Remembering the former Saxonburg police chief who was shot, killed 45 years ago

It’s been 45 years since a former Saxonburg police chief died after he was shot during a traffic stop.

Chief Gregory Adams died while en route to Butler Memorial Hospital after being shot in the chest, under the arm, and sustaining head injuries during a traffic stop Dec. 4, 1980, on Butler Street. He was 31 years old.

Adams shot his assailant in the leg and was able to record his license plate before paramedics arrived, which in part led police to Donald Eugene Webb. His suspected remains were discovered in 2017 in the Dartmouth, Massachusetts, home of his former wife, Lillian Webb.

Donald Webb was never prosecuted.

Attorney Tom King represented the Adams family in a 2017 civil suit against Webb’s estate for answers and damages in excess of $1 million, but the case was sealed that sam