SAN DIEGO — The manhunt continues for fugitive Tyler Adams, who is wanted for questioning in the murder of his girlfriend in Tijuana. The FBI said Adams crossed into the United States on June 16 and still has not been located.
CBS 8 found court records indicating Adams had plastic surgery involving facial implants, which may explain his appearance in photographs released by the FBI.
In 2012, Adams filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, alleging two inmates beat him up inside the Vista jail.
“The assault resulted in dislodging my cheek implant and chin implant,” the handwritten complaint said, confirming plastic surgery on Adams' face.
Adams, 50, has been described as a master of disguise. He is wanted by the FBI for questioning in the murder of this girlfriend, Racquel Sabean, who was found dead on May 31 in Tijuana.
CBS 8 spoke to Adams’ stepfather, Donald Chaffee, in Pennsylvania, who said Adams first had plastic surgery when he was a teenager.
“He's had so much plastic surgery. He doesn't look like his pictures when he was younger,” said Chaffee. “I have to believe it is psychological. Why else would you have plastic surgery? I thought he was a handsome boy and maybe he thought he can change his heart or his mind by changing his appearance.”
Chaffee was married to Adams’ birth mother, Bonnie Schoolcraft, who died in 2013.
The stepfather said when Adams got out of the U.S. Navy as young man in his twenties, he changed his name.
“Kevin Schoolcraft is the name he was born with. And, then he changed his name so many times. But the one that he liked the best was Tyler Adams, because he was really close to his grandma. Her last name was Adams,” Chaffee said.
In 2012, Adams was in San Diego County court facing felony identity theft charges for using his parents’ names and good credit to fraudulently purchase more than $3 million in real estate in 2006 and 2007.
Deputy district attorney Anna Winn prosecuted the case.
“He victimized primarily his own parents, and he used their identities to apply for commercial loans and credit cards; and also to buy five properties in San Diego that were in high rises. They were very expensive waterfront properties,” Winn recalled.
“This was his first case ever. I'm very confident that he had no criminal history. He might have done criminal things, but he had no (prior) criminal convictions,” said Winn.
The case was filed in 2009 and took years to resolve with Adams acting, on and off, as his own attorney.
“He was unable to assist his defense attorneys twice and was sent away to be evaluated mentally,” Winn said.
He ended up pleading guilty to more than 40 felonies and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
When he got out of custody, Adams was transferred to Hawaii to serve time for a previous bank fraud conviction, but in 2019 he escaped from custody.
“He had multiple identification cards with his photo and other people's names. He also had matching car registrations, legal documents like that, in other people's names,” said Winn.
Over the past couple years, Adams used the alias Paul Phillips while fathering a baby girl in San Diego with his girlfriend, Racquel Sabean, 40, whose body was found inside her vehicle on May 31 in Playas de Tijuana.
“He must be totally out of his mind. I mean, he was always a narcissist. But violence?” asked Chaffee, the stepfather.
CBS 8 reached out to the FBI for an update on the agency’s search for Adams. A spokesperson responded, “No updates at this time. We continue to ask anyone with information to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.”
Meanwhile, Sabean’s 7-month-old baby girl remains safe in protective custody with Child Welfare Services in San Diego County.
David Sabean, the father of the murder victim, said he was in Tijuana this week arranging for his daughter’s remains to be repatriated to the United States.
The FBI is planning to fly Racquel Sabean’s remains to the East Coast to conduct a second autopsy, according to the father.
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