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More than a decade after Sherry Black was found murdered in her own bookstore, her family has taken one step closer to justice.
Adam Durborow, 30, of Orem, pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court on Monday to aggravated murder, a first degree felony, in Black’s death in 2010.
Durborow is expected to be sentenced on December 2. At that point, he could face a 25-year life sentence in Utah State Prison, or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“With today’s guilty plea, we take one step closer to justice for Sherry Black and her family,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said.
Gill admitted it was a convoluted road to Monday’s guilty plea. But there is now some measure of justice thanks to the long drawn out process for both the Black family and the community. Black’s family were in attendance for Monday’s plea change hearing. Gill said no plea deal had been reached with Durborow.
On November 30, 2010, Black, 64, the stepmother of former group CEO Larry H. Miller, Greg Miller, was found stabbed to death in her bookstore, B&W Billiards and Books, 3466 S. 700 East, in the south Salt lake. For nearly a decade, there have been no suspects or persons of interest in the case.
For years, the only evidence the police shared with the public, hoping to generate tips, was an Armani Exchange men’s belt found at the crime scene with a waistline of about 36 to 38 inches and a sticker on the back of the buckle. with the number “323” and blood drawn from the scene.
DNA tests determined the blood was from a man. This DNA has been analyzed in a national criminal database. But no correspondence was ever made, meaning the killer had either not been arrested for committing another violent crime since Black’s death, or he had fled the country, or he was dead.
In 2017, investigators submitted their evidence to the DNA phenotyping process using the Virginia-based company Parabon-Nanolabs. Phenotyping predicts a person’s physical appearance and ancestry using genetic codes. Based on this information, researchers can predict skin color, hair color, eye color, and facial structure using percentages.
Court records show that a woman believed to be Durborow’s biological mother lived a mile from the Black Bookstore in 2010.
Unified Police Detective Ben Pender, an expert on cold affairs, took over the investigation in 2018.
When Durborow was indicted in October 2020, it was then reported that investigators had followed Durborow to a public place and secretly collected DNA. This DNA was then compared to evidence left at the scene of the crime. He was arrested a few weeks before being charged with Black’s murder. It was still not known what prompted the police to start following Durborow.
In addition, the motive for the murder has still not been revealed. Gill said he would wait until the PSR’s release and Durborow’s conviction before addressing the issue of motive.
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