PITTSBURGH (WPRI) – The widow of a Pennsylvania police chief gunned down in the 1980s is suing the accused killer – a Rhode Island mob associate – and his family, claiming federal investigators discovered a “secret room” that may have been used to hide the suspect.
Donald Eugene Webb is accused of shooting Saxonburg Police Chief Gregory Adams twice in the chest during a traffic stop on Dec. 4, 1980.
Adams was a married father of two, who had moved to Saxonburg to leave the danger of his previous job as a police officer in Washington D.C.
As Target 12 previously reported, the FBI identified Webb as an associate of the Patriarca crime family who made a living robbing banks, jewelry stores and high-end hotels up and down the east coast, then he fenced the ill-gotten gains through the mob in Providence.
Investigators say the pair crossed paths after Webb hit up a jewelry store in New York.
Webb would be 85 years old now. Rumors about what happened to him – including his death at the hands of the mob he worked for – have circulated for decades.
But, the FBI special agent assigned to tracking Webb down believes he’s still alive. Last year, the feds announced a $100,000 reward for any information leading to Webb, dead or alive.
On Thursday, Adams’ widow, Mary Ann Jones, filed a lawsuit against Lillian Webb, Donald Eugene Webb, and their son, Stanley Webb.
Jones and her two sons, Benjamin Adams and Gregory Adams, Jr., are seeking damages in excess of $1 million on three counts: Wrongful Death – Murder, Civil Conspiracy – Accessory After the Fact, Civil Conspiracy – Hindering Apprehension of a Murderer.
Jones tells Eyewitness News she filed the suit after she was told by the FBI that agents found a secret room in Webb’s North Dartmouth home. She said the room was hidden behind a closet and wasn’t there when Lillian Webb purchased the home.
Jones said an agent told her that a cane was discovered inside that room.
Investigators believe that Webb was shot in the leg during his struggle with Chief Adams. Pennsylvania State Police say Webb left a trail of blood from Adams’ cruiser to his rental car.
That rental car was recovered months after Adams’ murder in the parking lot of the Howard Johnson’s hotel in Warwick.
Kristen Setera, a spokesperson for the Boston office of the FBI, declined to comment on the civil suit.
Tim White contributed to this report.
