Sheriff’s officials say the remains found in March belonged to Ceasar Asbury, the missing son of the accused couple.
HOUSTON, Mo. — A missing person report that described a Missouri teenager as a possible runaway has become a murder case against his parents after deputies found his remains at their home, authorities said.
The case now centers on the gap between what was reported about Ceasar Asbury and what investigators say they later found on the family’s Lundy Road property. Chaun Asbury, 42, and Tamla Asbury, 45, are charged with second-degree murder, child abuse and corpse abandonment. Authorities said Ceasar’s skeletal remains were recovered from a shallow grave March 10 and later identified through dental comparison by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Officials have not released a full public account of when Ceasar was first reported missing or when he was last seen alive. The sheriff’s office has said he had been reported by the suspects as a possible runaway. That detail became more important after prosecutors alleged in an indictment that Ceasar died on or about May 25, 2022, as a result of child abuse or neglect. If that timeline is proved in court, it would place his death years before deputies found the grave in 2026.
The missing person investigation led officers to the Asbury home in the Bucyrus area. As deputies approached the property March 10, Chaun Asbury tried to flee, according to the sheriff’s office. Tamla Asbury exited the home and was detained. The search that followed produced two tracks of evidence. Deputies found children who were still alive and in alleged danger. They also found skeletal remains buried on the property, prompting assistance from the county coroner and state crime investigators. Before the remains were confirmed, the sheriff’s office said the findings were consistent with the missing person case involving Ceasar. That statement stopped short of formal identification while forensic work continued. The dental comparison later confirmed the remains were his, Sheriff Scott Lindsey said. “The life that was lost and the other lives of the children that were affected by this situation is a horrible tragedy,” Lindsey said. He also described the broader case as the worst child abuse and neglect investigation he had encountered in more than 28 years.
The charges filed after the identification are broader than the death of one child. Each defendant faces one count of second-degree murder, one count of abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death and one count of abandonment of a corpse. They also face three counts of first-degree domestic assault and eight counts of abuse or neglect of a child. Prosecutors say the corpse was abandoned from the date Ceasar allegedly died in 2022 until the day the search warrant was executed in 2026.
Public summaries of the indictment say other counts involve children now described as 16, 14, 12, 8 and 6 years old. The alleged abuse includes serious physical injury and serious emotional injury. Some counts describe lack of nutrition, housing and emotional development support. Others accuse the defendants of causing physical injuries. The charging periods vary, but several begin in November 2023 and continue through March 10, 2026, the day law enforcement searched the home.
Deputies said one juvenile was locked in a shed with no utilities, bound to a bed and severely malnourished. The child needed urgent medical care. Investigators also said the residence had no utilities or sewer and that the children were removed from unsanitary conditions. Chief Deputy Rowdy Douglas said the children appeared malnourished, dirty and extremely scared when officers found them. He said medical staff warned that the youngest child may have been close to death when removed.
The case highlights the procedural shift that can happen when a missing person inquiry uncovers evidence of death. At first, the Asburys were charged with five counts of child abuse each. The charges changed after the forensic identification and after additional evidence was presented to Texas County Prosecuting Attorney Parke Stevens. The later indictment added murder and death-related charges, replacing the initial view of the case with a larger allegation that abuse, concealment and neglect overlapped across several years.
Several major questions remain outside public view. Authorities have not said what prompted the search warrant after years of uncertainty around Ceasar’s whereabouts. They have not released the final cause of death or explained whether investigators believe the teen died at the Lundy Road home. They have not publicly described any statements by the defendants about the grave. Those questions are expected to emerge through court filings, hearings and testimony if the case moves toward trial.
The Asburys remain at the Texas County Jail on no-bond warrants. Their case is at the accusation stage, and the state must prove the charges in court. The next phase is expected to focus on the indictment, forensic records, child welfare evidence and witness testimony about the family’s home life, Ceasar’s disappearance and the conditions found during the March search.
For Texas County investigators, the reported runaway case no longer stands alone. The formal identification of the remains linked the missing teenager to the property where deputies also found surviving children in alleged distress. As of May 28, 2026, the case remained pending with murder and abuse charges filed against both parents.
Author note: Last updated May 28, 2026.