News

FBI tweet reignites family's hope of tracking down convicted killer

NEWPORT, R.I. — An unexpected FBI tweet is giving a New England family new hope for justice.

Some believe 31-year-old Adam Emery jumped off the Newport, Rhode Island bridge after his conviction in a murder case.

He vanished without a trace, but could he have faked his own death?

FOX25's Bob Ward has covered this case from the beginning. Now, the FBI’s tweet has many re-thinking the case.

The case is Rhode Island’s number one crime mystery and it’s made news all around the world.

On Monday, FBI headquarters in Washington reminded the public recently there’s an open warrant out for Adam Emery.

For the victim's family it’s seen as very good news.

Raymond Bass says he’s always believed the man who stabbed his brother Jason to death back in 1990 did not jump off the Newport Bridge as many assumed, but he’s still alive.

“I thought [the tweet] was good news,” Raymond Bass said. “I thought it was great. Hey, they are still looking for him. Maybe they’ll catch him this year.”

That’s why, Bass said, he believes Emery is still alive.

In 1993, Adam Emery and his wife, Elena, disappeared shortly after his conviction for the second degree murder of Jason Bass.

The Emery’s car was found on the Newport Bridge.

Receipts discovered in the car revealed the couple bought hamburgers at a local drive thru and diving weights from a sporting goods store shortly after they vanished.

“I just have a hunch I feel in my gut,” said Bass. “They had someone waiting for them on the other side of the bridge. They left it there to make it look like they jumped. To make it look like suicide.”

A fisherman eventually caught Elena's skull in a net, but no sign of Adam every turned up.

Victim Jason Bass' niece told FOX25 the FBI tweet is getting her family's hopes up.

“I’m hoping they have information they haven't let out yet. Or that they are still in the process of looking and updating everything,” Melissa Seal-Cruz said.

Some think Adam Emery could be in Italy, where he has family. And the victim's family told FOX25 they are aware of a sighting a few years back on a train in Paris.

“If I had the resources, if I had the money and the resources to go look for this guy and bring him to justice, I would do it myself. Because of what my family is going through,” Bass said.

No one knows what happened to Adam Emery, but the FBI tweet has a lot of people talking about it again.