Orem man admits to killing Sherry Black in 2010
Oct 4, 2021, 4:06 PM | Updated: 4:36 pm
Adam Durborow, the man accused of killing beloved wife, mother, and bookstore owner, Sherry Black, in Nov. 2010. (Salt Lake County Jail)
(Salt Lake County Jail)
SALT LAKE CITY — Adam Durborow has pleaded guilty in Third District Court to aggravated murder in the 2010 death of South Salt Lake bookstore owner Sherry Black.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill made the announcement Monday afternoon.
“We want to commend all of the hard work done by our law enforcement partners, South Salt Lake Police Department, Unified Police Department, and the team of prosecutors who worked this case. With today’s plea of guilty we are one step closer to bringing a measure of justice for Sherry Black and her family,” he wrote in a statement.
Officers found 64-year-old Sherry Black beaten and stabbed to death inside her bookstore, B&W Billiards and Books, in South Salt Lake on Nov. 30, 2010.
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.
The Unified Police Department’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 court documents, nearly 10 years after Black’s brutal murder.
It was submitted to the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services and later confirmed as a match to the DNA collected from the crime scene.
A few days later on Oct. 10, Durborow was arrested near his home in Orem.
He confessed to taking Black’s life shortly after the arrest.
Suspect Identified, Arrested In 10-Year-Old Sherry Black Cold Case
A few hours later, Durborow was booked into the Salt Lake County jail on felony charges of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary.
KSL-TV later discovered that Durborow had a criminal past, including two arrests for theft and shoplifting around the time of Black’s murder.
Sentencing for Durborow will be held on Dec. 2, 2021.
