By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on August 7, 2018
Today, Adam Bailey’s father took a bold step toward securing justice in connection with his son’s death two years ago. Tim Bailey filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Circuit Court against Caleb LeGrone, Matthew Allen, Ryan Allen, Sara Gibson Allen, Matthew Hartley, Jessica Hartley, Joseph Alan Cook, and Victoria Love, all of whom reside in Tuscaloosa County. The lawsuit was filed by prominent Birmingham attorney, Leroy Maxwell, Jr.
Adam Bryant Bailey died two years ago, today. He was a 24-year-old forest technician for Forestry Research Contractors in Gordo, Alabama.
On August 7, 2016, Adam was unobtrusively administered a fatal overdose of the "date rape" drug called "GHB" while he was in the company of Caleb Payne LeGrone, who is a close friend of a reputed Tuscaloosa area GHB dealer named Brett Davis. Shortly thereafter, Adam got extremely sick and passed out while he was in the company of Victoria Love, an acquaintance of LeGrone. Adam experienced nausea, seizures, vomiting, dizziness, depressed breathing, and unconsciousness, all of which are symptoms of a GHB overdose.
Later that night, Caleb LeGrone called Adam’s phone. Victoria Love answered and told LeGrone about Adam’s deteriorating physical condition. Despite observing that Adam was unconscious and extremely sick, Victoria Love left him alone in his truck around 9 p.m. that night and went home.
“Adam remained alone and unconscious in his truck for about two hours when Matthew and Jessica Hartley returned home from a party at Ryan and Sara Allen’s house only a few blocks away where they discovered him lying in his seat,” according to the lawsuit. Matthew Allen was accompanied the Hartleys to Adam's house that evening.
Matthew Hartley called Caleb LeGrone and informed him of Adam’s physical condition and demanded that LeGrone come over to the house and help with Adam’s situation.
Legrone arrived at the scene, but did not call 911 for several hours. When LeGrone and his friends finally called 911, Adam’s body temperature was 87 degrees Fahrenheit and he had ceased ventilation/breathing on his own for a minimum of 54 minutes prior to the call.
After police officers and EMT personnel were called to the scene, Adam was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa where he was placed on a respirator for six days. He never regained consciousness.
While Adam was lying in a comatose state at the hospital, Legrone sent Victoria Love a text message stating that he (Legrone) had made up a false story to cover up for what really happened to Adam on the night of August 7th.
On August 14, 2016 at 10:27 a.m., Adam was taken off the respirator and declared dead.
Adam Bailey's Autopsy Report was Woefully Inadequate
On August 16, 2016, an autopsy by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences listed Adam Bailey’s cause of death as a “Seizure Disorder” and the manner of death as “Undetermined”. A toxicology report confirmed the presence of various substances in Adam’s body, but none that would have caused his death. Some of these substances were administered to Adam as part of his emergency room and ICU medical treatments.
However, the autopsy procedures were woefully inadequate, given the circumstances surrounding Adam's homicide. Among other things, the autopsy did not test the vitreous humor area of Adams’ eyes, his tear ducts, or his hair for the presence of GHB. An overdose of GHB would have killed Adam and could have been detected in his body at the time of the autopsy through these testing procedures.
Additionally, photos taken of Adam’s body at the funeral home in August 2016 clearly show choke marks on both sides of Adam’s neck. Yet, these marks were not mentioned in Adam’s autopsy report. In fact, the report states that Adam’s neck was “unremarkable”.
Medical Records and Post Mortem Photos Yield Key Evidence
In November 2017, an independent review of Adam Bailey’s medical records revealed that he had been dead for about one hour before EMT were called to the scene of his Northport home. Based on blood chemistry, it is estimated that Adam stopped ventilation/breathing approximately one hour before cardiac electrical activity was re-started with IV medication administered by the EMTs who responded to the 911 call. When the EMTs arrived at Adam’s home, he was found in an asystole state (i.e., he had zero cardiac electrical activity).
Using a certain arterial blood gas, qualified physicians can extrapolate an estimated
time that Adam’s ventilation/breathing had stopped. This estimation deals with
blood chemistry and gas exchange and how long it takes to accumulate carbon
dioxide in the blood. Specifically, once a person quits breathing the heart will
continue to do some work but without ventilating the carbon dioxide will
accumulate in the blood stream. Based on physiology and a review of Adam's blood
gases, it is estimated that Adam had stopped breathing about one hour prior to the
EMT intervention.
Witness statements, post-mortem photos, and other independent evidence in the case suggest Adam was the victim of a GHB overdose and choking.
Conflicting Police Department Reports
The Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit investigated Adam’s death. The case was closed on March 10, 2017, without determining (a) what substance caused Adam’s fatal overdose and (b) who made the choke marks on his neck. Furthermore, there was no following up police work on Caleb LeGrone’s false cover story.
The Northport Police Department's records, along with the medical records from DCH Medical Center and the tape of Caleb Legrone’s 911 call, contradict the Tuscaloosa Police Department’s official account of Adam Bailey’s homicide in several material aspects. Northport police officers were the first law enforcement officials at the scene where Adam flatlined.
The glaring conflicts between the two police department reports on Adam Bailey's homicide has never been reconciled. The Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit police file in Adam’s case, when viewed under objective and professional law enforcement standards, is sorely lacking in basic detective work.
No arrests have been made in connection with Adam Bailey’s homicide.
Persecuting A Grieving Father
On November 12, 2017, Victoria Love filed a misdemeanor charge of Harassing Communications against Tim Bailey. The case was tried in Tuscaloosa Municipal Court on March 22, 2018. Bailey was represented by Attorney Leroy Maxwell, Jr.
On March 30, 2018, Judge Rickey J. McKinney wrote, “After careful deliberation of the testimony and the evidence presented, the Court finds the Defendant not guilty” of Harassing Communications. With those words, the criminal case against Tim Bailey was over. He was once again a free man.
Interestingly, the Tuscaloosa Police Department investigative file in Tim Bailey’s Harassing Communications case consisted of 55 pages of interview notes and records. The police file in Adam Bailey’s homicide case consists of only 63 pages of interview notes and records.
Epilogue
Despite everything that has happened to Tim Bailey and his family since Adam's homicide, this grieving father continues his courageous fight for justice in Adam Bailey’s homicide case. Tim Bailey has done more to properly investigate this death case than any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency.
Finally, Attorney Leroy Maxwell, Jr., is the same lawyer who represents the family of Megan Rondini, the 20-year-old University of Alabama honors student who committed suicide in 2016 after Tuscaloosa County law enforcement officials failed to pursue criminal charges in her July 2, 2015 rape complaint against local playboy/sexual predator, Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr, who was 14 years older than Megan at the time. Maxwell has already won a favorable settlement from the University in the Rondini case.
PHOTO: Adam Bailey and his family (parents Tim and Jan Bailey, and sister Cassie) at his graduation from the Alabama Fire College in December of 2014. Tim Bailey never stopped fighting for justice in Adam Bailey's August 7, 2016 homicide case.
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