Neriah Roberts will Serve 55 Years in TDCJ for Area Murder

By Lance Lowry

08-29-2024

Huntsville, Texas – The Walker County District Attorney announced this week that the 55 year sentence of Neriah Roberts for Murder was recently reinstated by the 10th Court of Appeals.  

According to the DA’s Office, a visiting judge granted a new trial for the Defendant.  District Attorney Will Durham and Assistant District Attorney Phil Faseler filed an appeal and made oral arguments before the State’s 10th Court of Appeals. 

Court records stated the murder victim Tierra Adams, who was pregnant, was reported missing by her mother on February 1, 2008.  Roberts was seen with Adams on January 27, 2008.  Prior to Adam’s body being discovered, Roberts fled to Venezuela on February 13, 2008 after being interviewed by law enforcement regarding Adam’s disappearance. 

Adams’s body was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area of Walker County near Pinedale Road on March 26, 2008.  

During the trial, a witness John Nelson testified that sometime at the end of January or first of February, between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m., he assisted a man matching Robert’s description pull a car  out of the mud from a ditch on Pinedale Road.  When Adams body was found, Nelson contacted law enforcement to report the suspicious encounter.  

Nelson testified that the car was backed up in the ditch and there was a shovel near the back of the car.  He explained that he used his truck and a chain to extract the car. 

Nelson stated the car was a black, four-door, smaller sedan. He testified he was not sure of the make, but believed it was either a Toyota or Nissan.  Nelson picked Roberts out of a photo lineup. He also identified Roberts in open court as the man he helped.

Law enforcement searched Roberts’s home and found items of clothing similar to those worn by the individual Nelson spoke to.  A black 2005 Nissan Altima was found at his home.

Roberts had admitted to having an argument with Adams and alleged he left her on the side of the road near his northwest Houston home between midnight and 1:00 a.m. the morning of January 28. He alleges he returned to his home without her.

Using cell phone tower data, investigators created a timeline of Roberts’s alleged actions.  At 9:05 p.m. on January 27 Robert’s phone was on the northwest side of Houston, and at 6:27 a.m. on January 28 his phone was near Pinedale Road.

During the trial a forensic scientist testified that found black synthetic fibers on Adams’s clothing were microscopically similar to characteristics of a carpet sample from the trunk of Roberts’s car.

Roberts was extradited in 2015 and convicted of Adams’s murder by a Walker County Jury in 2022. The jury confined Roberts to 55 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and assessed a $10,000 fine.

With the prosecution prevailing during this appeal, the defendant will serve the remainder of his 55 year prison sentence.