Brown County man faces decades in prison after conviction for killing Bob Adair

Laura Lane, The Herald-Times
·2 min read
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Bob Adair with his grandson, Tyrion James Horace, and Fuzzy, one of Adair's dogs.
Bob Adair with his grandson, Tyrion James Horace, and Fuzzy, one of Adair's dogs.

Police found Bob Adair dead in the driver's seat of his red Ford F-150 pickup on Sept. 16, 2021.

The truck, still in gear and out of gas, was parked near the end of his driveway in southwestern Brown County near Belmont. Adair's foot was on the brake pedal. His hands rested clasped in his lap. He didn't have a gun.

The 70-year-old wood craftsman and Buddhist had been killed the previous afternoon by a neighbor. An ongoing dispute over a small plot of land there on Helms Road had escalated to murder by shotgun.

A memorial to Belmont-area resident Bob Adair at the site where he died after being shot in September.
A memorial to Belmont-area resident Bob Adair at the site where he died after being shot in September.

Randy Steven Small shot Adair in the head, then drove off toward home on his tractor. He would later claim he acted in self-defense.

Carrie Powell, who knew both men, was doing yard work the afternoon of Sept. 15 when she heard two gunshot blasts around 2 p.m. Then she saw a neighbor go by on his tractor, a shotgun in one hand.

It was an unusual sight, but she wasn't alarmed. In the rural world it's not uncommon to see someone carrying, or firing, a long gun.

Brown County,: Apparent mailbox dispute led to a man's shooting death

Police didn't learn details of the crime or discover Adair's body until the next morning.

This week, jurors in Brown County found 58-year-old Small guilty of murder for killing Adair. After a five-day trial, the jury deliberated about four hours Tuesday before returning the verdict.

Small faces a prison term of up to 65 years, and will be sentenced Aug. 28.

A damaged mailbox marks the scene where Brown County resident Bob Adair was shot to death in September 2021.
A damaged mailbox marks the scene where Brown County resident Bob Adair was shot to death in September 2021.

The men had known one another, been neighbors, for decades. But they weren't friends.

"Both Bob and Randy believed the little patch of land was theirs. Bob had some building material on the property, and that made Randy mad. It culminated with Randy tearing out and running over Bob’s mailbox," Brown County chief Deputy Prosecutor Rob Seet said in a statement released Wednesday.

"Nobody should have been killed over such a trivial matter.”

Adair was known around Brown and Monroe counties as a master woodworker whose specialty was constructing doors. He also played dobro for the White Lightning Boys bluegrass band.

Bob Adair constructed this main entry door at the Brown County Art Guild in downtown Nashville. Jack Brubaker designed and crafted the ironwork and the stained glass was made at Shuster Glass Studio.
Bob Adair constructed this main entry door at the Brown County Art Guild in downtown Nashville. Jack Brubaker designed and crafted the ironwork and the stained glass was made at Shuster Glass Studio.

Another neighbor, Brent Hutton, erected a simple wooden cross at the site to mark the place where Adair was killed, a reminder to anyone who ventures down the dead-end road. There are just four houses; Adair bought 13 acres and moved there in 1972.

Brown County Prosecutor Ted Adams said that a few months after the shooting, Small’s lawyers told detectives where to find the .12-gauge shotgun used to kill Adair. It was hidden at Small's house, Adams said, where police found hundreds of guns, some new and others covered in dust.

Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Robert Small convicted of killing Bob Adair in Brown County