YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – April 7th of this year, Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife and two grandchildren, along with two air conditioning technicians, were killed at the Lesslie home on Marshall Road by suspected gunman and former NFL player Phillip Adams.
Today, the York County Sheriff, Coroner and other medical experts, coming together to release the results of Adams’s autopsy and brain study.
Six lives lost in the Marshall Road shooting that took place this past April. Well known doctor and member of the community Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara Lesslie, grandchildren Adah and Noah and two North Carolina technicians James Lewis and Robert Shook. Former Rock Hill Bearcat, and NFL player, 32 y/o Phillip Adams taking his own life after the incident. This case left law enforcement and the community asking, why?
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson, says, “You know we’ve answered the what, what happened? The who, who did it? The how it was done, where it was done, when it was done obviously and so that only leaves the last ‘W’ of the why?”
On this Tuesday, eight months later, the York County Sheriff’s office, coroner and other medical professionals have the results of Adams’s autopsy and a brain study, looking for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. The York County Coroner’s Office working with Boston University’s CTE Center on the study. Adams had Stage 2 CTE, which doctors say was an advanced stage for his age.
Dr. Ann McKee with the Boston Healthcare System, says, “I conducted the neuropathological examination on Mr. Phillip Adams….He had very dense and extensive tau pathology and a pattern distribution diagnostic of stage two CTE.”
Coroner Sabrina Gast sharing the detail of Adams’s toxicology report.
Gast says, “Toxicology analysis was conducted at a private laboratory and was positive for amphetamines for which Adams has a prescription and Mitragynine also known as Kratom. Kratom is a drug that can be purchased over the counter legally without a prescription and therefore is not a controlled substance. In low amounts Kratom works as a stimulant — in higher quantities it can have an opioid affect and can be used as an opioid substitute.”
Doctors sharing that CTE has been associated with behavioral symptoms like aggression, impulsively, depression, paranoia, and more.
Dr. McKee, says, “This is not just something that’s within them it’s actually a disease that’s impairing their ability to function.”
A 20 plus year career playing football, and according to his family, sustaining several concussions and injuries doctors say could have contributed to his actions. Now, York County’s Sheriff Kevin Tolson says law enforcement is nearing a conclusion of evidence as they try to piece together this puzzle.
“This 30 years as a law enforcement officer, sometimes we get to know they why and sometimes we don’t. My guess is, there’s one individual that knows the why and he is deceased and we may not know in this life,” says Tolson
Boston University doctors say Adams had an extraordinary amount of CTE pathology — which again is associated with violent, impulsive and explosive behavior. They say his results could have contributed to his abnormal behaviors and even compared his case of CTE to the severity of NFL tight end and convicted murderer, Aaron Hernandez. The doctors say they believe the NFL needs to do more to help players before it’s too late.
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is getting more details on the results of that study.
