Aggregated by AuxBeacon News Staff
Diane Michelle Zamora is a former Civil Air Patrol cadet and a former United States Naval Academy midshipman. Her ex-fiancé, David Graham, is a former Civil Air Patrol cadet and United States Air Force Academy cadet. Both were convicted for the December 4, 1995 murder of Adrianne Jessica Jones. In their separate confessions to police, they describe the events similarly.
Zamora believed Jones to be a romantic rival for Graham; he had claimed that he had given her a ride home on November 4, 1995 and had sex with her. Zamora became enraged and asked Graham to kill her. In the early morning of December 4, he picked up Jones in Zamora’s car, while she hid in the hatchback. They went to a remote location, got into a struggle. Zamora hit Jones over the head with weights, and Graham shot her twice after she had broken away from them.
Following the murder, Graham was at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and Zamora enrolled in the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Zamora confessed the crime to her roommates at the academy, which ultimately led to the notification of the local police in Texas. Both Zamora and Graham were arrested on September 6, 1996.
Cadet SSgt Diane M. Zamora
There were separate trials, which resulted in guilty verdicts. During Graham’s trial, it was revealed that he had left the November 4 meet before Wendy Bartlett, Adrianne Jones, and Coach Ann Burke. They were left behind to stow equipment and Bartlett drove Jones home. This meant that Graham did not likely have sex with Jones. Both are serving life sentences for the murder. Zamora’s attorney filed an appeal in 2005 stating that prosecution withheld the information that Graham did not give Jones a ride after the meet, and probably did not have sex with Jones.
On July 24, 1998, after a separate trial, a jury found Graham guilty of capital murder. During the trial, Wendy Bartlett, also on the track team, and Coach Lee Ann Burke, stated that Bartlett was the one who drove Jones home after the meet on November 4, and that Graham had left earlier, leaving Jones and Bartlett to put away equipment from the meet. Graham never had sex with Jones. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment.
This is not the only murder involving Civil Air Patrol. Jay R. Rich was a CAP cadet in the Fort Vancouver Squadron of Washington Wing Civil Air Patrol.
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/19-year-old-gets-45-years-for-killing-co-worker-1077410.php