Adam Leroy Lane

Early life and personal affairs

Little to nothing is publicly known about Adam Lane's early life, other than that he was born in Jonesville, North Carolina on August 7, 1964.

According to family, friends and acquaintances who once knew him, he was a misogynist who behaved in a domineering and controlling manner towards others and expressly believed that women "were below him". He was also reported to exhibit several anti-social personality traits, which would explain his behaviors centered on domination, control and manipulation towards others, men and women alike. In addition to all of this, he was said by a former acquaintance, Jeremy Utt, to be an extremely argumentative and angry person who despised women. He is also alleged by his ex-wife, Miriam B. Benge, to have verbally and physically abused her throughout the course of their marriage and she also claims that she witnessed him being verbally and physically abusive towards his own biological mother.

At the time of his killings, he lived with his family which consisted of a wife and three daughters in North Carolina. He supported his family through working as a long-haul trucker and had been doing this since around the late 1980s. His trucker routes went as far west as California and as far south as Georgia. His twenty some year long career as a long-haul trucker was abruptly ended when he was apprehended by law enforcement authorities in 2007.

Murders

Lane committed the murders while he made his way through the Northeast during the summer of 2007. He had a DVD in his truck on stalking and killing humans entitled "Hunting Humans". He also carried two knives and choke wire.

His first known victim was Darlene Ewalt, who lived near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She was stabbed and killed on 13 July 2007. At the time, she was talking on the telephone in the backyard. Lane stabbed her to death while her family was inside the house.

Lane's second victim was a woman named Patricia Brooks, whom he stabbed on 17 July 2007 in York County, Pennsylvania. She survived.

His third victim was a woman in New Jersey by the name of Monica Massaro. He stabbed and killed her a day before he committed his final crime.

His final crime transpired when he made a stop on I-495 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, broke into a house on 30 July 2007, and attacked a 15-year-old girl with a knife. Her parents awoke to the sounds of her struggling. Her 135-pound mother and 160-pound father were able to subdue the 245-pound Lane and wrestle the knife he was carrying away from him, even though the mother suffered knife cuts. Chelmsford Police were contacted, arrived at the scene, and arrested him.

While it has been speculated by law enforcement authorities that he has been involved with other murders in other parts of the country due to his extensive trucking routes, this has not been proven. He himself has also refused to comment to police or the general public about this speculation.

Investigation

Lane was linked to Ewalt by DNA on his knife. He was linked to Brooks similarly. He also dropped some gloves with his DNA and one of his victim's blood.

Trials and imprisonment

Lane received a 25-30 year sentence in Massachusetts for the attack on the teenage girl.

New Jersey sentenced him to 50 years for the murder of Monica Massaro.

In Pennsylvania, Lane pleaded guilty in order to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to 10–20 years for the attempted murder of the woman in York County, and to life for the murder of Darlene Ewalt. He is serving his sentences in SCI Fayette.

In the media

The story has been presented in the Dateline NBC series (original air date 3 August 2009) and 48 Hours Mystery episode, Live to Tell: Hunting Humans (original air date 26 February 2011), and episode 2, season 1, of Nightmare Next Door and the episode 5, season 7, of Castle. and Readers Digest July 2011 "caught in the act." pages 48 to 53. Season 1 of The Coroner: I Speak for the Dead, episode 2 titled "Call the Coroner" (original air date 25 July 2016).