13, 2011, he called Zach Adams hunting for drugs.
He says Adams had a request.
“When he called me back, he said ‘I need to see you. I need your help,'” Autry said.
Autry told the court what happened when he got to the home on Yellow Springs Road.
“First thing I noticed was a burn barrel that was burning. The second thing I noticed was Dylan with his shirt off. Shayne was walking around saying ‘y’all need to get the [expletive] out of here,” Autry said.
Then Zach Adams appeared.
“He said ‘I need you to help me bury this body.’ I said [expletive], I hate y’all killed little Jojo, and he said, ‘that’s Holly Bobo,'” Autry said.
Autry says he didn’t know her.
“I was clueless. I didn’t know Holly Bobo,” Autry said.
That’s when he starting to go into graphic details of when he first saw the body.
“The body was laying in a multi-colored farm blanket,”Autry said. “He asked me if I would help bury the body, and I said I will,” Autry said.
Autry said he agreed but only if he could move his car to Yellow Springs Church. He says he didn’t want the others, Dylan Adams and Shayne Austin, to know he was helping.
“As we got down the road, I brought it to his attention that there were no shovels or pick axes in the truck. How are we going to bury a body with no shovel or pick axes?” Autry said.
He says he had a gruesome plan to get rid of the body.
“Was to gut her and put her in the deep end of the slough. I told him to put it in the slough and the turtles and [expletive] will eat it up [snaps] just like that,” Autry said.
Continued below:
Autry continued his testimony of how he says he helped Zach Adams get rid of Bobo’s body the day after she went missing.
Autry described pulling under an I-40 bridge over the Tennessee River. It was there they were going to dump the body.
Autry says they then removed the body from the truck.
“At that time I feel the foot move and a sound of distress that sounded like ‘mmm’ come out of a voice. It came from the blanket,” Autry said. “I said this [expletive] is still alive.”
Autry says Zach took out a pistol, the same gun Autry says Shayne Austin had earlier.
“‘Boom, boom, boom.’ It was just one shot, but it echoed underneath the bridge and all the way down the river,” Autry said.
The state showed the gun to Autry in court.
“That’s the gun,” Autry said, adding that it looked more aged now.
He then described to the jury how Zach stood over the lifeless body.
Autry admits he was high on drugs during this but says the gunshot brought him to his senses.
“I was looking for a way to put some distance between me and the situation,” Autry said.
He says he questioned Adams on what happened.
“How did you know her? And he said Natalie Bobo was working in a strip club,” Autry said.
He says the cousin promised a threesome with Holly.
Autry says he met up with Zach Adams, Shayne Austin and Dylan Adams later in the day and that’s when more info came out.
“Shayne told him ‘you didn’t have to kill her,’ and Zach told him ‘you’re just as [expletive] guilty. You hit it,” Autry said.
Autry says all three men — Zach, Shayne and Dylan — raped Bobo.
He also says he asked more questions.
“I asked him what did you ever do with the ole girl, and he said we threw her out near Kelly Ridge,” Autry said.
Autry also says Zach Adams wanted him to kill his brother, Dylan Adams, because he wouldn’t stop talking about what happened to Holly.
Stay with WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News and www.wbbjtv.com for continuing coverage of the trial.
