Inset: Nicholas Ayres (Boone County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The motel where Ayres allegedly killed Destiny Dunn in Columbia, Mo. (Google Maps).
Authorities in Missouri have arrested a man suspected of killing a woman in a motel room, following the discovery of a video on the suspect’s cellphone, which allegedly shows him assaulting the victim.
The suspect, 35-year-old Nicholas Anthony Ayres, faces charges of second-degree felony murder and first-degree domestic assault in relation to the tragic death of 37-year-old Destiny Dunn. These charges were outlined in a press release by the Columbia Police Department.
The case came to light on Wednesday, August 12, when police responded to an emergency call reporting a possible cardiac arrest at a location on Range Line Street in Columbia, a major city approximately 125 miles west of St. Louis.
Upon their arrival at the By The Way Motel, officers discovered the lifeless body of Dunn.
“Upon arrival, officers believed the death to be suspicious,” police said. “The investigation later revealed the death was a homicide.”
Ayres called 911 that day, police said in a probable cause statement obtained by Columbia-based NBC and The CW affiliate KOMU.
The defendant told dispatchers he and Dunn got into an altercation while in the shower, according to the charging document. To hear Ayres tell it, the woman got upset after he said he was going to leave her, which led to her falling down in the shower, police said.
During the emergency call, Ayres allegedly said the woman looked like she had been beaten up, but the defendant told the dispatcher he did no such thing, according to the probable cause statement.
Inside the motel, officers noted that Dunn had bruises all over her body, police said. The defendant was taken into custody at the scene.
Police spoke with neighboring guests in an adjacent room at the motel who said they heard what sounded like physical violence some four hours prior, according to the charging document.
During a custodial interview, Ayres allegedly admitted to physical altercations with Dunn but insisted they were accidental, police said.
After obtaining a search warrant for the motel room, police recovered the defendant’s cellphone. On the device, investigators found a recording dated two days before the slaying in which Ayres attacks Dunn repeatedly, according to the probable cause statement.
Other telltale evidence turned up on the phone, police said.
Investigators allegedly found a photograph of Dunn lying in the bathtub at the motel. There is also an accompanying video of sorts in which Dunn is still in the bathtub – barely moving. The photo and video were timestamped roughly three hours before police arrived at the motel, according to the charging document.
Then, in yet another video, Ayres paces the motel room as Dunn groans in the background, police said. At one point in the final video, the defendant announces that he is calling 911.
“Hey honey, I’m really calling 911. I have to because I’m not going down for manslaughter,” Ayres allegedly tells the dying woman, according to the probable cause statement.
The defendant is being detained in the Boone County Jail without bond.
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