Former tribal police dispatcher convicted in 30-year-old MMIP case

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By Wild Eliza

July 2, 2024

A member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe was convicted last week of voluntary manslaughter in a cold case from three decades ago on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Jay Adams, 58, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $50 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

In 1992, Adams, his three children, his girlfriend, and her 23-month-old daughter were living at his parents’ home on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in Roberts County, South Dakota. After working the night shift as a dispatcher for the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Police Department, he returned home to find everyone asleep. While checking on the children, he discovered that the 23-month-old girl had soiled her diaper and bedding. He reacted violently, throwing her to the ground and hitting her head on the cement floor. A later autopsy report revealed evidence of severe blows to the abdomen. Adams did not render aid or call 911; instead, he put her back in bed.

The next morning, he checked on the child, found her dead, and immediately called for help. Adams and the victim’s mother performed CPR until paramedics arrived to transport her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Adams claimed that when he woke up he saw that the victim was not breathing.

In early 2023, a witness came forward and identified Adams as the person responsible for the girl’s death.

Law enforcement officers from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Police Department and the FBI continued their investigation, interviewing people associated with Adams and consulting with a medical examiner to review the 1992 autopsy report. Adams was indicted in April 2023 and ultimately pleaded guilty in November of that same year.

“Tragically, it took three decades to solve this case,” U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell said in a statement. “However, this resolution nonetheless demonstrates the unwavering commitment of law enforcement to solving these cases so that perpetrators can be held accountable. We hope the defendant’s sentence provides some measure of closure for the victim’s family.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney for Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) for the Great Plains Region, Troy R. Morley, as part of the Department of Justice’s Regional Missing or Murdered Program. The program, launched in 2023, permanently places ten attorneys and coordinators in five designated regions across the United States to help prevent and respond to the disappearance or murder of Indigenous people.

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