Lawyer waives formal arraignment for woman accused of murder
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The lawyer for a Columbia woman who is accused of murdering a man and trying to burn the body waived a formal arraignment on Tuesday.
Emma Adams, 21, is charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with evidence and abandoning a corpse. She appeared in court by video from the Boone County Jail. She is being held on a $1 million bond. Adams has pleaded not guilty.
She is due back in court at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 10.
Adams was arrested and charged in January after an investigation that started at the University of Missouri and led to police finding a burning body in a residential area far from campus. She is accused of murdering Samuel Clemons, 21. Clemons was a student at the University of Missouri.
Police initially couldn't identify the body because of its condition.
The investigation started when University of Missouri police officers were sent to Hudson Hall at about 5:30 p.m. Jan. 11 for a welfare check, which led them to the 2400 block of Bentley Court in north Columbia. Officers found the body there and called Columbia police for a homicide investigation, according to a Columbia Police Department social media post.
Adams allegedly told police she stabbed the victim in self-defense. Police located blood on a vehicle at the scene, inside the house and in the backyard, the statement says. A cellphone matching the description of the victim's was found immersed in water in a sink and an officer saw part of a missing mattress burning in the fire pit, according to the documents.
