Suspect In Murder At South Everett Storage Unit Arrested In Oregon

June 11, 2020

Police Blotter

The Sheriff’s Office released the following information about the arrest of a suspect in a murder last year at a storage unit in south Everett.

Photo credit: Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested a 50 year-old Everett man for the 2019 murder of 51 year-old Eric Adams. Rob Andrew Kaputa was taken into custody without incident around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9 in Grants Pass, Oregon. He was located by our Major Crimes Unit detectives and has been booked into the Josephine County Jail as a fugitive from justice and will be extradited on a $1 million second-degree murder warrant out of Snohomish County for the killing of Adams.

Detectives responded on May 23, 2019 to a storage facility in the 13000 block of 4th Avenue West in Everett to investigate a deceased male found inside a storage unit. Family and friends had not heard from Adams since April 29, 2019. After several weeks, on May 23, 2019, a friend drove to the storage unit facility where Adams both lived and worked, cut the lock off of Adams’ storage unit to gain entry, and located him deceased inside.

Detectives discovered Adams with blunt force head trauma. Throughout the investigation, detectives interviewed more than 30 people, took several fingerprints, multiple DNA samples, processed evidence and exhausted many leads.

Kaputa was identified as a suspect through DNA testing after detectives discovered entry and exit logs for the storage facility showing Kaputa was inside the facility during the timeframe when Adams was killed.

During an interview, Kaputa acknowledged to detectives he and the victim were familiar with each other and saw each other frequently at the storage facility. Kaputa stated he was at the storage facility on April 29, 2019 in an attempt to talk with Adams about his dog, which was ran over and killed by another renter at the storage facility. Kaputa told detectives Adams was working as the storage facility supervisor the day his dog was killed, but stated he was unable to find Adams at the facility on April 29, 2019 and did not have any contact with him.

The Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory tested evidence items collected from the crime scene. The DNA test results found, under both Adams’ left and right hand fingernails, his own DNA and the DNA of the suspect, Rob Kaputa.

“We never gave up hope that we would be able to arrest Eric Adams’ killer,” said Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney. “I know this was a long and demanding case for the lead detective and yesterday’s arrest shows just how powerful her relentless determination was in getting one step closer to justice for Eric and his loved ones.”

If you or anyone you know has information related to this case or suspect, please call the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office tip line 425-388-3845

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