Terri McAdams Cold Case: After 39 years, police solve UT Arlington student's murder

1985 Arlington cold case solved by police

Police finally know who beat a UT Arlington student to death and raped her in 1985. However, the killer won’t spend any time behind bars. Here's why.

ARLINGTON, Texas - A nearly 40-year-old cold case in Arlington has finally been solved.

22-year-old Terri Adams was found beaten to death and raped inside her Arlington apartment on Valentine's Day 1985.

After all of these years of investigating, police revealed on Wednesday that they now know who is responsible for the UT Arlington student's murder. However, the killer won’t spend any time behind bars.

Terri McAdams

Hope has been renewed after a family’s 39-year-long agony is resolved.

"After so many long years, we had come to accept that we would probably never know who murdered our sister," said Karen Hopper, McAdam’s younger sister. "My hope was renewed four years ago."

In 1985, McAdams’s body was discovered by a maintenance worker inside her fiancé’s Arlington apartment. Police say the killer, Bernard Sharp, entered through a sliding door in a bedroom.

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Sharp, a registered sex offender who lived nearby, was one of dozens questioned but was never arrested. But now, police say they have no doubt that he was the killer.

"The employees who worked the case in 1985 were very thorough and collected a lot of physical evidence that would later prove to be vital in where we are at today," said Arlington Police Det. Devon Coffer.

Bernard Sharp

In 2023, Arlington Police reached out to the FBI's Investigative Genetic Genealogy team to help with the case.

Through DNA evidence, they were able to identify Sharp as a possible suspect. Investigators tested an out-of-state family member and confirmed that Sharp was a genetic match for McAdams' killer. However, Sharp was never arrested.

Nine months after McAdams’ murder, police say Sharpe killed his wife and her friend before he turned the gun on himself.

FULL NEWS CONFERENCE: Arlington PD, FBI crack nearly 40-year-old cold case

22-year-old Terri McAdams was found brutally beaten inside an apartment on Walnut Hill Circle on February 14, 1985. With the help of the FBI and DNA evidence police say they found McAdams' murderer.

Arlington police say McAdams’ murder was a crime of opportunity. There were no connections between Sharp and McAdams.

McAdams’ family is grateful the department never gave up.

"As I stand here today, I know that she and my mom and dad are smiling down on this miraculous moment," Hopper said. "There really are not words sufficient enough to describe how this feels."