'He was a warrior'
SAXONBURG — In a “bittersweet” ceremony, Saxonburg borough dedicated a portion of Butler Street in memory of fallen Police Chief Gregory Adams on Friday.
The portion of Butler Street between West Main and West Water streets was designated as Chief Gregory B. Adams Way during a ceremony at Roebling Park, with members of the community, governing bodies and police agencies in attendance.
It was on this section of Butler Street on Dec. 4, 1980, that Adams gave his life in service to the borough, when he pulled over Donald E. Webb.
Authorities believe Webb shot and killed Adams before going on the run for decades. Webb's remains were unearthed last year in the backyard of his wife's home in Dartmouth, Mass.
Ben Adams, who was 2 years old when his father was killed, said his father's dedication is how he should be remembered. “He was about serving others, doing everything he could for the betterment of his community, that is the kind of person my father was,” he said.
Adams said that same dedication shows in “every branch of public service, from our military, our law enforcement, EMS, firefighters — those people go out every single day and dedicate their lives to doing good in every way.
“That is my father's true legacy, the continuing dedication of every public civil servant who goes out every single day to make this city, this town, this state and this country everywhere a better place,” Adams said. “It's all about dedication.”
He thanked all the law enforcement officers who “dedicated so much time and energy and never gave up on this case.”
Saxonburg Police Chief Joseph Beachem commended the crowd that gathered for their “sense of community and respect for a man who gave his life for our citizens.”
“The family of Chief Adams has long suffered the loss of a husband and a father,” he said. “Residents of Saxonburg have grieved the loss of an honorable officer. Chief (Gordon) Mainhart, who was with Chief Adams in the ambulance that day in December 1980, lost a mentor and a friend. And the world by all accounts lost a good man.”
Adams was 31 when he was beaten and shot in the chest and under the arm with a .25-caliber Colt pistol, according to the original affidavit of probable cause. He also suffered head injuries, but was able to shoot his assailant in the leg during what started out as a routine traffic stop.After 37 years of mystery, through the “dogged, passionate work” of multiple law enforcement agencies, “those questions were answered in a shallow grave in Dartmouth, Massachusetts,” Beachem said.Webb's remains were found in the backyard of his wife Lillian Webb's home, and police learned that Webb lived 19 years on the run after the incident, dying in 1999.Another discovery brought on by the investigation was that Adams crippled Webb during the confrontation.“We all hoped and prayed that Chief Adams' killer would face justice, but we can take some small consolation in what we have learned,” Beachem said. “We learned Chief Adams fought with the ferocity of a man standing on the right side of the law. We learned that even though mortally wounded, Chief Adams inflicted a disfiguring and disabling injury to his killer. We learned for the rest of his days this two-bit con man lived in a small room afraid of every knock at the door.”Beachem said Adams' actions “exemplify valor” and the signs “stand as a reminder that a good man did great things for this community.”“These signs stand as a reminder to everybody from the local officers to citizens just passing through that there was a man who gave his life right there for all the right reasons, and we don't want his memory forgotten.”State police Cpl. Chris Birckbichler, a patrol supervisor and cold case investigator based in Mercer County, who worked on the case for about 12 years, said he was glad he could help provide some answers to the family, but “today is about Greg, it's not about the case, it's not about the other person, this is about a hero. Greg died a hero's death. He was a warrior.”
He said the cooperation between several law enforcement agencies was “tremendous.”“This is a brother,” Birckbichler said. “Greg was my brother though I never knew him ... when one of our brothers is hurt we are all hurt. To be able to work on that with my brothers in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, my brothers with the New York State Police, Massachusetts State Police, it's just something we do. The dedication and the work they put in on top of their assignments was just overwhelming, the amount of cooperation.”He also said on the day the case was solved, he called his father, who is a retired state trooper and friend of Adams.“To be able to call him the day it was resolved was very humbling,” Birckbichler said. “They were friends, they worked together.”Mayor Bill Gillespie said the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate passed the bill to name this section of Butler Street in Adams' honor at the request of Saxonburg Council.“It reminds us of who Chief Adams was and the sacrifice he made to the borough of Saxonburg,” he said.Gordon Mainhart, former police chief, who was with Adams in the ambulance after the confrontation that led to his fatal injury, said for 37 years, members of the Pennsylvania State Police, Massachusetts State Police and FBI pursued the case, coming to “closure and some type of comfort” after Webb's remains were found.On the night of Adams' death, Mainhart said he was “in extreme shock.”“You never expect the death of a police officer, and in a small town like Saxonburg, it really hit home base,” he said.After Webb's remains were found, Mainhart said the “scales of justice were tipped a little” but called the discovery “bittersweet.”Gillespie said that while there is a resolution “there is not justice. Not justice for the family nor for Saxonburg.”Ben Adams said he is left with memories and “phantom images of a man that one day was no longer there.”“I remember my father. I remember who he was. I remember him doing things with me, playing with me,” he said. “That is something I live with, shadows of someone who was there and then wasn't.”However, with Webb's death, Ben Adams said, “sadly my family ... may never know true justice, but we have closure.”The ceremony was held at the culmination of National Police Week in honor of Adams and all fallen officers. Workers with PennDOT then immediately installed the signs in the borough.
