During the summer of 1984, John and his friends Christopher Phillip Unwin and Steven Bishoff Dubay attacked Adrian and Don because they were a gay couple. They threw Mellon over a bridge, continued beating up Don and were questioned by a police detective. When Don and Chris witnessed Adrian being killed by Pennywise, they tried to tell the police and both John and Steven but they didn't see anything. After Adrian's body was found and buried in the Derry Cemetery, Garton was sentenced to ten years in prison at Thomaston State Prison.