Suspect Identified, Arrested In 10-Year-Old Sherry Black Cold Case

SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah — A suspect in the Sherry Black cold case has been arrested nearly 10 years after her brutal murder, according to the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said 29-year-old Adam Durborow was arrested near his home in Orem Saturday morning.

He was 19-years-old at the time of Black’s murder and had been convicted for theft just weeks before the incident.

After his arrest Saturday, Durborow confessed to taking Black’s life.

He was booked into Salt Lake County jail a few hours later on felony charges of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary.

The sheriff said the case will be screened with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.

On Nov. 30, 2010, officers found 64-year-old Sherry Black beaten and stabbed to death inside her book store, B&W Billiards and Books, in South Salt Lake.

The South Salt Lake Police Department conducted a homicide investigation, but it eventually went cold after they found no evidence of robbery or motive.

On the fifth anniversary of Black’s murder, KSL Investigator Debbie Dujanovik spoke with detectives over the case and learned that fingerprints and DNA had been recovered from the crime scene. However, detectives were not able to match the evidence stored in their database for previous offenders.

Over the years, a sketch of a teenage suspect was also created using DNA evidence.

UPD’s Cold Case Unit joined the investigation in 2013 and later became the lead investigating agency in 2018.

The two agencies worked together to review the evidence and conduct further investigations.

There were very few leads, but detectives said the suspect left behind his blood marks and an Armani belt, which at one time was considered a key piece of evidence.

On Oct. 7, 2020, DNA was collected from Durborow, according to the probable cause statement.

It was submitted to the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services and later confirmed as a match to the DNA collected from the crime scene.

“The diligent work of the detectives from both agencies over the last ten years has resulted in today’s arrest,” read the statement. “I want to thank the detectives, investigators, and many others from UPD, SSLPD, DA, the Utah Crime Lab, and Parabon Nanolabs for working together in common pursuit of justice for the Black family.”

Sheriff Rivera said the arrest was just one step on their path to justice.

“It was a good call to make, but a tough call. We want to follow it through to the end for justice,” said Sheriff Rivera. “You can’t give details, even to the family. It’s challenging. We want to spill the beans on the whole case, but we can’t.”

There are still many unanswered questions, most importantly the “why.”

KSL investigator Dave Cawley dug into Durborow’s criminal past, finding that he was convicted for theft before Black’s murder, and was in jail just weeks after her murder. This might have led to fingerprints being taken from him, raising the question of why a link wasn’t made to Durborow sooner.

The docket from the second case suggests Durborow was actually in jail (pre-trial detention) in January of 2011 but released due to overcrowding. Subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve 180 days. pic.twitter.com/zCpTaOdemF

— Dave Cawley (@ashergrey) October 10, 2020

Detectives told KSL that they are not able to provide that information at this time.

Furthermore, it appears that in Sept. 2010, Durborow was convicted and sentenced to 60 days in jail, but the sentence was suspended and he was put on probation with a $400 fine. Black was killed during the time he would have spent in jail.

Black’s family released a statement saying they will not be providing commentary until after charges are screened by the DA.