The Justice Files: unsealed search warrants offer new insight into Sherry Black murder investigation

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Utah) – It was science that led to a suspect in Sherry Black’s murder in 2010.

In the search warrants that were recently unsealed, authorities got their first advice from Parabon Nanolabs, which is at the forefront of new DNA technology.

And according to recently unsealed search warrants, murder suspect Adam Durborow may have known what Sherry Black had in his bookstore; rare and precious books.

In 2010, Black was found murdered in her South Salt Lake bookstore. The case went unresolved for a decade.

After the case was transferred to the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, detectives forwarded DNA found at the crime scene to Parabon Laboratories. Using the latest DNA technology, they found a person of interest to the police.

“It’s an exciting thing that genealogists can help solve crimes,” said Karra Porter of the Utah Cold Case Coalition.

Porter is the founder of the country’s only nonprofit DNA lab called Intermountain Forensics. The lab uses the same DNA technology as Parabon.

According to the search warrants, DNA technology restricted the search to the Durborow family. Then a family member was contacted and that person agreed to describe their family tree.

“The genealogist doesn’t do law enforcement work,” Porter said. “It’s like giving a tip to the police. They just say ‘why don’t you look at this guy.’ “

The scientific investigation led to Durborow and it was up to the Unified Police detectives to argue for prosecution.

Months later, Durborow’s DNA was collected. He matched DNA found at the crime scene and in October 2020 he was arrested.

“This morning we made an arrest in the Sherry Black case,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera told reporters after the arrest. “I have the name of the person (that) I can release and their age. His name is Adam Durborow.

Detectives continued to set up a business and soon learned that he lived in the area. In fact, ABC4 learned, he once lived a few blocks from the bookstore.

The search warrant called for the confiscation of all his mail. They believed he had “potentially stolen items from the bookstore.” They learned that Black “does not keep an inventory or catalog of books” that allows them to sell discreetly.

It is not known if Durborow actually stole items from Black. The mandate does not answer this question. But according to the charges, Durborow was never charged with burglary only with murder.

While in custody, the search warrant claimed Durborow had confessed to Black’s murder. He also told detectives that he had used the “Internet” to “follow the investigation” and that by reading articles in the media, he quickly learned that there was “DNA evidence found” at the scene. of crime.

The search warrant does not give any details on the motive. He has had a history of minor skirmishes with the courts, but never of crimes. The answer could come out in the near future when he goes on trial.
Because of Covid-19, her case, like so many others, has been put on hold.