Adolphus Lebron Hollingsworth
Two potential witnesses in a 17-year-old murder testified Monday that they saw Adolphus Lebron Hollingsworth threaten and mistreat his wife Vicky before she disappeared in 1997.
Hollingsworth, who is under $200,000 bond, is set for trial on Nov. 4.
Orville Hughes said he lived around the corner from Vicky when he was on Chamberlain Avenue and they were on Duncan Avenue.
He said he would see bruises on her, and he said she spoke many times of violence in their marriage. "From what I gathered there was a lot of violence. She was tired of the way he was treating her."
The witness said he was on her family's porch with Vicky, her parents and her brother in August 1997. He said Hollingsworth drove up with his ill mother in the car. He said Hollingsworth drove by the house at least five times while cursing and threatening to kill Vicky.
"I've never seen anything like it," the witness said.
Mr. Hughes said on another occasion he was coming into town from a long-distrance truck trip when he got a call from a woman saying that Hollingsworth was beating up Vicky in the parking lot of the Whole Note on MLK Boulevard.
He said he parked his truck and ran to the scene. He said he heard Vicky "hollering and screaming" and could see someone's "hand coming down."
He said he could not identify Hollingsworth at the scene, but he said parked nearby was the same car Hollingsworth had driven when they were on the porch.
He said Vicky did not want to go to the hospital, though she had been bloodied. He said he took her home and cared for her for a day or two.
That incident was in November or December of 1996, he said.
Adolphus Mitchell, another friend of the victim, said he saw the couple at a flea market in East Ridge a week or week and a half before she disappeared. He said Hollingsworth was upset that she had gotten a tattoo and was cursing her and grabbed her arm.
The witness said, "She wanted to leave him, but she was scared of him."
Another time he said he saw the couple in a restaurant he operated for three years, the Stadium Soul Food Cafe. He said he could tell from the loud voices that they were arguing. He said Vicky "looked fearful," and he said he was afraid she was going to be hurt.
He said Hollingsworth had told her that "if I can't have you, nobody else can have you."
Judge Stern said the porch incident could go before the jury, but she said she was inclined not to allow the parking lot incident because the witness could not make a positive ID of Hollingsworth.
The state may call another witness to say that she had gone to Billy Goat Hill with Hollingsworth and he was familiar with the area. Her body was finally discovered on Billy Goat Hill.
Forensics experts discovered a mark on her mandible that indicated a stab wound to the neck; this was determined to be the cause of death.
Homicide detectives in January announced they had been able to make an arrest with the help of TNT Productions, charging Hollingsworth with first-degree murder.
In 1997, she had separated from her husband, and she and her two children were living with her parents on Duncan Avenue when she went missing.
After years of investigation with little new information, producers from the TNT show "Cold Justice" heard about the case and approached the Chattanooga Police Department.
Hollingsworth was living in Amarillo, Tex., at the time of his arrest. He had married again.
District Attorney Neal Pinkston and assistant Lance Pope are handling the case, while Steve Brown of the public defender's office represents Hollingsworth.