From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon Apr 13 2009 - 08:10:20 EDT
Man confesses to murder of alum
Ethiopian said he beat Adkins to death
Issue: 4/13/09 4/13/09 | News
by Carly Lagrotteria and Eric Roper
Hatchet Staff Writers
An Ethiopian man has pleaded guilty to the murder of 2007 alumnus Brian
Adkins, a Foreign Service officer found dead in his Ethiopia home this
February, according to Adkins' family.
State Department officials told family members that a man named "Sammy"
had admitted to beating Adkins to death with a baseball bat in the Ohio
native's African home. Sammy, a local man whose full name was not
available, had met Adkins through mutual friends who frequently played
video games at the house.
At a preliminary hearing on March 27, Sammy pleaded guilty to second
degree murder and stealing Adkins' possessions, said Dan Adkins, Brian's
father, in an interview. Dan Adkins added that prosecutors are seeking
to convict the man of first degree murder, which could result in the
death penalty.
Court proceedings are happening in the African country's capital city,
Addis Ababa, because the United States does not have an extradition
treaty with Ethiopia. State Department officials did not return requests
for comment.
Family members wrote in an e-mail to Brian's friends and acquaintances
that Sammy stayed overnight at the house after he and Adkins played
video games late into the night. The house was adjacent to a series of
Foreign Service Officers' homes, and the compound was watched over by a
guard and surrounded by concrete walls and razor wire, Dan Adkins said.
Sammy and Adkins began arguing the next morning and Sammy later told
investigators he was afraid that the loud noises would alert the guard.
He said he tried to quiet Adkins using a baseball bat, which was usually
kept by the door for protection, and repeatedly hit him in the head and
face as Adkins fell to the ground. The cause of the argument is unknown.
"I really need some closure on what caused the argument," Dan Adkins
said.
A funeral director in Cleveland later told Dan Adkins that the body was
so damaged it could not possibly be restored for an open-casket funeral.
Upon fleeing Adkins' house, Sammy took some of the 25-year-old's
belongings, which included a cell phone, a laptop computer and a camera.
He left his own cell phone at the house, which investigators used as
their primary lead in the case. Sammy was later apprehended in a village
six hours from Adkins' home with the belongings.
"So, in all, our son was killed for a few lousy bucks for his belongings
on the street of Addis Ababa," the family's e-mail said. "What a
terrible waste of a man, son, brother and a true friend to many."
The family learned about the details of the case after State Department
officials visited them at their home in late February. They have also
been communicating with the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Donald Yamamoto.
The State Department told them they did not consider the murder to be
connected with terrorism or political opposition to the Ethiopian
government.
Adkins earned two degrees from GW - a bachelor's degree from in 2005 and
a master's degree in 2007. While in Foggy Bottom he was active in the GW
Knights of Columbus and the Newman Catholic Center.
On Friday, May 1, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to
preside over a ceremony honoring Adkins and three other Foreign Service
officers who have died on duty. The four officers' names will be
inscribed on a memorial plaque in the State Department's main lobby at
their building adjacent to campus.
Adkins was in his first year of duty in the country, performing consular
work including helping Americans in distress and handling visas and
passports. He was scheduled to travel to Rwanda for several weeks on the
day of his death to work in the U.S. Embassy there, Dan Adkins said.
http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2009/04/13/Ne
ws/Man-Confesses.To.Murder.Of.Alum-3707514.shtml
Brian Adkins
<http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper332/stills/scd62ddb.jpg>
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