Sister of cold case murder victim reacts to suspect’s arrest

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Jamie Cole was only an infant when 13-year-old Jerimiah Watkins was found dead near railroad tracks in Terra Alta.

“He was so kind and nice with everyone and playful,” Jamie said.

For 37 years, the shadow of Watkins’ murder has loomed over her and her family.

“In the last five or six years or so, I’ve really grown to accept the fact that I wouldn’t know. That it just wouldn’t be solved,” she said.

On Monday, police said David Adams, now 56 years old, of Westover, confessed to stabbing Jerimiah over a stolen bicycle before burying his body in a shallow grave.

Westover man charged with murder in cold case over 35 years old

Adams was interviewed by the 1985 investigation, and arrested after a review of the case this month.

For Jamie, one question has been weighing on her mind since she found out Adams was behind bars for her brother’s murder.

“How? How could you live with yourself this long? I don’t understand,” she said.

It wasn’t news they were expecting to ever hear, and now Jamie said she and her mom are just trying to get by.

“We’re both numb. There is a sense of relief. Well, I don’t know if ‘relief’ is the right word for it,” she said.

But she said she chooses to remain positive because that’s what Jerimiah would have wanted for his baby sister.

“The fact that I was a year old, I know he wanted to see me walk to badly. He was like ‘Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. When’s she gonna walk? When’s she gonna walk?’ He never got that chance. But if he is here, and he can see me, I’m standing tall. I try to stand as tall as I can every day. Even if it’s for nobody else but him.”