Woman accused of murder, burning body appears in court; more hearings set
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Columbia woman accused of murder appeared in court Friday by video from the Boone County Jail.
Emma Adams, 20, refused to appear in court on Thursday. She is charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with evidence and abandoning a corpse. She pleaded not guilty.
Adams is being held in the Boone County Jail on a $1 million bond. A confined docket and bond hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday. A preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 16.
Adams was arrested and charged on Wednesday 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.
Police couldn't identify the body because of its condition, police said. The victim has not been named.
The investigation started when University of Missouri police officers were sent to Hudson Hall at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday 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.
