Police say a search of Nicholas Ayres’ phone produced a digital timeline stretching from alleged violence to the hours before officers arrived.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — When Columbia police obtained a warrant to search a motel room after Destiny Dunn was found dead, investigators recovered a cellphone that they say transformed the case by preserving a series of videos, photographs and timestamps from the days before her death.
The phone belonged to Nicholas Anthony Ayres, 35, of Crane, who was arrested Aug. 12 in connection with Dunn’s death at the By The Way Motel. What investigators said they found on the device became a major part of the probable cause statement supporting charges of second-degree murder and first-degree domestic assault. A Boone County grand jury later indicted Ayres in September. He has remained in custody without bond, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The digital timeline began at least two days before police arrived. Investigators said one Aug. 10 video showed Dunn, 37, of Kansas City, without the facial bruising officers later documented. Another recording made late that night allegedly showed Ayres assaulting her repeatedly. Police described sounds consistent with slapping and punching and said the video depicted direct physical violence. The allegations are based on investigators’ descriptions of the recording; no jury has determined what the footage proves.
The phone allegedly captured a second, much shorter set of images around noon on Aug. 12. According to the probable cause statement, a photograph and a five-second video recorded at approximately 12:06 p.m. showed Dunn lying in a bathtub and moving only slightly. The images were recorded more than three hours before officers were ultimately called to the motel for a reported cardiac arrest. Investigators said those timestamps helped them compare what was happening inside the room with later emergency-call records.
Two minutes after those images, another recording allegedly showed Ayres walking between the main room and bathroom while a woman could be heard groaning. Police said that during the video Ayres stated that he intended to call 911 and added, “I’m not going down for manslaughter.” The phrase drew public attention after the charging documents became available, but investigators relied on more than the statement itself. The timing of the recording, the woman’s condition and subsequent telephone records were all incorporated into the probable cause narrative.
Dispatch records cited in the filing show a call from Ayres’ number at about 12:21 p.m. Rather than request an emergency response, however, Ayres allegedly said the call had been accidental. He confirmed his identity, number and location and then disconnected. Police were not sent to the motel until another call about 3:22 p.m. That later call reported that Dunn was down and possibly in cardiac arrest. Officers arrived within minutes and found her dead.
By then, Ayres was giving dispatchers an explanation that police later compared against the contents of the phone. He allegedly said he and Dunn had been involved in an altercation in the shower and claimed that she fell after he told her he planned to leave. He acknowledged that she appeared badly bruised but denied beating her, according to the probable cause statement. Those statements became significant because investigators said the Aug. 10 video already depicted an earlier assault, while witnesses in the next motel room reported hearing a physical confrontation on the morning of Aug. 12.
Officers took Ayres into custody at the scene and interviewed him after advising him of his rights. Police said he acknowledged physical altercations with Dunn on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12 but characterized the incidents as accidental. Investigators also photographed injuries on Ayres that the filing described as defensive wounds. Authorities ultimately concluded Dunn’s death was a homicide and alleged that the physical assault described in their investigation caused her fatal injuries. That conclusion remains part of the state’s accusation and has not yet been established by a verdict.
The case illustrates how ordinary digital devices can become repositories of evidence without investigators needing to reconstruct every event from memory alone. In this prosecution, the phone allegedly supplied both images and time data that police compared with witness accounts and dispatch records. The value of any individual recording will still depend on authentication, admissibility and context in court. Prosecutors must establish that evidence meets legal requirements before relying on it at trial, and the defense has the opportunity to challenge the state’s interpretation.
Prosecutors filed charges the day after Dunn’s death. Local court reporting identified the murder accusation as second-degree felony murder, paired with first-degree domestic assault resulting in serious physical injury. Under the charging theory described in the filing, Dunn’s death occurred during the alleged commission of the domestic assault. The filing did not itself decide that Ayres committed either offense. Criminal complaints and probable cause statements set out allegations used to begin a prosecution; proof beyond a reasonable doubt is required for conviction.
A judge ordered Ayres detained without bond after the charges were filed. He appeared in court during August as the case moved through its preliminary stages. In September, a Boone County grand jury returned an indictment, allowing the prosecution to proceed on the accusations reported by local news organizations as second-degree murder and first-degree domestic assault. At the time of the Sept. 14 indictment report, Ayres remained in the Boone County Jail.
For Dunn’s family, the technical focus on recordings, timestamps and charging documents sits alongside a far more personal loss. Relatives described Dunn publicly as a mother and a caring, nurturing person. Their remembrance emphasized her relationships and the children who survived her. Police have released comparatively little personal information beyond identifying her as a 37-year-old Kansas City resident and confirming that her next of kin had been notified.
The Columbia Police Department has continued to describe the homicide investigation as ongoing. The cellphone evidence is likely to remain one of the most closely scrutinized parts of the prosecution because it allegedly documents events before, during and after the period investigators associate with Dunn’s fatal injuries. Future hearings will determine how the case proceeds and what evidence may ultimately be presented in court. Ayres remains entitled to the presumption of innocence throughout that process.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.