Lakewood police named Terapon Dang Adhahn “a person of interest” Tuesday in the death of 10-year-old Adre’anna Jackson, who disappeared on her way to school in 2005.
Lt. Dave Guttu said detectives believe Adhahn – the suspect in the kidnapping and slaying of 12-year-old Tacoma resident Zina Linnik – might have worked in Lakewood around the time Adre’anna vanished in December 2005.
Investigators are building a timeline to pinpoint his whereabouts, Guttu said.
Adre’anna disappeared Dec. 2. She was last seen by her father when she left for school that morning not knowing classes had been canceled because of snow.
Her skeletal remains were discovered April 4, 2006, in an overgrown lot in the Woodbrook neighborhood, which is across Interstate 5 from her Tillicum home. A cause of death has not been established.
Lakewood detectives were in Tillicum this week handing out fliers and asking residents if they recalled seeing Adhahn around the neighborhood at the time of Adre’anna’s disappearance.
Marva Love found one of the fliers Monday on the door to her apartment, which is on the same street where Adre’anna lived when she disappeared.
“I hope it’s him, and I hope they hang him,” said Love, whose three grandchildren live in Tillicum.
The flier features a color picture of Adhahn, who is known to go by “T,” and states that he might have worked as a handyman and tow-truck driver in the area.
“We are especially interested in anyone that used this subject for ‘handyman’ work around the time this incident,” it states.
Adhahn, 42, is one of a number of people considered a person of interest in Adre’anna’s death, Guttu added.
Lakewood detectives decided to investigate him after he was named a suspect in the death of Zina, who went missing from an alley behind her Hilltop home July 4.
Information from Adhahn, provided through his attorney, led police to her body, which was found Thursday in East Pierce County. The Medical Examiner’s Office has listed her cause of death as “homicidal violence.”
Prosecutors are expected to charge Adhahn in Zina’s death sometime this week.
Tacoma detectives are still examining Adhahn’s potential links to other cases of missing and slain children, using photo montages for the purpose. To preserve their investigation, police have asked media outlets not to release Adhahn’s picture until formal charges are filed.
Tacoma detectives have spoken to two of Adhahn’s ex-girlfriends, including a woman who might have broken ties with Adhahn just a few days before Zina’s disappearance.
Police spokesman Chris Taylor would not discuss the content of the conversations with the women.
Adhahn settled in Pierce County no earlier than December 1989, according to available public records. Police say they have no documented evidence to suggest an earlier date, though FBI experts have suggested Adhahn might have been assigned to Fort Lewis for a time in 1986.
Adhahn’s mother and his stepfather bought property in Pierce County in 1985, according to records from the Pierce County Auditor’s Office.
Records from Adhahn’s 1998 divorce, filed in Lincoln County, state that he and his wife married Aug. 6, 1986, in North Carolina. Both parties signed the divorce records.
Adhahn’s presence in North Carolina on Aug. 6 of that year undercuts his potential link to the unsolved slaying of Jenny Bastian, 13, who disappeared two days earlier in Tacoma. Her body was discovered Aug. 28 in Point Defiance Park.
The News Tribune tried to reach Adhahn’s ex-wife, but phone messages have not been returned.
Divorce records show the couple had two children, born in 1989 and 1991. Though the divorce wasn’t final until 1998, the records state that the couple separated in September 1990, shortly after Adhahn’s conviction for incest.
Adhahn was the one who sought the divorce.
The records suggest the parting was amicable – both parties had agreed to financial terms and division of property, and there were no restraining orders or allegations of abuse or misbehavior from either side.
The couple agreed to share educational, religious and health care decisions regarding the children. The mother retained custody of the children, but Adhahn was granted visitation on holidays.
How to help
Anyone with information about whether Terapon Dang Adhahn was in the Tillicum or Woodbrook neighborhoods of Lakewood in late 2005 or early 2006 is asked to call the Lakewood Police Department at 253-830-5000 or Crime Stoppers at 253-591-5959. A $60,000 reward is available for information that leads to a conviction in the death of Adre’anna Jackson. Callers can remain anonymous.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
blogs.thenewstribune.com/crime
Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486
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