John David Adena
John David Adena was born on May 29, 1988 and lived in Kihei, Hawaii for the first five years of his life. He moved to Redding, California with his family in January 1994.
He soon developed a passion for football and was a young Dallas Cowboys fan due to his love and respect for #22 Emmitt Smith. He played four years of Pop Warner football and four years at Enterprise High School. One of his cherished memories was receiving the Coach's Award for JV football in 2003.
During his junior and senior years at Enterprise, he took classes in the Regional Occupation Program for Firefighting and Public Safety. This enabled him to apply for a Firefighter 1 position with Cal Fire, and after graduating from high school, he was hired at the Siskiyou Unit where he worked for four seasons. During the off-seasons, he was a volunteer firefighter for the Shasta Lake Fire Protection District, as well as a student at Shasta College's firefighting program. He received his Associate degree in Fire Science in 2009.
After the fourth season with Cal Fire, he decided to prepare himself to apply for a city firefighting position and consequently enrolled in a paramedic program. Although he did not finish, he found work at Mercy Medical Center where he worked in various positions for the last eight years of his life. John loved skateboarding, bike riding, fishing, and visiting Hawaii.
John was 31 years old when he died. He is survived by his parents, four siblings, two nieces, three nephews, a grandmother, and a multitude of aunties, uncles, and cousins.
John & his mother, Circe Adena
Every parent's worst fear is to be told their child is dead. John had a family who loved him, and our grief over losing him is beyond words. There must be accountability. The bar must be raised. Changes must be made in the jail system so that this does not happen again.
Angelina Odell, John Adena’s sister
John’s death was so shocking and caused my family emotional whiplash. We had felt relief when the judge decided he would finally have a mental health evaluation, and we believed he would get the care he needed. We were heartbroken to be told he died. It didn’t make any sense.
It felt so callous and disrespectful to my family for Shasta County to withhold the autopsy report for over a year after his death. When we finally got the report, it showed something bad had happened to him in that jail and they were trying to keep it quiet for as long as possible.
John was a loving brother and uncle to my kids. He was a kind person who did not deserve to die. I hope my parents’ case will cause systemic changes to the jail’s policies and training, and more transparency and accountability in their actions.
Michelle Gallagher, John Adena’s sister
John’s death completely changed our lives. It turned our whole world upside down and we were left to pick up the pieces, all while being left in the dark as to how he could have died in their custody. We want accountability and transparency. John being in jail was supposed to be his rock bottom, not the end of his life. We as a community need to say that’s not acceptable.
