Trial of man charged with 1985 murder of YSU coed set for Aug. 13

YOUNGSTOWN — The death-penalty murder trial of Bennie L. Adams will proceed as scheduled Aug. 13, Judge Timothy E. Franken told lawyers at a pre-trial hearing.

Adams’ trial in the Dec. 29, 1985, strangulation death of Gina Tenney, 19, a Youngstown State University student, who was his neighbor, will be the first death-penalty trial in Mahoning County in more than four years.

Adams, 50, of Hollywood Avenue, was indicted last fall on charges of aggravated murder with a death penalty specification, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, kidnapping and rape in Tenney’s death after a DNA match was found in evidence police had preserved for 22 years.

Tenney’s body was found floating in the Mahoning River near West Avenue on Dec. 30, 1985.

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