A body recovered in a ditch behind Farmersville High School was the final piece to solve the mystery of a Lemoore man missing for more than a year.

Sixty-five-year-old Robert Lee Adams of Lemoore was reported missing by his daughter on Aug. 16, 2008. Kings County investigators said they found Adams body on Oct. 1 after an acquaintance, 40-year-old Ricky Erick McConnaughy, confessed to killing him and dumping his body in the Farmersville ditch.

Assistant Sheriff Brian Wheat said McConnaughy had done some odd jobs for Adams on his property at 14176 Jackson Avenue south of Highway 198 between Hanford and Lemoore.

McConnaughy said Adams was someone he would 'stop and shoot the breeze with' on his way home. He told detectives that he had an argument with Adams on Aug. 15 at his property. When the argument became heated, McConnaughy told investigators he pushed Adams to the ground. McConnaughy returned to check on Adams later and found that he was dead.

Wheat said McConnaughy then drove the body in Adams' truck to Farmersville where he buried it under 2.5 feet of sand in the riverbed of an extension ditch of the Tulare Irrigation District. Only bones remained of Adams' body when it was unearthed by investigators.

'He was our prime suspect from the beginning, but he was awaiting court proceedings in Tulare County,' Wheat said. 'He said he didn't mean to kill Adams and would do things differently if he could. He didn't want to relive the moment and said it was difficult to think about.'

Wheat said McConnaughy was using Adams' credit cards and cell phone following the crime. Kings County Sheriff's detectives originally searched the ditch but about three-quarters of a mile north of where the body was buried. Wheat said McConnaughy was familiar with the ditch having dated a woman in the Farmersville area and frequented a swimming hole along the ditch.

McConnaughy was arrested by Dinuba Police while driving Adams' truck just days after his disappearance. McConnaughy was arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon, terrorist threats and kidnapping with special allegations of domestic violence in a separate crime committed in Tulare County. Judge Paul Vortman sentenced McConnaughy to 12 years in prison on Sept. 15.

After court proceedings ended in Tulare County, McConnaughy was brought back to Kings County in connection with the murder of Adams. Wheat said Kings County detectives found Adams blood in the bed of the truck linking it to the murder. On Oct. 1, McConnaughy agreed to a plea bargain reducing the charges to second degree murder if he cooperated by telling detectives where to find the body, but with one unusual stipulation.

'Through negotiations with his lawyer, the District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Department, we agreed to wait on the press conference until after his daughter's birthday on the weekend of Oct. 17-18,' Wheat said. 'He didn't want the news to bring down her birthday celebration.'

McConnaughy is expected to be sentenced in January 2010 to 15 years to life in prison. The sentence will be in addition the 12-year sentence he received in Tulare County Superior Court.

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