Callaway County sheriff identifies woman murdered in Kingdom City hotel
The Callaway County Sheriff’s Office has identified the woman who was murdered in a Kingdom City hotel room months ago.
A post on the office’s Facebook page states that the woman was Aunika C. Houston, 37.
She was originally from the state of California and had lived in mid-Missouri for several years.
Prosecutors charged her husband, Jonathan G. Houston, 44, with First Degree Murder and First Degree Kidnapping for her death.
Houston is a former parole and probation officer and a former corrections officer.
The documents state that on Sunday, October 4, 2026, at 10:27 a.m., a child called 911.
The child reported that their father captured and beat them and their siblings and has for the past five years.
Callaway County Joint Communications traced the call to the Baymont Inn and Suites on Jade Road in Kingdom City.
A Callaway County deputy traced the number to Houston.
Deputies found Houston and spoke to the children privately.
The children reported that Houston had strangled their mother on December 1, 2025.
Several of them said it happened in front of them, and Houston made them help him.
The documents then state that Houston put his wife’s body in a trash bag and then used a dolly to move her body to the hotel’s dumpster.
Houston was being held in the Callaway County Jail without bond.