Tony Adame was part of the APSE Diversity Fellowship’s second class in 2012-13 as a sports copy editor for The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, his hometown newspaper. Tony eventually moved to Florida in 2017 to become the sports editor for The Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal before making a career pivot to investigative journalism in 2019.
In 2020, while working at The Northwest Florida Daily News, Tony’s true-crime podcast series and long-form story, “The Sheriff,” about the murder of a sheriff’s candidate in rural Florida and his son’s quest for vengeance eventually won the Florida Society of News Editors Award for best digital feature in July 2021.
Tony’s debut non-fiction book, “Chase the Devil: Murder and Obsession on Florida’s Gulf Coast,” will be released by Rowman & Littlefield/Bloomsbury in May 2025 and is now available for pre-order online.
We caught up with Tony recently and asked him about his book and his memories of the Fellowship.
What’s your book about?
My book is about a series of cold-case rapes and murders that took place in Pensacola in the 1980s. “In Cold Blood,” by Truman Capote, and Ann Rule’s books about true crime were big influences.
What led you to write it?
In the fall of 2018, I began researching a story on cold cases in the Pensacola area as part of a newsroom-wide directive to produce evergreen stories to run on weekends. The paper shelved the evergreen project, but I kept digging. Eventually, I found two cold cases from 1985 that I thought might be connected because of how similar the women looked and the similar nature in which they were killed. Unknown to me, the new head of the Pensacola Police Department’s investigations unit was looking into the same crimes at the same time. I approached him to share what I’d found and he asked me if I wanted to team up and be part of a task force, as an observer/journalist/sounding board, to try to catch the killer. Five years later, everything that happened from there became my book.
Are there other cold case-type projects you are considering or have going?
I have a few projects I’m researching right now that are all true crime, but I haven’t picked what’s going to be next yet. Eventually, I want to write them all, but I need to start narrowing my focus soon.
What are your plans professionally?
I want to continue on the path I’m on, which in all likelihood means writing another book in the next year or two. I have a good support system with my agent, Diane Nine, and everyone at Rowman & Littlefield and Bloomsbury, but I’m the one who has to eventually deliver, and I’m looking forward to that journey. It’s an exciting prospect and an exciting time in my life.
What are your memories from the Fellowship experience?
I was kind of existing in my little Midwestern world when I received the Fellowship. It opened my eyes to a much bigger view of what might be possible for me moving forward with my career. It was pretty formative in that regard.
My best memory from our Fellowship retreat, hands down, was the night we went to St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis. What a night! One of the fellows in my class was Michael Wallace, who was covering the Miami Heat at the time with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, so getting to pick his brain was fascinating.
What advice do you have for APSE Fellows regarding their careers, whether in media or any other vocation?
If you’re feeling down or struggling with your career — which happens to everyone at some point — talk to somebody! You’ll feel better.
Was there a specific turning point or epiphany for you?
At the beginning of 2019, I was part of company-wide layoffs and found myself dealing with some serious self-doubt/existential dread after losing my job. To combat that, I decided I was going to throw myself into the book and see it through to the end, no matter what. I found that to be really empowering in the short term, and in the long term, it became a decision that paid off in some amazing, unexpected ways.
Was there any great help or mentorship you received from someone in sports media?
I met Jesse Sanchez (MLB.com) at the first NAHJ conference I attended in 2014 and he’s been a great mentor and friend for the last decade. I know he does that for a lot of people in our industry and has done it for a long time.
I’m excited for this young man and admire his Tanacity…👍