Man gets no additional jail time in Everett storage unit slaying

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 17, 2023

EVERETT — Eric Adams was beloved.

Melissa Johnson called him her best friend. She described him as “the most loving man I ever met.” He loved working on cars and rock music. He hated country.

“He was so deserving of a long, happy life,” Johnson said.

Rob Kaputa, 53, pleaded guilty to killing Adams, 52, at an Everett storage unit in 2019. But he took little responsibility for the slaying.

Adams became like a father to Johnson’s kids.

“The grief will never go away,” Johnson’s daughter said in court Thursday. “I just make room for it.”

Wendee Huggum worked with Adams. She also described him as her best friend. On Thursday, she used dozens of words to describe her friend, including warm, wise and selfless.

On Thursday, a judge sentenced Kaputa to 3½ years for Adams’ death.

But with time served and credit for good behavior, it’s likely he won’t be in custody much longer.

When Adams was killed in 2019 it came as a shock to his friends.

On April 28, 2019, a tenant of the storage complex on 4th Avenue West in Everett had reportedly run over and killed Kaputa’s dog. Kaputa didn’t take it well.

He demanded $10,000 from the tenant and threatened to kill the man’s young daughter, according to court documents. As an employee of the facility, Adams tried to mediate.

Two days later, Kaputa repeatedly struck Adams with a blunt object, killing him, prosecutors alleged. Adams suffered extensive skull fractures. The Snohomish County chief medical examiner at the time reportedly called them the worst he’d seen in his nearly 30-year career.

It would take over three weeks for anyone to discover Adams was dead, according to court documents. Officers found an envelope with cash on a table feet away from the body. So investigators didn’t suspect it was a robbery turned homicide.

The storage facility had a gate with a keypad to get in. Each tenant reportedly gets their own access code to use whenever they enter.

Just before 7 a.m. on the day of the slaying, Adams had used his code to get in. Within seconds, Kaputa used his code to leave. Investigators believed the two would’ve passed each other, according to court papers.

Ten minutes later, Kaputa came back in the facility. He left 25 minutes later.

About a week after the body was found, police brought Kaputa in for questioning. He reported he was the only one who used his code to enter the complex. He told investigators he hadn’t seen Adams since the day his dog was killed, according to court documents. He added he’d looked for Adams the next day to discuss it, but couldn’t find him.

He “vaguely” remembered being at the storage facility the day of Adams’ death, but denied seeing him, prosecutors wrote.

In January 2020, investigators found DNA belonging to two people in fingernail clippings recovered from Adams’ hands. Adams was one. Kaputa was the other, according to charging papers filed in the case.

Months later, prosecutors charged Kaputa with second-degree murder. He had remained in the Snohomish County Jail since his arrest with bail set at $1 million.

The defense took issue with much of the prosecution’s evidence.

In court filings last week, public defender Gabriel Rothstein argued the idea the timing of the gate codes was weak evidence Kaputa killed Adams. He also wrote the explanation for Kaputa’s DNA being found in the victim’s fingernails could’ve been due to Adams putting his hands in a jacket Kaputa had given him.

Just weeks before Kaputa was set to go before a jury, prosecutors and Kaputa negotiated a plea. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.

Kaputa had no prior felony convictions.

Under state sentencing guidelines, the defendant faced between 2¾ and 3½ years. However, given the plea, prosecutors and the defense agreed to recommend a prison term slightly above that range, of 3½ years.

At the advice of his attorney, Kaputa declined to speak at his sentencing.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Janice Ellis followed the recommendation. In remarks, she called Kaputa a “coward.”

She said Adams was described Thursday as “the light in other people’s darkness.”

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.