Alabama Woman Found Dead In Shallow Grave, Died Of Accidental Overdose, Coroner Says

KEY POINTS

Houston, 29, died of accidental drug-opioid overdose
Coroners reported morphine and methamphetamine toxicity
Suspect in Houston's death and disappearance was captured

Coroners reported 29-year-old Paighton Houston’s death as a case of an accidental drug-opioid overdose.

According to ABC News, the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Office reported on Thursday that Houston’s cause of death was because of morphine and methamphetamine toxicity.

The report was released a day after a suspect connected to the victim’s disappearance and death was captured in Ohio after a week of searching.

Alabama woman whose body was found in shallow grave two weeks after she went missing died from accidental drug-opioid overdose, officials say. https://t.co/H6AP0UPRgx
— ABC News (@ABC) January 31, 2020

Houston’s body was found wrapped in sheets and buried in a shallow grave behind a home in in Hueytown on Jan. 3 following her disappearance on Dec 21, NBC News reported.

Before she went missing, Houston was seen leaving a bar in Birmingham with two men on Dec. 20 and texted one of her friends saying that “she didn’t know who she was with and that she was in trouble”.

On Wednesday, police took 50-year-old Frederick Hampton into custody saying that he disposed the body and was charged with abuse of a corpse.

The house where the victim’s body was buried belonged to Hampton’s relatives, police said.

According to jail records, Hampton was previously charged with rape and sodomy in 1992 and was released in 2012.

He was not charged with Houston’s death but will remain in custody in Cleveland until he can be extradited to Birmingham.