Fredrick Hampton pleaded guilty to hiding the body of Paighton Laine Houston. (Mug shot of Hampton: Alabama Law Enforcement Agency; image of Houston: her mother, Charlaine Houston)
A convicted sex offender has pleaded guilty to burying a missing Alabama woman in a shallow grave after they hung out at a Birmingham bar.
The defendant, Fredrick Hampton, 53, was not charged with killing Paighton Laine Houston, 29. The coroner determined the victim died of an accidental drug overdose from morphine and methamphetamine, according to AL.com.
Houston's family, however, said in an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit that Hampton provided or administered the substances, thereby killing her.
The victim's mother, Charlaine Houston, said Paighton was murdered and authorities botched the investigation.
"Changes do need to be made so all these crimes don't get brushed under the rug or people get murdered and buried in a shallow grave," she wrote on July 28. "How come grieving families have to fight so hard for them to do their job!??"
Hampton reportedly pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse on Monday in a Jefferson County courtroom in Alabama. As part of his plea deal, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison with three years to serve, and then five years on probation. He also receives time-served credit.
"He's just glad it's over," his attorney, Emory Anthony, told AL.com. "He felt like it was his best option."
Houston's family said she texted serious concerns to a friend of hers the night she went missing.
"At about 12:14 p.m. that night, she sent a text to one of the friends she was at the bar with, stating that she didn't know who she was with, and that she felt like she was in trouble," brother Evan Houston told ABC News in a Dec. 27, 2019, report.
Her mother Charlaine Houston shared a similar account on her personal Facebook page: "After leaving Tin Roof with two men, the last text she sent was that she didn't know who she was with and felt she could be in trouble."
Evan Houston said his missing sister "can handle her own self," and said it was a red flag that she reached out for help.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office announced on Jan. 16, 2020, the criminal case against Hampton. They said he and Houston were together the night of Dec. 20, 2020, and that she died the next day at a home on McClain Street in Brighton. Hampton disposed of her body in a "criminal manner."
Sex offender records show he was convicted in 1992 for first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy because he and seven other men raped a woman. He got out of prison in 2012.
