Man accused of disposing of missing woman’s body released on bond
Published 9:19 pm Tuesday, March 17, 2020
A man charged with abusing the corpse of a missing Alabama woman was released from jail Tuesday, a week after being granted bond.
Fredrick Hampton was released Tuesday on bond that was set at $30,000, news outlets reported. He must also wear an electronic monitor.
Hampton, 50, was arrested in January at a home in Cleveland, Ohio. He is not charged in the death of Paighton Houston but is charged with abuse of the Trussville woman’s corpse.
Houston, 29, was last seen on Dec. 20, leaving a Birmingham bar with two men. Family members told news outlets that she later sent a text to a friend asking the person to answer if she called because she didn’t know who she was with and feared that she was “in trouble.”
Her body was found on Jan. 3 in a shallow grave behind a home in Hueytown, about 13 miles (20 kilometers) west of Birmingham. The home belongs to relatives of Hampton.
Jefferson County Coroner Bill Yates ruled Houston’s death an accidental overdose. He said she died of morphine and methamphetamine toxicity.
Deputy Chief David Agee said Houston and Hampton were willfully together the night she disappeared.
He said evidence shows after Houston died that Hampton disposed of her body.
Hampton is a convicted sex offender and is also being charged with violating the state’s sex offender registry notification act for leaving Alabama without permission from his probation officer.
Hampton’s attorney, Emory Anthony, said he is not a flight risk.
“He’s presumed to be not guilty, he’s entered a pleas of not guilty and we’ll see whether the state of Alabama can carry their burden of proof,” Anthony said.
A trial date wasn’t immediately set. If convicted of abusing Houston’s corpse, Hampton faces over a year in prison.