A Vancouver man pleaded not guilty in Clark County Superior Court on Wednesday to a charge of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the stabbing death of Gary. L. Adams on Sept. 24 in downtown’s Hough neighborhood.
Jack Raymond Yancey, 57, is scheduled to be tried on the charge Feb. 23.
Yancey appeared Wednesday with his attorney, Michael Foister Sr., in front of Judge Robert Lewis and waived a formal reading of the charge.
Deputy Prosecutor Michael Vaughn said Yancey stabbed Adams, 50, outside of a residence at 900 W. 16th St. following an argument over what Vaughn described as a “trivial” matter.
Adams had been visiting the house and had just walked outside. About five minutes later, witnesses saw Adams and Yancey in a confrontation.
Yancey swung his hand at Adams’ stomach area and Adams fell back, grasped his stomach and said, “You stabbed me,” Vancouver police Detective Darren McShea wrote in a court affidavit.
“That’s what you get,” Yancey allegedly replied.
The entry wound was in the stomach area, but the knife was thrust in an upward direction, striking the victim’s heart, Vaughn said.
In an interview with detectives, Yancey claimed that Adams threw a knife at him and missed, then approached him and punched him in the head, according to McShea. Yancey said he then pulled out a standard kitchen knife, which was about 8 inches long, and stabbed Adams once, according to court documents.
Following the stabbing, witnesses called 911 at about 10 p.m., but when police arrived, Yancey had already fled in a white Dodge Omni.
Police were unable to find Yancey that night. The next day, the manhunt resumed. Yancey was finally apprehended at 5:36 p.m. across town at Acres Mobile Estates, 13401 N.E. 28th St., where an officer had spotted Yancey going up the steps to multiple mobile homes.
Yancey is a convicted sex offender with decades of criminal history in Oregon and Washington, including third-degree rape, being a fugitive from justice and fourth-degree assault, among others.
Court records indicate he is homeless and sometimes stayed at the Share House. He reported he had been using methamphetamine before his arrest, court records say.
Yancey has been in the Clark County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest.
Adams also was a transient who frequented the downtown area, according to The Columbian’s archives.
