Emma Adams, 20, was arrested on murder charges on January 10, 2023, after a University of Missouri student on the autistic spectrum was found dead. Adams was arrested after the body of the student was found in a fire pit.
According to law enforcement, police arrived at the Missouri woman's doorstep following a request for a welfare check on the student. When the campus police officers entered the residence, they instantly detected the odor of burning human flesh.
The remains of the student, who is still unidentified by the police, were found smoldering in a fire pit behind Emma Adams' house. Adams allegedly admitted to stabbing the student in self-defense after initially denying knowing the victim.
Emma Adams claims the stabbing was in self-defense; says the student was "beating" her
Campus police responded to a call for a welfare check at Missouri University's Hudson Hall, a dormitory, around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, after a white male student with high-functioning autism, whose identity has not been made public by law enforcement, went missing from his college residence.
According to the Columbia Missourian, officers gleaned information about the missing student's whereabouts from his university swipe card and cellphone, as well as obtained video footage provided by Missouri University.
The video showed the student in question boarding an Uber cab on Monday night, after which police reportedly submitted an emergency information request to Uber, which helped them track his journey. Information provided by Uber led police to the 2400 block of Bentley Court, a neighborhood near Creasy Springs Road east of Cosmopolitan Park, where the remains were discovered.
In a probable cause statement filed on Wednesday in a Boone County court, Emma Adams denied knowing the missing student but let the officers enter the house and the backyard. During the search, the officer discovered the skeletal remains in the backyard fire pit.
In addition to the human remains, a bloodstained knife, mattress fragments, and a smashed phone matching the victim's description was found in a sink filled with water. Additionally, officers reported discovering blood in a parked Chevrolet HHR.
The probable cause statement stated that Emma Adams had alleged that the student was "beating" her and that she had fatally stabbed him in an act of self-defense. Though the body in the fire pit was burnt beyond recognition, police believe that they "have a good idea" of who it could be.
Emma Adams has been charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with physical evidence, and abandonment of a corpse. She is currently being held in the Boone County Jail on a $1m cash bond.