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 man from Missouri is facing serious charges after allegedly committing a gruesome crime involving the death of a woman. Authorities claim he strangled and smothered her before placing her body in a “trash bin,” sealing it, and disposing of it in a creek.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Andrew Acton, 53, has been charged with second-degree murder, abandonment of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. The document notes that Acton claimed he couldn’t recall the day’s events, except for driving around. Importantly, the affidavit states he never denied disposing of the bin containing the body, even when given multiple chances to refute the allegation.
The incident came to light on May 17 when a boater navigating Boone County’s Perche Creek stumbled upon a “City of Columbia trash bin” floating in the water. The boater reported a foul odor indicating decomposition, prompting a response from local law enforcement, as detailed in the affidavit.
Upon arrival, deputies accompanied the boater to the location where the bin was discovered. Once brought to the creek’s bank and opened, they found the remains of an adult human inside, the affidavit recounts.
Investigators canvassed the area and obtained surveillance footage showing a red Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck in the vicinity. The footage allegedly captures the truck carrying a “City of Columbia trash bin” in its bed, entering the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, near the creek where the bin was found.
The affidavit highlights that the recovered bin and the one seen in the truck shared distinctive features, suggesting that the bin containing the body matched the one observed in the vehicle’s bed.
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.
