Dateline: Unforgettable - Is Dana Rosendale's killer Russell Adkins a free man now?

In 2016, Russell Adkins was arrested and tried in court for the alleged 1982 homicide of Dana Rosendale. Adkins was a bouncer back then and on the night of September 5, he offered a ride to Dana and her best friend, Roxy Pelow. Rosendale never returned home to her boyfriend and 8-month-old infant in their Toledo home.

Rosendale was discovered unconscious with a severe head injury on Tracy Road in the early morning hours after the unexpected events of that night. She passed away about a week later and her untimely death resulted in an unavoidable investigation. However, the cause of her death was reported as "undetermined" at the time.

Years later, her case was reopened, all thanks to the efforts of her daughter, Brittany Stork, which resulted in the conviction of Russell Adkins in 2016. Two years later, the guilty verdict was vacated by Ohio's 6th District Court of Appeals on the grounds of an unfair trial, setting Adkins free.

The July 26 episode of Dateline: Unforgettable, titled Return to the Lonely Road, explored details about the case and the accused, Russell Adkins.

---

Russell Adkins was found guilty more than three decades after Dana Rosendale's death

In 1982, after being questioned by the police, Russell Adkins admitted that Dana had fallen out of his moving vehicle due to a faulty latch. However, the Lucas County Coroner then expressed his concerns, stating that an accident like that should have caused severe damage, but Dana's blunt force trauma to the head seemed consistent with an assault.

In 2013, Dana Rosendale's body was exhumed upon her daughter's request and a re-examination revealed that the blunt trauma injuries were a result of continuous beating, ruling it a homicide. Russell, who was in his 50s, was charged with Dana Rosendale's murder and arrested in 2015 by Wood County prosecutors. He was tried in court later that year despite the defense's attempts to dismiss the case.

The trial was delayed and pushed to January 2016, merely lasting for two weeks. On the sixth day of the trial, the jury reached a deadlock after deliberating for a few hours and a pretrial hearing on February 1 decided to retry the accused.

The retrial began on July 11 that same year and ended on the eighteenth of the same month when the jury found Russell Adkins guilty of murdering Dana Rosendale in 1982. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years of serving jail time.

After the verdict, the victim's sister, Deborah Risner, said:

"I always knew she was murdered, I never thought it was an accident, never."

She added that the verdict was a start for "the healing process."

Meanwhile, one of Adkins' oldest friends, David Liner, responded to the guilty verdict, saying:

"This is an injustice, it's wrong, it was a horrible accident."

---

How was Adkins set free?

Later, many people stepped up and called Adkins' conviction unjust. His murder conviction was overturned in June 2018 by Ohio's 6th District Court of Appeals on the grounds of an unfair trial, as stated by the judge. For the time being, Russell Adkins reportedly remains a free man.

Upon hearing the news, Adkins reportedly said:

"Waiting to hear that for 3 years and they say that you're going to be leaving, we can't say when but you're going to be leaving."

The state's request for a retrial was denied by the Ohio Supreme Court later that year.

The story was explored in Dateline: Unforgettable's recent episode, which aired on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, at 8 pm ET on Oxygen.