Adam Sapikowski, 16, Kills His Wealthy Parents

The Sapikowski family was an embodiment of wealth and success. Businessman James Sapikowski owned an oil and gas exploration firm while his wife Alison Powell Sapikowski served as club ice hockey coach at UNC.

Adam Sapikowski, 16, shot both parents to death on April 28 – an attack which happened just one weekend before both prom and Mother’s Day, according to police.

Early Life and Education

Adam Sapikowski was just a junior at Durham Academy when both of his parents were found dead from gunshot wounds at their Chapel Hill home last year, wrapped in bloodied blankets in the master suite on the first-floor. Authorities discovered their bodies wrapped tightly and found no sign of resistance from anyone living inside.

Death rocked a family long known for being powerful, successful and athletic – yet its details remained unknown to investigators and those familiar with them.

What led up to Adam Sapikowski’s shootings is among the many questions being asked by a growing number of people, along with what led him to attend his junior prom on the same weekend as their murders, as well as whether there was an after-prom party at his family’s Whitley Drive house where authorities found bloodstained report cards from each parent in their bedroom, authorities reported.

Professional Career

Adam Sapikowski has already spent almost three years behind bars for the 2005 murders of both of his parents. On Friday he was sentenced to up to 24 1/2 years behind bars.

Investigators and defense attorneys have kept quiet for nearly one year regarding what led up to the killings, fearing that too much information might taint jurors’ decisions in favor of defendants.

Sapikowski eventually left his family home and moved into a motel in Durham. Later that month he was placed under suicide watch at a psychiatric hospital.

On Monday in court, Sapikowski did not make any statement or ask to speak for herself; rather a judge appointed James Williams, chief public defender for Orange and Chatham counties to represent her instead.

Achievement and Honors

Adam Sapikowski attended Durham Academy, a $16,000 per year private high school near Chapel Hill. There, he earned several accolades including being valedictorian. Additionally, his football performance saw several winning playoff games as he earned honor roll status for every class and never let academic or athletic performance prevent his team from receiving its golden gloves award. Unfortunately, Adam has since vanished.

Personal Life

Adam Sapikowski was a junior at Durham Academy living with both of his parents on Whitley Drive. On the weekend of his prom, police believe he murdered both.

Authorities reported the bodies of businessman James Sapikowski and his wife Alison Powell Sapikowski had been dead for at least three days, possibly up to seven days, upon discovery early Saturday in their bedroom.

Sapikowski has been behind bars since being charged with killing both of his parents. On Friday he was given 19 to 24 1/2 years for killing his father; Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall estimated a minimum sentence of 21-26 years for killing his mother.

Net Worth

Adam Sapikowski, 16, shot both his wealthy parents at their opulent home on Whitley Drive the weekend before his high school prom was scheduled to take place, according to police and autopsy reports. James Sapikowski (52), James Sapikowski’s father was shot multiple times in the neck, cheek and forehead area while Alison Powell Sapikowski 49 (mother), was struck on both temples and shoulders according to Sapikowski’s own account and reports from autopsy experts.

He admitted to each killing Monday and will face adult charges of first-degree murder for each killing, with obstruction of justice as the only conviction on his record after Judge Mark Fox hand down sentences for each murder.