Burning body found behind home in search for University of Missouri student, cops say
A search for a University of Missouri student led authorities to a burning body behind a home, police say.
The investigation in Columbia, Missouri, led to the arrest of 20-year-old Emma Rose Adams, who is charged with second-degree murder, police said.
University of Missouri police officers were dispatched to the Hudson Hall dormitory on Tuesday, Jan. 10, for a welfare check, according to Columbia police Sgt. Matt Gremore.
When the student was not found in the dorm, police learned he had taken an Uber to a home about 5 miles away in Columbia, KRCG reported.
Gremore said “unidentified human remains” were found outside that home, which he called “suspicious” in nature.
The remains were reportedly found in a fire pit in the backyard.
“The human body was smoldering, and an odor of what (was) described to be burning flesh was present,” according to a probable cause statement obtained by the Columbia Missourian.
Inside the home, police found a cellphone that matched the victim’s, as well a “bloody folding pocket knife,” the Columbia Daily Tribune reported. Blood was also found on a vehicle and inside the home, according to the newspaper.
Adams was at the home and told officers she had stabbed the victim in self-defense because “he was beating me,” reports say.
Police have not publicly confirmed the body is of the University of Missouri student. Gremore said Wednesday that investigators were unable to make a positive identification yet because of the state of the body.
Adams was charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with physical evidence and abandonment of a corpse.
She remains in the Boone County Jail as of Thursday on a $1 million cash bond, court records show.
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