<\/p>\n
Adam White with his family.<\/p>\n
Family photo via Lorelle Podchalski<\/p>\n
A 39-year-old man whose body was found at an abandoned power plant<\/a> in Fort Worth was an Air Force veteran and a loving, devoted father, his friends said.<\/p>\n Lorelle Podchalski, a friend who had known Adam White since 2023, described him as an extremely intelligent man with a great sense of humor. \u201cHe lit up a room everywhere he was,\u201d she said in a conversation with the Star-Telegram.<\/p>\n White was last seen in the 400 block of West Belknap Street on June 1, when a missing person report<\/a> was filed, police have said. He was going to the Tarrant County court that day to seek custody of his 5-year-old son, Podchalski said.<\/p>\n More than a month later, two teenagers exploring<\/a> the abandoned plant in the 400 block of North Main Street found his body about 10 feet down inside a pipe on Aug. 19, the Star-Telegram previously reported. The location was about a half-mile from where White was last seen.<\/p>\n \u2018A family man to his core\u2019<\/p>\n White and Podchalski met when they both were in a program called Greenhouse, where White shared his story of sobriety to inspire others, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe would help anybody in the world, even if he didn\u2019t have the means,\u201d Podchalski said, adding that White would reach out if he needed help himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a beacon. His smile was so infectious that he lit up every room he walked into,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all lost a really good person.\u201d<\/p>\n Podchalski shared that White\u2019s life revolved around his family, especially his son and father. \u201cIf you talked to Adam, there wasn\u2019t a conversation where he didn\u2019t bring up his dad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n White, an Air Force veteran, was also proud of his military service, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t have a mean bone in his body, just smiles, laughter, and grace,\u201d Podchalski said.<\/p>\n With an engineer\u2019s mind, White loved building things with his son and taking him on adventures. \u201cHe was someone who wanted to make memories with his son, and that\u2019s what he did,\u201d Podchalski said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talk about a family man to his core, that was him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Unanswered questions<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we talk about what happened that day, I wish I could speak to it, but I can\u2019t,\u201d Podchalski said.<\/p>\n Podchalski said White had his life back on track enough to be in front of a judge and possibly have custody of his child. \u201cSo to leave the courthouse and end up in a pipe is bizarre,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the fact he was gone so long probably influences how much they (law enforcement) can and cannot figure out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Tarrant County Medical Examiner\u2019s<\/a> Office has yet to determine White\u2019s official cause of death, but according to Fort Worth police, detectives do not suspect foul play.<\/p>\n The Tarrant County Community College District has owned the abandoned power plant property since 2004.<\/p>\n The investigation is ongoing, Fort Worth police said.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n