Inset left to right: Chaun and Tamala Asbury (Texas County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The Texas County Jail and Sheriff’s Office in Houston, Mo. (Google Maps).
A Missouri couple is behind bars after authorities found the skeletal remains of their teenage son buried in a shallow grave at their house, according to law enforcement in the Show-Me State.
Chaun Asbury, 42, and Tamala Asbury, 45, stand accused of one count each of murder in the second degree, abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, and abandonment of a corpse; three counts of domestic assault; and eight counts of abuse or neglect of a child.
The investigation into the couple began in 2025, according to the Texas County Sheriff’s Office. In March of this year, deputies served a search warrant at the Asbury residence on Lundy Road in Piney Township – which is located roughly 90 miles east of Springfield.
Investigators did not need to do much upon arrival before the couple was apprehended, according to the sheriff’s office.
“As law enforcement approached the residence an adult male identified as Chaun Asbury attempted to flee the residence and was apprehended,” a press release reads. “An adult female identified as Tamala Asbury exited the residence and was detained.”
Inside the house were three juveniles, with “one of the juveniles locked in a shed with no utilities, bound to a bed,” the sheriff’s office said. The allegedly bound child was described as “severely malnourished” and in need of “urgent medical care.”
At first, the pair were charged with five counts of child abuse each.
But the investigation did not end there.
“During the search, deputies found the living conditions to be unsanitary, as the residence did not have utilities or sewer,” the press release goes on. “[D]eputies found evidence of physical abuse and unnecessary physical restraint to the children.”
“Whenever we got out there, one of the suspects fled, trying to flee the scene with, two of the smaller children,” Chief Deputy Rowdy Douglas told Springfield CBS affiliate KOLR. “Once the parents were detained, we got the children. We started seeing the shape that they were in. They were very, malnourished, dirty and obviously extremely scared. We were told by the hospital, that the youngest one was probably a day or so from maybe passing away too.”
As the investigation progressed, deputies found “skeletal remains in a shallow grave on the property,” according to the sheriff’s office. At the time of the arrest, authorities were unclear about who those remains belonged to; however, law enforcement had their suspicions.
“The findings are consistent with a missing person Ceasar Asbury, that had previously been reported as a possible runaway by the suspects,” the sheriff’s office said back in March.
Now, authorities say those suspicions have been borne out.
Based on a dental comparison performed by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office, the remains were confirmed to belong to Ceasar Asbury, the couple’s missing 18-year-old son, Texas County Sheriff Scott Lindsey said in a press release on Thursday.
In sum, the Asburys were indicted on nine additional charges.
“This is absolutely the worst case of child abuse and neglect that I have encountered in my 28 plus years of law enforcement,” the sheriff said in a statement. “The life that was lost and the other lives of the children that were affected by this situation is a horrible tragedy.”
The defendants are being detained in the Texas County Jail on no bond warrants, according to the sheriff’s office.
