Police find body of Wis. man wanted in 4 homicides

[December 08, 2009]  MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Police on Monday found the body of a man wanted in two double homicides in Wisconsin in the car of one of his victims, a coroner said.

Tyrone Adair, 38, died of a gunshot wound, Dane County Coroner Raymond Wosepka said at a news conference in Madison. He would not say whether Adair had shot himself. Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said police were not looking for Adair's killer. An autopsy was planned for Tuesday morning.

Adair was charged Friday with killing 33-year-old Tracy Judd and 23-month-old Deja Adair, Judd and Adair's daughter. He also was wanted in the deaths of 25-year-old Amber Weigel and 2-year-old Naveah Weigel-Adair. All four bodies were found Thursday.

The four-day search set the Madison area on edge. Police alerted law enforcement agencies across the country about Adair and warned other women he knew.

Nothing surfaced until Monday morning, when a landowner in Cottage Grove, a village of 1,000 people about 15 miles east of Madison, called police. He said he had located what turned out to be Judd's GMC Acadia outside a storage shed on his property. The man told police it appeared the sport utility vehicle had been parked there for several days, DeSpain said.

Investigators found a revolver and a 9 mm handgun in the vehicle.

Mike Poskie, 66, of Cottage Grove said he was glad Adair was dead. He drove by where the vehicle was found to check it out.

"I don't feel sorry for the guy. I don't. He eliminated the problem and saved us all a lot of money," Poskie said as workers towed the Acadia to the state crime lab.

Detectives suspect Adair killed Judd and Deja Adair on Thursday morning at the suburban town of Middleton home they shared, then went after Weigel and Weigel-Adair at their Madison duplex that evening, Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney and Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said.

According to a police timeline, a surveillance camera at the Branch Street Retreat bar in Middleton picked up Adair around 2 p.m. He remained at the bar for about 45 minutes, then took a cab back to Judd's house.

He left the house in the Acadia around 4 p.m. He then left a "somewhat remorseful" voice mail for his sister, Mahoney said. He would not say what the message said specifically.

A little after 6 p.m., Weigel's boyfriend found Weigel and her daughter shot in a car in their duplex's garage. Madison police asked Middleton police to find Adair's car.

Around 9:15 p.m. officers found Adair's 2001 Chrysler 300M in a parking lot behind the Branch Street Retreat. Judd and Deja Adair's bodies were in the trunk. Wosepka, the coroner, said they were not shot but refused to say how they were killed.

Adair's motives remain murky. He had moved into Judd's home in December 2007, just before Deja Adair was born, but he was involved in paternity cases with both Judd and Weigel over their children. His grandmother has said he lost his job this year.

In March, police were called to Judd's home on a report Judd and Adair were in an argument and "hitting" was going on, Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said.

But Adair denied he did anything improper and there were no visible injuries so Blanchard decided not to file charges. He defended the decision Monday, saying he would make the same call if presented with the same facts again.

"She said she felt safe," Blanchard said.

Mahoney said Judd was speaking to friends and relatives about breaking up with Adair.

Adair's motive for going after Weigel and her daughter remain unclear, Wray said. Nothing suggests any domestic violence between them, he said.

Blanchard said he doesn't believe anyone hid Adair while police searched for him. DeSpain said the Cottage Grove landowner first noticed the Acadia on his property Friday morning, but he thought it belonged to a friend who often parked his vehicle on his land. He didn't investigate further until Monday morning, when he called police, DeSpain said.

Officers found a revolver and a 9 mm handgun in the Acadia. Blanchard said Weigel and Weigel-Adair were shot with a 9 mm.

In 2006, a woman took out a restraining order against Adair, alleging he was stalking her and had destroyed her computer, phone and television after she decided to break up with him. That restraining order prohibited him from owning a firearm until 2010.

Wray said detectives hadn't determined where Adair may have gotten the revolver, but it appears he purchased the handgun on Craigslist in August.

[Associated Press; By TODD RICHMOND]

Associated Press writer Ryan J. Foley in Cottage Grove, Wis., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.