Ira Adams

Ira Adams, a 29-year-old Black man from Queens, New York, was found shot to death on March 19, 1984, inside a parked U-Haul truck that police determined had been stolen. The discovery began with a call from a concerned citizen, and when officers arrived they were met not just with a body, but with the first piece of a trail that felt deliberately left behind.

As investigators worked the scene, they learned Adams was known to police and had been repeatedly arrested for burglary and grand ...