Inset: Andrew Acton (Boone County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Missouri creek where Andrew Acton allegedly dumped a "trash bin" with his girlfriend's body inside after strangling and smothering her (KOMU/YouTube).
A Missouri man allegedly strangled and smothered a woman to death, loaded her body into a "trash bin," sealed it shut, and then dumped the container in a creek.
"The defendant … stated he could not remember anything about that day other than he drove around all day," a probable cause affidavit says about Andrew Acton, 53, who is charged with second-degree murder, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence. "Despite being given multiple opportunities he never denied dumping the trash bin containing the body," the affidavit alleges.
Police say that on May 17, a boater in Boone County's Perche Creek found a "City of Columbia trash bin floating in the water" and notified authorities, according to the affidavit. He "reported a smell of decomposition" and deputies were sent out to investigate.
"Deputies arrived on scene and went with the boater to where the bin was located," the affidavit recounts. "The bin was moved to the bank of Perche Creek and opened locating a body of an adult human inside the bin."
Police canvassed the area and investigators obtained a nearby surveillance photo showing a red Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck allegedly traveling on a road entering the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, close to where the trash bin was found. The photo showed a "City of Columbia trash bin" lying on its back in the bed of the truck.
"The bin recovered and the bin in the bed of the truck had similar unique features, meaning the bin recovered containing the body was consistent with the bin in the truck bed," the affidavit explains.
Police say Acton, an admitted "drug user," was found driving the truck the following day. He was interviewed about what happened and claimed he could not remember.
Investigators determined that Acton killed the woman sometime between Oct. 1, 2025, and May 10, 2026, then put her inside the trash bin and dumped it into the creek "in hopes the body would not be discovered," per the affidavit.
"The defendant knowingly or with the purpose of causing serious physical injury … caused the death of [the woman] by strangling/smothering her," a criminal complaint says. "The defendant suppressed or concealed a human body with the purpose to impair its availability in a death investigation, an official investigation, and thereby impaired and obstructed the prosecution."
Prosecutors say Acton "disposed of the corpse" in the area of Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area sometime on May 11, 2026. A motive has not been released.
Acton is being held in the Boone County Jail without bond and is due in court on June 9.
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