Top Prosecution Case brings murderer to justice 14 years later

Jan. 3—The top prosecution case of 2022 for the Walker County District Attorney's Office was The State of Texas vs. Neriah Roberts.

The verdict of guilty was handed down due to a successful prosecution by the trial team of District Attorney Will Durham, 278th felony prosecutor Phil Faseler, and Senior Felony Prosecutor Jennifer Jenkins.

The case involved every level of law enforcement — local, county and federal. It crossed city, county and international territorial lines, and covered a time span of almost 15 years.

It was the last trial handled in 2022, which ended in a guilty verdict and a jury sentence of 55 years in prison and a $10,000 fine on Dec. 16.

The murder case was held in the 278th District Court with Judge Hal Ridley presiding.

"This case originated from a murder that occurred on or about Jan. 28, 2008, that started in Houston and ended in Walker County," said Durham.

The victim was 25-year-old Tierra Adams, of Houston, who had been reported missing by her mother, and was nine months pregnant. The mother told investigators that Adams was last seen with Neriah Roberts on Jan. 27, 2008.

Roberts' statement to the Houston Police Department in February 2008, confirmed he was in a romantic relationship with Adams, according to Durham. They reportedly had an argument and Roberts kicked Adams out of the car in the early morning of Jan. 28, 2008.

On March 26, 2008, John Nelson discovered the partially uncovered body of Adams in a shallow grave on Pinedale Road, north of Huntsville. Nelson's statement to the Huntsville and Walker County authorities revealed he had helped a man, whose vehicle had been stuck in the mud where the body was found.

Nelson identified Roberts from a photo lineup and provided a description of his vehicle and stated a shovel was also present when he assisted the suspect.

"The investigation of Roberts' cell phone activity tracked his movement to the northern part of Huntsville on the day in question," Durham said. "The authorities attempted to locate Roberts, who was last seen Febuary 2008, at the time he gave a statement to the Houston Police Department."

The federal authorities determined that Roberts had boarded a flight to Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb 13, 2008. The FBI Fugitive Task Force eventually located the suspect in Margarita, Venezuela, where he had been arrested July 2014, on unrelated charges.

Relations between the U.S. and Venezuela have traditionally been characterized by an important trade and investment relationship as well as cooperation in combating the production and transit of illegal drugs.

The FBI would need the cooperation of the Venezuelan government to extradite Roberts.

The relations were strong under democratic governments in Venezuela, such as those of Carlos Andrés Pérez and Rafael Caldera. However, tensions increased after President Hugo Chávez assumed elected office in 1999 and years later declared himself socialist and "anti-imperialist", in reference to being against the government of the U.S.

Tensions between the countries increased further after Venezuela accused the administration of George W. Bush of supporting the Venezuelan failed coup attempt in 2002 against Chávez,an accusation that was partly retracted later.

Relations between the United States and Venezuela were strained further when the country expelled the U.S. Ambassador in September 2008 in solidarity with Bolivia after a U.S. Ambassador was accused of cooperating with violent anti-government groups in the country.

Relations thawed somewhat under President Barack Obama in June 2009, but steadily deteriorated once again. In February 2014, the Venezuelan government ordered three American diplomats out of the country on unproved accusations of promoting violence.

To the surprise of FBI special agents working on the case, Venezuelan authorities contacted the United States and began negotiations for the extradition of Roberts to the United States to face murder charges in Walker County.

The final extradition agreement with Venezuela allowed for Roberts to face murder charges for the death of Tierra Adams, but not for capital murder charges for the death of Tierra's unborn baby. The victim was full term pregnant with at the time of her murder.

"Due to the time span of the murder a variety of factors worked against his office," said Durham. "The defendant's flight to Venezuela created logistical issues and presenting the large volume of aged evidence."

Most of the law enforcement officers involved in the case were from a variety of different agencies, either in Houston or Huntsville. Houston Police Department had officers working on this case back in 2008, from the Missing Persons Division and also from the Homicide Division. All of the Houston Police Officers were retired and many had moved to other areas of Texas and across the country by the time this case was scheduled for trial.

Lieutenant J.C. Padilla was the only Houston Police Officer, who was still employed by them in Houston. Other agencies involved in this investigation included the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Houston and the Department of Public Safety Crime Lab in Houston. Many of these agents and scientists from 2008 had since retired. Officers from the Walker County Sheriff's Office, who worked on this case had moved to other cities or jobs within Walker County.

"The District Attorney investigators Scott Zella, David Collins and Steven McNiel spent a lot of time and effort locating all of these officers and witnesses whose presence and testimony were vital to a successful prosecution," said Durham. "One lay witness and one forensic dental examiner had died since the murder occurred."

The DA's office had to make alternative plans in order to present the evidence that they would offer. Flights, travel arrangements, hotel accommodations and meals all had to be coordinated by the district attorney investigators and the DA Executive Administrator Megan Landrum for over 20 witnesses coming in to testify from Florida, North Carolina, Idaho, and California.

Durham said, "another important piece of evidence that was presented to the jury was through an FBI Special Agent with the Fugitive Task Force in Houston was evidence of the defendant's flight from the United States."

"Two specialists from the Dallas County Medical Examiners Office were able to conclude that Tierra Adams' cause of death was death by asphyxiation when it was discovered that the hyoid bone in her neck was broken in two places along with a broken nose,"Durham said.

Another area the District Attorney's Office had to deal with were substantive and procedural changes in criminal law passed by the Texas Legislature and the highest Texas courts, that had occurred since the murder in 2008.

Determining when these changes took effect was fairly straightforward and allowed the trial judge to rule on these issues during trial with minimal delay in the proceedings. The death of the nine month old, unborn baby was presented during the punishment phase.

"Our team was ultimately successful in this prosecution because we divided up the trial duties and started diligently working and strategizing on this case for over 3 months before trying this case in court for 2 weeks," said Durham. "It was important in this case for us to seek justice and stand up for the rights of Tierra Adams and her unborn baby."